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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's boys track and field team displayed quality in Friday's Joe Schrag City Championships, with the Junior Blues winning four events on the day.
But it was depth where Keith Wetzel's Junior Blues really shined, posting top-three-finishes in 11 of 18 events and top-six placings in 16 of 18 events en route to their sixth straight city title by a 174-118 margin over Seaman.
Washburn Rural's boys track and field team poses with its Joe Schrag City track and field championship trophy after winning its sixth straight city title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"Our depth did play a factor, a big role tonight in getting us some fourth, fifth, sixth-place points that adding up over the course of 18 events really helped us a lot,'' Wetzel said. "I think our boys got better today.
"We had some good marks, both in the field and on the track as well. I think we took another step forward and I think I did our girls (second to Seaman) did as well.''
Washburn Rural got wins from Jamond Lane in the shot put (48 feet, 9 inches), Josh Sulzen-Watson in the discus (159-10), Collin Rausch in the pole vault (12-0) and Davin Johnson in the 800 meters (2 minutes, 00:55 seconds) to lead the way Friday.
And though the Junior Blues have bigger meets coming up over the next three weeks, Wetzel said the city meet is one that the team looks forward to every year.
"We put an emphasis on the city title and wanting to be the champion in the city,'' Wetzel said. "It means something to us. It means something to our kids and it's good to go home with the trophy.''
Other boys meet highlights:
Highland Park senior Tre Richardson was a double champ in Friday's Joe Schrag City Championship, winning the long jump and the triple jump. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
• Coming back from a hamstring/quad injury, Highland Park senior star Tre Richardson recorded season-bests in the long jump and triple jump, taking city titles in both events by more than a foot
Richardson had a best jump of 23 feet, 00.50 inches in the long jump and went 46-8 in the triple jump.
"I felt great,'' Richardson said of his injury. "It didn't bother me at all.''
The defending Class 5A 200 meters champion, Richardson didn't run that event Friday, easing back into competition with his jumping events, and plans to run the 100 and 200 and compete in the long jump and triple jump in next Friday's United Kansas Conference meet at De Soto.
"I just got cleared yesterday to do the meet today,'' Richardson said.
Richardson said its been hard watching from the sidelines, but said he feel like he's ready for crunch time over the next three weeks.
"I didn't really want to go to practices and watch because I couldn't really do anything, but I came to support the team and now that I'm back it's better,'' he said.
Hayden senior Jake Muller re-set his school record in the 300-meter hurdles Friday night, winning his second straight city title in the event. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
• Already the Shawnee County leader in the 300-meter hurdles, Hayden senior standout Jake Muller improved his best in that event Friday night, clicking off a win in 39.19 seconds.
Muller, a former Class 4A state champ, and returning 5A state placer Jordan Garvin both went under the 40-second mark in the city meet, with Garvin posting a season-best of 39.82 seconds.
Muller's 39.19 bettered his own school record with his second straight city title in the 300s.
• Hayden bettered its state-leading (all classes) time in the 4x400 relay, with Finn Dunshee, Muller, Liam Stegman and Jensen Schrickel posting a school-record winning effort of 3:23.64.
The Wildcats won the city title in the event for the second straight season while Schrickel won his second straight city title in the 400-meter dash in 50.54 seconds and Dunshee won the 100 (time unavailable due to a timing system malfunction).
![Shawnee Heights junior Jackson Esquibel and Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge run one-two in the 1,600 in Friday's city meet. Esquibel won the 1,600 and Njoroge the 3,200. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]](/images/aa-images/JacksonEsquibelCity1.JPG)
Shawnee Heights junior Jackson Esquibel and Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge run one-two in the 1,600 in Friday's city meet. Esquibel won the 1,600 and Njoroge the 3,200. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
• Shawnee Heights junior Jackson Esquibel and Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge, two of the top distance runners in Class 5A, split their races Friday night.
Esquibel won the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes, 23.09 seconds while Njoroge came back to post a 12-second-plus win in the 3,200 in 9:26.55.
• Topeka High's foursome of V'Ante Peoples, Jaziah Mack, Logan Murray and Malachi Murph won the city title in the 4x100 relay in 42.87 while Murph and Peoples finished second in the 200 dash.
Murph won in 22.64 and Peoples was second in 22.69.
• Other city champions included Shawnee Heights' Alex Dittman in the javelin (175-1), Topeka West's Alesecio Batson in the high jump (6-2), Seaman's Aaron Merritt in the 110 hurdles (14.92) and Seaman's Brody Anderson, Joseph Budge, Bryce Cochran and Ethan Geiger in the 4x800 relay (8:28.09).
