- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Getting set to begin his second season on the Pittsburg State University football staff, former Topeka High standout Tyrell Everett got the 2023 campaign off to a good start with a preseason pomotion.
Gorillas head coach Brian Wright announced Friday that Everett, a 2011 High graduate, has been promoted to the role of assistant head coach and defensive run game coordinator for Pitt State.
Topeka native Tyrell Everett has been promoted to assistant head coach and defensive run game coordinator for Pittsburg State University's football program. [File photo/TSN]
Everett, an All-City and Kansas Shrine Bowl pick for the Trojans, joined the Pitt State staff as defensive line coach in 2022. He will continue to coach the Gorillas' defensive linemen. "Tyrell is a very driven young coach and a passionate teacher of the game of football,'' Wright said in a Pitt State release. "Our players respond at a high level to his mentorship, and he will thrive in his additional duties for the Gorillas."
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with volleyball and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through August 6, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4881663x7A8C40E8-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
-------------------------------------------------------
Twenty-five. That single number sums up Shawnee County's proud volleyball history.
It took 27 years for county schools to notch their first state championship in the sport, but once Angie Bittner's Silver Lake team broke the ice with a Class 3A championship in 1998 the flood gates opened, with four county schools combining for 25 tiles over the past 24 seasons.
Silver Lake's volleyball team won the first of its nine Class 3A state titles in 1998. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Silver Lake and Washburn Rural have combined for an amazing 17 championships while Hayden and Shawnee Heights have combined for another eight titles.
Washburn Rural's volleyball team went 45-1 to capture the school's eighth Class 6A state title last fall. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Kevin Bordewick's powerhouse Washburn Rural program won the county's most recent state crown, with the Junior Blues winning their eighth state championship in 6A, the state's largest class, last fall.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with boys track and field and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through August 5, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4880338x001842f6-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
-------------------------------------------------------
Topeka High earned Shawnee County's first boys state track and field championship way back in 2016, the first of 14 state titles won by five county schools over 99 years
High leads county schools with six state titles, with five of those coming by 1973 before the Duke Tibbs-led Trojans ended High's 40-year title drought with the Class 6A title in 2013.
Topeka High won its sixth state track and field team title in 2022, ending a 40-year championship dought. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
The 1980s were also a golden decade for county schools, with Topeka West, Washburn Rural and Shawnee Heights combining for five championships in a six-year span.
Joe Schrag's Topeka West boys track and field team won its second straight Class 6A state title in 1984. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Jerry Beardslee's Washburn Rural won its first Class 5A boys track and field championship in 1984. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Mike Nash's Shawnee Heights' boys track and field team scored 86 points on the way to the Class 5A state title in 1989. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Joe Schrag coached Topeka West to back-to-back 6A crowns in 1983 and '84, with sprint star Mark Pickens and state-champion high jump and long jump champ Sharrieff Hazim leading the '84 Chargers while Pickens and distance state champs Rob Hays and Jeff Shelar all winnning state titles in West's '85 title run.
Jerry Beardslee's Washburn Rural team joined West as a state team champ in '84, with the Junior Blues taking the 5A title by a slim 63-58 margin over Kapaun Mt. Carmel as the Junior Blues posted a pair of relay wins and Anthony Dulan went 23 feet, 3.75 inches to take the long jump title.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with girls track and field and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through August 4, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4879452x35D7492D-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
--------------------------------------------------------
Eight different Shawnee County high schools have won state team titles in girls track and field, including six with multiple championships.
And while this summer's TopSports.news Best of the Best project is all about teams it's also an opportunity to take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the outstanding track and field performers in county history, names like Jocelyn Bentley, Lori Green, Marge Eddy, Julie Howerton, Karissa Owens, Akilah Carter, Mandy and Mindy Wilson, Shannon Parr, Alex Ferguson, Nannette Lee and Carla Marney.
Shawnee Heights won the first of the school's three girls track and field team championships in 1974. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Topeka High's girls track and field team won its first of two straight state team championships in 1974. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Marney swept the shot put, discus and softball throw to help Shawnee Heights win the Class 3A state title in 1974 while Lee earned three gold medals (two relays and an individual win) the same season as Topeka High won the 5A-4A championship and Lee won another title in '75 as the Trojans won their second straight team crown.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with boys tennis and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through August 3, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4878079xb26e4657-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
--------------------------------------------------------
Shawnee County has produced 11 boys state championship tennis teams, beginning with Washburn Rural's Class 5A championship team in 1988 and continuing through Topeka West's 5A title earlier this spring.
But while readers have plenty of worthy candidates to choose from, picking the team that will be at the top of the list promises to be a tricky task.
Kevin Hedberg's 2005 Washburn Rural boys tennis team swept the Class 6A singles, doubles and team championships, the Junior Blues' third straight team title. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Tommy and Blake Hunter went one-two in singles as Hayden captured the Class 4A team championship in 2014. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
The list of possibles includes any of Kevin Hedberg's three Washburrn Rural teams that put together a 6A three-peat from 2003-2005, capped by a sweep of the singles, doubles and team championships in '05 as Drew Hanson was crowned the singles champ and Sumeet Patel and Trevor Hedberg won the doubles title.
