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Created: 27 June 2023

By VINCE FRYE, Chairman

Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee

Chris Barnes, Kevin Bordewick, Crystal Kemp and Rick Peterson will become the newest members of the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame in a Wednesday night induction ceremony.

TopSports.news, in partnership with University of Kansas Health Systems St Francis Campus, A-1 Lock and Key and Washburn University, will host the induction and Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards ceremonies at the Washburn University Memorial Union.

Chris Barnes was a state basketball champion at Topeka High before embarking on a Hall of Fame career in the Professional Bowlers Association. [Submitted photo]

Kevin Bordewick has coached Washburn Rural to eight Class 6A state volleyball championships and 10 state titles as a head coach overall. [File photo/TSN]

Crystal Kemp was an All-State basketball player and state discus champion at Topeka High and an All-Big 12 basketball pick at Kansas. [Submitted photo]

Rick Peterson is in his fifth decade as a sportswriter, covering high school sports throughout his career. [The Topeka Capital-Journal]

A 1988 Topeka High graduate, Barnes was a member of the Trojans' 1986 Class 6A state championship boys basketball team and went on to become an All-American bowler at Wichita State before embarking on a Hall of Fame career in the Professional Bowlers Association, which continues today. 

Bordewick has carved out a legendary coaching career at Washburn Rural, leading the Junior Blues to 10 Class 6A state championships in volleyball (eight) and girls basketball (two). Bordewick surpassed the 1,000 win mark in volleyball last fall on the way to the 2022 state title.

A 2002 Topeka High graduate, Kemp was an All-State pick in basketball and a state champion in track and field for the Trojans before going on to an outstanding four-year career at the University of Kansas, where she earned first-team All-Big 12 recognition as a senior.

Peterson is in his 44th year as a sportswriter, covering primarily high school sports throughout his career. Peterson spent 31 years as a sportswriter for the Topeka Capital-Journal before retiring in 2020 and is currently a contributing writer for TopSports.news.

Shawnee County's top senior high school student-athletes and Washburn University athletes of the year Jaycee Ginter and Grant Bruner will be also be honored on Wednesday night.

Shawnee County high schools Cair Paravel Latin, Hayden, Highland Park, Rossville, Seaman, Shawnee Heights, Silver Lake, Topeka High, Topeka West and Washburn Rural were asked to nominate female and male candidates with a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average as outstanding student-athlete nominees for the fall, winter and spring seasons. County high schools have also been asked to nominate a female and male candidate for most inspirational athlete.

A  committee of local media members selected the 2023 winners, including the selection of overall female and male athletes of the year.

Hayden's Tanner Newkirk and Topeka High's NiJaree Canady were named the overall athletes of the year in 2022.

Bruner earned first-team All-America football honors last fall for the Ichabods while Ginter has received first-team All-America honors in softball. 

Hall of Fame Class of 2023 capsules:

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Created: 22 June 2023

By ISAAC DEER

TopSports.news

University of North Texas junior and Silver Lake graduate Lexi Cobb has thrived at the highest level of softball and credits her small-town Kansas roots for her successful collegiate career at the Division I level.

Before Cobb started her collegiate career she was a well-known, successful volleyball and softball player in Eagle Country.

Lexi Cobb

Cobb was a three-time first-team All-State and All-Mid-East League honoree in softball and helped lead Silver Lake to a softball state championship and a runnerup finish.

Between volleyball and softball, Cobb and her class helped build a legacy with three combined state championships before she moved to Denton, Texas, to pursue a softball career.

In Cobb's first three years at North Texas, Cobb has played 140 games while starting 117.

She has a career batting average of .317, with 116 hits, 26 doubles, nine home runs and 43 runs batted in.

"My time at North Texas has been really great," Cobb said. "I've loved every minute of my time at North Texas. I've grown so much as a player and as a person. It's just been an amazing time for me."

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Created: 21 June 2023

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Except for a year in Hawaii, Nick Jones has never strayed too far from his home state of Kansas.

New Washburn University men's basketball assistant Nick Jones works with participants in the Washburn Basketball Camp Tuesday at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

And thanks to a timely opening on Brett Ballard's men's basketball staff at Washburn University, that won't change.

The 32-year-old Jones, who grew up in the Wichita area and graduated from Goddard High School and Kansas State, comes to Washburn after eight years on the staff at Wichita State.

Jones stoked his love for coaching in five years as a student manager at K-State -- three years with Frank Martin and two with Bruce Weber -- and then spent a year as a graduate assistant at the University of Hawaii before landing back in Kansas at Wichita State. 

"They (Hawaii) brought in a new staff, so I came back to Wichita and knew the staff a little bit,'' Jones said. "I worked camp, worked my way up, and then got an offer to finish my master's degree as GA and then was hired fulltime.''

Jones was on the staffs of Gregg Marshall and Isaac Brown with the Shockers but was looking for a new coaching opportunity after Paul Mills took over at WSU.

"Coach Mills just came in and I was there, just for a couple of weeks with him, and then he brought in his own staff,'' Jones said.

As it worked out, Ballard was looking for an assistant about the same time after Jonathan Raney's departure.

"After we got let go at Wichita I made a lot of calls, emails,'' Jones said. "I had kind of a mutual connection with coach Ballard. I didn't know him real well, but worked with a guy at Wichita State that had worked with (Ballard) in the past. Coach called me out of the blue and asked if I was interested and I came up to campus that next week and just fell in love with it. That would have probably been the end of May and I started last week.''

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Created: 21 June 2023

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Playing two sports at the NCAA Division II level leaves Gavin Wilhelm with very few off days.

But the hectic schedule of being a member of Washburn's golf team and punting and place-kicking for the Ichabod football team suits the former Seaman multi-sport standout just fine.

Washburn University golfer Gavin Wilhelm reacts to his championship-winning putt in Sunday's TGA City Match Play tournament at Western Hills. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Gavin Wilhelm saw action for Washburn's football team as a true freshman, averaging 47.7 yards on seven punts and kicking off 13 times. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

Wilhelm, coming off his first Topeka Golf Association City Match Play championship Sunday at Western Hills, is playing a lot of golf this summer while also working on his kicking skills and will turn his focus more towards football when WU opens fall practice in early August.

Wilhelm credits Ichabod golf coach Ronnie McHenry and WU football coach Craig Schurig with making the hectic schedule work for him and both teams.

"It's very time consuming but the coaches at Washburn do a really good job with me, allowing me to compete in both sports,'' Wilhelm said. "Whether I have to go to football and then golf or golf and then football they do a really good job of finding time and allowing me to compete in both sports.''

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