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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls and Washburn Rural's boys earned bragging rights in Friday's third annual Topeka Shawnee County Bowling Championships at Gage Bowl, with the Vikings winning their third straight girls team championship and Rural repeating as the boys champion.
Seaman girls bowling won its third straight city title Friday at Gage Bowl, putting four bowlers in the top six places individually. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural won its second straight city bowling team title Friday at Gage Bowl. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Individually, Seaman sophomore Leah Crawford shot a 661 three-game series to win the girls title by 36 pins while Topeka High junior Adrian Meraz Jara shocked the boys field with a 700 to win by 16 pins.
Seaman's girls won the team title by a 3,293-2,970 margin over Washburn Rural, including the four Baker format games, as the Vikings put four bowlers in the top six.
"The girls have really been pretty solid all year,'' Seaman coach Bob Benoit said. "When they get to striking they seem to feed off of each other. I'm really pleased with where they're at. We've just got to clean up the spares.
"Their morale's really good. There's no drama with the girls. It's a real pleasure to coach them.''
Washburn Rural junior Megan Glinka and Seaman junior Paige Snyder tied for second with 625 series, with Glinka taking second on a tiebreaker with a 256 high game while Snyder had a high game of 235.
Seaman's Claire LaDuke finished fourth with a 613 series while the Vikings' Ava Carlson finished sixth with a 559 series.
Seaman sophomore Leah Crawford won the city girls individual bowling title Friday at Gage Bowl. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
Crawford bowled games of 224, 211 and 226 as she broke through for the title in her second city meet.
"Last year at the city meet I placed 12th and it was not my best day,'' Crawford said. "I was very surprised with how I did today.
"Normally when I come to Gage I get very nervous because it's not my favorite place to bowl. So I was pretty impressed with how I did and I was trying to keep my head up the whole entire day.''
Washburn Rural took its second straight boys team title by a 3,517-3,474 margin over Shawnee Heights, including the Baker games, as Matthew Richard led the Junior Blues with a runnerup individual finish with a 684 series.
The Junior Blues also got a seventh-place finish from Jackson Keller (644), a ninth from Andrew Faurot (633) and a 10th-place showing from Cody Spangler (631).
"The titles are nice to have, but we're always looking for improvement each time out as we get closer and closer to the end of the season,'' Washburn Rural coach Jo Ricard said. "We know that there's definitely the potential there for them, and it's a matter of staying focused the whole way through the whole time.
"It's not just only about strikes, but also when that spare piece is there you've got to hit your spares and stay focused on that. And that includes Baker. If you're rolling through the first five frames and we're hot and on, we've got to stay focused. That's something obviously we continue to work on constantly because looking ahead we know how tough our regional is going to look like.''
Boys runnerup Shawnee Heights put four bowlers in the top six, with Trey Donath third (683), Chevy Stallbaumer fourth (669), Evan Jones fifth (664) and Henry Schattilly sixth (645). Kelton Meier finished eighth (638) for third-place Hayden.
Topeka High's Adrian Meraz Jara won the city boys bowling title with a 700 series. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
But the star of the day was Merez Jara, who shattered his previous personal best by about 170 pins with games of 212, 255 and 233.
"I hadn't been close to that at all,'' Merez Jara said. "The closest I got was like 530. I didn't think I was ever going to get this high.''
In fact, Friday was the first time Merez Jara had placed in a meet.
"I have never placed, ever,'' he said. "I'm just shocked because I would have never expected to be up there.''
TOPEKA SHAWNEE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
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NOTE: Statistics for city girls basketball teams were compiled by Seaman girls coach Matt Tinsley. The following stats are the second of three statistical reports which will be released during the 2025-2026 season, capped by the season-ending stats. Topeka West statistics were not available.
Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, Topeka High
SCORING
Name, school Gms. Pts. Avg
Rayton, Topeka High 13 307 23.6
Schmidtlein, Hayden 13 230 17.7
Emmot, Shawnee Heights 16 275 17.2
Caryl, Topeka High 10 152 15.2
Anderson, Washburn Rural 13 190 14.6
McGlory, Shawnee Heights 15 194 12.9
Gragg, Seaman 13 163 12.5
Marshall, Topeka High 14 158 11.3
Carter, Shawnee Heights 15 163 10.9
Kincade, Highland Park 13 137 10.5
Beaton, Seaman 11 114 10.4
Jones, Highland Park 13 134 10.3
Carlgren, Washburn Rural 14 143 10.2
Hirschi, Washburn Rural 14 130 9.3
Backman, CPLS 13 115 8.8
REBOUNDING
Name, school Gms. Total Avg.
