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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Kansas basketball legend Ron Slaymaker and veteran soccer coach Tim Collins are part of a group of 12 new varsity head coaches who have been announced by Shawnee County high schools for the 2024-2025 school year.
Former Emporia State coaching legend Ron Slaymaker will take over as the new girls basketball coach at Topeka High in the 2024-2025 season. [File photo/TSN]
Slaymaker, the former longtime Emporia State men's basketball coach who most recently coached girls basketball at Olpe after a seven-year stint with the Chase County girls, takes over as the girls coach at Topeka High.
Former Augusta coach Jason Filbeck takes over as Topeka High's football coach this fall. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High has also added former Augusta head coach Jason Filbeck as the Trojans' new football coach.
Collins, who coached a state championship team at Topeka West and also coached the women's team at Washburn University, will coach the Seaman boys soccer team this fall.
Collins is one of three new coaches for the Vikings, with Madison Lamond taking over as Seaman's new girls swimming coach and former softball assistant Daniel Ruda moving up to the head coaching position to replace Jay Monhollon, who retired at the end of the 2024 season.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University senior fullback Connor Searcy will welcome any chance he gets to carry the football this fall, but the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Tonganoxie product also knows that's toting the pigskin is not where he's most valuable to the Ichabods.
Connor Searcy, who represented Washburn football at last week's MIAA Media Day, is back for his senior season at fullback for the Ichabods. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I'll take as many as (coach Craig Schurig) will give me,'' Searcy said during last week's MIAA Media Day in Kansas City, Mo. "That's up to him, but I'll always take the ball whenever he wants to give it to me.''
Searcy, who has appeared in 30 games with 21 starts for Washburn, got just three carries for 4 yards and a touchdown in 11 games last season but was a valuable receiver for the Ichabods with 15 catches for 163 yards and three TDS and probably his most important role is to pave the way for WU's other backs.
"I just need to be the lead blocker and kind of open up holes for the running back,'' said Searcy a third-team All-MIAA pick in 2022. "I think about it like I put my life on the line -- quote, unquote -- for my running back.
"I take the hit so he doesn't have to. It's my job to lead the way for him and make sure that they stay healthy because they're the ones running the ball. I just embrace my role.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Entering Monday's final round of the Topeka Golf Association City Stroke Play championship at Topeka Country Club, the individual title was definitely up for grabs.
Recent Topeka West graduate Myles Alonzo and Washburn Rural product Luke Leonetti went into the final 18 holes locked in a tie for the lead while Max Stuckey-Halley was just a stroke back.
Recent Topeka West graduate Myles Alonzo captured the TGA City Stroke Play championship Monday at Topeka Country Club by nine strokes. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But by the end of the day, Alonzo, who won the city high school championship at TCC in April, was all alone at the top of the mountain, carding a final-round 68 to win the title by a whopping nine strokes over Leonetti, with another Rural grad, Hayden Beck, finishing third.
"I felt pretty good,'' Alonzo said. "I knew if I just kept everything the same and just chilled out and made sure everything I was supposed to do was right I knew I'd be just fine.
"I was pretty consistent. I had a few bogeys out there but then I got a few lucky shots, with a chip-in for eagle.''
Topeka West product Myles Alonzo shot a 68 on Monday to pull away for a nine-stroke victory in the TGA City Stroke Play championship. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Myles Alonzo claimed his first TGA City Stroke Play title Monday at Topeka Country Club with a 54-hole score of 205. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Alonzo, who will play college golf at Fort Hays State, finished with a 54-hole total of 205 (68-69-68) while Leonetti, who plays at Missouri-Kansas City, finished at 214 (70-67-77), two strokes ahead of Beck, a Washburn University golfer (75-70-71).
Former Washburn Rural standout Luke Leonetti finished second in Monday's City Stroke Play tournament at Topeka Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural graduate and current Washburn University golfer Hayden Beck finished third in the TGA City Stroke Play tournament Monday at Topeka Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Patrick Golden finished fourth (217) while Stuckey-Halley, 2023 champion Brian Walker and Jeremiah Nelson tied for fifth place at 218.
Nelson was one of two golfers who carded holes in one on Monday, with Jeremiah Nelson acing the No. 6 hole and Aaron Rethman acing the 11th hole.
Alonzo's championship came after older brother Addison won the Stroke Play crown in 2022.
"I'm going to try a little bit better than him,'' the 18-year-old Myles cracked. "I'm going to try to beat him (with more titles).''
TGA CITY STROKE PLAY TOURNAMENT
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High product NiJaree Canady, the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year as a sophomore at Stanford, announced Wdnesday afternoon that she is transferring to Texas Tech out of the transfer portal.
College softball player of the year NiJaree Canady, a former two-sport star at Topeka High, announced Wednesday that she is transferring to Texas Tech. [Stanford Athletics]
Canady, a multi-time All-State softball and basketball honoree at Topeka High, will join the Red Raiders, a member of the Big 12, with two years of college elibibility remaining.
Canady announced her commitment on X (formerly Twitter) and ESPN reported that Canady, a right-handed pitcher, has agreed to a record-breaking name, image and likeness deal.
Canady entered the transfer portal last month after leading Stanford to back-to-back Women's College World Series appearances in 2023 and 2024.
As a sophomore Canady posted a 24-7 pitching record while leading the nation with a 0.73 earned run average and 337 strikeouts.
Canady, who was named the national freshman of the year in her first season at Stanford, compiled an 0.67 earned run average over her two seasons with the Cardinal, posting 555 strikeouts in 365⅔ innings.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Coming off an injury-riddled 2-9 season in 2023, Washburn University didn't expect to get a high ranking in the MIAA Coaches and MIAA Preseason Media polls that were released Tuesday as part of the 2024 MIAA Football Media Day at the Kauffman Foundation.
Veteran Washburn football coach Craig Schurig talks to the media during Tuesday's MIAA Media Day in Kansas City, Mo. {Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But the Ichabods hope that being ranked ninth among 10 teams in both polls can serve as a source of motivation this fall.
"You could anticipate that (the low spot in the polls) because that's where we finished last year,'' veteran Washburn coach Craig Schurig said. "With the teams that are back we actually finished last, but I've been really proud of (the players) since the season ended that they didn't hang their heads, they just said, 'Let's get to work, let's flip this thing.' ''
"You let it fuel you a little, but you're already fueled,'' WU standout senior safety Jordan Finnesy said about the polls. "All the guys, we're just hungry to get going and really just prove ourselves because at this point nobody's respecting us. Coming in with that fire every single day with the goal of flipping that (record) this coming season is a lot of motivation in itself. And as far as the polls I couldn't care less what those things say.''
Washburn, 1-9 in the conference a year ago, had 16 points in the MIAA Coaches poll, trailing preseason favorite Central Missouri, who had eight first-place votes and 80 points overall.
