- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural soccer coach Brian Hensyel had several reasons to be concerned entering Tuesday's non-league game against Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
Washburn Rural senior Liam Morrison (24) scored Tuesday's first goal in a 2-0 non-league home win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Liam Morrison (24) celebrates his goal in Tuesday's 2-0 non-league home win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
First of all, Rural was facing a good Crusader team that had won six straight games.
Secondly, the Junior Blues were coming off a road trip to Iowa, where they played three hotly-contested games in three days.
And Washburn Rural would also face Kapaun without two of its top players, senior leading scorer Dylan Willingham and juior Brodye Kocher-Munoz.
But Rural put all of Hensyel's concerns to rest with one of its best performances of the season en route to a 2-0 shutout over the Crusaders at McElroy Field.
"This is as good of a win as we've had all season and all of those things add in,'' Hensyel said. "Obviously, we just played Thursday, Friday, Saturday against high-level competition and yesterday was pretty much a non-practice day to be honest. We were just trying to rest up.
"And with Dylan out with his ankle and a guy out with a redcard, you're down your two starting forwards, so we had to play with a more defensive emphasis in the second half. We thought we could score off set plays and we did, so we got the lead and then we were able to be strong defensively and our defense was really good.''
Senior Liam Morrison scored the only goal the Junior Blues would need at the 29:15 mark of the first half off a free kick assist from senior Brandon Hamilton.
Washburn Rural senior Higgins Hawks (21) scored Rural's second goal in Tuesday's 2-0 non-league home win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Rural, now 8-1-1, added its final goal of the night with 16:38 remaining in the opening half when senior Higgins Hawks scored off an assist from senior Brady Loeffler.
Senior Miles Cook (99) picked up the shutout in goal in Washburn Rural's 2-0 non-league home win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The Junior Blues were unable to find the back of the net the remainder of the game, but Rural's defense was able to keep 7-3-0 Kapaun off the scoreboard as senior Miles Cook registered the shutout in goal.
- Details
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Dating back to last season, Hayden has lost 11 straight matches and they’re 0-10 this year.
Joey Gartner's Hayden soccer team fell to 0-10 on Tuesday, but Gartner said the Wildcats continue to make improvement. [File photo/TSN]
After Hayden topped Tonganoxie last season, 6-1, the Chieftains took a 1-0 win Monday at Hayden.
The last five matches entering Monday's match for the Wildcats, they’d only scored one goal and were shut out in four others. For the whole 2025 campaign, they’ve only scored four total goals.
Despite not winning a match so far, Hayden first-year coach Joey Gartner said the morale of the team is solid.
“We’ve all been keeping our heads up,” Gartner said. “I’ve been telling them that we’re improving every game … by the end of the season we’ll see that improvement and get better every game. The captains have been uplifting, saying, ‘Let’s go, keep pushing,’ and when we’re down 1-0, trying to fight back and get a goal or two to win the game… we all have that mindset to get back into the game, get back into the season, score some goals and get some wins.”
It was a slow moving game in the first half, but Tonganoxie would strike for the match's only goal, as Jameson Breitzman scored inside the box, beating Hayden’s goalkeeper short side with 16:53 left in the half.
The Wildcats had some decent looks at the net but couldn’t muster much offense. Senior Roman Ziegler almost knotted the match at 1-1 for Hayden with 12 minutes to play. Freshman goalkeeper Ivan Franco for the Chieftains made a diving save to his right to keep it at that 1-nil score.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls tennis team, third in Class 5A a year ago, continues to build momentum for another late-season run, following up last week's city championship with the team title in Tuesday's 11-school Topeka West Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center.
Led by singles champions Emma Sweeney and Molly Gorman, Seaman won Tuesday's championship by a 51-47 margin over Washburn Rural, with the Vikings and Junior Blues repeating their one-two finish from the city meet.
Seaman junior Emma Sweeney won the No. 1 singles championship in Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman senior Molly Gorman won the No. 2 singles championship in Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational for team champion Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sweeney, a junior, won the No. 1 singles title with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Olathe West's Lindsay Ruder, avenging a loss to Ruder in the 2024 West tournament, while Gorman, a senior, captured the No. 2 singles championship with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Manhattan's Sally Kastner.
Seaman also got a runnerup doubles finish from Peyton Henry and Camryn Lux in No. 1 doubles and a third-place finish from Kaylyn Hiebsch and Cadence Speer in No. 2 doubles.
