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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Sonia Smagina loved her four years at the University of Kansas and the teammates and coaches she had with the Jayhawks.
But with one year of eligibility remaining, the native of Penza, Russia decided it was time for a change, transferring to Washburn University for her final season.
It's a move that's already paid dividends for Smagina and the Ichabod program.
"I was at Kansas for four years, but my second year COVID happened and the NCAA gave us a chance to compete another year,'' Smagina said. "I felt like it was time for me to go and do something different.
"It was so tough (at KU) that there's no time for yourself . Basically you think about only your team and how the team is doing and there's no time to think about what you want from life, so I decided to go somewhere where it wasn't going to be that much of tennis matches and practice to figure out what I want to do with my life.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Last Saturday will always be a special memory for Washburn senior quarterback Jared Taylor and his entire family.
Taylor came off the bench in the fourth quarter after Ichabod starter Kellen Simoncic went down with a season-ending shoulder injury, engineering the Ichabods' game-winning drive as Washburn rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to take a 21-17 MIAA victory over Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Okla.
At the same time, Jared's father, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor, was in Manhattan watching the Wildcats dismantle nationally-ranked Oklahoma State, 48-0.
Jared's mother, Cathy, was in Tahlequah to watch what turned out to be a memorable day for her son while keeping Gene and Jared's sister, Casey, apprised of what was going on in the WU-Northeastern State game.
"My mom made the trip,'' Jared said. "I had told her early in the week, 'Mom, it's a long drive, and Oklahoma State's coming to town and it's a big game,' and she was like, 'You know, if you get in and play this game and I don't make the trip I'm really going to kick myself.'
"So she was sitting in the stands cheering me on while I got in and was texting everybody back home. My dad and sister were watching the (K-State) game in the suite and had my game pulled up. It was a pretty cool moment watching K-State beat Oklahoma State at home and watching me get to come in for the fourth quarter of our game.''
And as soon as both games ended Jared got a special call from his father.
"He was the first phone call I got right after the game was over, which was really cool because it was a big win for him and their football team and he was just so excited for us and me,'' Jared Taylor said. "It was a pretty emotional call from dad, so that was cool.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Rossville junior football standout Camden Horak and Washburn Rural state-champion junior volleyball standouts Zoe Canfield and Jada Ingram have been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Rising Stars of the Week for last week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the 2022-2023 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Horak, Canfield and Ingram last week:
CAMDEN HORAK, Rossville
A junior quarterback, Horak had a hand in four touchdowns last Friday night as Rossville, the two-time defending Class 2A state champs, routed Minneapolis 57-6 to advance to the second round of the state playoffs.
Horak passed for three touchdowns and also ran for a TD as Rossville improved to 5-4 on the season.
Horak threw for a 14-yard touchown to senior Braiden Hensley and 33-yard and 30-yard TDs to senior Ayron Klesath. Horak also scored on a 3-yard run and now has passed for 1,144 yards and ran for 844 yards on the season.
ZOE CANFIELD and JADA INGRAM, Washburn Rural
Canfield and Ingram, both juniors, helped lead Washburn Rural's volleyball team to its eighth Class 6A state championship and first since 2012 last Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
Canfield and Ingram helped the Junior Blues go 5-0 on the weekend, all in straight-set victories, capped by a 25-21, 26-24 win over Blue Valley in the state championship match, with Rural finishing off a 45-1 record with its 44th straight victory.
Canfield and Ingram, who played in their third straight state volleyball tournament, also helped the Junior Blues win the 6A state baketball title last season.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's soccer team lost its head coach midway through the second half of Tuesday's Class 6A quarterfinal against Derby, but not the game, with the Juniors advancing to the state semifinals for the third straight season with a 3-2 win at McElroy Field.
The Junior Blues, who improved to 16-3-0, trailed 1-0 after an early penalty kick and had to protect a slim one-goal advantage over the final 26:33, but got the job done, moving on to a Friday 6A semifinal at Wichita's Stryker Field.
The game included multiple yellow cards and a rare red-card ejection for veteran Junior Blues coach Brian Hensyel, who picked up yellow and red cards in rapid-fire succession with 22:49 remaining while attempting to discuss an official's decision.
