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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There's probably no other high school cross country runner in the state with more race experience than Shawnee Heights senior star Jackson Esquibel.
Shawnee Heights senior Jackson Esquibel posted a 53-second win in Saturday's Class 5A regional cross country meet at Shawnee North Community Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After all, Esquibel has been on the T-Birds' varsity team since he stepped on campus, has been a multi-time state qualifier and a two-time state Class 5A state medalist.
But Esquibel admits that he still gets nervous for each and every race.
"Of course,'' Esquibel said. "You get a little nervous but you get to the start line and you know what you're going to feel out there, you know that it's going to hurt, but I think once that gun goes off all the fear goes away.
"You've done it so many times throughout the four years that I just feel like it's fun now, you know. Being able to enjoy it a little bit more this year has been the best part about it.''
After the gun went off Saturday, Esquibel, also a state 3,200 meters champion in track, turned in another in a long line of dominating performance in the Class 5A regional meet at Shawnee North Community Center, posting a five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 46:02 seconds to take the individual title by more than 53 seconds over De Soto junior Vance Krudwig (16:39.21).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin, in only its second season competing as a full KSHSAA member in football, finished off a 6-2 regular season with a 74-28 victory over Maranatha Academy.
The Lions, who finished second in Eight-Man I District 2 will host 4-4 Sedan, which finished third in District 1, in a first-round playoff game next Friday (site to be determined)
Cair Paravel senior Jesiah Bonura compiled 435 all-purpose yards in Friday's 74-28 victory over Maranatha Christian. [File photo/TSN]
Junior Jase Pavlik threw for five touchdowns and ran for a TD as Cair Paravel capped a 6-2 regular season with a 74-28 win over Maranatha Academy. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Jesiah Bonura had a huge game in the Lions' win over Maranatha, compiling 435 all-purpose yards.
Bonura caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown, carried the ball five times for 193 yards and two TDs and had four kickoff returns for 195 yards and two scores.
CPLS junior quarterback Jase Pavlik completed nine of 14 passes for 86 yards and five touchdowns and carried the ball five times for 95 yards and a TD.
The winner of Cair Paravel's opening playoff game next week will advance to face the winner of the game between Central-Burden (8-0) and Goessel (1-7).
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 47, LEAVENWORTH 7 -- Shawnee Heights put the cap on a 6-2 regular season with a 47-7 United Kansas Conference road win at Leavenworth.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Seaman put together a drive in the waning minutes of its final regular-season contest Friday night, going 64 yards for a game-winning touchdown to beat Piper High School 28-21 at Seaman.
Seaman junior quarterback Max Huston passed for 370 yards and four touchdowns in Friday's 28-21 win over Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman Bryer Finley had 11 catches for 132 yards and three TDs in the Vikings' 28-21 win over Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With two touchdowns already to his credit, Seaman receiver Bryer Finley raced across the end zone to give quarterback Max Huston a target. Huston delivered a strike to Finley with 36 seconds remaining to secure the victory.
Having suffered three close losses, the Vikings were relieved to end the regular season at 4-4.
“I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of our kids, how happy I am for them,” Seaman coach Jared Swafford said. “They keep showing up every day, continue to work really, really hard and believing in what we’re doing. So, for them to be on the right side of one of those for a change against a good team is a good feeling.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Barring a major upset, Hayden's football team was going to win Friday's regular-season finale against Hiawatha ... most likely by a sizeable margin.
Hayden junior quarterback Jett Wahlmeier passed for 226 yards and five touchdowns in the first half as Bill Arnold's Wildcats finished an 8-0 regular season with a 56-7 win over Hiawatha. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden junior Jensen Schrickel had 142 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Friday's 56-7 win over Hiawatha. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But there were still several things Hayden coach Bill Arnold wanted his team to accomplish and the Wildcats did that in convincing fashion, wrapping up a perfect 8-0 regular season with a 56-7 Senior Night win over the Red Hawks at Hayden.
"We've got to keep getting better,'' Arnold said. "We haven't hit the top of the mountain yet with this group. We wanted to come out tonight and execute some things, but more than anything else I wanted the seniors to have a good night. This is a game that they'll remember the rest of their lives. Ironically, my last (high school) game was against Hiawatha my senior year and I remember almost every single play from it because Senior Night is something special and you want to add that to the memory books.
:"We also wanted to come out of here healthy, which is a big key right now for us. I thought we did some good things but we also did some things that we've got to correct a little bit.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the ITA Regional doubles tournament, Washburn University's Tim Hammes and Santiago Rendon had to sweat out some anxious moments just to get in last week's ITA Cup doubles field.
"It was a wait and see, but we were also confident,'' said Rendon, a senior out of Bogota, Columbia. "The first thing we did after the (regional) tournament finished was go to the website and see what the requirements were to get to the ITA Cup and it was making it to the quarterfinals and being in the top 20 in the rankings last year and we were 17th.
"So we had our hopes that we could go and then the results from all the other regions benefitted us.''.
Washburn tennis stars Tim Hammes (left) and Santiago Rendon pose for a picture with Ichabod coach Kirby Ronning (center) after winning the ITA Cup national doubles championship last Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"We knew that basically everything had to go our way to even get in so we were just checking the scores from all the other regions and just hoping that certain results were working out in our favor,'' said Hammes, a junior from Krefeld, Germany. "We probably knew that we had a really good chance to get in, but we were not 100 percent sure. Once we knew we got in we were very happy.''
Washburn coach Kirby Ronning also was cautiously optimistic that Hammes and Rendon would make it into the ITA Cup field, but also knew that anything could happen.
"You have an idea, but until they call your name you don't want to get too excited about it,'' Ronning said.
But after gaining an at-large bid for the tournament in Mount Berry, Ga., Hammes and Rendon capitalized on the opportunity in a big way, completing a dominant tournament performance run to capture the first national championship in WU men's program history.
