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Undefeated Ichabod men's basketball proud to be on the brink of No. 1 spot in national rankings
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Barring some anomalies in the voting, when the National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25 is released on Tuesday, the Washburn University men's basketball team will be in the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II national rankings.
Brett Ballard's Washburn Ichabods, off to a perfect 15-0 start, are expected to move up to the No. 1 spot in the national ranking on Tuesday. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Michael Keegan has helped Washburn get off to a dominating 15-0 start with just one single-digit game. [File photo/TSN]
And while the ultimate goal for the Ichabods is to be in the top spot at the end of the season, WU coach Brett Ballard wants his team to be proud of the coveted honor.
"I think it's a big deal,'' Ballard said after Saturday's 96-66 romp past perennial power Northwest Missouri State, a four-time Division II national champion. "If we do get that -- and if we don't it's OK -- I think it's a testament to the guys we have now, it's what we've tried to build, and I think it's a testament to our former players and the foundation that they've established and the culture that they established with the program, to our assistants and everybody involved with Washburn.
"To be No. 1 potentially out of over 300 Division II teams, that's a big deal to me.''
WU senior standout Andrew Orr agreed.
"It's special,'' Orr said. "There's 300 and some Division II teams and to be ranked No. 1 is amazing. And we deserve it, if I'm being honest. We play really hard, we're really good and I don't see why we wouldn't be No. 1.''
Weekend prep roundup: Spader notches 100th win as Rural wrestling rolls to Seaman team crown
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Two-time defending state champion Washburn Rural girls wrestling rolled up 388.5 points Saturday en route to the team title in the 12-school Lady Vikes Invitational at Seaman.
Molly Spader (middle) reached the 100-win milestone Saturday as Washburn Rural captured the team title in the Lady Vikes Invitational at Seaman. [Washburn Rural wrestling]
Rural easily out-distanced runnerup Gardner-Edgerton, which had 198 points, while Hays finished third as a team (178) and host Seaman fourth (157.5).
Junior Blue senior star Molly Spader won the 105-pound title while reaching the 100-win milestone for her career while Rural also got individual championships from 120-pound junior Lacey Middleton, 140-pound junior Madison Blanco, 145-pound junior Madison Blanco, 155-pound senior Ashley Schwarz, 170-pound junior Elia Smith and 235-pound sophomore Eve Luea.
Spader, a state runnerup last season, improved to 18-2 with a 1:26 pin over Lansing freshman Baylee Baragary in the 105 final.
Middleton (18-3) out-dueled Seaman senior star Taylie Heston (12-2) in the 120 final, taking an 8-4 decision.
M. Blanco (15-2) won with a 5:21 pin, while E. Blanco (17-4) clinched her title with a 3:40 pin, Schwarz (16-4) took a 15-0 technical fall, Smith (15-4) needed just 11 seconds for a win by fall in her final and Luea (11-3) recorded her fourth pin of the day, which all came in the first period.
Rural also got second-place finishes from senior Maddy Blow (110), senior Annie Gallegos (125), sophomore Leah MacPherson (155) and freshman Janiah Matthie-Johnson (190).
In addition to Heston's runnerup finish, Seaman also got second-place finishes from senior Natalie Smith (110) and freshman Hollister Olson-Thomas (130).
Shawnee Heights' girls earned the team title in the T-Birds' home invitational. [Shawnee Heights wrestling]
Heights girls claim crown in home invite
Shawnee Heights' girls wrestling team claimed a 49-point team championship in Saturday's Shawnee Heights Girls Invitational, with the T-Birds earning five individual titles.
Heights, which won the team crown by a 209-160 margin over Spring Hill, got wins from 120-pound sophomore Audrey Hinkly, senior Reece Taylor (125), senior Isabel Reyes (130), senior Madison Freeland (140) and junior Cianna Graves (155).
Hinkly won her title with a 1:01 win by fall over Hayden junior Katie Mead, while Taylor won with her fourth first-period pin of the the tournament and Reyes, Freeland and Graves also clinched titles with first-period pins.
Santa Fe Trail finished third as a team with 140.5 points, getting individual wins from junior Audrey Johnson-Wood (105), sophomore Makenzie Roberts (110), sophomore Sydnee Sleichter (115) and junior Morgan Pickering (135).
Mead, now 9-3 on the season, led Hayden to an eighth-place team finish with her second-place finish while sophomore Lilly Charvat (115) posted a fourth-place showing.
Shawnee Heights got runnerup individual finishes from freshman Ava Gutierrez (100), junior Olivia Stevens (145), sophomore Brooklyn Binkley (170) and junior Shelby Watson (190).
Four city wrestlers claim titles at Heights
Host Shawnee Heights and Hayden combined to capture four individual championships in the Heights Invitational on Saturday.
The T-Birds, who finished third as a team, got wins from 150-pounder Gavin Hartman and 165-pounder Kael Westgate while fourth-place Hayden got victories from Jude Krentz at 175 pounds and Broderick Desch at 190.
Hartman posted four first-period pins on the day in 31 seconds, 1:05, 35 seconds and 1:15 while Westgate posted a pair of pins and Krentz and Desch went 3-0 with three pins apiece.
The T-Birds got runnerup finishes from Jacob Reyes (113), Brody Brown (138) and Carson Anderson (144) while Hayden got a second-place finish from Caleb Menke (157).
Spring Hill won the team title with 200 points, followed by Santa Fe Trail (186), Shawnee Heights (168.5) and Hayden (96.5).
The Chargers, coached by former Shawnee Heights state champ Tyler Gonzales, got individual wins from Tanner Bolt (106), Tanner Sleichter (120), Drake Kirby (126), Blake Slavin (132) and Atticus Guenther (138).
Washburn women fall in OT to Northwest Missouri, 66-61
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball came out on the wrong end of its first overtime game of the season on Saturday as the Ichabods fell 66-61 to Northwest Missouri State in Lee Arena.
Despite fighting foul problems and attempting 14 fewer free throws than the visiting Bearcats, Washburn extended the game to an extra session but couldn't keep up with Northwest in the five-minute period.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah led Washburn with 11 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 66-61 overtime loss to Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Bearcats scored the first five points of overtime to lead 62-57 with 3:16 left. Washburn pulled within three after Gabi Giovannetti hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining in OT, but that was all it could muster as Northwest Missouri put the game at the way at the free throw line to post the five-point win.
"That was frustrating,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We felt like the ball was where we wanted it to go and it just didn't fall tonight and that's tough.
"But at the same time I thought we lost the game defensively by just not adjusting to some tighter officiating and we lost the game on the free throw line.''
Through the first six minutes of play Washburn (8-8 overall, 2-4 MIAA) jumped out to a 12-6 lead with half of the points coming from junior Payton Sterk.
Junior Amaya Davison knocked down a triple to move the lead up to seven points at the 2:26 mark in the opening quarter.
The Bearcats (9-7, 2-4) were held to just 2-7 shooting in the frame as the Ichabods built a 15-10 lead.
Northwest Missouri bounced back offensively with two made 3-pointers to begin the second quarter and tied the game at 18 on a layup.
Two more connections from deep from the Bearcats quickly put them up by six as they went 5-8 from 3-point range in the quarter.
Washburn settled in on defense, keeping Northwest Missouri off the board for nearly four minutes as they went on an 8-0 run to take the lead. The advantage changed once more before the half and flipped back to the Ichabods after junior Aniyah Wayne sank a 3-pointer to go up 31-29 at the break.