JOE SCHRAG CITY TRACK AND FIELD
At Hummer Sports Park
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West 2022 Class 5A state doubles champions Ian and Miles Cusick earned a chance to defend their title next week at Arkansas City with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win over Blue Valley Southwest senior Vishal Rajkuman and freshman Saket Jagannath in Friday's regional title match as the Chargers won the team championship by a 20-19 margin over Southwest at Kossover Tennis Center.
Topeka West twin brothers Miles and Ian Cusick won a Class 5A regional doubles title Friday at Kossover Tennis Center, helping lead the Chargers to a regional team championship. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
All six of Topeka West's regional entries qualified for state.
Topeka West senior Carter Cool finished third in singles with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Blue Valley Southwest junior Emmett Wirth while the Charger junior doubles team of Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew finished third with a 6-4, 6-1 win over St. Thomas Aquinas sophomores Maverick Farrar and Patrick Lacy.
Topeka West finished second in 5A in the 2022 state tournament.
The '23 state tournament will get under way Friday at Arkansas City.
CLASS 5A REGIONAL TENNIS
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
On Friday night Washburn Rural checked an enormous milestone off its list with its 20th straight girls' city swimming and diving title by a 162-point margin at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Washburn Rural freshman Audrey Appuhn won four gold medals Friday (two individual, two relay) as the Junior Blues ran their city win streak to 20 years. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Makenna Pritchard posted an individual win and was part of two winning relays as Washburn Rural rolled to its 20th straight city team title Friday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
It's no secret that Washburn Rural has extraordinary depth in its swimming and diving team and for two decades the buy-in and hard work from the Junior Blues have paid off with city titles.
"We have a consistency with a lot of girls that just want to swim," Washburn Rural coach Bob Burdick said. "The program has always been solid because of the depth, and that's helped us with the city championships. It's a tribute to the kids that keep coming out to swim year after year.
"It'’s also a tribute to the coaches that have been around this program. Obviously, the past coaches have done a great job with this program and building it up. So, hopefully, we can keep rolling along."
Washburn Rural standout swimmers Audrey Appuhn, Makenna Pritchard and Mara Bare had big days in the pool, winning four out of the eight individual city championship events.
In addition, the trio helped the team win the 200-medley relay and the 400-freestyle relay.
Appuhn took convincing individual victories in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. The freshman finished with a 1:57.72 in the 200 free, while she earned a 5:11.08 time in the 500 free.
"I'm really happy I was able to celebrate today with the team," Appuhn said. "It makes me happy I get to do this with all the people I grew up swimming with. I've been looking forward to this since I was a tiny tot and when I joined swim when I was eight years old. Recently, I discovered that I really enjoy distance events.
"I've been pushing myself in distance at club and high school practices. I'm just running with this and having fun. Next week at league, I'm hoping to go 5 minutes and 10 seconds in the five hundred and hoping to get top-three at state."
Pritchard won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.28 seconds, while Bare won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:01.07.
"They've meant the world to this program," Burdick said. "Makenna has just been a staple all the way through. Makenna likes to do freestyle events, and that's where home is. Mara can do just about anything she wants to do. I can pop her in any event, and she does well in all of them.
"Audrey has been the surprise for us. I knew she was coming, but she's been a surprise because she's an all-around good swimmer. She's been really great in distance, but high school is mostly sprints. So we've had to adjust her from distance to sprints, and she's rolled with it."
Besides Appuhn, Washburn Rural has had a handful of surprises all year. Kiersten Harris, Ruby Knutson, Sophie Heinen, Ella Bombardier, Madeline O'Brien, Naledi Mackenzie and Genevieve Miranda were mentioned by Burdick as extremely productive pieces to the program's successful 2023 campaign.
Seaman took a second-place finish in the city championships.
Like Washburn Rural, standout athletes have made the Viking program successful in the 2023 season.
On Friday, Seaman got individual wins from Joslynn Grace, Avery Walz and Tauren Walz.
Seaman's Avery Walz picked up three gold medals in Friday's city swimming championships at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With her city championship races, Avery Walz earned two of the best times in Class 5A in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard freestyle. She jumped two spots in the 200-yard individual medley and three spots in the 100-yard freestyle to make her the No. 1-ranked swimmer in those events.
Avery Walz had a final time of 2:07.18, topping Andover's Mari Griffin's time of 2:09.85 in the 200-yard individual medley. In addition, she swam a 52.38 time in the 100-yard freestyle. That time gave her the best time in all classes.
