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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

She took a long and winding road to get there, but Peyton Williams is finally in the WNBA.

Peyton Williams [Submitted photo]

The product of Cair Paravel Latin School and Kansas State University was listed on the roster of the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday at 5 p.m., when the league required all rosters be finalized.

The Mercury opens its season at Las Vegas on Saturday.

After going undrafted out of Kansas State, Williams played six years of professional basketball overseas, with seasons in Russia and France, then two seasons in Hungary and two in China. Having had only one opportunity to try out for a WNBA team – and that chance wiped out by a Covid diagnosis in 2021 – Williams was not sure another such opportunity would ever come.

“There was a time the past couple of years where I just focused on my international career because that seemed to be what I could expect out of my career,” Williams said. “That was not a bad thing. I enjoyed playing in Europe and then in China. But that was the expectation I had for myself, and that’s what I told my agent, that I’m going to kind of focus over here. I worked really hard over the last six years out of the view of my friends and family, not to mention the local media and the media of the United States.”

After Williams returned to Topeka from China in March, unsure of what was next for her career, her agent told her he was trying to get her into a training camp. That call finally came in late April.

With little advance notice, Williams hopped a plane to Oregon to fight for a roster spot with the expansion Portland Fire. Williams spent exactly one week with the Fire, playing in one preseason game at Seattle. Limited to just seven minutes off the bench, Williams made the most of her opportunity, knocking down a 3-pointer and a driving layup and blocking a shot.

But on May 1, Williams was summoned to the office of the Fire general manager, who informed the Topekan she was being placed on waivers. Williams spent one more evening in Portland, planning to return home unemployed.

Before she boarded a plane to return to Kansas on Saturday, May 2, Williams was told some other teams might be interested in bringing her to their camp. By the time her plane landed in Kansas City, the Phoenix team was working to claim Williams off the waiver wire.

Williams barely had time to drop off the Portland Fire sweats and T-shirts at home and do a load of laundry before she was off again on Sunday, this time to Arizona.

The Mercury coaches were scrambling to replace a recently injured player and waiting for a couple of others to come back to the United States from overseas commitments. Williams filled the void, trying to quickly learn new plays and new terminology, not to mention the names of her teammates.

When it came time for final cuts to be made to the Phoenix roster, Williams was summoned to the office of the Mercury general manager. The feeling was eerily familiar. But this time, she was told that she had made the cut.

“He said it in a nonchalant way, and I had to clarify, like ‘Really?’ He said ‘Yes, you’re on the team,’” Williams recalled. “My reaction to it was that I’d only been there for three days of practice, getting used to this system and new people, so it’s not my best basketball yet. So, I’m appreciative of the grace they’ve allowed me in this time of transition. It was excitement and a little bit of shock for sure.”

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Hayden soccer fought back from a 3-1 halftime deficit to remain undefeated with a 5-3 win over Seaman on the Wildcats' Senior Night.

 

The Wildcats and Vikings were both undefeated entering Friday's match and Hayden was able to move to 14-0-0 while celebrating the 10 seniors on their roster.

Hayden senior Carsyn Broxterman (4), who registered a three-goal hat trick, celebrates Friday's 5-3 Senior Night win over Seaman. [Photo by Vince Lovergine/TSN]

Hayden had allowed just four goals through its first 13 matches with 10 shutouts, but gave up three goals in the first half to the Vikings.

After Sawyer Wrench scored Hayden's lone goal in the half off a Grace Funk corner kick, the Wildcats scored three goals in a span of 9:05 to lead 4-3, two of them coming from senior Carsyn Broxterman.

Broxterman would add the hat trick deep inside the box after Seaman missed a clearing attempt and Broxterman was right there to tap it in with 24:04 left in the match.

“She's just amazing,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said of Broxterman. "Her work ethic starts with practice and she does the same thing at practice and she elevates her teammates and when she gets the ball.

 

"She kind of sets things in motion and then she puts pressure on the other team and sometimes they have to react.''

Freshman Emma Slyter got the assist on Broxterman's first goal and Slyter also scored a goal off a Funk assist to tie the game at 3-3 with 34:17 remaining.

Seaman certainly had its chances on the offensive side to trim the deficit but could not get anything else past senior goalkeeper Lauren Borjon, who played the second half for the Wildcats.

“We started out slowly, we kind of got in a hole and I think we collected our wits at halftime and to give them credit, they came back. I mean we played a good team, but we're a good team, too, I'm surprised.''

 A dog fight was the perfect way to describe Friday's match in Kreutzer’s eyes.

“They're kind of our rivals in other sports as well and not having lost a game was a little motivation for us as well,” he said.

 

Seaman dropped to 11-1-2 on the campaign.

The Vikings will play at home on Tuesday against Leavenworth while Hayden will play at Emporia. 

 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural rode its dominance in the distance events and superior depth to a sweep of the team titles in Friday's Joe Schrag City Championship at Hummer Sports Park.

Rural posted a total of 16 event wins on the night (eight girls, eight boys) and had top-three finishes in 25 events (13 girls,12 boys) en route to a 216-135.5 win over Silver Lake for the Junior Blue girls and a 200-131 victory over the Eagle boys in the team standings.