Caryl, Topeka High 10 116 11.6
Walker, Washburn Rural 14 124 8.9
Gragg, Seaman 13 105 8.1
Schmidtlein, Hayden 13 92 7.1
Carter, Shawnee Heights 12 84 7.0
Jones, Highland Park 13 88 6.8
Dreher, Seaman 13 83 6.4
Vega, Shawnee Heights 13 74 5.7
Gotru, Topeka High 13 72 5.5
Anderson, Washburn Rural 13 71 5.5
Marshall, Topeka High 14 76 5.4
Watts, Hayden 13 70 5.4
Carlgren, Washburn Rural 14 74 5.3
Barnett, Highland Park 12 60 5.0
Walter, Hayden 13 60 4.6
Baum, Shawnee Heights 13 60 4.6
Hailey Caryl, Topeka High
ASSISTS
Name, school Gms. Total Avg.
Caryl, Topeka High 10 69 6.9
Jones, Highland Park 13 42 3.2
Beaton, Seaman 11 35 3.2
Gragg, Seaman 13 41 3.2
Marshall, Topeka High 14 42 4.0
Emmot, Shawnee Heights 13 35 2.7
Baum, Shawnee Heights 13 34 2.6
Foster, Hayden 13 30 2.3
Cosey, Highland Park 13 30 2.3
Anderson, Washburn Rural 13 29 2.2
Schmidtlein, Hayden 13 28 2.2
Vega, Shawnee Heights 13 28 2.2
Rayton, Topeka High 13 28 2.2
Rutherford, Washburn Rural 13 28 2.2
Watts, Hayden 13 26 2.0
Kincade, Highland Park 13 26 2.0
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Jackson Mervosh is a top returner for Washburn, which opens its season this weekend in Florida. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn is coming off a fourth straight winning season in 2025, going 28-25 overall and 18-18 inside the MIAA. They finished seventh in the regular season and won two games in the MIAA Tournament before falling in the semifinal round.
They were picked to finish fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll for a second straight year.
Washburn will return 19 players from the 2025 roster with eight of them as seniors, four juniors and seven freshmen.
Washburn had nine players earn All-MIAA honors a season ago and will return a pair of them in 2026.
Jackson Mervosh returns to the Ichabod infield after earning All-MIAA second-team and All-Region honors last season.
As a junior he started in 52 games and played in all 53 hitting .356 with 77 total hits and 10 home runs. He set a program record with 24 doubles. He had eight games with three or more hits.
Jackson Mervosh has the 18th highest batting average in program history at .356. He is tied for 47th among all Ichabods with 24 doubles.
Mervosh led the MIAA and ranked fifth nationally last season with 24 doubles.
Caleb Lunnon returns for his senior season after earning All-MIAA third-team recognition last season.
In his first season with Washburn he appeared in 14 games making 12 starts and tossing 65.0 innings, second most on the team. He finished with a 5-1 record, a team-high in victories, with 51 strikeouts. Lunnon tossed five or more strikeouts in seven outings last season.
Washburn is adding 28 newcomers to the 2026 roster with nine freshmen and 19 transfers joining the team.
The group of transfers features a pair of seniors, 15 juniors, one sophomore and a redshirt freshman.
The transfer group includes Topeka natives Zach Sharshel, Maclane Finley and Scout Jellison, who are all pitchers.
Washburn's 47-man roster consists of players from eight different states. There are 21 players on the roster who are from Kansas.
In the 2026 MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll, the Ichabods were picked fifth, the same place they were picked to finish in the 2025 preseason poll as well.
Central Missouri was picked to repeat as the regular season champion, earning 12 of 13 first-place votes with 144 total points. Pittsburg State and Central Oklahoma are picked to finish second and third respectively.
Harley Douglas enters his 12th season at the helm of the Washburn baseball program.
In eleven full seasons, Douglas carries an all-time record of 284-242 with seven appearances in the MIAA Tournament and led the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2022.