"Another good day for the Vikings,'' Seaman coach Jamie Robinson said. "The girls are trusting their shots and especially in singles Molly really played well. I feel like she's struggled a little bit and she had to take eight months off (with an injury) and now she's really getting back to form. That last match was the most comfortable I've ever seen her.
"And Emma really had a big match and she wanted this one, so that was fun to see. That tested her, that challenged her. This was good competition and we're battle tested and that's going to help in the UKC and it's going to help in regionals.''
Washburn Rural, which has put together another strong season despite graduating several key players off its 2024 team, swept the doubles titles in Tuesday's tournament.
Washburn Rural coach Michelle Rose talks to Rural No. 1 doubles players Halle Owen and Julia Katzer during Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rural juniors Julia Katzer and Halle Owen won the No. 1 doubles championship with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Seaman's Henry and Lux. Katzer and Owen also faced Henry and Lux in the city championship match, with Rural taking an 8-3 win.
Washburn Rural junior Julia Katzer returns a shot during the No. 1 doubles final in Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Halle Owen returns a shot during the No. 1 doubles final in Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Alizah Chedzoy and Annie Henderson followed up their city title in No. 2 doubles with the championship in Tuesday's tournament, with Rural taking a 6-1, 6-3 decision in the finals.
TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL TENNIS
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The only surprise in Monday's United Kansas Conference girls golf tournament at Shawnee Country Club would have been if Seaman hadn't won.
Seaman's girls golf team won its fourth straight UKC girls golf title by 52 strokes Monday at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After all, the Vikings were coming off a 14-stroke victory in the city tournament and had won the previous three UKC tourneys by an average of 51.7 strokes.
Suffice it to say that were no surprises Monday, with senior Elise Eckert leading a one-two-three individual finish as Seaman won its fourth straight conference championship in an many years in the league by a whopping 52-stroke margin over De Soto (327-359).
Seaman senior Elise Eckert shot a 73 to take an eight-stroke individual win in Monday's UKC meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman senior Makenna Stuke finished second with an 81 in Monday's UKC meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
City champion Eckert shot a 73 for an eight-stroke win while senior Makenna Stuke was second with an 81 and junior Kaitlynn Frye third with an 84.
The Vikings also got a tie for fourth from junior Chloe Schmidtlein (89) and an 11th-place finish from senior Molina Quintana (96).
"I felt like overall we had a good solid day,'' Seaman coach Julie McLaughlin said. "There's always room for improvement. All of them were saying there's things they want to work on, but I like where we're sitting right now.
"All we're focusing on is getting stronger mentally, physically and just being ready for that postseason play when it's here.''
Although she was happy to get the league title, Eckert wasn't particularly pleased with Monday's round.
"I especially struggled a bit with my putting today,'' Eckert said. "Everything else was alright, but putting definitely got me today.''
Seaman has two more regular season tournaments before regionals and state and Eckert, a three-time Class 5A state medalist, wants to continue making strides to get ready for her postseason run.
"I definitely need to work on putting more, but I also need to work on some just basic fundamentals with my swing that I can fix on the course, but l just need to practice more to get everything solid,'' she said.
Shawnee Heights finished fourth as a team, with T-Bird junior Lauryn Valdivia tying for seventh with a 92.
Topeka West's Berlyn Kolean tied for 12th with a 98.
UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabod soccer team picked up its first MIAA win of the season Sunday, with freshman Leah Henke's goal the difference in a 1-0 win over Newman in Wichita.
Washburn freshman Leah Henke (11) scored the game's only goal in Sunday's 1-0 MIAA win over Newman. [File photo/TSN]"Today was a tough game in a challenging environment,'' Washburn coach Davy Phillips said. "The team was unlucky not to add one or two more, as we hit the post a few times and their keeper made a couple of really good saves. The girls, again, grew into the game pretty well and played a pretty good second half.
"It was a great goal by Leah and an important three points for us. We're finding ways to get results, which is an important quality in successful teams."
Washburn (4-2-2, 1-0-1) was bombarding the Newman goal in the opening 45 minutes, even putting a shot off the post in the 22nd minute. The Ichabods attempted 11 shots, with four of them on goal, forcing saves out of the Jets' goalie.
The Ichabods held Newman (1-6-1, 0-2-0) to zero shots in the first half.
Washburn started the second half right where it left off by peppering the Newman goal.
In the 67th minute, the Ichabods found a breakthrough by way of Henke, a Wichita native who fired home her fourth goal of the season.
Gold Partners
Community Partners
Gold Partners
