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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural junior golfer Raegan Petersen and Hayden sophomore football standout Jensen Schrickel have been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Rising Stars of the Week for last week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the 2022-2023 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Petersen and Schrickel last week:
RAEGAN PETERSEN, Washburn Rural
Petersen delivered a breakout performance for Washburn Rural in Monday's city girls golf tournament, helping lead the Junior Blues to their 10th straight city team title by a 24-stroke margin.
Petersen shot an 18-hole score of 81 to tie Seaman senior star Lois Deeter for the individual championship, finishing second after a sudden death playoff.
Petersen was also a Class 6A state medalist this past spring in the discus and was a member of the All-Shawnee County track and field team.
JENSEN SCHRICKEL, Hayden
Schrickel, a 5-foot-9, 145-pound receiver/defensive back/returner/kicker, continued his outstanding start to his sophomore season after playing a significant role for the Wildcats as a freshman.
Schrickel scored four touchdowns and 31 points as Hayden improved to 3-0 with a 55-34 home win over Rossville last Friday night.
Schrickel, a state long jump champion in track and field as a freshman, returned the opening kickoff 74 yards for a TD and also scored on a 67-yard punt return, a 48-yard pass reception, a 12-yard run and kicked seven extra points.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman tennis standout Lauren Sweeney enjoyed a dream 2021 season, teaming with Grace Unruh to post a perfect 36-0 record en route to the Class 5A state doubles championship.
But with Unruh moving on to college, Sweeney is on her own this fall as a senior, playing No. 1 singles for the Vikings.
So far the switch has gone well, with Sweeney 16-2 on the season after a perfect 5-0 day in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center.
Sweeney capped her day with an 8-3 win over Maize's Rylee Frye in the championship match, helping lead the Vikings to the team title by a 44-35 margin over host Washburn Rural.
Sweeney last played singles the first half of her freshman season but said she's satisfied with her progress.
"Singles is a lot more mentally harder and it's more running, definitely,'' Sweeney said. "Doubles with Grace was just so fun and we just jived really well together. Singles is all on you. If you miss, it's your fault.''
Sweeney used her summer to get ready to make the switch and said the transition is still ongoing.
"I'm still adjusting,'' she said. "There's a lot of things I can still improve on, but during the summer I was playing USTA tournaments and when I was taking lessons I was focused on singles more.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
By her own lofty standards, Seaman senior golf star Lois Deeter didn't have one of her better days in Monday's City Girls Golf Championship at Western Hills.
But with her second straight city individual title on the line, Deeter played her best hole of the day in a sudden death playoff with Washburn Rural junior Raegan Petersen, carding a birdie on the playoff hole to claim the title after both Deeter and Petersen shot identical 81s to force sudden death.
Deeter came within a few feet of driving the 288-yard No. 1 playoff hole, hit perhaps her best approach shot of the day to within a few feet and canned the short putt for her only birdie of the day to win the playoff over Petersen, who parred the hole.
"It's just one of those things where it's like, 'OK, let's make these shots the best shots of the day,' and I just really focused in on muscle memory and said, 'Let's just go do it,' '' Deeter said.
"I probably should have stuck with that the whole day.''
Deeter said she was relaxed for the playoff after Petersen's 81 was one of the last scores to be posted.
"I was, actually,'' Deeter said. "I got up there and just went and did my thing and got a birdie.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kearney, Neb. -- Washburn University opened MIAA play Sunday afternoon with a 2-1 road win at Nebraska-Kearney, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead and holding on the rest of the way.
Washburn improved to 6-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the conference while UNK fell to 0-7-1, 0-1-0.
The WU victory is it second over the Lopers in eight days and is also the third consecutive season Washburn has started MIAA play with a victory.
Both goals for the Ichabods came in the first 20 minutes of the game.
After the ball was deflected inside the box Khloe Schuckman ended up with it to the right of the goal and kicked it across into the lower left corner to put Washburn up in the 12th minute.
Just six minutes later Schuckman was fouled nearly 30 yards out from the goal.
Jaedyn Johnson took the free kick and drilled it high towards the middle of the goal. It deflected off the leaping goalkeeper and into the top of the net for the second goal of the day.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
MA'KENTTIS ADAMS, Washburn Rural
A 5-foot-9, 195-pound senior running back, Adams carried the ball 16 times for 179 yards and scored two touchdowns on runs of 19 and 58 yards last Friday night as Washburn Rural improved to 3-0 on the season with a 34-10 non-league win over Piper at Bowen-Glaze Stadium.
ALLEN BAUGHMAN, Shawnee Heights
Baughman, a junior running back, continued his breakout season in Shawnee Heights' 14-7 United Kansas Conference victory at Seaman Friday night. Baughman carried the ball 27 times for 183 yards and scored both touchdowns against Seaman and has 497 rushing yards and seven TDs on 66 carries on the season for the 2-1 T-Birds.
LENNY NJOROGE, Topeka West
The Topeka West senior cross country star posted his second individual victory in three races on the season in Saturday's Baldwin Invitational, clocking a five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 52.87 seconds to win by just under 38 seconds. Njoroge now has two wins and a runner-up finish in his three starts this fall.