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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Ryan Schmidt's 2011 Shawnee Heights team garnered the top spot on TopSports.news' Best of the Best baseball Top 10.
The T-Birds posted a perfect 25-0 record on the season, capped by a come-from-behind 6-4 win over Seaman in an all-city '11 Class 5A championship game.
Shawnee Heights' 2011 baseball team was tapped for the No. 1 spot on TopSports.news' Best of the Best list, posting a perfect 25-0 record and winning the Class 5A state championship. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Seaman's 2010 baseball team captured its third straight Class 5A state championship, posting a 23-2 record. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Seaman's 2008 baseball team won the first of three straight Class 5A state championships, losing just one game on the year. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Steve Bushnell's 2010 and 2008 Seaman teams hold down the No. 2 and No. 3 spots on the Best of the Best Top 10, with the Vikings' '10 team capturing Seaman's third straight 5A title while the '08 team started off the three-peat.
Hayden's 2015 baseball team went 24-1 en route to the Class 4A-I state championship, capped by a 10-0 win over McPherson. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Silver Lake baseball posted an undefeated season in 1970, winning the Class 2A-1A state title. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Bill Arnold's 2015 Hayden team is No. 4 on the Top 10 after posting a 24-1 record and earning the 4A-Division I championship while Silver Lake's undefeated '70 team, including county legend Lon Kruger, rounds out the top five.
Former Major League pitcher Jim Golden played a big role as Silver Lake won a second straight Class B state title in 1954. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Alan Cunningham coached Silver Lake to a third straight Class 3A state baseball championship in 1998. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Silver Lake, which has won 15 state championships, also holds the No. 6 and 7 spots on the Top 10, with former Major League pitcher Jim Golden leading the Eagles to a second straight Class B championship in 1954 and coach Alan Cunningham leading Silver Lake to a third straight 3A title in '98.
Hayden baseball did not allow a run in the 2009 state tournament on the way to the Class 4A state championship. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Craig Cox's 1994 Shawnee Heights baseball team won the school's first Class 5A state championship. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Aaron Becker's 2009 Hayden Wildcats are ranked No. 8 on the Top 10 after going 20-4 and not allowing a run in the 4A state tournament.
Craig Cox's No. 9 Shawnee Heights won the school's first 5A title in '94, while No. 10 Topeka West won its lone 5A title in 2003 under the late Brett Cowdin, who also coached Hayden to a state championships in '97.
Heights' 11 championship team also received the most votes in Reader's Choice balloting, followed by Seaman's '10 team, Hayden's '09 and '15 teams and Heights' '94 team to round out the top five.
Topeka High's '47 team, which won Shawnee County's first state title, earned the No. 6 spot on the Reader's Choice Top 10, followed by Washburn Rural's Class 6A title team in '50, a tie between Silver Lake's '70 and West's '03 team for the eighth spot and Silver Lake's '98 team in 10th.
A panel of current and past sports media professionals with more than 120 years of combined experience helped determine the final Best of the Best Top 10.
Here's a look at the Top 10 and Readers Choice Awards:
TSN TOP 10 BEST OF THE BEST BASEBALL TEAMS
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kellen Simoncic's outstanding 2022 football season came to an abrupt end in the ninth game of the year at Northeastern State when the Washburn University quarterback went down with a season-ending injury to his right (throwing) shoulder.
Washburn quarterback Kellen Simoncic (left) draws a chuckle from Ichabod coach Craig Schurig during Tuesday's MIAA Media Day while Simoncic talks about his younger brother, Cody, who plays for Northwest Missouri State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It was kind of a weird game, always playing down there (at Northeastern) is weird,'' Simoncic said. "We were driving and I kind of took off up the middle and tried to run a little bit and a guy hit me on the legs.
"I was always taught to try not to land on the shoulders and kind of roll on your back, but that didn't happen and I landed right on it.''
But after undergoing surgery and going through a lengthy rehabilitation period, the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder is chomping at the bit to return to action for the Ichabods.
"It was probably a couple of months at least to be able to throw,'' said the Smithville, Mo. native, who earned All-MIAA honorable mention a year ago. "We have a great training staff that spent countless hours working with me and I'm very thankful for them.
"But I was able to do spring ball, so that was awesome to get back out there and do 7 on 7.''
In his first season as the Ichabods' starter, Simoncic completed 195 of 312 pass attempts for 2,354 yards and 25 touchdowns while throwing just eight interceptions.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Washburn University was picked fourth out of 11 teams in the 2022 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Football Preseason Polls, released during Tuesday's MIAA Media Day.
