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By RICK PETERSON JR.

KSHSAA Covered

The Washburn Rural girls soccer team left no stone unturned in prepping for every scenario during its pursuit of the program’s first state title. 

Washburn Rural soccer rushes the field at the end of Saturday's win over Mill Valley in the Class 6A championship game. [Photo by Mac Moore/KSHSAA Covered]

Washburn Rural soccer celebrates Saturday's win over Mill Valley in the Class 6A championship game. [Photo by Mac Moore/KSHSAA Covered]

That included meticulous work on penalty kicks throughout this playoff run. 

 “I learned my lesson about a decade ago,” Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. “Our boys got into a shootout in 2015. We hadn’t practiced penalty kicks at all, and we lost. Every playoff run, boys or girls, for the last 10 years, we do (penalty kicks) every practice.”

So after 100 minutes of scoreless soccer in Saturday’s Class 6A state championship game against Mill Valley at Stryker Sports Complex, Hensyel felt reasonably confident about his team’s chances. 

“It’s random,” Hensyel said of PKs. “But if you have a great goalkeeper, which we do, and you have confident kids who practice it and put in the time, you feel as good as you can in that situation.

 “I told them: ‘Madison Lemke is going to save two. All we have to do is make our shots and this is over.”

 Indeed, Rural was nearly flawless in the shootout, beating Mill Valley 4-1 on penalty kicks to break through for its long-awaited championship with a 1-0 win. 

As Hensyel predicted, Lemke made two saves, and the Junior Blues converted on all four kicks with goals from Dayne Shriver, Kate Hinck, Delaney Hill and Bristol Karr. 

“I come at it with confidence, because there’s no way you’re going to do well without confidence,” Lemke said. “There’s so much adrenaline and I’m trusting my team to do their part. All I can do is just do mine and make some saves.”

“That’s as good as you can do in a shootout,” Hensyel said. “We did a lot of drills to see who’s the most accurate and who hits the most shots, and who wanted to take it – that’s part of the mental aspect. The practice paid off. We picked the right group.”

Washburn Rural senior Madison Lemke comes up with a save in Saturday's win over Mill Valley in the Class 6A championship game. [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]

Washburn Rural senior Bristol Karr scored the game-clinching penalty kick in Saturday's win over Mill Valley in the Class 6A championship game. [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]

Ava Edwards scored on Mill Valley’s first attempt to knot it at 1-1 but Lemke blocked the Jaguars’ next two attempts. Karr’s goal was the clincher. 

“I can just kind of feel where it’s going,” Lemke said. “Once I saved the (second attempt) I was like, ‘Ok, I got this.’ I heard the whole crowd cheering behind me. It’s just amazing to have that much support.”

“Madison is amazing," Rural senior forward Kate Hinck said. “She's out of this world.”

Read more …

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

WICHITA - On Day 1 of the KSHSAA State Track Meet at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium, several local boys competed in preliminary races in an attempt to qualify for the finals on Saturday. There were also some field event finals on Friday.

Qualifiers for Saturday’s Finals

Senior Ben Roeder of Cair Paravel qualified fifth in the Class 2A 400 meters with a time of 50.40 seconds.

Senior Evan Scheid of Silver Lake qualified second in the 3A 200 meters in a time of 22.32 seconds.

Silver Lake’s 4x100-meter relay team (Brandon Rupp, Evan Scheid, Joel Miller and Trent Rollenhagen) qualified fourth in 43.46 seconds.

Seaman senior Bryce Cochran qualified fifth in the 5A 400 meters in a time of 49.04 seconds.

Shawnee Heights senior Liam Benz qualified seventh in the 400 meters with a time of 49.86 seconds.

Washburn Rural senior Braylon Badger qualified fifth in the 300 meter hurdles in a time of 40.40 seconds.

Washburn Rural junior Liam Morrison qualified second in the 110 meter hurdles in a time of 14.64 seconds. He also qualified third in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 40.05 seconds.

Washburn Rural senior Isaiah Terry qualified fourth in the 400 meters in a time of 49.32 seconds.

Washburn Rural junior Draden Chooncharoen competes in the Class 6A 4x400 relay prelims Friday night in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural’s 4x400 meter relay team (Matthew Houser, Liam Morrison, Draden Choonchareon, Isaiah Terry) qualified second with a time of 3:22.61.

Medalists from Friday’s Finals

Seaman senior Peyton Holmes finished sixth in the Class 5A long jump Friday in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman senior Peyton Holmes finished sixth in the 5A long jump with a distance of 22 feet, 1 inch.

Topeka West senior Adrian Lehman finished fifth in Friday's Class 5A 3,200 meters at Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Topeka West senior Adrian Lehman finished fifth in the 6A 3,200 meters with a time of 9:18.60.

