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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After getting through the toughest softball regional in Class 3A to earn a state berth, Silver Lake wants to capitalize on that opportunity in Thursday and Friday's state tournament at the Envista Softball Complex at Lake Shawnee.
Silver Lake softball celebrates its Class 3A regional championship after scoring the winning run in its 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail. [File photo/TSN]
The Eagles punched their ticket to state with a dramatic 1-0 win over Santa Fe Trail in the final of the Hayden regional, with Silver Lake pushing across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a squeeze bunt from senior McKinley Kruger after a triple from junior Kira Lowrey.
Of course, Silver Lake coach Nick Hamilton and his Eagles know there's still tough tests ahead in a 3A field that includes all eight teams with at least 16 victories and six with between 20 and 25 wins.
But Hamilton thinks his Eagles, the No. 4 seed at 22-2, will be ready for the challenge, beginning with Thursday's 1 p.m. first-round game against No. 5 Cheney (19-2).
"All I want is girls that want to compete,'' Hamilton said. "I'm not worried about hanging a banner and I don't think they're worried about it right now. They just want to go prove how good they can be.''
Kruger agreed.
"Being in this regional is going to prepare us for the state tournament, but we're not going to let our guard down because we've had our fair share of long runs in postseason and we don't like to see it end early and we want to win a state championship,'' said Kruger, who helped lead the Eagles to the 3A state basketball championship in March.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Longtime Shawnee Heights baseball coach Ryan Schmidt will end his prep coaching career this week in a very familiar place -- the Class 5A state tournament at Wichita State's Eck Stadium.
"We know the directions down there, we've got those memorized, but what a gift to finish up in Wichita,'' said Schmidt, who is retiring after 25 years as the T-Birds' head coach. "That's really special to me.''
Ryan Schmidt will end his 25-year run as Shawnee Heights' baseball coach in Thursday and Friday's Class 5A state tournament at Wichita. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Schmidt has coached the T-Birds to a pair of Class 5A state championships as Heights' head coach while also having a hand in two other state titles as an assistant under Craig Cox.
Shawnee Heights will enter Schmidt's final state tournaent as the No. 5 seed at 13-11 and the T-Birds will open their state bid at 1:15 p.m. Thursday against No. 4 seed Spring Hill (17-8).
The T-Birds have gone through an up and down 2024 campaign, but seem to be peaking at the right time, with No. 9 regional seed Heights punching its ticket to state with a 3-0 regional win over No. 1 seed De Soto on the Wildcats' home field.
"We started off and we'd win one and lose one, win two, lose two and just kind of bounced back and forth,'' Schmidt said in assessing the season. "We were trying to find our personality as a team and figure out how to come together.
"As the season went on and we kept going back and forth, instead of being frustrated we kind of went with the mentality of, 'Hey, we've got to win two games and then we've got to win three.' You want to do a five-game winning streak, let's make it at the end and we've got the first two out of the way.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NOTE: Top.Sports.news will compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2024 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at
GIRLS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High
100 METERS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 12.42
Kielyn McDonnell, Rossville 12.72
Ally Steiner, Seaman 12.86
Alana Mitchell, Hayden 12.87
Jurnee Cole, Highland Park 12.96
200 METERS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 26.25
Natalie Hillebert, Hayden 26.67
Analese Estudillo, Washburn Rural 26.74
Shayla Rezac, Rossville 26.74
Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, Topeka High 26.78
Natalie Hillebert, Hayden
400 METERS
Natalie Hillebert, Hayden 59.59
Shayla Rezac, Rossville 60.88
Ally Steiner, Seaman 60.92
Ella Bolan, Silver Lake 61.69
Ali Gerber, Silver Lake 62.18
Ryan Miller, Seaman
800 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 2:10.25
Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural 2:22.67
Payton Fink, Washburn Rural 2:25.13
Emily Graf, Washburn Rural 2:26.39
Taylie Heston, Seaman 2:28.82
1,600 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 4:46.90
Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural 5:12.51
Payton Fink, Washburn Rural 5:14.08
Emily Graf, Washburn Rural 5:15.14
Sofia Harper, Hayden 5:29.48
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NOTE: Top.Sports.news will compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2024 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at
BOYS
Aaron Merritt, Seaman
100 METERS
Aaron Merritt, Seaman 10.48
Finn Dunshee, Hayden 10.69
Payton Berry-Briggs, Shawnee Heights 10.80
Peyton Holmes, Seaman 10.92
Evan Scheid, Silver Lake 11.00
Finn Dunshee, Hayden
200 METERS
Finn Dunshee, Hayden 21.64
Payton Berry-Briggs, Shawnee Heights 21.79
Aaron Merritt, Seaman 22.08
Malachi Murph, Topeka High 22.40
Evan Scheid, Silver Lake 22.41
Jensen Schrickel, Hayden
400 METERS
Isaiah Terry, Washburn Rural 48.98
Jensen Schrickel, Hayden 49.17
Payton Berry-Briggs, Shawnee Heights 49.95
Evan Scheid, Silver Lake 51.16
Shane Jueneman, Washburn Rural 51.26
800 METERS
Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights 1:56.43
Brody Anderson, Seaman 1:57.78
Eli Ferguson, Silver Lake 1:58.12
Brooks Kehoe, Washburn Rural 2:00.15
Mark Wilkie, Topeka West 2:04.15
Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights, and Brody Anderson, Seaman
1,600 METERS
Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights 4:18.27
Brody Anderson, Seaman 4:27.60
Brooks Kehoe, Washburn Rural 4:27.70
Eli Ferguson, Silver Lake 4:33.55
Adrian Lehman, Topeka West 4:34.21
- Details
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel Latin School girls soccer team is going back to state.
It may have come as a surprise when the Lions qualified for the Class 4-1A final four two seasons ago – the 1A program that had just recently earned KSHSAA membership.
Cair Paravel sophomore KellyAnn Chada scored three goals Tuesday as the Lions advanced to the Class 4A-1A semifinals with a 6-1 win over Baldwin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Cair Paravel junior Zahra Friess (3) had two goals and an assist in Tuesday's 6-1 state quarterfinal win over Baldwin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
This year, they left no doubt they belong, steamrolling Baldwin 6-1 in the quarterfinal round at Bettis Family Sports Complex Tuesday.
It took just 13 seconds for the Lions to set the tone. For the second game in a row, Cair Paravel struck for an early goal to put the opponents at a disadvantage.
“I said, ‘Let’s try to take advantage of our speed up top.’ We have a lot of it up there,” Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery said. “Zahra Friess is incredibly fast. I said, ‘Let’s put the ball down to the flag and let her beat ‘em to it.’ And it’s just worked great. She’s managed to score a couple of goals off of it.”
Senior Katherine Keys had a goal and two assists in Cair Paravel's 6-1 win over Baldwin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
That was just the beginning of the scoring for Cair Paravel. KellyAnn Chada knocked home three goals, Friess added a second, and Katherine Keys scored a goal to go with two assists. Only a Baldwin goal with 1:20 left spoiled the shutout.