Longtime assistant David Chooncharoen guided the Junior Blues the rest of the game, with Rural able to hold on for the win.
Chooncharoen, Rural's junior varsity coach and a longtime assistant, said he wasn't nervous about taking over the team down the stretch.
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By JOSH ROUSE
Special to TopSports.news
Topeka anglers Nick and Kyle Herrman followed up their season-opening win on Wilson Reservoir earlier in the month with a top-five finish during the second of two Kansas BASS Nation high school tournaments this past weekend on Milford Reservoir.
The twins posted 4.72 pounds of fish Sunday, Oct. 30, to finish fourth in their second tournament, which was the fourth overall tournament in the high school division this season.
"We were throwing a different bait than the other teams and were catching fish behind boats," Kyle Herrman said. "We would also mix in a drop shot when we weren’t getting bit. We managed to catch one keeper in about three to five feet of water, and our best keeper came in less than one-and-a-half feet of water. What didn’t go as planned was the size of the fish we would catch. Usually in the area we were fishing, when we caught a fish, it was a pretty good one."
Circle’s Trevor Cowman and Cooper Chadwell won the tournament with 7.46 pounds, followed by Buhler’s Evan Goering and Reid Stubbs in second place with 5.77 pounds. Hanover’s Maxwell Sawin and Brandt Beikmann took third place Sunday with 4.77 pounds, narrowly edging the Herrman twins out of the top three. Kickback Club’s Gavin Essex and Hayden Seume rounded out the top five Sunday with 4.45 pounds.
But the big bag of the weekend came the day before.
The Basehor-Linwood Bobcat Bass team of Cydney and Colton Hutchinson won the weekend’s first high school event on Saturday, Oct. 29, posting a 15.51-pound bag with a big fish of 4.21 pounds to blow the other competition out of the water. Manhattan’s Jacob Harmon and Isaac Lopez took second place with 4.48 pounds, followed by Kickback’s Philip Cooper and Leo Cain with 4.35. The fourth-place Bobcat Bass team of Joey Batesal and Agustaf Ulreich caught just one fish, but it was the second-largest fish of the day at 2.55 pounds. Sawin and Beikmann had similar luck, netting a 2.40-pounder for fifth place.
The Herrmans currently sit in second place in the Opens Division Angler of the Year standings with 19.39 points, trailing only Louisburg's Lucas Sheafer (23.38). The Hutchinsons are in third place with 17.44 points, followed by Kickback's Cale Harlan and Derek Landis in fourth with 17.01 and Buhler's Drew Stivers and Logan Snyder in fifth with 16.95.
"It feels pretty good to have a good start to the season," Nick Herrman said. "We have put in a lot of effort for the two tournaments we have had so far, and it's nice that our hard work has paid off. We will need to stay patient in the spring tournaments and we need to start throwing what we plan on throwing in the tournament now so we can gain confidence in those baits and techniques."
In the West Division AOY standings, Welch and Coughlin lead the way with 20.76 points, followed by Sawin and Beikmann with 17.94 for second place. Rounding out the top five are Circle's Brooks Clevenger and Hal Leep with 16.46, Cowman and Chadwell with 14.28 and Essex/Seume with 14.07.
The KBN youth fishing season is on hiatus now through the winter break and will pick back up in the spring, with tournaments April 1 and 2 on Melvern Lake. The anglers will then head to Perry Lake to wrap up the regular season with tournaments April 29 and 30, with the two-day state championship June 1-2 on La Cygne.
JUNIORS
In the juniors division, Kickback’s Sam Keely and Braydyn Stubenrauch scored back-to-back victories on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the pair won narrowly, weighing one fish for 2.38 pounds to top Wheat State Anglers’ Caleb and Isaac Toubia, who weighed 2.28 pounds. On Sunday, the victory was less narrow, as they weighed 4.81 pounds of fish to outlast the only other team competing in Hanover’s Aysha and Myles Wolfgang. The Wolfgangs were runners up despite posting the big fish of the day at 2.47 pounds.