Washburn Rural track had eight individual wins and 12 top-three finishes en route to the boys city championship Friday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural track and field had eight individual wins and 12 top-three finishes en route to the boys city championship Friday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"This is definitely the beginning of postseason and we want to perform well here at the city meet,'' Rural coach Keith Wetzel said. "We like to keep the city trophies in our case and use that to propel us into league and regional and state.

"We put an emphasis on this meet. We want to be the best in the city and we make it a goal that we want to continue to have success at this meet.''

Highlights for the Rural boys included a sweep of all three relays, along with wins in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters and second and third-place finishes in the 800.

Washburn Rural senior Brooks Kehoe won two gold medals and also posted a third-place finish in Friday's city meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Rural senior Brooks Kehoe won the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes, 26.64 seconds, teamed with Jackson Svaty, Everett Un and Christian Hartman-Babb to win the 4x400 relay (3:23.02) and posted a third-place finish in the 800 (2:00.51).

Hartman-Babb, a junior, won the 100-meter dash in 10.55 seconds before teaming with Paxton Johnson, Caleb Schwartz and Carter Frost to win the 4x100 (43.17) and ending the meet with the 4x400 victory.

Sophomore Henry Laubach won the city title in the 3,200 meters for team-champion Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Sophomore Henry Laubach turned in a dominating win in the 3,200 (9:32.10) while the Junior Blues also got wins from Luke Deering in the pole vault (11 feet, 6 inches), Zachary Hancock in the discus (153-0) and the team of Everett Un, Wesley Meek, Julius Wood-Nichols and Eli Replogle in the 4x800 (8:36.89).

Senior Emily Graf won the 1,600 and 800-meter runs in Friday's city track and field meet as Washburn Rural's girls won the team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]  

On the girls side, Rural got a pair of individual wins from senior Emily Graf and junior Kailyn Petersen, with Graf winning the 1,600 (5:13.49) and the 800 (2:25.28) and Petersen winning the shot put (34-2) and discus (123-8) titles.

Rural's girls swept the throws and the distance races, with senior Morgan Ray winning the javelin title with a throw of 142-8 and senior Kenzie Maddox winning the 3,200 in 11:26.03.

The Junior Blues also picked up a win in the 4x800 relay (10:32.31) from the foursome of Quinn Nolte, Payton Rice, Morgan Munson and Clara Dillon while Natalie Ferguson finished first in the pole vault (8-0).

"It has been a solid day,'' Wetzel said. "We have some injuries so we've asked some people to step in, to fill in, to step up and we've been fortunate that they've done that for the most part and some young kids, both boys and girls have stepped in and given us a boost.''

Other top performances: 

• Silver Lake, the smallest school in the field, turned in solid runnerup team finishes in both the girls and boys divisions.

The Eagle girls picked up three event wins and 11 top-three finishes while the Lake boys won a pair of events and placed top three in 13 of 18 events.

Silver Lake's Ali Gerber crosses the finish line for the win in the girls 4x400-meter relay in Friday's city meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Ali Gerber won the girls triple jump for the second straight season (34-10.25) and teamed with Kinley Weber, Jaiden Wise and Jaylie Whitehead for a win in the 4x400 relay (4:09.56), with Gerber running the anchor leg.

Addy Just notched the third win of the day for the Silver Lake girls in the long jump (16-9.25) while the boys got wins from Joel Miller in the 200 (22.65) and Bryson Burgos in the triple jump (40-7.50).

 • Keimari Marshall and Marchayla White were both double individual champions for Topeka High's girls while Marshall also added a relay victory in her final city meet.

Marshall won the 100 (12.57) and 400 (59.07) and also ran on the Trojans' winning 4x100 relay (49.60) along with Kaeanna Copeland, Jayana Washington and Ciera Hartz.

White swept the girls hurdles titles, winning the 100-meter event in 17.74 seconds and the 300s in 51.34.

Seaman freshman Baylee Ayres cleared a personal-record 5-foot-5 to win the girls high jump in Friday's city meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

• Seaman freshman Baylee Ayres made an impressive city meet debut, winning the girls high jump with a personal-record jump of 5 feet, 5 inches, winning the event by five inches.

Seaman senior Brody Anderson won the city title in the boys 800 meters by six seconds in 1:53.65 Friday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

• Brody Anderson continued his outstanding senior season for the Seaman boys, winning the 800 by more than six seconds in 1:53.65.

The Vikings also got victories from Kellan Parcaro in the 300 hurdles (43.14) and Jack Esser in the high jump (6-4).

• Other individual winners included Highland Park's Jurnee Cole in the girls 200 (26.32) and Rayshon Pollard in the boys long jump (20-5.25), Shawnee Heights' Jason Slay in the boys 400 (49.89), Heights' Amir Bass in the boys shot put (47-11), Hayden's Kelton Meier in the boys javelin (186-8) and Topeka High's De'sean Lunkins in the boys 110 hurdles (15.85).

JOE SCHRAG CITY CHAMPIONSHIP

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