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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

No. 4 nationally-ranked Washburn University soccer faces a pair of tough home tests right off the bat to open the 2026 season.

The Ichabods will open their season against No. 19 Maryville at 6 p.m. on Thursday in Yager Stadium followed by a 1 p.m. Saturday contest in Yager against No. 9 Missouri-St. Louis.  

 No. 4 Washburn soccer will host a pair of nationally-ranked foes on Thursday and Saturday to open its 2026 season. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Ichabod coach Davy Phillips said his team knows that the task ahead is a tough one, but that it's time to get things started.

"We're more than ready for that,'' Phillips said. "I think the scrimmages we had were good prep work, but I think the level of competition is going to be intensified a little bit once these games start.

"Both opponents are really good, too. They're both top-20 in the country and we've opened against this pair of opponents the last two years and I think we're 0-3-1 in those opening two weekends. So for us it gives us a barometer, but also shows what we really need to hone in on as we approach conference.''

Washburn posted a 14-4-6 record last season and advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals whille Maryville went 13-3-6 and advanced to the third round of the national tournament and Missouri-St. Louis went 15-5-2 and fell 3-2 to Washburn in the national quarterfinals.

"I'm super excited about the group that we've got,'' said sophomore goalkeeper Lili Everley, who received All-MIAA honorable mention as a freshman after starting 22 of 24 matches last season. "I feel like we did lose some big pieces, but that our girls this year can step up into those roles. We have a lot of people who are very ready to go and compete.

"We just love being around each other and we love coming in and training every day and I think that will translate on the field and how we move, how we defend and all those things. I'm excited to see how we can build on last year and just maximize our potential as a group.''    

The Ichabods, who were picked first with seven first place votes in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll, return 19 players from last year's Final Four team while adding one transfer and seven freshmen. 

Senior defender Lindsey Maul returns for Washburn after starting in all 22 of her appearances last season. Maul was named All-MIAA first team, USC Central Region first team and D2CCA Central Region second team in 2025.

Ichabod sophomore Leah Henke started in 21 of 23 games last fall while leading the team in goals with 12 and points with 26. Henke's 12 goals in 2025 ranked fourth in program history.

Henke was named to the All-MIAA first team, was named the MIAA freshman of the year, USC Central Region first team and D2CCA Central Region second team in 2025.

Defender Rilyn Snyder is back at Washburn for her senior season after starting in all 24 games last season and leading the team in minutes with 2,078. Snyder scored her first career goal last season and was named to the All-MIAA second team.

Washburn Rural product Kate Hinck started all 24 games as a freshman, recording 1,421 minutes and ranking second on the team with seven goals. Hinck was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team and received All-MIAA honorable mention.

Former Washburn Rural standout Mackinly Rohn, Sam Searcey and Grace Peterson all received All-MIAA third-team recognition last season.

Washburn adds seven freshmen this season -- four Nebraska natives and three Kansans -- including Hayden grad Reese Huscher and Washburn Rural product Dayne Shriver, as well as Baker transfer Avery Young, also a Kansas native.

Lili Everley returns in goal for Washburn soccer after starting 22 of 24 matches as a freshman and earning All-MIAA honorable mention. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Everley, a native of Kansas City, Mo., said she feels that the experience she gained a year ago will help her going into the current season.

"I think that getting the opportunity to have that experience coming in as a freshman really showed me what it means to play college soccer and the pace of college soccer and the demands early on in my career,'' she said. "So I feel a lot more confident and that I can help lead some of our younger girls coming in who are in the same boat that I kind of was.''

Washburn will face Drury in a non-conference game next Wednesday in Yager Stadium.

The Ichabods will open MIAA play on Sept. 26 at Central Oklahoma.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The Jones Project’s executive director, Damon Parker, a two-time state wrestling champion as an athlete and a five-time state champ as a coach, is always looking for new mountains to climb.

So after Parker and the Advisors Excel/The Jones Project team completed the equivalent of a climb to the top of Mount Everest over 36 hours last weekend in Steamboat Springs, Colo., they have already turned the page to the next big project: the launching of The Jones Project’s Leadership Academy, a free eight-week program open to students selected from each of the 10 Shawnee County high schools.

The Jones Project, named in honor of the late Josh Jones, a native Topekan who served as a vice-president at Advisors Excel before passing away in March of 2021, provides free mental health programming to secondary students, providing assistance to students who are struggling while emphasizing the importance of specific mental health interventions already in place at schools.

In its first four years The Jones Project has reached more than 115,000 students from 267 different stages. In 2023 TJP created an endowment for The Jones Family Scholarship, which has since provided scholarships to six  Kansas high school graduates who are studying to become mental health professionals.  

The 29029 climb in Steamboat, Colorado kicked off Year 5.

"It's an event where you start at the base of a mountain and you climb it to the summit and then you ride a gondola back down to the bottom and then you do that over and over and over again,'' Parker said. "This year at Steamboat we had to climb 14 times in 36 hours. If you do that then you've reached the vertical gain of Mount Everest.

"The Jones Project and Advisors Excel has had a team that's worked together on this and done it as a fundraiser every year. This is one of the two big fundraisers that keeps The Jones Project afloat. This year we've really made a push on it so that we can use this campaign to fund The Leadership Academy.''

Parker, who has coached the Rural girls to four state titles and coached the Junior Blues to the 2021 boys championship, has served as the executive director of The Jones Project since its inception after being approached by Advisors Excel co-owner Cody Foster.

