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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Entering Friday and Saturday's Class 5A state boys tennis tournament at Arkansas City, Topeka West has already swept city, United Kansas Conference and regional team championships and is considered one of the top contenders for the state title after finishing second a year ago.
Topeka West varsity tennis players Ian Cusick, Caleb Weybrew, Miles Cusick, Carter Cool, James Maag and Caden McGee are all members of the National Honor Society in addition to being city, UKC and Class 5A regional team champions. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka West's top six varsity tennis players posed for a picture with head coach Kurt Davids and assistant coach Shon Daniels at the recent National Honor Soccer induction ceremony after winning the UKC team championship. [Photo courtesy of Katie Shiflett]
And that may not even be the Chargers' most impressive accomplishment.
Kurt Davids' team of seniors Ian Cusick, Miles Cusick and Carter Cool and juniors James Maag, Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew not only go into state with a combined 119-34 record on the season but all six have also earned the rare distinction of earning membership in the prestigious National Honor Society.
"I'm really impressed with my guys,'' Ian Cusick said.. "Sometimes they may act kind of dumb around me, but I'm really impressed that everybody was able to be in (NHS) at the same time.''
Miles Cusick agreed with his twin brother.
"We were talking about it at practice the other day and we're interested to see if you could find another team in the state of Kansas that has all six of their varsity in the National Honor Society, so it's definitely a cool thing that we all managed to do,'' said Miles, who teamed with Ian to win the Class 5A state doubles title in 2022.
While the Chargers' recent success on the tennis court has been well-documented, their academic success shows that the classroom is just as important to the team.
Cool, who will attend the University of Kansas next school year, is the valedictorian of the Topeka West graduating class of 2023 while the Cusicks rank in the top 10 and Maag, McGee and Weybrew are among the top students in the junior class.
"Actually, I take (academics) more serious than I do tennis,'' said Cool, a two-time city champ in No. 1 singles. "I'd say tennis comes second to my studies, but obviously I take that very serious.''
"I think I probably take my grades more serious than I do tennis to some extent,'' said Ian Cusick, who will attend KU. "They always say you're a student before an athlete and you have to make the grades if you want to play, so grades are pretty important to me.''
Miles Cusick said academic success is also important to his family.
"I think it's aways been emphasized in the Cusick household that we are student-athletes and even though we're very dedicated to tennis, we're also very dedicated to grades,'' said Miles, who will attend Kansas State.
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
With a 4-0 road win over Topeka High on Monday evening Washburn Rural soccer (11-4 overall) completed a 5-0 run through the Centennial League in 2023.
Washburn Rural seniors Brooklyn DeLeye (right) and Addi Broxterman (second from right) scored goals Monday night as the Junior Blues wrapped up the Centennial League title with a 4-0 win over Topeka High. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Kate Hinck (9), who scored a goal, advances the ball as Topeka High senior Lexi Brosa gives chase in the Junior Blues' 4-0 win. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/TSN]
Senior Mackinly Rohn (1) and the Washburn Rural soccer team wrapped up the Centennial League championship with a 4-0 win over Topeka High Monday night. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/TSN]
But for coach Brian Hensyel and the Lady Blues, each match in the final weeks of the season is a step towards goals for the postseason.
“Our goal is to win league every year so to do that is awesome. I’m proud of us for that, but we always have bigger goals and our biggest goal is to make the Final Four in (Class) 6A,” Hensyel said. “We’ve put ourselves in pretty good position with the playoff seeding but we are going to have to play better in the next couple of weeks if we want to keep playing.”
The 4-0 topping of the Trojans (7-8, 1-3) was the Lady Blues' fourth straight win after three consecutive losses. It also spoiled Senior Night for Topeka High and its nine-player deep senior class.
“It’s been fantastic working with this group and it's a huge group,” said Topeka High coach Derek Snook. “Just the tenacity and willingness to work at times has shown the younger ones hopefully what we need to do going forward.”
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin's girls soccer team won its 11th straight match with a convincing 10-0 mercy-rule victory over Maranatha Christian Academy on Monday evening at the Sunflower Soccer Complex.
Katherine Keys scored a three-goal hat track Monday as Cair Paravel Latin pushed its win streak to 11 games with a 10-0 win over Maranatha Christian Academy. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Cair Paravel's Zahra Friess (3) slides into the goal for the first of her two goals in the Lions' 10-0 win over Maranatha Christian Academy. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Sage Schwartz is congratulated by her teammates after scoring a goal in Cair Paravel's 10-0 win over Maranatha Christian Academy. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Cair Paravel's last and only loss was a 3-2 overtime loss to Class 5A Seaman back on March 28th, but the Lions have dominated every school since the one-goal loss in the third game of the 2023 campaign.
