Welcome to Top Sports News

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural's Brodye Kocher-Munoz and Hayden's Hailey Schmidtlein were honored Monday night at The Topeka Public Library as the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency 2026 Rising Stars of the year.

Washburn Rural's Brodye Kocher-Munoz and Hayden's Hailey Schmidtlein were named the Dan Key Farmers Agency 2026 Rising Stars of the Year Monday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The two overall winners were picked from five girls and boys finalists chosen from weekly Rising Stars who were selected through the 2025-2026 school year.

Kocher-Munoz, who recently completed his junior year, helped lead Washburn Rural to the Class 6A state soccer championship last fall and posted a third-place state finish in wrestling for the Junior Blues.

Schmidtlein, who recently finished her sophomore year, helped lead Hayden to the 4A state championship in basketball and the 4A-1A state soccer crown Saturday in Wichita while also helping the Wildcats post a runnerup state finish in volleyball last fall.

Washburn Rural's Jadyn Baum and Brodye Kocher-Munoz, Topeka West's Prince Lassiter and Hayden's Mason Becker were boys finalists for the 2026 Dan Key Farmers Insurance Rising Star of the Year award Monday night. Not pictured: Axton Brewer, Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]  

Other boys finalists included Washburn Rural football standout and wrestling state champion Jadyn Baum, Hayden football, basketball and baseball standout Mason Becker, Seaman baseball and basketball standout Axton Brewer and Topeka West basketball and football standout Prince Lassiter.

Baum, Becker, Brewer and Lassiter all recently completed their junior years of high school.

Silver Lake's Karys Deiter, Washburn Rural's Brynn Anderson, Hayden's Hailey Schmidtlein, Topeka High's Hailey Caryl and Shawnee Heights' Olive Jones were girls finalists for the 2026 Dan Key Farmers Insurance Rising Star of the Year award Monday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Other girls finalists included Washburn Rural freshman volleyball, basketball and track and field standout Brynn Anderson, Topeka High tennis, basketball and soccer standout Hailey Caryl, Silver Lake volleyball and basketball state champion/track and field standout Karys Deiter and Shawnee Heights wrestling state champ Olive Jones.  

Caryl, Deiter and Jones recently completed their sophomore seasons while Anderson completed her freshman year.

  

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EMPORIA – Washburn University men's basketball christened the new year in style as the No. 2-ranked Ichabods led for 39:33 of the 40-minute contest and by as many as 33 points, cruising to a 105-77 MIAA road win over Emporia State on Saturday in White Auditorium.

Sophomore Jack Bachelor led six double-figure scorers for Washburn with 19 points as the No. 2-ranked Ichabods rolled to a 105-77 road win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn improved to 13-0 overall and 4-0 in MIAA play and will return to Lee Arena for the first time since Nov. 30 next Wednesday as the Ichabods will host Missouri Western at 7:30 p.m.
 
Washburn jumped out to a 13-3 lead 3:49 into the game behind Jack Bachelor's 11 points, including three-straight 3-pointers.

The Hornets (4-8, 1-3) trimmed the lead back to five at 17-12, but the Ichabods used another 13 to 3 run, doubling up Emporia State with 9:13 to play in the half.

ESU cut the lead to 11 but that margin was the closest the Hornets would get the rest of the game as the Ichabods finished the frame 9 of 11 from the field over the final 7:01 of the half, taking a 56-39 lead into the break.
 
Washburn shot 61 percent in the opening half, paced by 17 points from Washburn Rural product Bachelor and 10 points and eight assists from Jacob Hanna as the Ichabods reached at least 50 points in a half since scoring 52 against William Jewell on Nov. 23, 2024 in Lee Arena.
 
A 12-1 run over a three-minute stretch followed by a 16-7 Ichabod run stretched the Ichabod lead to a game-high 33 with 9:28 to play as Washburn snapped a four-game slide to the Hornets.
 
Bachelor finished with a game-high 19 points and added eight assists, leading six Ichabods in double figures.

