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Rick Peterson, Top Sports News Writer — Rick Peterson

Details: Created: 07 November 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural sophomore cross country standout Henry Laubach and Seaman junior cross country standout Brynn Spencer have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.

The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the bulk of the 2025-2026 school year.

Here's a brief look at the recent accomplishments of Laubach and Spencer over the past week.

Henry Laubach, Washburn Rural [Photo by Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports]

HENRY LAUBACH, Washburn Rural

Bouncing back from an injury, Laubach finished a team-high 22nd individually in last Saturday's Class 6A cross country meet at Rim Rock Farm, helping lead Washburn Rural to the state team championship.

Laubach posted a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 40.66 seconds to lead a strong pack performance for the Junior Blues, who won the team title by a one-point margin (100-101) over runnerup Blue Valley.

Laubach is a two-time All-Shawnee County honoree.

Brynn Spencer, Seaman [Photo by Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports]

BRYNN SPENCER, Seaman

Spencer earned her second straight Class 5A state medal in last Saturday's state meet at Rim Rock Farm, placing 16th individually.

Spencer, who had placed 18th as a sophomore, clocked a five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 26.82 seconds and was the lone Shawnee County runner to earn an individual state medal (top 20).

The Seaman athlete is a three-time All-Shawnee County honoree.

Details: Created: 07 November 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Coaches and athletes in all sports have had to deal with tough defeats, something Zach Watkins' 2025 Washburn University football team is very familiar with after suffering four one-possession losses, including back-to-back three-point decisions, one coming in overtime.

Centralia product Kamble Haverkamp is one of 15 seniors who will be recognized Saturday before Washburn's Senior Day game against Emporia State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

But last week's 27-24 MIAA road loss at Missouri Western was probably the toughest to take due to the way it ended.

After taking a 24-20 lead in the fourth quarter Washburn fell behind 27-24 after a Missouri Western touchdown with 1:44 remaining, but the Ichabods took over at their own 20 and converted four third-down conversions to reach the Griffon 13 with 14 seconds left.

But an incomplete pass on first down and an intentional grounding penalty on second down forced a 10-second runoff as the Ichabods were without any more timeouts, ending the game without Washburn getting the opportunity to force overtime with a relatively short field goal attempt.

"It was definitely one of the more heartbreaking losses I've been a part of,'' Washburn senior safety Kamble Haverkamp said. "It's unfortunate. Nobody wants to lose and to lose that way was pretty tough. Everybody sees the way it ends and thinks, 'Aw, we lost because of that,' but there's a lot of plays up to that point that a lot of people don't see -- long punt returns, the defense had a 4th and 5 we didn't stop and then a 4th and 2 on the 2-yard-line. If we just get a stop we kneel it out and it doesn't matter.

"One play doesn't define the game. There's a lot of plays in there you wish you could have back, but that's the game that we play.''

And by early this week all of the Ichabods' focus was on Saturday's 1 p.m. Senior Day game in Yager Stadium against rival Emporia State.

"The attitude's are always good,'' Haverkamp said. "We haven't had a Tuesday practice that was lackadaisical and still caught up in a loss, which I think is good. That shows good resilence on our team and the guys still want to win. We're all competitors and no matter what, we want to go win every Saturday.

"This one means a little more because it's Senior Day and it's the Turnpike Tussle, so mix Senior Day with a rivalry game there will be a lot of juice in our locker room come Saturday. We won't lack that for sure.''

Watkins agreed with Haverkamp that the Ichabods' positivity has been a constant throughout the season.

"I'm really proud of this team for that exact reason,'' he said. "This team practices extremely well, we prepare extremely well. We're very close with really good team bond, team closure.

"The execution on Saturday just hasn't always been there as much as it needs to be to be able to win the game, but our guys are the ultimate professionals in how they practice and how they've lived up to the standard we've created and that's going lead to really good things down the road.''

The Ichabods enter Saturday's game 2-7 overall and 1-6 in the MIAA while the Hornets are 4-6 and 3-4 in the MIAA this season after falling to then-No. 14-ranked Northwest Missouri, 41-14.

Sophomore linebacker JC Heim leads the MIAA and is third in the national rankings in tackles per game with 12.9 per contest and junior L.J. Minner Jr. is third in the MIAA with 9.9 tackles per game, ranking 15th in the NCAA D-II national rankings.

