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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When high school football practice for the 2024 season begins across the state on August 19, linemen will go back to laboring in relative obscurity.
But Tuesday's Battle of the Bigs lineman challenge at Shawnee Heights, an annual event since 2017, was all about the men in the trenches.
"This is one of our largest ones,'' Shawnee Heights coach Jason Swift said. "And you've got to credit schools like Highland Park and Topeka West who have definitely brought numbers, and then we've got schools from surrounding areas and a couple of Kansas City schools.''
Approximately 90 linemen representing nine city and area high schools took part in the Battle of the Bigs, competing in a variety of drills/activities while vying for individual and team prizes.
"We do this to kind of celebrate the linemen,'' Swift said. "They don't get to do a lot of glorified stuff in the summer so this is an opportunity for them to compete and build some unity together and have fun.
Participating athletes took part in nine measured events:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Washburn Rural multi-sport star Brooklyn DeLeye was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and Best Spiker after helping lead the U.S. Women's U21 National Team to the 2024 NORCECA Women’s U21 Continental Championship gold medal with a 25-12, 25-16, 25-16 win over Puerto Rico on Sunday in Toronto, Canada.
Former Washburn Rural multi-sport star Brooklyn DeLeye was named the most valuable player for Team USA, which won the NORCECA Women’s U21 Continental Championship gold medal Sunday in Toronto. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural graduate Brooklyn DeLeye (front row, fourth from right) helped U.S. Volleyball post a perfect 5-0 record in the NORCECA Women’s U21 Continental Championship, with Team USA winning all five matches in straight sets. [USA Volleyball]
With the title, the U.S. automatically qualified for the 2025 Women’s U21 World Championship.
The U.S., which did not lose a set in five wins in the tournament, finished the gold medal match with significant margins in kills (46-24), blocks (9-2), and aces (7-3).
DeLeye, a 6-foot-2 Kentucky sophomore, and fellow outside hitter Julia Blyashov both reached double-digits and recorded seven kills in the final match.
DeLeye led all players with four aces to finish with 11 points, while Blyashov contributed two blocks and an ace for 10 points.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Recent Hayden product Carter Charvat was right in the middle of the East's 36-25 Kansas Shrine Bowl victory ... literally.
Hayden product Carter Charvat (middle) blocks for East quarterback Dylan Dunn during Saturday's 36-25 East win over the West at Emporia. [Photo by Mac Moore/KSHSAA Covered]
Charvat was pressed into service at center for the East and played the unfamiliar position for all but the last few plays as the East posted its first Shrine victory since 2018 Saturday night at Emporia State's Welch Stadium.
"It was a great experience, I loved it all,'' said Charvat, a Benedictine signee. "I was playing center, which I hadn't done in a while. I was a linebacker, but I guess center, might as well. They just told me first day, 'Center,' and I was like, 'I'll take it, thank you,' and it worked out.
"It was pretty fun to play alongside those best in the state. That was a lot of fun. They're good and they know a lot and they helped me a lot.''
Hayden's Carter Charvat (54) celebrates with Lyndon's Tanner Heckel and Olathe South's Bryce Noernberg during Saturday's 36-25 East Shrine Bowl win at Emporia. [Photo by Mac Moore/KSHSAA Covered]
Charvat did his part, performing flawlessly on his snaps in the shotgun formation.
"That's scary because you can't really fire off when you're snapping the ball,'' he said. "It was weird, something to get used to for sure.''
The West took the opening kickoff and went up 3-0 on a 42-yard field goal from Blaise Harper of McPherson at the 10:35 mark of the first quarter but the East scored the next 20 points to take control.
Brigham Young University signee Dylan Dunn (Blue Valley Southwest) got the East on the board with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Adrion Seals (Eudora) at the 5:41 mark of the first quarter and Dunn hit Elijah Hakim (Olathe West) for a 2-point conversion to put the East up 8-3.
Tanner Heckel (Lyndon) scored from a yard out (conversion pass failed) to increase the East's lead to 14-3 with 3:13 left in the first and the East opened the second quarter with Dunn's second TD pass of the night, a 25-yarder to Olathe South's Bryce Noernberg (conversion failed) to give the East a 20-3 halftime advantage.
"The first half we kind of put them in the dirt a little bit and I feel like second half we came out a little sluggish but I feel like our defense really picked it up and our offense got it going for us in the second half,'' said Seaman product Callen Barta, who will play at Kansas State.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade has announced Seaman's Ryin Miller as the 2023-24 Gatorade Kansas Girls Track & Field Player of the Year.
Seaman star Ryin Miller has been named the Gatorade Kansas girls track and field athlete of the year for the 2023-2024 school year. [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]
Miller is the first Gatorade Kansas Girls Track & Field Player of the Year to be chosen from Seaman.
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Miller as Kansas’ best high school girls track & field athlete.
Miller, who recently completed her sophomore season, won Class 5A titles in the 800 and 1,600-meter runs and finished second in the 3,200 in the state meet at Wichita's Cessna Stadium, leading the Vikings to a fourth-place finish as a team.
Miller ranked among the nation’s top five sophomores nationally in the 1,500 and 3,200 this spring and her personal-best times in the 1500 (4 minutes, 26.58), the 3,200 (10:13.97) and the 800 (2:10.25) all rank in the top three in state history.
“Ryin Miller became the Heartland’s fastest-rising talent over the last 12 months, having made the successful transition from the soccer pitch to the track oval,” said Rich Gonzalez, editor for PrepCalTrack.com. “This spring, she rocketed up the state’s all-time distance lists with head-turning momentum. Also a standout with the school’s basketball and cross-country programs, she built up stamina across the spectrum of sports, which helped make her an exceptional newcomer on the national scene.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards and Hall of Fame induction ceremony turned into a family affair for the Stringers and Chipmans Wednesday night at the Washburn University Memorial Union.
Kelsey (Chipman) Stringer, a former volleyball star at Washburn Rural and Kansas State, speaks during Wednesday's Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Former Hayden state champion and Kansas State All-Big 12 offensive lineman Nick Stringer was inducted into the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Nick Stringer and Kelsey (Chipman) Stringer became just the second husband and wife to be inducted into the hall of fame, joining James Patrick and Nadira Hazim Patrick, inductees in 2012.
Introducing Kelsey was her brother, Bobby Chipman, while her father Bob Chipman, former Washburn men’s basketball coach and 2018 inductee, looked on. Introducing Nick Stringer was his father, former Hayden High School football coach Tom Stringer.
On top of entering the hall of fame together, the Stringers can look forward to celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary when they wake up tomorrow.
“I’m so proud to be from Topeka and part of Shawnee County,” Kelsey said. “The Chipman family and the Stringer family are people who have been in this community for a long time and are associated with athletics. So, to have the opportunity to go into the hall of fame together and to celebrate our community and our families was a special moment for us.”
