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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabod softball team had three players honored in five categories on the All-MIAA team announced Tuesday prior to Wednesday's start of the conference tournament at the Envista Softball Complex at Lake Shawnee in Topeka.
Washburn junior Jaycee Ginter has received first-team All-MIAA honors for the third straight season. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Marrit Mead has earned All-MIAA second-team recognition for Washburn at third base. [File photo]
The Ichabods had two MIAA Gold Glove winners as well as a first-team, second-team and honorable mention All-MIAA pick this season.
The Ichabods will open the MIAA tournament at 3 p.m. Wednesday as the No. 5 seed when the Ichabods face No. 4 seed Central Missouri.
Junior pitcher Jayce Ginter, a Shawnee Heights product, earned first-team All-MIAA honors as a pitcher after earning first-team all-MIAA honors as a freshman and sophomore as a pitcher/utility player.
Ginter leads the MIAA in victories with 23 and is second in the league with a 1.68 ERA. Her 244 strikeouts are first in the league as are her games started (28), complete games (20) and innings pitched (203 2/3).
Junior third basemen Marrit Mead was a second-team All-MIAA selection this season. She is third in the MIAA in hitting with a .409 batting average and her 67 hits is second this season. She is a perfect 27 of 27 in stolen base attempts.
Mead is also second in the MIAA in runs scored with 50, seventh in doubles with 14 and seventh in on-base percentage at .478. Mead was a first-team All-MIAA pick her freshman and sophomore seasons as an Ichabod.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Joy Marie Galliart has been selected to lead the Washburn Rural softball program in the 2023-2024 school year.
Joy Marie Galliart
Galliart will take over for Liz Stover, who will step down as the Junior Blues' coach after the conclusion of the current season after accepting a teaching position at Shawnee Mission South High School.
Galliart played softball at Washburn University and graduated from WU with a bachelor’s degree in biology.
Galliart has served as the head softball coach the past 11 years at Bixby High school in Bixby, Okla.
Prior to her stint at Bixby, Galliart taught and coached at her alma mater, Bishop Kelley High in Tulsa, Okla.
Galliart’s past teams have posted a state runner-up finish and two state quarterfinal finishes. She was named All-State Coach in 2008 and 2019 and has coached several All-State players.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural senior Mason Casebeer captured the Centennial League singles championship Monday at Kossover Tennis Center while Junior Blue senior Kiefer Von Lintel and freshman Dylan Willingham won the league doubles title.
Washburn Rural senior Mason Casebeer won the Centennial League singles championship Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Kiefer Von Lintel teamed with Josh Willingham to win the Centennial League doubles title Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman Josh Willingham won the doubles championship in his first Centennial League tournament Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Rural finished second to Manhattan in the team race by a single point, 40-39, while Hayden was third with 29 points.
Casebeer, a former Class 6A state medalist rolled to 6-0, 6-1 win over Manhattan's Advith Nataraja in the singles final after Casebeer survived a 7-5, 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker) semifinal with Manhattan's Drake Carr.
Hayden's Joseph Luke (left) and Gus Glotzbach posted a runnerup doubles finish in Monday's Centennial League meet at Kosover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Von Lintel and Willingham dropped a 6-1 decision to Hayden senior Gus Glotzbach and junior Joseph Luke in the first set of the doubles final but the Rural duo bounced back to take a 6-1 win in the second set and took a 10-7 win in the super tiebreaker.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights senior Alex Valdivia added a couple more items to his growing resume Monday, capturing the United Kansas Conference golf championship for the second year in a row and earning back-to-back league Player of the Year honors.
Shawnee Heights senior Alex Valdivia putts for the UKC individual title, his second straight, Monday at Village Greens. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
UKC player of the year Alex Valdivia poses for a picture with UKC co-coach of the year Rick Rineberg of Seaman after Valdivia won the individual title and Rineberg's Vikings won the league team crown. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
The All-UKC golf selections pose for a picture at the conclusion of Mondays UKC meet at Village Greens. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Valdivia, a Washburn University golf commit, shot a 3-over-par 75 at the conference tournament at Village Greens Golf Course in Meriden.
He held off De Soto’s Will Kerr by a stroke on the final hole.
New to the conference this year, the Seaman Vikings took home the team title, shooting a collective 325, led by junior Zach Weir, who tied for third in the tournament with a 77.
“It’s pretty special,” said Seaman coach Rick Rineberg. “We’ve been growing this year. We’ve been gaining momentum as the year has gone on. Our guys shot some nice scores today and I’m really proud of them.
“Zach is kind of our returning vet. He’s been battling demons with his swing this year, as people can. So it was really nice to see him put it all together today.”
“I was confident that I could finish up there, but I needed to just put it all together and have a positive attitude. That really helps me,” Weir said. “I knew I could shoot 77. I haven’t yet in a tournament, this was my best round of the year. It all came together today.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The battle for the Centennial League individual boys golf title went down to a sudden death playoff Monday at Lake Shawnee, but no matter how the playoff came out it was going to be a victory for Washburn Rural.
Washburn Rural sophomore Tagan Monasmith shot a 74 Monday and won the Centennial League title in a sudden death playoff. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Bryan Tyrell shot a 74 and finished second in a sudden death playoff, helping the Junior Blues win the Centennial League title by a 21-stroke margin. [Photo by Trevo
Washburn Rural's golf team poses for a team picture after winning the Centennial League title by 21 strokes Monday at Lake Shawnee. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
It was that kind of day for the Junior Blues.
Washburn Rural regained the league championship after a brief one year's absence by a dominating 21-stroke margin over 2022 champ Manhattan and added a 14 stroke win over St. James Academy in the Midwest Varsity Classic.
Individually, Rural sophomore Tagan Monasmith and senior teammate Bryan Tyrell both shot 74s to force a playoff for the championship in both events, which Monasmith won on the first extra hole, but both players agreed that the fact that it was an all-Rural showown made it a little easier to accept the outcome no matter which way it went.
"I didn't really think about it too much,'' Monasmith said. "I knew either way, that's my boy, so win or lose it was definitely going to be a good day.''
Tyrell agreed.
"It's fun to compete and especially when it's your teammate, it's fun,'' Tyrell said.
Rural senior Andrew Burdett was just a stroke behind his teammates at 75 to tie for third in the Centennial League while senior Tyler Baumchen shot a 76 to finish fifth and junior Hayden Glynn tied for sixth with a 79.
Monday was the first time that Jared Goehring's Junior Blues were able to beat Manhattan this spring, which was an added bonus for Rural.
"Finally,'' Monasmith said. "Coach was pretty happy about that one.''
"We had a lot of pretty good scores throughout the year but we just couldn't put four scores together,'' Tyrell said. "But today we showed we could put four scores together and we beat them.''
Goehring said that Monday's performance was a big momentum boost for the Junior Blues.
"Crunch time is here and postseason golf is about a week away and we feel like we're playing some of our better golf of the season,'' Goehring said. "It was a team goal for us to break 300 and we accomplished that today (at 299) and that's good momentum moving forward.''
Hayden sophomore Tagen Rodriguez earned the 11th-place medal with an 83 while Topeka High junior Rich Helmbold tied for 12th (84), Hayden senior Noah Haverkamp tied for 14th (85) and Topeka High senior Luis Muniz Rodriguez tied for 16th (86).
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE
