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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
No. 29 Washburn women's tennis (10-5, 4-1) secured a Senior Day sweep Thursday afternoon, taking down conference rival Emporia State (3-9, 1-3) 7-0. The Ichabods get a week off before heading to Edmond to take on No. 28 Central Oklahoma next Friday.
![Sonia Smagina won a pair of Senior Day matches against Emporia State on Thursday as Washburn swept the Hornets, 7-0. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]](/images/aa-images/Sonia_Smagina.JPG)
Sonia Smagina won a pair of Senior Day matches against Emporia State on Thursday as Washburn swept the Hornets, 7-0. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Casie Curry was honored on Senior Day and then helped Washburn's women to a 7-0 sweep over Emporia State on Thursday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Senior Day for Washburn began with recognizing Sonia Smagina and Casie Curry who each joined the team as graduate transfers for the 2022-23 season.
Once the action on the court began it started in the Ichabods favor and did not sway, first with a 6-1 win at No. 1 singles for the No. 18 ranked partnership of Smagina and Maja Jung. Curry and Marta Torres secured the doubles point for Washburn, winning 6-2 at No. 3. Isabella Martensson and Issabella Pensavalle secured the double sweep with a 6-3 No. 2 victory.
Only two matches in singles play went into a third set. At No. 3 Torres' was not one of them as she began singles action with a 6-1, 6-2 win. No. 24-ranked Jung followed with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on court two. Smagina, ranked No. 2 nationally, won a 6-4, 6-1 match at No. 1 to clinch the match for Washburn.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls swimming team rolled up 522 points to take a decisive victory in Thursday's 12-school Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Makenna Pritchard posted a win in the 50-yard freestyle in Thursday's Topeka High Invitational, helping Washburn Rural roll to the team championship. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman's Avery Walz won two individual events and was part of a winning relay team in Thursday's 12-school Topeka High Invitational. [File photo/TSN]
The Junior Blues took the team title by a 220-point margin over runnerup Olathe South while Seaman was third with 270 points and Shawnee Heights fourth with 223 points.
Washburn Rural picked up individual victories from Mara Bare in the 200-yard freestyle (2 minutes, 03.58 seconds), Makenna Pritchard in the 50 free (25.19) and Audrey Appuhn in the 500 freestyle (5:23.57) and posted top-three finishes in nine of 12 events on the day.
Seaman got wins from Avery Walz in the 200 individual medley (2:10.65) and the 100 breaststroke (1:08.45) while the foursome of A. Walz, Megan Strobel, Joslynn Grace and Tauren Walz won the 200 free relay (1:48.59).
Topeka High's Brianna Delvin won the one-meter diving title with a score of 233.10.
TOPEKA HIGH INVITATIONAL
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Sometimes athletes tend to ease into a new season, particularly when they're coming off another campaign in another sport, but not Washburn Rural senior standout Alexis Fredrickson.
Washburn Rural senior Alexis Fredrickson (center) won the girls 100-meter dash in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational and doubled up in the 200 while also posting second-place finishes in the pole vault and 400. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Just a little over a month removed from helping the Junior Blues win the Class 6A-5A state wrestling championship, Fredrickson made her 2023 track and field debut in Thursday's Jerry Beardslee Invitational and competed in the maximum four events while posting a pair of victories and a pair of runnerup finishes.
Fredrickson, a three-time state medalist in wrestling, won the 100-meter dash in 14 seconds while running into a wicked wind, took the 200 in 28.26 and finished second in the pole vault at 8 foot, 6 inches and second in the 400 in 62.00.
Overall, Fredrickson, who will wrestle in college at Oklahoma City University, was pleased with her day.
"We've been training really hard so I'm not necessarily surprised, I'm just glad, honestly,'' Fredrickson said.
Competing in four events keeps Fredrickson busy, but is something she enjoys.
"I enjoy a lot of different races,'' she said. "I enjoy something different about each of them, so I like doing all of them. It does get tiring sometimes, though.''
Fredrickson wants to make the most of her final high school season and said she has mixed feelings about her high school days coming to an end.
"I'm kind of relieved its going to be over soon, but also kind of sad,'' Fredrickson said. "Any time anybody brings it up I'm like, 'Don't say that please.' ''
State champ Druse wins three golds
By her own admission, Seaman senior star Bethany Druse is impatient, particularly when it comes to her speciality, the 800-meter run, with the future Kansas Jayhawk wanting to be in championship form right now.
Returning state champion Bethany Druse of Seaman sets the pace in Thursday's 800 meters run and also posted a win in the 1,600 and anchored the Vikings' 4x400 relay team to a victory. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Druse, who won the Class 5A 800 title a year ago, is off to another impressive start this spring despite less than ideal weather conditions to open the season.
