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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
TopSports.news will honor All-America football player Grant Bruner and All-America softball player Jaycee Ginter as Washburn University's outstanding male and female athletes for 2022-2023 at the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards and Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on June 28 at Washburn's Memorial Union.
Grant Bruner earned a pair of first-team NCAA D-II All-America awards as a senior for Washburn after leading the nation in tackles. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn junior Jaycee Ginter, a Shawnee Heights product, was a first-team All-American last season and has won 23 games this season. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Bruner, a native of Gretna, Neb., capped his Ichabod career with a monster season for 7-4 WU last fall, leading the nation in tackles and earning Associated Press Division II and Conference Commissioners Association first-team All-America honors.
Shawnee Heights product Ginter, a junior, was a first-team Division II All-American and the MIAA Player of the Year in 2022 and ended the 2023 regular season on Saturday with a 23-8 pitching record and 1.69 earned run average for the 36-14 Ichabods.
TopSports.news will honor outstanding Washburn athletes for the third time in conjunction with the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards and Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
In 2022 Faith Rottinghaus and James Letcher Jr. were named Washburn outstanding female and male athletes of the year.
Washburn Athlete of the Year capsules:
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn baseball finished out the 2023 regular season with a 6-4 victory to clinch the series win at Pittsburg State on Sunday afternoon.
Rane Pfeifer picked up the pitching win as Washburn earned the No. 3 seed for the MIAA Tournament with a 6-4 win over Pittsburg State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
With the win the Ichabods claimed the tiebreaker over the Gorillas in the conference standings to earn the No. 3 seed in the MIAA Tournament and will host a best-of-three first- round series next weekend against No. 6 seed Northeastern State.
The Ichabods (29-20 overall, 21-12 MIAA) scored four runs with two outs in the opening inning and forced Pittsburg State to make a pitching change after facing eight batters.
Hayden product Andrew Schmidtlein led off the game with a single up the middle and a single from Ike Book and then a walk to Cal Watkins loaded the bases.
With two outs Easton Bruce drew a walk to bring in a run.
Up next was Blake Scott, who sent the first pitch he saw up the middle for a two-run single. Washburn finished its scoring in the inning with an unearned run after a fielding error by Pittsburg State.
Washburn starter Rane Pfeifer left a pair of runners stranded in the bottom of the first and then retired the side in order in the second inning, needing only six pitches.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Carter Cool
CARTER COOL, Topeka West
A senior tennis standout, Cool won his second city championship in No. 1 singles last Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, helping Topeka West win its third straight city team title (outright or shared). Cool clinched his individual title with an 8-5 win over Washburn Rural senior standout Mason Casebeer in the final.
Ian Cusick
IAN CUSICK, Topeka West
Cusick, a senior, teamed with his twin brother, Miles Cusick, to win their third straight city tennis title in No. 1 doubles last Thursday while helping the Chargers win their third consecutive city team championship (outright or shared) by a 30-26 margin over Washburn Rural. The Cusicks, defending Class 5A state champs, took an 8-0 win over Rural in the final.
Miles Cusick
MILES CUSICK, Topeka West
A senior, Cusick teamed with his twin brother, Ian Cusick, to win a third straight city tennis title in No. 1 doubles last Thursday while helping Topeka West win its third straight city team championship (outright or shared) by a 30-26 margin over Washburn Rural. The Cusicks, defending Class 5A state champs, took an 8-0 win over Rural in the final.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
No. 18-ranked Washburn University men's tennis qualified the NCAA National Championships for the first time since the 2017-18 season, defeating No. 24 Ouachita Baptist 4-1 Saturday afternoon.
Washburn men's tennis celebrates its 4-1 regional win Saturday at the Washburn Tennis Complex. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn men's tennis poses for a team picture Saturday after earning a berth in the NCAA National Championships. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will head to Orlando, Fla., with play beginning May 11.
Washburn (17-7), the No. 2 seed in the Central Region, knocked off the No. 3 seeded Tigers (12-11), for a second time this season, and avenged a 4-3 loss to Ouachita Baptist in the Central Region Tournament last season to advance to nationals for the seventh time in program history.
Doubles play started with Sebastian Pjontek and Miquel Perez, ranked No. 7, falling to the No. 6 nationally ranked pairing of Alex Blanchar and Phil Exner 6-4 at No. 1. No. 12 ranked Tim Hammes and Santiago Rendon evened the match back up with a 7-6(2) tiebreaking win at No. 2.
Yoshinobu Nakatsuji and Daniel Bird went back and forth early at No. 3 but were able to pull away late and win 7-5 and clinch the doubles point for Washburn.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
As Game 2 of Saturday's Washburn softball doubleheader against Emporia State got into the later and eventually extra innings, Ichabod coach Brenda Holaday let sophomore Kaylee Wagner know that she might be called on as a pinch-hitter.
Washburn sophomore Kaylee Wagner gave the Ichabods a 3-1 second-game win over Emporia State with a ninth-inning walkoff two-run home run. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
And when that time came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of a 1-1 game, Wagner came through with arguably the biggest hit of her career, a two-run walkoff home run to give Washburn a 3-1 win and a split of an MIAA twinbill which capped the regular season for both the Ichabods and Hornets.
"I was just thinking, look for a pitch I can drive and (Sydney Righi) gave me a pitch on the inner half and I went after it,'' Wagner said. "It's really exciting. I'm super happy and I'm happy for my team that we got that win.''
Wagner has struggled offensively off and on this spring, but Holaday said she had confidence in her.
"That's Kaylee's pitch, the pitches that that girl throws, and she was getting a little bit predictable I thought and I knew (Kaylee) was going to get a pitch inside,'' Holaday said. "I thought she had a chance to turn on it, if anybody did.
"She's got a lot of power and I just thought it was time to give her a chance.''