"I think I had great swims today, and our relay teams did a great job as well," Avery Walz said. "We really put in a great effort today. It was fun to race with my teammates, and we have worked hard to be where we are now. As a team, we are starting to see everything pay off.
"Individually, I want to make a couple of technical improvements with my turns because they can be quicker. There are always things you can do to get faster. I want to keep having fun, and I'm super excited for the next meet."
Tauren Walz won the 100-yard butterfly with a 59.92 time, while Grace clocked in at 1:10.72, winning the 100-yard breaststroke. Grace, Avery Walz and Tauren Walz contributed to a winning 200-freestyle relay race that bumped them to second in Class 5A and a runner-up finish in the 200-medley relay.
"I think overall we had a really good meet," Seaman coach Daryl Halsey said. "Majority of our events were best times. And they weren't just best times; we had girls cutting five, six, or seven seconds off of their personal-best times, which is huge. I'm proud of everybody, and they all stepped up. The entire team meshes so well.
"Avery and Tauren did fantastic, and I was incredibly happy with Joslynn Grace's 100-yard breaststroke. I know that was a big deal for her since she's only a sophomore. On the 200-free relay, not only did they cut time off, but they got first place. This is just very exciting."
Halsey admits that next week's United Kansas Conference meet will be more complex with unfamiliar schools since this is the first year of Seaman being a part of the conference.
"That will be more of a challenge than this meet," Halsey said. We don't know what Lansing has to offer, and we've only seen Leavenworth once, so we aren't familiar with them. We've been swimming against Topeka teams all year long. So it's a bit of an unknown in that aspect, but we want to keep it going. We want to keep up the momentum, and we want to continue to drop times."
Topeka High's Brianna Devlin remained on top of Class 6A with a championship-clinching dive of 265.85. Devlin is the No. 1-ranked diver in the state, with a season-best score of 269.65. Devlin's efforts landed her in the first team All-City group.
Seaman, Shawnee Heights, Topeka West and other member schools will swim at the United Kansas Conference meet at Lansing High School next Tuesday.
Hayden, Topeka High and Washburn Rural will swim at the Centennial League meet back at Capitol Federal Natatorium next Thursday.
"The tricky thing with the league is some of the girls that swam in events at city won't be in the events they swim at state, so we will be mixing some things up next week," Burdick said. "Next week will help us keep building the depth for the future. When I started here, I had seventeen swimmers, and now I have twenty-six. So hopefully, we can keep rolling and getting better."
TOPEKA CITY CHAMPIONSHIP
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn University baseball will host Northeastern State this weekend in an MIAA Tournament first round best-of-three series starting Friday at Falley Field.
Washburn pitcher Rane Pfeifer, a second-team All-MIAA pick, and the Ichabods will open MIAA Tournament play this weekend at Falley Field. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The series opener is set for 5 p.m. Friday, with Game 2 scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday. If necessary, the third game will be Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Ichabods are the tournament's No. 3 seed and finished the regular season with a series win at Pittsburg State for an overall record of 29-20 and 21-12 in MIAA play.
Washburn's 29 MIAA victories is its most conference wins since the 2016 season.
The RiverHawks (21-25, 15-18) are the sixth seed and closed out the regular season winning four of their last five games.
The two teams have already played a series in Topeka this season back on March 10-12, with the Ichabods winning the series, 2-1.
Washburn was picked fifth in the 2023 MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll and the RiverHawks were selected third after going 38-18 (22-11 MIAA) last year.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Topeka High senior guard Kiki Smith signed to play basketball at the University of Evansville on Thursday evening, fulfilling her dream of becoming a Division 1 athlete while playing the sport she loves the most.
Topeka High baketball star Kiki Smith addresses those in attendance for Thursday's letter of intent signing with Evansville. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Topeka High star Kiki Smith signs her NCAA Division I letter of intent with Evansville Thursday at Topeka High. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
“Honestly, I’m proud of myself,” Smith said. “There was a time period where I didn’t know if I wanted to go on with basketball after an injury I had. So being here today, being able to sign and say that I’ve finally made it is a really good feeling.”
Smith leaves her mark as a star on the Topeka High program after an overwhelmingly successful career in the Dungeon. Smith said the support she’s received from the community has helped her tremendously throughout the years.
In addition, she was glad to see a big group of people attend her signing ceremony.
“Just endless support,” Smith said. “I’ve had people bring me flowers up to the school. People are congratulating me. Just random people that I don’t even know, knew me. There’s just a lot of support.”
