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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news finished its tour of preseason football practice at all 10 Shawnee County high schools on Friday and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2023 season on Sept. 1.
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Coming off a perfect 11-0 record and a Kansas Christian Athletic Association state championship in 2021, Cair Paravel Latin football coach Doug Bonura knew his team was going to face a big challenge last fall in its first season as a full member of the Kansas State High School Athletics Association.
Cair Paravel Latin football coach Doug Bonura (right) talks to his team during a preseason practice session. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
That certainly proved to be the case as the Lions finished 3-5 after an up-and-down campaign and came up short of their goal of advancing to the Eight-Man Division I playoffs out of District 2.
"Last year was kind of a year of getting things figured out, going into KSHSAA for the first time, and not knowing half the teams we played,'' Bonura said. "That's half your battle when you know what you're getting into.
"Last year we were really hoping to get into the playoffs. We thought we had a chance, and we did have a chance, but we just didn't put two and two together to make it happen and we played some really good teams.''
But with a strong, senior-laden returning nucleus, Bonura is confident his team can make some major moves this fall.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Izzy Glotzbach
IZZY GLOTZBACH, Hayden
A sophomore, Glotzbach competed in the Class 4A state tournament for Hayden last season, with the Wildcats finishing third as a team. Glotzbach placed sixth in the city championship as a freshman and finished ninth in the Centennial League tournament, tied for 12th at regionals and was a second-team all-league and All-Shawnee County honoree.
Avery Grunert
AVERY GRUNERT, Hayden
Grunert, a senior, ended her junior season with a tie for 14th place in the Class 4A state tournament, helping lead the Wildcats to a third-place team finish while earning first-team All-Shawnee County recognition. Grunert placed 10th in the city meet, was seventh in the Centennial League tournament and tied for 10th in 4A regional competition, helping Hayden qualify for state as a team with a second-place finish. Grunert earned All-Shawnee County second-team honors as a sophomore.
Raegan Petersen
RAEGAN PETERSEN, Washburn Rural
Petersen, a senior, had a breakout junior season for the Junior Blues, capped by a 15th-place finish in the Class 6A state tournament as Washburn Rural finished fourth as a team, just two strokes out of second place. Petersen was the city runnerup as Rural captured its 10th straight city team
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Picking the boys and girls wrestling teams for the top of the TopSports.news Best of the Best Top 10 wasn't an easy chore.
But one thing was for sure -- the poll was going to have a distinctive blue tint to it.
Washburn Rural's 2023 girls wrestling team set a state girls tournament record with nine state placers on the way to its third state title in four seasons [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural captured its first Class 6A boys wrestling state title in 2021 while earning three individual state championships. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural's wrestling teams have garnered all five of Shawnee County's state team titles in the sport and eight Junior Blue teams are among the 12 that received mention in the Top 10, which includes boys and girls teams.
Damon Parker's 2023 girls team and Parker's '21 boys team top the Best of the Best list, with this past season's Rural girls team setting a state record with nine state placers on the way to its third championship in four seasons while the '21 boys team ran away with the Class 6A state title by a 47.5-point margin to claim the first boys state team crown in county history.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The most recent of Shawnee County's 25 state championship volleyball teams garnered the No. 1 spot on the TopSports.news Best of the Best list.
Kevin Bordewick's 2022 Washburn Rural team, his eighth state championship team, leads the Top 10 after a 45-1 season, including 44 straight victories to end the year.
Washburn Rural's 2022 Class 6A 45-1 state championship team is ranked No. 1 on the TSN Best of the Best volleyball list. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
All-American and Kentucky signee Brooklyn DeLeye, who had more than 2,000 kills in her career, was the ringleader for the Junior Blues while other top players for Washburn Rural included Taylor Russell, Chloe Carlgren, Zoe Canfield and Jada Ingram.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Top Fuel points leader Justin Ashley picke up his sixth win of the season Sunday at the Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park.
Top Fuel points leader Justin Ashley picked up his sixth win of the 2023 season Sunday at Heartland Motorsports Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Bob Tasca III (Funny Car) and Erica Enders (Pro Stock) also won at the 13th of 21 races in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series.
In the championship round, Ashley went 3.702 seconds at 323.58 miles per hour in his 11,000-horsepower Phillips Connect Toyota dragster to slip past BrittanyForce’s 3.707 at 323.58 in the final NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series national event at Heartland Motorsports Park.
After battling through several weather delays, the final round finished up under the lights as Ashley earned his 11th career win.
Ashley knocked off Josh Hart, Leah Pruett and Antron Brown to reach the final round before turning in the quickest run of the weekend to continue his impressive season while stretching his points lead to 83 points over Steve Torrence.
“We have a lot of history as a team here,'' Ashley said. "Jim Epler was the first Funny Car driver to go 300 mph and he did it right here in Topeka and my father won Funny Car here in 2007. This is the first race that him and I have won professionally at the same venue. It's really exciting and each one is more special than the next. We had four incredible turnarounds today and the team did a good job. Their ability to maintain composure and consistency on and off the race track is really second to none.
“It was tough to stay focused today. We really didn't know what today was going to bring but every driver and team were under the same circumstance. We didn't know if we were going to get a race in, let alone four rounds today, was probably the biggest challenge of all. But you have a lot of confidence as a driver when you have a team like the Phillips Connect team.”
