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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Playing on its home field, Washburn Rural's boys soccer team wanted to establish itself early in Monday's Class 6A state quarterfinal against Liberal.
Junior Dylan Willingham made that happen just 5 minutes, 21 seconds into the match, giving the Junior Blues a lead that that they would not relinquish on the way to a 4-2 win over the Redskins that propelled Washburn Rural into Wednesday's state semifinals.
Washburn Rural, whch will be making its fifth straight Final Four appearance, will face Shawnee Mission East (17-1-1) in a 6 p.m. semifinal contest at the Shawnee Mission Soccer Complex.
Willingham put the ball into the net after an outstanding individual effort to give Rural an early boost as the Junior Blues improved to 14-2-3 on the season.
"The play was put it in the back of the net, honestly,'' Willingham said. "The ball just popped up and it was just going to be a shot and it went in luckily. I tried to rip it and it went in, thankfully.''
Junor Drew Moore gave Rural a 2-0 halftime advantage with 20:21 left in the half and Willingham struck again at the 14:48 mark of the second half to put the Junior Blues in front, 3-0.
"I'm always taught to run through the ball, so I did, and luckily I caught them off guard and had a free ticket to the goal and that was sweet,'' Willingham said. "We just want to win and move on, we want to be in the top four.
"We're at state and that's what we always want to do.''
Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said that getting off to a quick start Monday was a big advantage.
"We knew (Liberal) was going to be a tough opponent and they had some talented offensive players,'' Hensyel said. "So to get off to a good start again -- and that's kind of been the theme of the playoffs so far -- when you take control of the game it kind of settles everybody down and then the second goal did the same thing.
"I just thought throughout the night we created chances. Some are going to go in, some didn't. We had two or three others really close so I'm just proud of the whole performance.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
CONNER BUSH, Rossville
A 5-foot-11, 176-pound junior running back, Bush scored three touchdowns Friday night as Rossville advanced to the second round of the Class 1A football playoffs with a 47-13 win over Wabaunsee. Bush scored TDs on runs of 51, 9 and 25 yards as the Bulldawgs improved to 6-3 on the 2024 season while posting their sixth straight victory.
RYLEE ISMERT, Washburn Rural
Ismert, a senior cross country standout, earned her second straight Class 6A state medal in Saturday's state meet at Rim Rock Farm, posting a career-best third-place individual finish in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 41.30 seconds as the Junior Blues tied Olathe West for the team championship, with the Owls winning their fifth straight state title on a tiebreaker. Ismert won Centennial League and regional titles this fall.
ADRIAN LEHMAN, Topeka West
The Topeka West senior cross country standout posted a Shawnee County-best boys finish of seventh place in Saturday's Class 5A state meet at Rim Rock Farm. Lehman, a two-time state qualifier in his only two seasons of high school cross country, clocked a five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 49.59 seconds after qualifying for the state meet as an individual.
Seaman volleyball's Mills UKC repeat pick as offensive player of the year, Dowling coach of the year
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman senior Maegan Mills has been named the United Kansas Conference volleyball offensive player of the year for the second straight season while Viking coach Tatiana Dowling was a repeat pick as the UKC coach of the year.
Mills was joined on All-United Kansas Conference first team by senior teammate Campbell Chabot, who moved up from the second team.
Shawnee Heights senior Kaydence Torrez was a first-team selection for the second straight season while T-Bird senior Taylor Brees moved up to the first team after being a second-team pick in 2023.
Seaman seniors Ava Esser and Kinley Wilhelm were second-team All-UKC honorees along with Topeka West sophomor Sydney VanDyke.
Lansing junior Avery Sands was named the UKC defensive player of the year and also was a first-team pick, along with De Soto junior Chloe Kmiecik, Lansing sophomore Halle Laincz and Piper senior Abbie Roth.
ALL-UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
OK, so it may have lacked the overall drama of Babe Ruth's legendary called shot in the 1932 World Series, but Josie Boyle did a pretty good imitation for Washburn University soccer in Sunday's 1-0 Senior Day win by the No. 20-ranked Ichabods over No. 15-ranked and previously-unbeaten Missouri Western at Yager Stadium.
Boyle, a senior defender, gathered in a corner kick from junior Aubrey Tanksley and buried it in the net with 11:19 remaining for the game's only goal as the Ichabods improved 12-3-2 overall and 9-1-1 in the MIAA while dropping the Griffons to 14-1-3 and 9-1-2 in the conference.
Washburn's win prevented Missouri Western from clinching the MIAA title while opening the door for the Ichabods to repeat as the conference champ. WU will close out its regular season at Emporia State on Wednesday (1 p.m.) and can earn the conference outright wth a win or take a share of the championship with a tie.
Boyle's second goal of the season and the third of her Washburn career made that possible.
"She noticed that no one was marking her and she said, 'I'm going to score,' and told Belle (Kennedy), 'I'm going to score here, nobody's marking me,' and sure enough she scored,'' Washburn coach Davy Phillips said. "It was incredible.''
"I called Belle off,'' said Boyle, a Baldwin native. "Usually Belle and I kind of go to the same spot and I noticed no one was marking me so I said, 'Belle, if it comes near us let me have it because no one's on me,' so I kind of called it.''
The fact that her game-winner came against a ranked opponent and on Senior Day made the goal even more special.
"It was a big game,'' Boyle said. "They're ranked in the nation, so are we, so we knew this was the biggest game of the season so far and it feels really good.''
"Senior Night is always special,'' Phillips said. "I don't get it, I don't understand it, but seniors always find big moments on Senior Night. I'm really happy for Josie. She's been dangerous on corners all year and she was really good on that one.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University football team came up just shy Saturday, battling the rain and the Nebraska-Kearney Lopers in a 14-13 Homecoming loss in a game that saw two lightning delays totaling 153 minutes in game stoppage.
The Ichabods opened the scoring on their first drive of the game after taking the kickoff and marched 68 yards on four plays, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run from Cam Robinson, but the Lopers blocked the extra point.
The big play of the drive was a 44-yard pass from Sam Van Dyne to Maury Sullivan down to the UNK 5.
Neither team would score in the middle of a downpour after trading punts and a pair of fumbles before Julius Jackson picked off a Reagan Jones pass and returned it from the redzone 78 yards to the Lopers' 16-yard-line.
Five plays later, the Ichabods went up 13-0 after Lucas Oitker scored from 2 yards out on a 4th and 2 with 2:19 go to in the first half.
Once the intermission started, the field and stadium was cleared after a lightning strike.
On the Lopers' first drive of the second half, De'Andre Washington picked off a Jones pass, setting up the Ichabods at the Washburn 48, but the drive stalled as Jake Zeller placed a punt down at the Loper 5.
The teams again traded punts and the Lopers scored cut the Washburn lead to 13-7 after a 41-yard drive.
On the Ichabods' second play of the ensuing drive, Washburn threw an interception at the Ichabod 33 and the Lopers took a 14-13 lead with 8:57 to go in the game after Jones scored on a 9-yard touchdown scamper.