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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Washburn University volleyball will continue to dance in the NCAA Tournament after knocking off No. 5 nationally ranked Nebraska-Kearney in five sets on Thursday in a Central Region quarterfinal.
No. 6 seed Washburn volleyball celebrates its final point in Thursday's five-set NCAA tournament win over No. 3 Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn's bench takes the court to celebrate Thursday's win over Nebraska-Kearney with its teammates. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will face either Central Oklahoma or Southwest Minnesota State at 4 p.m. on Friday in the Central Region semifinals.
Thursday's win was WU's first of the season over Nebraska-Kearney after two regular-season losses to the Lopers, with the Ichabods taking a 20-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13 decision.
"It was fun, wasn't it,'' veteran Washburn coach Chris Herron said in the post-match press conference. "I'm sure it was fun if you were sitting in the stands, but I'm up here shaking.
"We played them that way last time, too. Last time we lost in five, 15-12, so I'm very excited for my team.''
The first set went in the 30-3 Lopers' favor, 25-20, before 21-7 Washburn flipped the score in the second to even the match.
Nebraska Kearney went back up, winning 25-21 in the third set, but the Ichabods forced a fifth set with a 25-18 win in the fourth.
After trailing 7-1 to begin the final set Washburn rallied to win 15-13 and knock off UNK.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Thirty-one Washburn Rural and Topeka High football players have received All-Centennial League recognition, including nine first-team selections.
Washburn Rural senior Lafayette Thompson earned All-Centennial League first-team honors at both wide receiver and returner. [File photo/TSN]
Rural is represented on the first team by senior Lafayette Thompson, who made the team at wide receiver and returner along with senior offensive linemen Caden Estrada and Jacob Hawks, senior defensive lineman Baron Blankenship, senior linebacker Connor Danielson, senior defensive back Kingston Leonard and junior offensive back TJ Minikwu.
Senior running back Tevante Ewing (25) earned All-Centennial League first-team honors for Topeka High. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High put senior offensive back Tevante Ewing and junior Malichi Murph on the first team.
Trojan senior Jayden Norman received all-league recognition at three positions, receiving second-team honors at wide receiver and kicker and honorable mention at punter.
2024 ALL-CENTENNIAL LEAGUE FOOTBALL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When Washburn Rural had a vacancy for a girls swimming coach back in 2020, veteran coach Bob Burdick stepped in for the Junior Blues.
Senior Luke Lemke (front) led Washburn Rural to a third-place team finish in Wednesday's 11-school Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
This winter is deja vu all over again for Burdick, who took over the reins of the Rural boys program after Janson Garman stepped down.
"He graduated from college and got a job,'' Burdick said. "I hoped Janson would stay because he had a lot of energy and he's a young coach and I want to see these young coaches move up because people like me, we're going to be retiring. But he just couldn't do it.''
Burdick had put together a long coaching career in Missouri before retiring in that state and moving over to Washburn Rural, where he teaches history and eventually took on the girls coaching position.
And as fate would have it, the timing worked out perfectly this winter for Burdick to take on the added responsibility of coaching both Rural teams.
"About two or three years ago I told our athletic director (Charlie Nimz) that I couldn't do this (coach the boys) because I used to coach the boys and the girls back in Missouri and when I took the girls my wife said, 'Promise me you're not going to take the boys until our last son's in college,' '' Burdick said.
"Well, he's at K-State now, so she said, 'You can do whatever the heck you want with swimming now, so enjoy.' Charlie came to me and said, 'Are you going to do this?' And I was like, 'Yes, I'm going to do it,' so that's how it all went down.''
Burdick's Washburn Rural boys team made its debut in Wednesday's 11-school Topeka West Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium, posting a third-place finish.
"I'm enjoying it,'' Burdick said. "I love swimming, so I enjoy watching these guys swim, I enjoy the races. We had a lot of surprises tonight for our team and there's a lot of great teams out here and I love seeing all the other coaches.
"This has been a great start and it was getting the bugs out for everybody.''
Washburn Rural suffered heavy graduation losses, including state champions Brogan Meier and Jack Miranda, off last year's team that tied for third in Class 6A, but Burdick said the team is coming around.
"It's going to take awhile, but we can see it on the horizon,'' he said.
Luke Lemke led Rural in Wednesday's opener, placing second in the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 10.90 seconds) and the 100 backstroke (58.98) while also swimming on the Junior Blues' third-place 200 medley relay (1:49.96) and fourth-place 400 free relay (3:40.96).
Lemke teamed with Castle Wallace, Alexander Lanterman and Andres Morao-Jaspe on the 200 medley relay and with Morao-Jaspe, Thomas Appuhn and Joseph Jensen on the 400 free relay.
Rural's foursome of Wallace, Ethan Overbey, Lanterman and Jensen posted a third-place finish in the 200 free relay (1:42.93) while Wallace finished third in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.19).
Topeka High's Dawson Blankenship posted a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly in Wednesday's 11-school Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka High finished sixth as a team, led by Dominic Delgado (209.65) and Malichi Delgado (166.70), who went one-two in one-meter diving. The Trojans also got a third-place finish from Dawson Blankenship in the 100 butterfly (1:00.40).