Washburn Rural junior Brooks Kehoe finished fifth in Friday's Class 6A 3,200 meters at Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural junior Brooks Kehoe finished fifth in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:20.97.

The remaining events will be contested beginning Saturday morning at 8:30 with the preliminaries for the 100 meters for girls and boys. 

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

WICHITA -- Washburn Rural's boys claimed three state championships to highlight championship Saturday for the Shawnee County contingent in the state track and field championships at Wichita State. 

Washburn Rural celebrates after setting the Class 6A state meet record in the 4x400 relay Saturday night in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural's Matthew Houser, Liam Morrison, Draden Chooncharoen and Isaiah Terry set the Class 6A state meet record in the 4x400 relay Saturday night in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Senior Isaiah Terry won the 400-meter dash, followed by junior Liam Morrison's win in the 300 hurdles and wrapping things up with a record-setting performance by senior Matthew Houser, Morrison, junior Draden Choonchareon and Terry in the 4x400-meter relay.

Terry started Rural's late-meet gold medal haul with his win in the 400 in 47.92 seconds.

Washburn Rural senior Isaiah Terry won the Class 6A state title in the 400-meter dash in 47.92. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"It felt great,'' Terry said. "I switched up my stride a little bit and decided to go back to my roots ... and felt way better. I actually got off fast this time and the rest was history.

''I'm so ectstatic after last year when I absolutely did horrible and got fifth place, the worst day of my life. Ever since sophomore year when I said I would quit cross country and start running track all year around I've been dreaming of moments like this and it feels good for it to come true.''

Washburn Rural junior Liam Morrison (3779) ran on Rural's record-setting Class 6A 4x400 relay after winning the title in the 300 hurdles Saturday in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Morrison followed with the state championship in the 300 hurdles with a time of 37.68. He also finished sixth earlier in the day in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.52.

“I feel great with the (personal record) in the state championship race,'' Morrison said. "The 110 didn’t go as I wanted, but I definitely knew it would be a great opportunity to show that I deserve to be here. I know what I can do and I’m happy that I was able to go out and do it.”

Houser, Morrison, Chooncharoen and Terry then went out and captured Rural's second straight state championship in the 4x400 in a meet record time of 3:16.23. 

"After our league meet at Junction (City) we saw the time we got and we were like, 'We can definitely do this, we can get this record,' '' Chooncharoen said. "My teammates, we push each other every day. Everyone did their part and it was amazing.''

Houser came on board this season as Rural's leadoff runner, joining returners Morrison, Chooncharoen and Terry from the 2024 state winners.

"We've been training all season since the start so we could try to get this record because that was our mindset all year,'' Houser said. "I've been training all summer and winter with Isaiah so I could get better for this exact reason and I guess it helped out at the end.'' 

Saturday's other county medalists:

• Senior Peyton Holmes of Seaman finished second in the Class 5A 100 meters in a time of 10.82 seconds after placing sixth in Friday's long jump.

Seaman senior Peyton Holmes (3767) finished second in the Class 5A 100 dash Saturday in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

“I was really hoping to get first,'' Holmes said. "Second is good and my goal was to get in the top three. I thought I had it for a little bit, but he (Jack Guthridge) is really tough.”

• Seaman junior Brody Anderson finished third in a tough 5A 800 meters field in a time of 1:55.52.

Seaman junior Brody Anderson (3760) posted a third-place finish in the Class 5A 800 meters Saturday in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Anderson battled on the second lap and held on for the third-place finish.

“I don’t think I could have done it if I hadn’t prepared all week with the help of coach (Luke) Wiens,'' Anderson said. "Every rep this week, I simulated the race situation and it set me up to be where I wanted to be today.”

• Senior Bryce Cochran of Seaman finished third in the 5A 400 meters with a time of 48.85.

Seaman senior Bryce Cochran (3763) finished third in the Class 5A 400 while Shawnee Heights senior Liam Benz (3733) was seventh Saturday in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

“I feel awesome and I got a little emotional after the race seeing that all the hard work pay off,'' Cochran said. "To do what I dreamed of after not even making it to state last year, I’m just appreciative of everyone that’s worked with me in the offseason to get me here. I’m just proud of myself.”

• Senior Adrian Lehman of Topeka West finished fourth in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:16.70.

Topeka West senior Adrian Lehman (3785) posted a fourth-place finish and set a West school record in Saturday's Class 5A state meet in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Lehman broke the 50-year-old West school record of 4:17.7 set by Bill Myers in 1975.

"(That's) two school records this season, not bad for only his second season of high school track,'' West coach Donnie Palmer said of Lehman.

Read more …