"He and I had met several times and when he presented the vision he had for The Jones Project to me, I saw it as an opportunity to still work with young people but to do it on a much larger scale and to be able to help kids that were falling through the cracks.  Many of them were in a truly under-served population,'' Parker said. "And it was like, 'How do you say no to the opportunity to do something like that?' 

"I loved teaching, it was wonderful, and I'm still in education, I just have a bigger classroom now. Every year TJP has evolved and we've become more effective with what we've done. It took awhile to find out where those needs were and exactly what kids needed. It started off with just a mental health and suicide prevention talk, but now we do talks on bullying prevention, student leadership, culture building, you name it.  We’ve talked to athletic teams in the locker room before competitions, strength and conditioning programs, and summer STUCO camps.  Wherever there is a school or student organization that needs a speaker, we can help fill that gap.”  

Parker said the Leadership Academy represents another major step forward.

"If we can take a couple of students from each high school in the Shawnee County area and we can give them real, actionable leadership skills, that is going to instantly impact the organization of which they are a part.  Whether it's the basketball team, the debate team, or the marching band is inconsequential.  We’re helping them improve their building culture because now we're taking those kids and we're teaching them how to bring up those younger kids,'' Parker said.

"And when the younger kids are learning from those older kids they realize, 'This is how you do it, this is how you treat people,’ and then they carry that forward with them throughout their remaining time in high school.”

The Leadership Academy is now taking applications and will begin meeting in mid-September.  

"I'll be reaching out to basically every coaching and A.D. contact in my rolodex saying, 'Hey, we're doing this thing and it's definitely something that you want your kids to be involved in,' '' Parker said.     

"We're going to start taking applications now and then the first week in September is when we're going to announce who is accepted into the program. And then we're going to get it kicked off. We will absolutely be up and rolling with students by mid-September, so they’ll want to get in their applications as soon as possible.  This is the start of something HUGE here in Shawnee County.''

Students can use the website www.TopekaLeadershipAcademy.org to apply.

For more information email Coach Parker at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University athletics has announced its 2026 Hall of Fame class, which will be enshrined on Oct. 9.

The newest inductees include Torrie (Beauchamp) Battle (softball), Corkey Stiger (women's basketball), Joseph Busby (football), Ryan Deutsch (golf) and Doug Hamilton (former golf coach).

Hall of Fame capsules:

Torrie Beauchamp

TORRIE (BEAUCHAMP) BATTLE, softball,1996-1999
Career marks
• .387 career batting average (current 5th / career ending 2nd)
• .443 on base percentage (current 4th/career ending 2nd)
• 201 games played (Current 14th/career ending 2nd)
• 173 runs scored (Current 3rd/career ending 1st)
• 258 hits (Current 2nd/career ending 1st)
• 13 triples (Current T2nd/career ending 2nd)
• 323 total bases (Current 9th / career ending 2nd)
• 66 walks (Current T5th/career ending 1st)
• 87 stolen bases (Current 2nd/career ending 1st)
• 1996 Third Team CoSIDA (CSC) Academic All-America®
• 1998 Second Team CoSIDA (CSC) Academic All-America®
• 1998 First Team CoSIDA (CSC) Academic All-District
• 1996 First Team CoSIDA (CSC) Academic All-District
• 1998 MIAA Scholar Athlete
• 1999 NFCA Second Team All-Region
• 1999 Ichabod Team MVP
• 1999 First Team All-MIAA
• 1998 First Team All-MIAA
• 1997 First Team All-MIAA
• 1996 Honorable Mention All-MIAA
• 1999, 1998, 1997 Academic All-MIAA
• Part of first NCAA Regional qualifying team (1999)

Joseph Busby

JOSEPH BUSBY, football, 1994-98
• Started 41 career games and appeared in 44
• Appeared in the first three games his freshman year before breaking into the starting lineup in the 4th game. He started every game in his career after, excluding part of the 1997 season when he tore his ACL in his knee and missed the remainder of the season.
• 1995 – MIAA Honorable Mention Offensive Line
• 1996 – MIAA 2nd Team Offensive Line
• 1998 – MIAA 1st Team Offensive Line
• 1998 – NCAA DII All-Midwest Region 2nd Team
• 1998 – Snowbowl- Division II All Star Game- Played game with his 2nd ACL Tear. Withdrew name from NFL draft.
• Ichabod Player of the Week – 4 times
• 1998 – Washburn MVP
• 1996 & 1998 Washburn ACE Award Winner
• Deans Honor Roll
• President of the Student Athletic Advisor Committee
• Gave up only one sack in the 1996, 1997 & 1998 seasons.

Corkey Stiger

CORKEY STIGER, women's basketball, 2006-08
• 2006-07 WBCA All-America Honorable Mention
• 2007-08 WBCA All-America Honorable Mention
• Honorable mention WBCA Coaches All-American in 2006-07 and 2007-08, her only two years at Washburn.
• Named the South Central Region MVP as a senior as she helped lead the Lady Blues to the Elite Eight.
• A second team all-MIAA selection and the MIAA tournament MVP as a junior.
• Her 95 three-point field goals made as a senior are the highest single season total in school history as are her 269 three-point field goal attempts.
• Ranks second in school history with 421 three-point field goal attempts and third with 142 made three-point field goals.
• Career scoring average of 15.9 points per game is the seventh best in school history as are her 1.8 steals per contest.
• Her 3.0 assists per game total are the ninth highest total in Washburn history.

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