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Created: 14 April 2024

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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Coaches should designate whether times were fully automatic (FAT) or hand-timed. FAT times are considered .024 of a second faster than hand times. TopSports.news will rank the Top 5 in each event.

BOYS

100 METERS

Aaron Merritt, Seaman                          10.77

Malachi Murph, Topeka High                11.12

Finn Dunshee, Hayden                           11.20

Payton Berry-Briggs, Shawnee Heights 11.24

Evan Scheid, Silver Lake                         11.32

Aaron Merritt, Seaman

200 METERS

Aaron Merritt, Seaman                          22.08

Finn Dunshee, Hayden                           22.31

Payton Berry-Briggs, Shawnee Heights 22.32

Malachi Murph, Topeka High                22.40

Tyren Parker, Shawnee Heights             22.76

Jensen Schrickel, Hayden

400 METERS

Jensen Schrickel, Hayden                       49.24

Payton Berry-Briggs, Shawnee Heights 49.95

Isaiah Terry, Washburn Rural                  50.07

Shane Jueneman, Washburn Rural        51.26

Liam Benz, Shawnee Heights                 51.60

800 METERS

Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights        1:58.46

Brody Anderson, Seaman                        1:59.81

Eli Ferguson, Silver Lake                           2:01.86

Mark Wilkie, Topeka West                        2:07.11

Brooks Kehoe, Washburn Rural                2:08.37

Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights

1,600 METERS

Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights     4:22.45

Brooks Kehoe, Washburn Rural            4:37.32

Adrian Lehman, Topeka West               4:40.25

Eli Ferguson, Silver Lake                       4:41.25

Mark Wilkie, Topeka West                     4:41.35

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Created: 14 April 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University baseball secured its second sweep of the season on Sunday afternoon at Falley Field in walkoff fashion, defeating Fort Hays State 7-6 after a home run in the bottom of the ninth from Cale Savage.

Washburn celebrates Sunday's walkoff home run by Cale Savage (21) that gave the Ichabods a 7-6 win and a series sweep over Fort Hays State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

The Ichabods now head out of conference play for one game, playing Rockhurst at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the road.  

The Tigers (21-20 overall, 9-18 MIAA) led off the game with back-to-back hits, a double and a single, to score the first run of the game.

After one out another pair of hits scored two more runs to make it 3-0 Tigers after half an inning.

WU's Grant Jones ended the top of the first, robbing what would have been a grand slam in left field to limit the scoring. 

Ichabod starter Chase Torkelson settled in the next two innings, holding Fort Hays State without a hit.  

Washburn (23-16, 17-10) got on the board in the bottom of the third, beginning with a leadoff walk to Ike Book.

 Payton McHarg moved him to second and Cash Jay did the rest, scoring Book with a single down the left-field line.  

An inning later Grant Jones shot a one-out single straight up the middle.

Connor Scott tripled one batter later to bring Jones all the way around. Book tied the game with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Scott and complete the inning.  

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Created: 14 April 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Saturday was an opportunity for the local tennis community to celebrate its proud heritage with the induction of its 10-member Topeka Tennis Association 2024 Hall of Fame Class at the Bettis Family Sports Complex. 

Mary Brownback and Kent Lammers, former college players and longtime supporters of Topeka tennis, were inducted into the Hall of Fame along with eight former city high school stars, who all won state championships during their prep careers -- Cory Buck, Drew Hanson, Trevor Hedberg, Shane Johnston, Branden Joost, Sean McManus, Sumeet Patel and Alex (O'Neal) Trobough.

Topeka Tennis Association 2024 Hall of Fame inductees (from left) -- Sumeet Patel, Alexandra (O'Neal) Trobough, Branden Joost, Drew Hanson, Trevor Hedberg, Shane Johnston and Sean McManus. Not pictured: Cory Buck. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Mary Brownback, 2024 Topeka Tennis Hall of Fame inductee

Kent Lammers, 2024 Topeka Tennis Hall of Fame inductee

"We all grew up playing together and I was a couple of years younger, but we were all on the court at the same time, running the same drills and it was nice because we had this little bit of camaraderie growing up in juniors and high school tennis and the coaches all knew each other, too,'' said Trobough, a three-time state champ at Hayden.

"The tennis community has always wanted to support one another.''

Retired longtime Washburn Rural coach Kevin Hedberg, a charter member of the local hall of fame, said Saturday was a special night for him as his son Trevor along with former Rural stars Hanson and Patel, who were a part of the Junior Blues' run of three straight Class 6A state team titles, were inducted into the shrine.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really thrilled and I knew all of these kids so well that I'm thrilled for all of them,'' Kevin Hedberg said. "They all worked at it and there's a lesson for the kids today that you can't do this halfway. You've got to be all in and these guys were and they were rewarded for it. It's a thrill.

"It's wonderful to see them all now as men and women, with children.''

Trevor Hedberg, a state doubles and team champ at Rural, said that it was a honor to join his father and his teammates in the hall of fame.

"My dad has quite a legacy with tennis in Topeka and there was a time in my life where tennis was a really big part of it, from 14 to 21,'' said Trevor Hedberg, a college professor at the University of Arizona. "And even though I've kind of moved on beyond that now, this certainly does mean something now and I think it's not really about me, it's more about the collective group and just being surrounded by all of these great players that were all playing at the same time.

"I played doubles with a lot of the players and played against them in singles, sometimes in the same tournament. I think back then it was really easy to get caught up in the competitive aspect of it and worrying about how you're stacking up against all these other people and lose track of the bigger picture of how much you're accomplishing along the way and also losing track of the team-oriented accomplishments. It's certainly cool to come back.''

Hall of Fame capsules:

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Created: 11 April 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

For a second straight game Washburn University erased an early deficit with a three-run eighth inning, winning Game 2 over Fort Hays State 7-4 on Saturday to clinch the series win over the Tigers at Falley Field.

Washburn's Griffin Huiatt picked up the win in relief in Saturday's 7-4 MIAA decision over Fort Hays State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

The Ichabods will go for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the series finale.  

Fort Hays State (21-19 overall, 9-17 MIAA) led off the game with a pair of first-inning singles, but a double play took one off the basepaths. A walk again put two runners on and a single up the middle scored one.

The Tigers then knocked a double into the right-field corner, scoring a run, but Washburn tagged out the second runner at the plate to end the inning.  

The score stayed that way until the bottom of the third.

Connor Scott and Grant Jones earned walks with no outs.

Payton McHarg got Washburn (22-16, 16-10) on the board with a double into the corner in right field, scoring both runners to tie the game at two.  

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