Griffin Huiatt is tied for fifth in program history with seven career saves and is tied for seventh in Washburn history with 53 career appearances.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kate Ediger is hitting a team-high .625 for 4-1 Washburn softball with six runs and five RBI. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]William Jewell will be opening its 2026 season this weekend.
Southeastern Oklahoma was 2-3 last weekend at the D2 First Pitch Invitational.
Brenda Holaday is 283-169 in her 10th season as the Ichabod softball coach and is the all-time winningest coach in program history.
Holaday coached 19 seasons at Washburn Rural, compiling a 351-93 (.791) record.
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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Seaman girls basketball had a chance to beat Spring Hill or at least force overtime in the final seconds Wednesday night at home, but the Broncos held off the Vikings in a low scoring affair, 34-32.
The Vikings started off slow and couldn’t get the ball to roll in their favor and Spring Hill doubled senior Maddie Gragg any time they could. And, the Vikings had a hard time taking care of the ball early in the game.
Missed free throws were a key factor, too, but Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said basketball is a game that always has different swings.
“I told the girls against Topeka High that 95 percent of the game you don’t have the ball in your hand so what can you do during that time to make an impact, doing those little things and for this game, one possession here and there changes that game,” Tinsley said.
Audrey Meder for Spring Hill scored the first six points after knocking down two from distance. Gragg got her team its first points off a free throw, making one of two but then would score the Vikings first bucket with three minutes left in the first quarter.
Gragg scored five of the seven points in the quarter and Seaman trailed Spring Hill, 13-7.
Seaman had a hard time stopping the three from the Broncos as they made them at will. They went up 16-7, forcing Tinsley into a timeout at the 6:11 mark. The lead grew to 21-9 for Spring Hill but Seaman scored four straight which then made the Broncos call a timeout after a Brynn Spencer bucket in transition.
Meder kept up her hot shooting night with another three, making it 24-13 and that’s where the score held at halftime.
The Vikes started hot in the third quarter on a 9-0 run after Gragg and Cara Beaton both hit triples as Spring Hill would call a timeout in a 24-21 game. It got down to a one point game after a basket from freshman Baylee Ayres.
That’s something Tinsley said, they’ve been a third quarter team but can’t figure it out quite yet.
“That’s been our story this year. We don’t get a rebound here, we have a turnover here, we go on a run that puts us back a couple of points and we’re there at the end,'' Tinsley said. "Our third quarters have been great … we competed tonight more than we did on Tuesday.
"If we see a couple of more shots go in, it’s a different ball game. If we hit a couple of more free throws, it’s a different ball game. I’m just proud of their effort however.''
The Broncos would hit a three right after that to stop the bleeding a little bit and go up four. Spring Hill would head into the fourth quarter up 27-25.
It was a slow moving fourth quarter as both teams missed shots and turned the ball over.
Towards the end, Gragg hit another from downtown, making it 31-30 Spring Hill with 2:35 left in the game but Isla Herman knocked down a three to put the Broncos back up four.
Dreher would get fouled down low, made the bucket but failed to convert the and-one, leaving the Broncos still down two, 34-32.
Seaman had an opportunity to take the lead before the horn sounded but Gragg missed a triple, Beaton saved it from going out of bounds, landed in the hands of Spencer but came up just short to force overtime on a jumper from the second hash mark.
“Everyone is stepping up in their own way,'' Tinsley said. "We’re getting down to crunch time and we’re going to need everyone to be locked in. We’re in a good spot right now and we have to get back on Friday.''
SPRING HILL GIRLS 34, SEAMAN
Spring Hill 13 11 3 7 – 34
Seaman 7 6 12 7 – 32
Spring Hill (10-5) -- Meder 4 0-0 11, McConnell 1 0-0 3, Herrman 2 0-0 6, Herman 5 0-0 12, Harris 1 0-0 2.
Seaman (8-7) – Dreher 1 0-1 2, Spencer 1 0-0 2, Beaton 4 2-2 11, Ayres 2 0-0 4, Gragg 5 1-6 13.
3-point goals -- Spring Hill 8 (Meder 3, Herman 2, Herrman 2, McConnell), Seaman 3 (Gragg 2, Beaton). Total fouls -- Spring Hill 9, Seaman 9 . Fouled out -- none.