Birthday boy Andrew Orr had 16 points as did Hanna, who also had eight assists and six rebounds.

Dillon Claussen had a career-high 15 points on 7 of 7 shooting while Brayden Shorter hit three 3-pointers en route to 11 points with six boards and Brady Christiansen had 11 points as well.
 
Malik Edwards scored 13 points to lead the Hornets.
 
After shooting 61 percent in the first half, the Ichabods improved to 67 percent in the second half, hitting 20 of 30 shots overall to close the game at a season-high 63 percent on 43 of 68 shooting.
 
Washburn outrebounded the Hornets 34 to 25 in the game and tallied 26 assists on 43 baskets in the game. Washburn also outscored the Hornets 58 to 22 in the paint and forced 22 turnovers, leading to 27 points for the Ichabods.
 
The 105 points scored by the Ichabods was the second time Washburn reached the century mark in the 222 previous meetings in the series, topping the old record of 103 set against ESU on Jan. 7, 2004 in Topeka.

The Ichabods just missed setting the largest margin of victory in the series as the Hornets hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left avoiding the record mark of 31 in a 73-42 Ichabod win on Jan. 16, 2010.
 

Details

Created: 04 December 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural junior swimming standout Daniel Allen had a valid reason for sitting out the 2024-2025 high school season.

After a season away from high school swimming, Washburn Rural junior Daniel Allen was a part of three wins in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

But Allen is happy to be back with his Rural teammates this winter, and the Junior Blues are certainly happy to have him.

"I decided to focus on the club career last year to try to get to sectionals and futures, which I made this last summer and just see how far I could get my sophomore year,'' Allen said. "And then this year I'm just doing it (high school) for the guys. This is a lot more fun than club swim and there's a lot more camaraderie on the team since we're all about the same age, and I think that's a good aspect of it.

"We're able to have more fun at the meets. It's not as high intensity (as club), it's more relaxed and there's not as much expectation from you until you get closer to state and league, so I think it's just a good experience overall. I would say all club swimmers should try high school just to feel the different atmosphere.'' 

Allen made his season debut in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium with a pair of individual victories while also helping Rural post a relay victory and a runnerup finish.

Allen won the 200-yard freestyle by more than nine seconds in 1:50.28 and he took a five-second win in the 100 butterfly in 52.82.

Allen also teamed with Castle Wallace, Hunter Kennedy and Joseph Jensen to win the 200 freestyle relay in 136.77 and teamed with Quenten Jessop, Braeden Montgomery and Thomas Appuhn to finish second in the 400 free relay in 3:34.33. 

Washburn Rural's Thomas Appuhn was a double individual winner in Wednesday's season-opening Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural's Castle Wallace (top) and Seaman's Kinser Barbosa finished one-three in the 100-yard breaststroke in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Appuhn and Wallace also had three wins on the day, with Appuhn winning the 200 individual medley (2:07.93) and the 100 backstroke (57.15) and teaming with Wallace, Andres Morao-Jaspe and Quenten Jessop to win the 200 medley relay (1:38.95) while Wallace won the 100 breaststroke (1:07.86) and swam on Rural's winning 200 medley and 200 free relays.

Washburn Rural coach Bob Burdick was thrilled with the Junior Blues' opening day performance as Rural won a meet-best seven events and posted five runnerup finishes and a third on the way to a second-place team finish behind Olathe Northwest (514-501).

"We had a lot of surprises with a lot of younger guys who had really great times and we've got to keep building to the future and not just looking at the present,'' Burdick said. "We had nine young guys who had never swam in a meet and suprised us beyond expectations and our top swimmers did great, even dropped time from where they ended last year, so that is fantastic.

"We had a good solid meet and now we can just keep working and building the team.'' 

Seaman finished fifth with 157 points, led by a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.03) by Kinser Barbosa. 

Topeka High's Will Stewart posted third-place finishes in the 50 freestyle (23.52) and the 100 free (53.35).    

TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL

Read more …