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By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

On a warm Saturday afternoon and evening, Washburn Rural and Seaman competed in the Olathe Twilight Cross Country meet at the Olathe District Activity Center.

Washburn Rural and Seaman competed against 48 other schools from five states with a total of 10 high school races and two middle school races.

Seaman cross country senior star Brody Anderson captured his second straight individual win of the season Saturday in Olathe. [File photo/TSN]

The junior varsity and varsity were divided into two heats and ran the traditional five kilometer distance. The C team races were run at a 3K distance due to the heat throughout the day.

Washburn Rural's Kenzie Maddox earned an individual medal in Saturday's Twilight event in Olathe. [File photo/TSN]

In the varsity girls race, Washburn Rural finished in ninth place and had one medalist, senior Kenzie Maddox, who finished 16th in a time of 18 minutes, 47.90. Seaman’s lone runner in the race, junior Brynn Spencer, ran a time of 19:50.30 for a 48th-place finish.

In the varsity boys race, Seaman senior Brody Anderson won his second straight race to start the season, finishing in a time of 15:11.40. The Viking team finished in 18th place overall.

This was a race Brody attended last season as a spectator and hoped to compete in his senior year.

“The field was great with some of the best in the state and out of state and I wanted to come out and prove that I could hang with and compete with the best,” Anderson said. 

Anderson made the decision following a false start (one of the runners tripped) to go out and lead from the beginning. “I pushed the pace and it was rough because I ran out of fuel over the last 200 meters. I gutted it out and was fired up and excited to get the win.”

Anderson also recognized that the work in the off season is paying off.

“I had some great people to run with this summer -- Huey Counts from Salina and Coach (Luke) Wiens (Seaman coach) are both great coaches, I owe a lot to them and they’ve helped me.”

Washburn Rural, which finished sixth as a team, was led by sophomore medalist Henry Laubach, who ran 15:32.10 and finished sixth overall.

This week, both schools will be running at the Scott Shufelberger Invitational hosted by Washburn Rural on Saturday morning.

Team Scores & Individual Results

Read more …

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The Hall of Famer is back.

Steve Bushnell, who led one of Kansas' most dominant baseball programs for more than two decades at Seaman, will be back on the field in the spring for his second stint after his hiring was approved by the USD 345 school board last week.

Hall of Fame coach Steve Bushnell has been named Seaman's head baseball coach and will begin his second stint next spring. [File photo/TSN]

Bushnell last coached Seaman in 2019, leading the Vikings to their second straight Class 5A state championship and their ninth state title in his tenure before the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Bushnell moved into the Seaman athletic director's position for four years through 2023-2024 before retiring in the spring of 2024.

"When I left teaching and coaching and decided to go into administration, that was the most difficult decision that I had made to that time as far as my career and that side of it,'' Bushnell told TopSports.news. "It was definitely hard to step away and to go into the A.D.'s position. 

"I learned a lot and had a great time as our athletic director for four years, but I always felt like baseball was part of me and it was always there.''

Trent Oliva stepped down as Seaman's head coach after the 2025 season and Bushnell, a member of six hall of fames, eventually made the decision to pursue the opening.

"I think you're always trying to analyze and see how things fit and I was pretty thorough in that regard,'' Bushnell said. "When it all went down late mid-summer and July, the opportunity to come back was not anything that I ever thought that I would be presented and it was somewhat of a surprise.

"But it definitely was intriguing and I threw my name in and went through the process.''

In his first Seaman stint Bushnell led the Vikings to 18 state tournament appearances, the nine state championships and four runner-up finishes in his 21 seasons.

Bushnell culminated a 401-103 record (.796) which included a record of 42-9 in the state tournament. Seaman won at least 20 games for 10 consecutive years during the Bushnell era.

In 2018 he was named the American Baseball Coaches Association High School Division III National Coach of the Year.

 
 Steve Bushnell was inducted into the Kansas State High School Activities Association Hall of Fame this past spring, one of the six hall of fames he's a member of. [Photo courtesy of KSHSAA Covered]

Bushnell was inducted into the Kansas State High School Activities Association Hall of Fame this past spring and is also a member of the Ban Johnson Baseball, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Emporia State, Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches and the Seaman baseball shrines.

Bushnell said the Vikings will continue to strive to be a state contender moving forward.