Shawnee Heights senior Truman Brede posted a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights' Evan Hoobler finished third in the 100-yard freestyle in the Topeka West Invitational on Wednesday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights got a third-place finish from Truman Brede in the 200 freestyle (2:02.51) and a third from Evan Hoobler in the 100 free (53.02).
TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball coach Lora Westling knows that her Ichabods face a tough challenge this weekend and beyond in the always tough MIAA.
But Westling also feels like a four-game winning streak, all by 22 or more points, has her team ready for the task ahead, beginning with Thursday's 5:30 p.m. game at Nebraska-Kearney followed by a 2 p.m. Saturday contest at Fort Hays State.
"This is a tough trip, I would argue one of the toughtest trips in the league, but I think this team is ready for it,'' Westling said. "We've got to see where we're at, so I'm excited to get them out there and get them back on the road with their heads up and see if we can do a little damage.''
Junior Gabi Giovannetti led three double-figure scorers for Washburn with 19 points last Saturday as the Ichabods posted their fourth straight victory, 98-65 over Sterling. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Veterans Yibari Nwidadah, Payton Sterk and Gabi Giovannetti have been solid over the first eight games of the season for the 4-4 Ichabods.
But Westling also feels like some of her younger players and newcomers have made big strides, particularly in last Saturday's 98-65 home win over Sterling, for a Washburn team that does not have a senior on its roster.
"I was proud of some of those freshmen that came in,'' Westling said. "Lauren Luebbert's doing a really good job of just doing what we're asking her to do. Willow (Gideon) has just got to find her confidence because she's a really good player and I thought when our point guards were going a little wild (junior transfer) Emajin (McCallop) did a good job of coming down and kind of calming us down.
"That's what a good team has, role players who are going to do their job, and I thought ours did a good job (Saturday).''
Nwidadah leads the Ichabods a with 17.3 scoring average while also shooting a team-high 70.2 percent from the field and grabbing a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game. The junior has shot over 50.0 percent in every game this season and has two double-doubles. She is third in the nation and first in the MIAA in field goal percentage.
Sterk, a junior transfer from Cal State East Bay is averaging 16.4 points and is shooting 43.0 percent from the floor and a team-high 40.8 percent from 3-point range while dishing out a team-high 2.9 assists per game and hitting a team-high 20 3-pointers, 15 in the last four games.
Giovannetti is averaging 13.1 points while shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and 100.0 percent at the free throw line. The junior is second on the team with 16 made triples and has scored at least nine points in four straight games.
Giovannetti led the way with 19 points against Sterling on 8-12 shooting while adding three steals and a block on the defensive end while Sterk scored 18 points, shooting 4-9 from deep, and Nwidadah had 15 points on 6-8 shooting with eight rebounds. Madelyn Amekporfor and freshman Brooke Gomez each chipped in nine points.
Nebraska-Kearney has won its last two games and enters MIAA play with a 6-2 record after defeating Chadron State 86-59 on the road last Saturday.
Meg Burns leads the Lopers with a 12.4 scoring average while hitting 22 3-pointers.
Samantha Moor is averaging 6.9 rebounds while also scoring 11.4 points.
Washburn will continue MIAA play on the road on Saturday against Fort Hays State.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When Andrew Orr first stepped on the basketball court for Washburn University in 2021, his career goals were pretty simple.
"I wanted to play, I wanted to be a contributor,'' Orr said. "It was really about having a good college experience when I first came here and basketball was a bonus.''
Washburn senior Andrew Orr scored 14 points in Saturday's 82-56 win over Peru State and is on the verge of becoming the 28th member of the Ichabods' 1,000-point club. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Fast forward to his senior season for the Ichabods and the 6-foot-8 frontliner is just nine points away from becoming 28th member of the Ichabods' coveted 1,000 point club entering Thursday's 7:30 p.m. MAA opener at Nebraska-Kearney.
"I was just happy I was getting to come here, so to be even close to something like that is more than a dream, it's awesome,'' Orr said.
Obviously, Orr's main focus is on doing whatever he can to help the 7-0 and No. 3-ranked Ichabods continue their success and the former Blue Valley North Class 6A state champ said the 1,000-point club is probably something he'll appreciate down the road after his playing days are done.
"One of my friends was talking to me about this the other day and it's like you don't realize how good something is until it's already happened,'' Orr said. "So I'm going to try to appreciate it when it happens, hopefully the next game or two, but I think I'll definitely appreciate it more when I come back here when I'm older and I'm watching Washburn play and I can undertand that I was part of that culture and part of that legacy.''
Washburn coach Brett Ballard said that reaching the 1,000-point milestone will be a great accomplishment for Orr.
"You score 1,000 points in college in four years and that says you've been very good, and he didn't really play much his freshman year,'' Ballard said. "I knew what his family was about, I knew he was well-coached in high school, I knew he was a great kid with a great motor and those young men usually figure it out. Not always, but usually, so I thought he could be very solid for us.
"You always hope they take that jump and he's continued to work and his body has really filled out so physically he's gotten better and he's just an every day guy with a great attitude.''
Washburn senior Andrew Orr (24) enters Thursday's game at Nebraska-Kearney with 991 career points after scoring 14 points in the Ichabods' 82-56 win over Peru State Saturday [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Ichabods are coming off an 82-56 non-conference win over Peru State last Saturday and continue to be ranked No. 3 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25 poll and fourth in the latest D2CIDA poll.
