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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 softball and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 31, 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/poll4874907xFC9242c4-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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As part of TopSports.news' Best of the Best team project, TSN posts a ballot of 10 top candidates for each sport while also encouraging write-in votes.
In softball that list of 10 could have just as easily been a list of 30, with Shawnee County schools putting together a long history of dominance in that sport.
Rossville captured Shawnee County's most recent state softball title this past spring, winning the Class 3A championship. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High celebrates its 2022 Class 6A state softball championship, the Trojans' second straight title. [File photo/TSN]
No less than seven county schools have captured state softball championships as the county has won a total of 27 titles overall from Silver Lake's crown in 1992 through Rossville's championship this past spring.
Six schools have won multiple state titles, led by Silver Lake with a whopping 13 championships.
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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 soccer and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 30, 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/poll4873423x5d49410c-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Washburn Rural leads the list of TopSports.news Best of the Best boys soccer candidates, with the Junior Blues posting three Class 6A state championships and adding three state runnerup finishes over the last two decades.
But the Junior Blues aren't the only Shawnee County team to experience success at the state level, with Hayden winning a pair of state titles and Topeka High posting the county's first championship back in 1997.
Washburn Rural's boys soccer team won its most recent Class 6A state title in 2012, the program's third state championship. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Washburn Rural posted a 20-0-1 record in 2002 to win its first of three Class 6A boys state soccer championships. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Lionel Suarez coached Washburn Rural to its first state championship in 2002, with the Junior Blues capping a 20-0-1 season with a win over St. Thomas Aquinas in the championship game, handing the Saints their lone loss on the year.
Brian Hensyel, who was a Rural assistant in '02, led the Junior Blues to a 20-1-0 record in '09, with Rural beating Free State in that final, and the Blues went 18-2-1 in '12 to claim their third championship, capped by a win over Wichita Northwest.
- 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 soccer and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 29, 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/poll4873429xba7E716F-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Washburn Rural has been the city's dominant girls soccer team for more than a decade, with Brian Hensyel's not losing a game to a Topeka foe since 2011.
But Rural, which has posted nine straight top-four finishes in the Class 6A state tournament, will have plenty of competition, including five state champioship teams, when it comes down to picking the Top 10 in TopSports.news' Best of the Best project.
The Junior Blues have advanced to the state championship game in Kansas' largest class four times since 2015, most recently in '22, and continue to dominant the Centennial League.
Klaus Kreutzer's Hayden girls soccer team won its second staight Class 4A-1A state title in 2013. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
But Hayden counters with an impressive run of success in the 4A-1A ranks, with Klaus Kreutzer's Wildcats winning state championships in '12, 13 and '15 while also posting multiple runnerup state finishes.
Marc Serrano's Shawnee Heights team won the Class 5A-1A girls state title in 2004. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Tim Collins' Topeka West girls soccer team won the city's first state title in 2001. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Shawnee Heights also boasts an impressive resume, with Jessica Mainz, who went on to earn All-America honors at Washburn University, helping lead the 18-1-1 T-Birds to the 5A-1A title in '04 and Marc Serrano's teams posting runnerup state finishes in '05 and '07.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
College underclassmen rarely have a breakout year like freshman Taryn Burkhardt had for the Johnson County Community College softball team in the 2023 campaign.
Taryn Burkhardt
The former Silver Lake standout compiled an outstanding 504 batting average, the third-best for the 33-8 Cavaliers.
Her breakout year earned her All-Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference D-II and Region 6/Plains District first-team honors.
Burkhardt’s older sister Torey also played for Johnson County Community College. The family ties played a part in her decision to attend JCCC, and her older sister made it easier for her to settle into the college game.
“My sister actually went to Johnson County from 2018-2019, so I’ve been around this environment before,” Burkhardt said. “Coming in, I knew Johnson County had high standards for its athletes. I didn’t need to adjust to that because when I was at Silver Lake, they also had high standards for everyone. Just knowing that I had to work hard for a spot motivated me.
“There are plenty of people around here that are great and that are here for a reason, so I knew what I had to do. I think understanding you have to work hard to maintain or earn a spot anywhere was the biggest thing for me that I realized before I got here.”
In addition to her .500-plus batting average, Burkhardt had seven doubles, three triples, a home run, 51 runs scored with 18 driven in and a team-high 37 stolen bases. Her 51 runs ranked fourth in the conference and she wasthird in stolen bases. Burkhardt’s 37 steals are the seventh-best season in Johnson County Community College history.
“I’m not too far away from home, but coming to Johnson County was a big adjustment for me because I am such a homebody,” Burkhardt said. “I love being at home, so that adjustment of being away was hard.
“But I never thought I put too much pressure on myself, which helped me. I just knew that’s what I had to do if I wanted to be here. When I finally got adjusted, everything became fun.”
- 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 golf and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 28, 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/poll4871586x6ad24A9A-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Hayden and Washburn Rural have combined for seven state team championships in boys golf and figure to be top contenders for top spots on TopSports.news' Best of the Best Top 10 in that sport.
But what may surprise local fans is that neither the Wildcats or the Junior Blues rank No. 1 for the most titles in Shawnee County history, which could make putting together a Top 10 list a very interesting endeavor.
Don Williams' Washburn Rural boys golf team took home the Class 6A boys golf championship in 1997, the first of three state crowns for the Junior Blues. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Chris Shanks' Hayden boys golf team won the Class 4A golf title in 2001 as John Newcomer captured the individual championship. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Topeka High hasn't won a state golf title in 62 years, but there was a time when the Trojans ruled the Shawnee County roost, capturing a county-high eight titles between 1929 and '61.
Neil White and Earl Bonebrake gave High its first title in '29, winning the state Two-Man title by a 325-330 margin over Salina and the Trojans also garnered Two-Man crowns in '31, '34, '35, '37 before sweeping Two-Man and Four-Man championships in '49 and adding a second Four-Man title in '61.
In recent decades Washburn Rural and Hayden have set the local standard, with the Junior Blues winning 6A titles in 1997, '09 and '15 and the Wildcats capturing 4A crowns in '01, '08, '11 and '14.
Don Williams coached Washburn Rural to a tiebreaker win over Shawnee Mission Northwest in '97 after both teams finished at 325 while Jeff Stromgren and Jared Goehring have also led the Junior Blues to state titles.