The Lions have outscored the opposition 85-8 this season and are seeded No. 1 in the 4-1A east side of the regional standings after seven weeks.
Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery believes that the Lions are playing their best soccer as CPLS approaches the end of the regular season.
"Every coach, no matter where at the end of the season, wants their team to get better and better. I feel like the girls here have done that," Woolery said. "It seems like the combination of where everybody's playing right now is great. After the Seaman game, I said I didn't have the pieces in the right place. I feel like I have that now. It's just a matter of the girls continuing to gel with each other."
Cair Paravel (12-1-1) ran the pace of play against Maranatha on Monday. Not many of the passes from the Lions were disrupted, challenged or intercepted. Instead, Cair Paravel consistently made clean passes, opening the contest early.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Joy Marie Galliart, who will take the reins of the highly-successful Washburn Rural softball program in the 2023-2024 school year, was born and raised in Oklahoma, where she has also spent her entire high school softball coaching career.
Joy Marie Galliart speaks to her future Washburn Rural softball team and Rural parents Monday at the school. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Galliart's ties to Kansas also run deep.
Galliart played softball at Washburn University and graduated from WU with a bachelor’s degree in biology and while one of her daughters currently attends Washburn her other daughter is right down the road at Kanas State.
"They are two of the big reasons why this job was appealing to me, so that I could come up here and be closer to them,'' said Galliart, who met her new team and Rural parents Monday night at Rural. "When they gave me their approval I was super excited about the possibility and I knew it was something that I wanted to pursue pretty heavily.''
Galliart comes to Washburn Rural from Bixby High School in Bixby, Okla. after previously coaching at her alma mater, Bishop Kelley High in Tulsa, Okla.
"I've been at Bixby the last 14 years, so I've been there for a long time and now here I am, ready to start another chapter in my teaching and coaching book, so to speak.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Dwayne Paul wasn't looking to leave the Hayden High boys basketball program, but when a job at a high-profile Class 6A school in a premier 6A league opened up, Paul said it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Dwayne Paul has stepped down as Hayden's boys basketball coach after two seasons to take take over at Lawrence Free State. [File photo/TSN]
Paul confirmed Monday that he is stepping down at Hayden after two seasons to take the head coaching position at Lawrence Free State, where he will replace former Kansas star Sherron Collins, who resigned after one season.
"It was one of those things where the job actually fell in my lap, I didn't go out pursuing it,'' Paul told TopSports.news. "I had someone reach out to me that was a friend of a friend, saying (Free State) was open and available and thought I would be good for it. That, then in turn, piqued my interest to go and look at it.
"I did some praying and soul-searching, and I talked to my wife about it, and kind of went from there. It wasn't like I was scrolling through all the openings in the state because I could have been at Hayden my entire career and been just fine and had success.''
Paul met with his Hayden players and Wildcat parents Monday afternoon to inform them of his decision and said he expects the school to continue to have success in the Centennial League and 4A.
"I know that we lost some top-heavy talent, but we had talent retuning again for next season so I truly feel in my heart that with some of the pieces the Centennial was losing and some of the pieces that we were bringing back that we would be right back in the thick of things when it was all said and done and we'd give ourselves an opportunity to make some noise in the playoffs,'' Paul said.
"But when you have an opportunity like Free State, a job like that with that kind of history and tradition and expectations to win, it's very similar to Hayden if I'm being honest with you. It's just at a 6A level with a lot of resources, so it was hard to pass up that opportunity.''
Hayden posted a fourth-place finish in the Class 4A state tournament in Paul's first season at the school in 2022 and the Wildcats played in a sub-state final this past season, losing to Atchison, 46-43. Paul posted a 21-26 record at Hayden.
Paul took the Hayden job after a successful run at Class 1A Division I Lebo, where he led the Wolves to a pair of state tournament appearances.
Before going to Lebo, Paul served as an assistant to Shaun Vandiver at NCAA Division II Emporia State from 2013-18 after previously serving as a full-time assistant at Henderson State. He also spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Wyoming.
Paul takes over a Free State program that posted an 11-10 record last season under Collins.
Jeff Skar has stepped down as Topeka West's girls basketball coach after three seasons. The Chargers posted a 6-15 record in 2022-2023. [File photo/TSN]
SKAR STEPS DOWN AT TOPEKA WEST
Jeff Skar recently resigned his position as head girls basketball coach at Topeka West after three seasons.
Skar was a former Charger assistant before taking over the head coaching position prior to the 2020-2021 season.
The Chargers are coming off their most successful season under Skar in 2022-2023, with Topeka West posting a 6-15 record in its first season in the United Kansas Conference.
Topeka West ended its season with a Class 5A sub-state semiinal loss to Andover, which went on to post a fourth-place finish in the 5A state tournament.
West's six wins last season maked the Chargers' highest win total in more than 15 seasons.