Running in her second meet of the year, Druse won Thursday's 800 in 2:25.28, took the 1,600 in 5:37 and anchored the Vikings' 4x400 relay to a come-from-behind win in 4:20.01.
The longterm plan for Druse, as it was a year ago, is to run the open 800 as well as legs on the 4x800 and 4x400 relays, but she went to Seaman coach Rick Brading earlier this week to volunteer for extra duty on Thursday.
"Last week I only ran the 800 and the 4x4, which is a total of three laps,'' Druse said. "I felt awful about my 800 time and I think it was because I didn't warm up very well, so I asked coach if I could run the 1,600 to help me get ready for my 800 and he was like, 'Yeah, let's go for it.' ''
It was a move that Druse felt paid immediate dividends.
"I ran two seconds faster (in the 800) than I did last week and I felt better today,'' she said. "Last week my lactic acid kicked in at the 400 and this time it kicked in at the 700, so I feel like it helped.''
Druse, who has career best of 2:15.19, wants to get back to a sub-2:20 mark as soon as possible, but thinks she is close to being where she wants to be at this point in the season.
"I feel about the same,'' Druse said. "I just talked to coach and he said my time was three seconds faster today than it was a year ago, so I feel I'm right on track or just above. I'm just so impatient.''
Other top performers:
• Topeka High senior V'Ante Peoples won the boys 100-meter dash in 11.61 seconds and the 200 in 23.74.
The Trojans also won the 4x100 relay in 43.10 and the 4x400 relay in 3:36.03.
• Highland Park returning 5A state champ Tre Richardson was a double winner while also posting a runner-up finish in the Beardless Invitational.
Richardson, a senior, won the boys long jump at 22 feet, 7 inches and the triple jump at 39-10 while finishing second in his debut in the high jump at 5-8.
• Josh Sulzen-Watson, a Washburn Rural senior, swept the discus and javelin titles on Thursday, posting a winning throw of 143-7 in the discus and a top throw of 166-8 in the javelin.
JERRY BEARDSLEE INVITATIONAL
At Washburn Rural
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Thursday night’s United Kansas Conference doubleheader between Shawnee Heights and Topeka West was decidedly one-sided, with Shawnee Heights.posting 18-3 and 10-0 run-rule victories at Hummer Sports Park.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Grace Proctor went 4 for 4 in Thursday's 18-3 first-game win over Topeka West and also picked up the pitching win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN
Shawnee Heights junior Alaryce Adams (6) and junior Odessa Schmidt (1) celebrate after scoring runs in Thursday's doubleheader sweep over Topeka West. [Photo Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights had suffered a 9-5 conference loss to city rival Seaman on Tuesday, but the T-Birds put that loss behind them with a near-perfect set of games against Topeka West.
“It feels really good to bounce back from that,” Shawnee Heights coach Tara Griffith said of Tuesday's loss. “We talk a lot about bouncing back, whether it be scoring after (an opponent) scores or losing a game. We talked about bouncing back from the Seaman loss, and I think they did that well today.''
Defensively, Shawnee Heights gave up three total runs in the first game in the first three innings.
However, after giving up those three runs, the Thunderbirds didn’t look back and didn’t give up another run in either game.
“I thought our pitchers were both a lot sharper today than they were on Tuesday, not to take anything away from Seaman,” Griffith said. “But they came out and had a focus today. They did a good job of hitting their spots.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Longtime Hayden tennis coach James Sandstrom has turned over the reins of the Wildcat boys program to longtime assistant Christine Voegeli, ending a tenure as one of the most successful high school tennis coaches in Kansas history.
![James Sandstrom has turned over the reins of the Hayden High tennis program to longtime assistant Christine Voegeli after a highly-successful run as the Wildcats' coach. [File photo/TSN]](/images/aa-images/JamesSandstromnew2.jpg)
James Sandstrom has turned over the reins of the Hayden High tennis program to longtime assistant Christine Voegeli after a highly-successful run as the Wildcats' coach. [File photo/TSN]
Sandstrom is also Hayden's school principal and said this spring was a good time to step away from his coaching job, particuarly after the graduation of James and Stacey's youngest son, Michael, in 2022.
Michael was a two-time Class 4A state runnerup in doubles while the Sandstrom's older son, Sean, was a state singles champion for the Wildcats.
"Being an administrator takes a lot of time and I really feel like to give my all to the community it was the right thing to do,'' Sandstrom said. "Having coached Michael and Sean their entire life coming up I really wanted the opportunity to coach them in high school. The first few years of coaching both and being a principal, it took a lot of time, but coaching tennis was also kind of a good refresher for me so I could approach my day to day business more focused.
"But with graduation weekend being the same weekend as state tennis and all of that, it was time.''