Read more …

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Local sports greats Jerad Head, Trey Lewis, Brenda Stolle, Duane Zlatnik and the late Bob Davis will be inducted into the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame on Monday at Washburn University.

The Topeka Area Sports Commission will host the 20th annual Topeka Shawnee County Hall of Fame induction ceremony from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Washburn's Memorial Union.

Head was a multi-sport star at Hayden and Washburn University before embarking on a long career in professional baseball, including a Major League stint with the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians). 

Lewis was a standout at Washburn Rural and earned NCAA Division II All-America honors as a defensive lineman before being drafted by the National Football League's Atlanta Falcons. 

Stolle, a Silver Lake graduate, was a standout pitcher for the Emporia State softball team from 1979-81.  During that time, she guided the Hornets to a national championship in 1980 and a second-place finish in 1981. 

Zlatnik was a star lineman and three-time state wrestling champion at Rossville before becoming a three-year starter in the offensive line for the University of Kansas.

A Topeka West graduate, Davis carved out a legendary broadcasting career, including long stints for the University of Kansas and the Kansas City Royals.

The 2025 Hall of Fame event will feature a luncheon followed by the official program.

Established in 2006, the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame continues its mission to preserve and honor the legacies of those who have significantly advanced athletics in Shawnee County.

Hall of Fame Class of 2025 capsules:

Jerad Head

JERAD HEAD

Head earned All-Class 4A honors in football, basketball and baseball at Hayden and played basketball and baseball at Washburn University before being signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 2006. 

Head was promoted to the majors on August 28, 2011 and played in 10 games as a left fielder and pinch hitter.

Head also played Minor League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers and Washington Nationals organizations before ending his playing career in 2013.

He was named as manager of the Auburn Doubledays of the Class A Short Season New York-Penn League in 2016 and managed through 2018.

Trey Lewis

TREY LEWIS

After graduating from Washburn Rural, Lewis played for the Washburn Ichabod football team from 2003-06 as a defensive lineman and became the first Ichabod to be named to the Associated Press Little All-American team since 1963. Lewis was also named to the American Football Coaches Association All-American team after recording 62 tackles as a senior with 36 solo stops, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.

Lewis finished his career at Washburn with 156 total tackles, including 68 solo stops, 23 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. Lewis was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the 6th round as the 185th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft.

He played from 2007-11 for the Falcons, appearing in 31 games. 

Brenda Stolle

BRENDA STOLLE

A Silver Lake native, Stolle was a standout pitcher for the Emporia State softball team from 1979-81. Stolle led the Hornets to a national championship in 1980 and a second-place finish in 1981.  Her career pitching record was 66-15, and she picked up six saves during her career.

During the 1980 championship season, Stolle compiled an 0.33 earned run average.  She received numerous honors, including all-American honors twice, NAIA most valuable player in 1981, and Kansas Female Athlete of the Year from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Stolle was the first female ever inducted into the Emporia State Athletic Hall of Honor in 1988 and was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Duane Zlatnik

DUANE ZLATNIK

Zlatnik starred in football and wrestling at Rossville before becoming a three-year starter in the offensive line at Kansas.

Zlatnik was a three-time state wrestling champion for the Bulldawgs and finished his career with a 148-13 record and a school-record 110 pins. He was a two-time All-Stater and Kansas Shrine Bowl pick in football.

Zlatnik was an All-Big 12 honoree for the Jayhawks and made 27 consecutive starts at right and left guard.

He is currently an assistant football and wrestling coach at Washburn Rural.

 Bob Davis

BOB DAVIS (Inducted posthumously)

A Topeka West graduate, Davis passed away on March 20 at the age of 80 after a legendary career in sports broadcasting.

Davis was the "Voice of the Jayhawks" for more than 30 years before retiring in 2016. Davis called eight KU trips to the Final Four, six football bowl games, including the 2008 Orange Bowl, and thousands of regular-season basketball and football games. Davis was also on the call for the 1988 and 2008 men's basketball national championship victories. In 1997 Davis joined the Kansas City Royals, calling games for radio and television for the franchise for 16 years.

 A 48-year veteran of broadcasting in the state of Kansas, Davis was born in Iola and grew up in Topeka, where he graduated from West in 1962. Davis stayed in Topeka to attend Washburn, where he graduated in 1967 with a degree in history.

Davis is a member of numerous Halls of Fame, including the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.