Jordan Finnesy's 246 career tackles rank 15th on the NCAA D-II active chart and he is 15th on the D-II active solo tackles chart with 152.

Jake Zeller is fifth on the D-II active punting average chart at 41.92 and he is seventh in total punt yards (6,791). Zeller is second in the MIAA and 11th in the national rankings in punting average at 42.8. Zeller is second on the Ichabod all-time punting average chart at 41.92 and ninth in total yards at 6,791.

Details: Created: 06 November 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Coach Chris Herron knows that No. 6-ranked Washburn University volleyball is going to miss senior middle hitter Alex Dvorak, out for the season with a knee injury.

And Herron said the Ichabods feel even worse for Dvorak, who will end her All-American career on the sidelines.

Washburn star middle hitter Alex Dvorak will miss the remainder of the 2025 season with a knee injury, forcing other Ichabods to pick up the slack. [File photo/TSN]

"It's awful,'' Herron said. "When she broke the news to our team (Tuesday), a lot of tears were shed.''

But Herron also knows that the Ichabods can't afford to dwell too long on the injury to their friend and teammate and have to focus on continuing to build momentum for their late-season push.

"It's tough, because when something like this happens, you want the world to like stop for just a second and be sorry with you, but life goes on and even though you say it's not fair, it's just what it is, so we've got to go on,'' Herron said.

"We're going to do a lot of reminding them that you've got to pick up that slack and somebody's got to fill that position, so we're trying to figure that out this week.''

Herron said that the rest of the team, and particuarly the middle hitters, have embraced the task of stepping up their game in the absence of Dvorak, who was injured in last Friday's loss at Missouri Western.

"We've already had the other middles come in and get extra work,'' Herron said. "Everybody feels that they need to pick up that slack and I've seen evidence of that.''

Washburn is 21-2 overall, equaling last season's win total, and 10-2 in the MIAA.

The Ichabods wrap up their two-week road swing this weekend, facing No. 3-ranked Nebraska-Kearney at 6 p.m. on Friday, and Fort Hays State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the final regular-season matches.

Nebraska-Kearney enters the week on a five-match winning streak and is 23-2 overall and 10-2 in the MIAA while Fort Hays State is 15-9 overall and 4-8 in the MIAA.

Senior Austin Broadie leads the Washburn offense with 251 kills (3.30 per set) while hitting .344, third best on the team. She has started all 23 matches and also has logged 50 blocks with 49 digs. The senior has twelve double-digit kill matches and ranks third in the MIAA in hitting percentage. Broadie is third among conference players in kills per set and points per set.

Bella Limback is slashing a team-high .493 with 147 kills (1.99 per set) while playing and starting in all 23 matches. She has also added 85 blocks (1.15 per set), also a team-high, and served 12 aces. She has hit over .400 in all but six matches this season with three double-digit kill efforts. Limback leads the nation in hitting percentage and is fourth in the MIAA in blocks per set.

Corinna McMullen has started all 23 matches this season and leads Washburn with 482 assists (6.43 per set). She has also chipped in a team-high 29 service aces while ranking second on the team with 196 digs (2.61 per set). The senior has delivered 13 matches of 20-plus assists with nine double-doubles. She ranks sixth in the conference in aces per set and seventh in assists per set.

McMullen needs seven more aces to become the all-time program leader.

Taylor Rottinghaus leads Washburn with 311 digs (4.09 per set) and has chipped in 95 assists while serving 25 aces, second-most on the team. The junior has three matches making at least 20 digs. She ranks seventh in the MIAA in digs per set and 11th in total digs.

Washburn leads the nation with a .297 team hitting percentage as a team.

The Ichabods are 14th nationally and third among MIAA teams with 2.49 blocks per set.

On the defensive side Washburn is limiting opponents to a .129 hitting percentage, good for 11th nationally and No. 1 in the MIAA.

The Ichabods are dishing out 13.68 assists per set on offense, good for seventh in the nation and second in the MIAA.

Washburn knocks down 14.57 kills per set to rank ninth in D-II and second among MIAA programs.

Serving up 1.95 aces per set, the Ichabods are first in the MIAA.

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