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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls soccer team ended its regular season with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to nine-time state champion Blue Valley West Friday night at McElroy Field, with the Jaguars snapping the Junior Blues' 10-game shutout streak.
Washburn Rural junior Kate Hinck (9) and Blue Valley West senior Devin Monahan pursue the ball in Friday's 1-0 Jaguar win over the Junior Blues. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Rural coach Brian Hensyel knows that the Junior Blues' goals for the 2024 season are still in front of them as they prepare to open Class 6A postseason next Tuesday.
Washburn Rural, now 13-3-0, has assured itself of home field advantage for the first three rounds of the playoffs and Friday's loss did nothing to change Hensyel's opinion that the Junior Blues are capable of making a deep postseason run.
"We try to challenge ourselves with really tough games in the regular season because we know what the end looks like,'' Hensyel said. "We were real glad when this game got postponed a couple of weeks ago and it became our last game because it's the perfect game to play right before the playoffs.
"I'm very, very proud of our effort tonight, but when you get the best teams in the state, and I feel like we're one of those five, six seven teams that could compete for a state title, it's going to be a one-goal game, it's going to be who makes that play, a ball finds its way in the back of the net. That's just how it is.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin sophomore tennis standout Drew Fay, making his second straight Class 3A-1A state singles appearance, posted two straight victories on Friday at the Harmon Park Tennis Complex in Prairie Village, advancing to Saturday's state semifinals.
Cair Paravel sophomore singles player Drew Fay advanced to the Class 3A-1A state semifinals on Friday in Prairie Village. [File photo/TSN]
Fay (23-9) will square off against defending 3A-1A state singles champ Caleb Bartels of Kansas City Christian in the semifinal, a rematch of last week's regional final at Marysville. Bartels took a 6-1, 6-0 win in that match.
Bartels (31-0) is a two-time state champion, winning a 3A-1A doubles title as a sophomore in 2022 after finishing third in singles as a freshman in 2021.
Hayden's doubles team of senior Joseph Luke and junior Chase Blaser (21-10) will also compete on Saturday, putting themselves in position for a state medal with a 3-1 record on Friday.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural senior Josh Sulzen-Watson won a pair of individual titles and the Junior Blues swept the throws as Rural's boys finished second in Thursday's Centennial League track and field meet at Junction City while the Rural girls also posted a runnerup team finish.
Washburn Rural senior Josh Sulzen-Watson won Centennial League titles in the discus and javelin Thursday at Junction City. [File photo/TSN]
Sulzen-Watson won the discus with a throw of 165 feet and took the javelin title with a toss of 190-3 while junior Jacob Hawks added the league title in the boys shot put at 49-1.50 as the Junior Blues finished second to Manhattan in the team race (204-125).
Washburn Rural's boys also got a win from sophomore Liam Morrison in the 300-meter hurdles in 39.39 as city athletes swept the top four places in that event. Rural senior Cody Ingenthron placed second (40.85), with Topeka High junior Jaxon Cowdin third (41.55) and Rural junor Braylon Badger fourth (42.21).
Morrison, Ingenthron and Cowdin went 2-3-4 in the 110 high hurdles.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
TopSports.news
In Thursday’s United Kansas Conference meet at Lansing, Seaman sophomore Ryin Miller swept the 1,600 and 3,200-meter races.
Miller repeated as conference champion in the 1,600, winning in a time of 4 minutes, 47.98 seconds.
Seaman sophomore Ryin Miller was named the outstanding girls performer in Thursday's UKC track and field meet after earning three gold medals. [File photo/TSN]
In the 3,200 meter race, Miller’s time of 10 minutes, 15.09 seconds was her third best time of the season.
As the anchor of the winning 4x400 relay team, Miller set a school-record split of 56.3 seconds.
Miller was named the female runner of the year for the conference.
The other city girls UKC champ was senior Maggie Lesmeister of Seaman in the javelin with a personal best throw of 130 feet, 4 inches. It was an improvement of over eight feet.
Seaman senior Aaron Merritt won the UKC title in the 100-meter dash and finished second in the 110 hurdles. [File photo/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Jackson Esquibel won the UKC championship in the boys 3,200 meters run Thursday at Lansing. [File photo/TSN]
Boys winners included senior Aaron Merritt of Seaman in the 100 meters (10.68), senior Jackson Esquibel of Shawnee Heights in the 3,200 meters (9:29.89), Shawnee Heights in the 4x400 relay (3:25.15), junior Tyler Wedl of Shawnee Heights in the pole vault (12-6), junior Peyton Holmes of Seaman in the long jump (23-0.5), junior Alesecio Batson of Topeka West in the triple jump (45-4), senior Alexander Dawkins of Shawnee Heights in the discus (157-9) and senior Alex Dittman of Shawnee Heights in the javelin (166-8).
Next Friday, Seaman and Shawnee Heights will be competing at the 5A regional meet hosted by Seaman. Topeka West will travel to Wichita for the 5A regional hosted by Bishop Carroll.
UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE TRACK AND FIELD
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University baseball jumped ahead in the top of the first and never looked back in Thursday's opening game of the MIAA Championship Tournament, winning 11-1 in eight innings over No. 2-ranked Central Missouri in Pittsburg.
Starting pitcher Griffin Huiatt picked up the win for Washburn in Thursday's 11-1 decision over No. 2-ranked Central Missouri. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will face the Missouri Southern-Pittsburg State winner at 11 a.m. on Friday.
Cale Savage started the first-inning Washburn rally by reaching base on an error in the field. Cash Jay and Hayden Priest each followed with singles to load the bases with one out.
Connor Scott hit a double down the right-field line to score two runs. Blake Scott made it four hits in a row on a single into left to score two more runs and complete a four-run top of the first for the No. 5 seeded Ichabods (32-19).
After a scoreless first inning on the mound from Griffin Huiatt the top-seeded Mules (45-7) picked up action on the bases with two-outs in the second. A single and a walk put two on before an error loaded the bases. Huiatt walked the next batter before tossing a strikeout to end the inning leading 4-1.
Neither side scored the next three innings, with Huiatt ending the fifth inning by working around a bases-loaded and one-out jam with a pair of fly outs.
Connor Scott ended the scoreless drought with a leadoff home run to dead away center in the top of the sixth inning. Cal Watkins singled with two outs in the inning and Ike Book brought him around with his first round-tripper of the season to make it 7-1 after six and a half innings.