Craig Schurig's Washburn football team, coming off a 7-4 season last fall, was picked fourth in both MIAA preseason polls, released Tuesday. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods received 73 points in the coaches poll, five points behind No. 3 pick Emporia State, and 16 points ahead of Central Oklahoma and Nebraska-Kearney, who tied for the fifth spot.
Washburn received 209 points in the media poll, 49 points behind Emporia State (one first-place vote) and 1 point ahead of Central Oklahoma.
The Ichabods posted a 7-4 record last season.
Washburn coach Craig Schurig, the dean of MIAA head coaches in terms of service with 22 seasons, said the MIAA may be more balanced than it's ever been.
"That's what makes our conference so tough,'' said Schurig, who has a 137-92 career coaching record. "Obviously by the end of the year there's going to be a couple teams that have kind of separated themselves like usual but it's the three through 10 and those are hard games.
"Sometimes the bottom team has had a rough year or whatever, but it's tough. You go toe to toe. When you look at some of the other teams you're like well they're seventh or eighth but those games will be damn hard so you've got to play really well every week. There's no week off.''
Defending MIAA champion Pittsburg State was tabbed No. 1 in both the coaches and media preseason polls.
The 2023 MIAA football season officially kicks off Thursday, August 31 with Washburn traveling to Pittsburg State.
In the coaches poll, Pittsburg State earned 98 total votes and eight first-place votes. Northwest Missouri earned three first-place votes and totaled 93 points to finished second.
The Gorillas also topped the preseason media poll, collecting 22 first-place votes and 320 points.
Northwest Missouri was ranked second by the media with 302 points and seven first-place votes.
2023 MIAA Football Coaches Poll
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with girls/boys wrestling and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through August 7. TopSports.news will begin to announce the top teams in all categories on Friday and continue into August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4881865x661A4906-151 while email votes/nominations will also be accepted at
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The Kansas State High School Activities Association hosted its first state wrestling tournament in 1930 and it took 90 years for Shawnee County to celebrate its first state team championship.
Washburn Rural's girls captured the first of their three state wrestling team championships in 2020, the first official girls state meet in Kansas history. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Washburn Rural captured the first boys state team wrestling title in Shawnee County history in 2021. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
But in four short years the county has put its stamp on wrestling's state history, with Washburn Rural claiming five state team championships and two runnerup finishes since 2020 while Rossville's girls also posted a runnerup team finish.
KSHSAA made girls wrestling an official state sport in '20 and Damon Parker's Junior Blues immediately became the queens of the mats, winning the first state tournament and repeating in '21 before adding a third title this past season after a runnerup finish in '22.
Rural's girls won the '20 title by an 84-80 margin over Great Bend on Dajia Anderson's state championship and the Junior Blues rolled to a 100-74 margin over Wichita North in '21 as Anderson and Rebekah Smith won state titles to lead the way.
Washburn Rural's girls wrestling team, parents and coaches posed for a team picture after the Junior Blues won their third state title in four seasons in February at Hartman Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After finishing second to Dodge City in '22, Washbun Rural's girls captured title No. 3 in February as nine Junior Blues earned state medals and Rural took a 153-141 win over Garden City.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The idea for Ken Berry's recently-released novel, GOOD COP -- BAD COP, was easy for the Topeka baseball legend to come up with.
But the former American League All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner hit some pratfalls along the way before closing strong to finish his fourth novel and 11th book overall.
Ken Berry's fourth novel, GOOD COP -- BAD COP, is available now. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
GOOD COP -- BAD COP chronicles the life of Stan Lundy, who inherited $2 million dollars at the age of 12, narrowly avoided service in Viet Nam due to a freak injury at 18 while unknowingly taking part in a $3 million dollar armored car robbery and being targeted for a murder attempt at the age of 21 while serving as a police officer in a small town in Iowa.
"This idea is old,'' Berry said. "I thought I had the whole thing figured out from start to finish but I kept running into roadblocks in the middle where I couldn't get past it. It didn't work for me, it didn't feel right.''
Former American League All-Star Ken Berry appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with former Yankees star Mickey Mantle in 1967. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Berry, who played 11 years in the Major Leagues for the White Sox, Angels, Brewers and Indians, eventually got the boost he needed after going to a buddy for help.
"I sat down with a banker friend of mine because there's a bank involved and I said, 'Here's the story, here's what has gotten us up to here and how can I get past this?' '' Berry said. "He said, 'Oh, just kill those two guys and move on.' I said, 'You're right!' And that was it.''
"They were guys that you would probably visualize needing to be knocked off eventually, just based on what transpired up to that point, so it was easy once he gave me that. I was off and rolling.''
