- Details
By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Before Friday the last time the Hayden and Cair Paravel Latin girls soccer teams had met was for a trip to the Class 4A-1A semifinals last spring.
Cair Paravel ended the Wildcats season a year ago after a strenuous and physical 2-1 winning effort in the 4A-1A state quarterfinal.
Cair Paravel sophomore Zahra Friess (3) tries to get past Hayden's Lauren Sandstrom in Friday's 2-2 tie game. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
Hayden senior Briahna Barnett (7) advances the ball as Cair Paravel sophomore Amania Vincent gives chase. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
Hayden and Cair Paravel hooked up again Friday afternoon and slugged it out through two overtime before ending up in a 2-2 deadlock.
"It's early in the season, and we've improved since our last game," Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery said. "We are still collecting our lineup and putting all of our moving parts together. We have new players that are settling into the system, maybe used to playing differently with their club teams. I'm not unhappy with the way that we are playing. It's Hayden, so I anticipated this would be a tough game."
Friday's non-league contest was a physical match between the two programs. No team had a clear, runaway advantage but both schools that could return to the 4A-1A hunt again this year knew precisely what Friday would bring.
"I couldn't wait to play (Cair Paravel) because we lost to them in the (quarterfinal)," Hayden coach Klause Kreutzer said. "They're a good team, and I'd rather play a good team. I have to give them credit; they worked hard.
"They've got a lot of young players, and so do we. I'm satisfied with our effort. The execution wasn't what I like it to be, but they're a good team, and a tie isn't bad at all."
- Details
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After taking over as Topeka West's interim football coach for the final three games of the 2022 season, Trey Parker knew West is where he wanted to be.
Trey Parker
Now, after waiting out a long hiring and approval process, the former Washburn University standout is ready to go full bore after being approved Thursday night as the Chargers' head coach by the USD 501 school board.
"We're excited,'' said the 28-year-old Parker. "I've had kids asking every single day, "Are you the head coach?' I said, 'I don't know,' but now that it's official when kids ask me I can say, 'Yes I am, so now what are you going to do with that? I'm ready to hit the ground running. Are you going to follow me, are we going to run together?' ''
Parker becomes Topeka West's third head coach in less than a year after former Charger coach Ryan Kelly stepped down last spring and Russell Norton stepped aside just six games into his first season.
Parker, who was Norton's defensive coordinator, stepped in as West's interim coach last season and said that he believes that experience will benefit him moving forward.
"I think one of the biggest things about being a coach is building relationships and I think with that foundation that I was able to build with the kids last year that was a big milestone already that I had above other competitors that wanted the job, just simply because it's hard to build a relationship out of scratch,'' Parker said. "For me to have experience with the kids, that was monumental.''
- Details
By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
SILVER LAKE – Hayden baseball coach Bill Arnold saw his team start the season the best way it could have in a non-league twinbill sweep over Silver Lake on Thursday night.
Hayden run-ruled the Eagles, 14-0, in Game 1 of the season-opener and followed that stellar performance with a 10-2 victory in Game 2.
Hayden baseball coach Bill Arnold talks to his Wildcats after a season-opening twinbill sweep at Silver Lake. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
It would be hard to have a better start to the year than Hayden's sophomore right-handed pitcher Cooper Grace in the season opener.
Grace tossed five innings of perfect baseball in the first game, with Grace striking out 10 batters while only allowing five balls to be put into play (3 groundouts, 2 flyouts).
"Coop pitched well and was ahead in the count from the beginning," Arnold said. "He was really locked in. We made some nice plays, routine plays when (Silver Lake) put the ball in play. It was nice."
Grace handled the middle and bottom parts of the order. Batters four through nine went a combined 0-9 with nine strikeouts. The top three batters for Silver Lake went 0-6 with a strikeout.
Hayden's bats looked in midseason form in the opening game. However, with Hayden's limited time to practice and get live at-bats before the season's first pitch, it was important for the Wildcats to put the ball in play.
Hayden did that with 14 runs on the board and 11 hits while getting on base with five walks.
"I was really pleased because we were actually able to hit, I mean, we've got some work in the cage outside, but we've had minimal live at-bats," Arnold said. "I was happy with how the first game went. Obviously, we made some mistakes that I think we will get better at, but in the long haul, pretty pleased."
- Details
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Hayden girls soccer coach Klaus Kreutzer knows that things are going to get tougher in a hurry, but Thursday's season-opening 10-0 non-league road win over Topeka West was a good start.
Hayden senior Briahna Barnett (7) and Topeka West freshman Taryn Gilbert race to a loose ball in the Wildcats' 10-0 non-league win over the Chargers at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden freshman Kellyn Specht (8) and Topeka West freshman Cecylia Boyd (10) and junior Sophia Geist (11) try to save ball from going out of bounds in Thursday's 10-0 Hayden win at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I felt pretty good about it,'' Kreutzer said. "We're a pretty young team. We've got six or seven freshmen on the team and I thought they performed well.
"It's good to get (the opener) out of the way and I think we've got some things we can work on.''
- Details
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Seaman girls swim team returns a lot of the pieces from its fourth place finish a year ago with one new component, new head coach Daryl Halsey. Halsey and the Vikings placed third at the Topeka West Girls Invitational meet at Capitol Federal Natatorium on Thursday, highest among the five Topeka schools to compete.
Seaman's Avery Walz picked up three gold medals in Thursday's season-opening Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman's Joslynn Grace reacts to her time in Thursday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Halsey coached the Seaman team 10 years ago before moving from Topeka. A decade later, he inherits a talented crew.
Halsey said the Vikings graduated a good senior class last year but noted that several of the strongest swimmers returned.
Led by state medalists Avery and Tauren Walz and Joslynn Grace, the Vikings accumulated 279 points in the meet, trailing Lansing with 417 and McPherson with 368.
“I think this is an amazing group of girls,” Halsey said. “I think we have a lot of potential and think it’s going to be a really good year overall.
“We returned some girls who are stepping up into those leadership roles now that they’re a little bit older themselves, and they are able to show the younger swimmers what it’s all about. In that sense, I’m incredibly lucky.”
The Walz twins, who each collected four medals at the state meet a year ago, were the Vikings’ top scorers on Thursday. Avery Walz won the 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle events while Tauren Walz placed first in the 50-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard butterfly.
Grace claimed second place in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breastroke. Last year, she finished fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at state. She has high expectations for herself and her team this year.
“I feel like I’ve grown because I’ve been training a lot,” Grace said. “I really want our team to get a plaque (by finishing in the top three) at state this year. And I would like to get a medal in both my events because last year I only medaled in one.”
