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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NiJAREE CANADY, Topeka High
Canady starred in the pitching circle and at the plate in the Class 6A state softball tournament, ending her high school career with a second straight state championship. The Stanford signee pitched in all three games for the 22-3 Trojans, including a complete-game four-hitter in the Trojans' 2-1 victory over city rival Washburn Rural in last Friday's state championship game. Canady had a home run and a double in the Trojans' 9-0 semifinal win over Wichita Northwest.
ADISYN CARYL, Topeka High
A junior, Caryl helped lead Topeka High to its second straight Class 6A state softball championship. Caryl had six hits in the state tournament, including two doubles and a home run, as the Trojans capped a 22-3 season with a 2-1 victory over Washburn Rural in last Friday's championship game. Caryl advanced to state in three sports -- tennis, basketball and softball -- for the second straight year and is a three-time state qualifier in tennis and basketball.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- Tanner Newkirk's performance in last weekend's state track and field championships may not have been the best ever.
Affter all, there have now been 111 boys and 50 girls state meets contested in Kansas, with many of the greatest athletes in state history putting their talents on display.
But there's no doubt that the Hayden senior superstar left an indelible mark on the state meet, which was his goal in only his second and final state appearance.
The Kansas signee won all three of his individual events en route to pulling off the distance triple while setting a pair of Class 4A state meet records and adding a fourth state medal in a relay.
"I feel like in my career before this year there was a little something missing,'' Newkirk said. "I mean one state title and no track titles, so I wanted to come out here and just show people what I'm made of off this track season and just end it with a bang. I've been on a really good roll this track season and I'm really happy to end it off in this way.''
After earning a pair of state medals as a freshman, Newkirk missed his sophomore track season due to COVID-19 and was forced to pull out of the state meet the day of the meet his junior season with an injury.
"Last year thinking about it feels really bad, but now it's a great comeback story, really,'' Newkirk said. "It really added to the hunger that I had for this meet.
"It just feels so good after not being able to run her last year to make my legacy what it really should be and show everyone that I really am a great runner.''
Newkirk set the tone for his huge weekend in Friday's meet-opening 3,200-meter run when he steadily pulled away for a decisive win in 8 minutes, 58.88. seconds, moving to No. 5 all-time in Kansas in the event and demolishing the 4A state meet record by nearly 27 seconds.
After running an impressive 1:57 split Saturday morning to help Hayden post a fifth-place finish in the 4 x 800 relay (8:30.60), Newkirk added another dominating, state-meet record performance in the 1,600 in 4:12.25 before finishing off his individual sweep with a gutsy win in the 800 late Saturday afternoon in 1:55.00 -- Newkirk's fourth race between 800 and 3,200 meters in approximately 34 hours.
"I was definitely tired, but when you get out there in the adrenalin I felt good and I knew this triple crown was going to be a really special thing that kind of added to my legacy, so I really wanted to go get it,'' Newkirk said. "I was hurting after the first lap but I think that was a really fast second lap so I was really happy that I was able to do that and come away with (the triple).''
Newkirk was overcome with joy after the 800 but said he was also overcome with relief after finishing what he set out to do.
"I'm really relieved,'' Newkirk said. "I'm more relieved than anything to be done for the weekend.
"You've got one more race left and nothing to lose and really not too much expectations. I tried not to get too nervous because there's really nothing you can do about it when you're in my position, but I was like, 'Last race, give it all you got and let's end it on a win. You don't want to end it on a loss.' ''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- Highland Park junior multi-sport star Tre Richardson will probably never love track and field, but it is the sport that brought him his first state championship.
After a near miss in the Class 5A triple jump earlier in the day, Richardson took no chances in Saturday's 200-meter dash, winning in 22.32 seconds to earn his third state medal of the weekend.
Richardson won the 200 after finishing second in the triple jump Saturday and finishing fifth in the long jump on Friday.
Not bad for a sport he's not particularly fond of.
"Everybody knows I don't like track,'' Richardson said. "I do it because I know I'm good at it and it's good to see people watch me run and cheering, but I strongly dislike track.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- For the second straight season Seaman junior Bethany Druse was stuck inside in Lane 1 to start Saturday's Class 5A 800 meters race.
This time Druse stayed in the same spot, jumping out to an early lead en route to her first state championship, clocking a time of 2:19.00 to post a 1.6 second-win over Spring Hill's Vienna Lahner.
"Last year I got boxed in and I was in lLne 1,'' said Druse, who had finished fifth. "So when I found out I was Lane 1 this year I saw it as a second chance. My goal was to get out fast and stay fast, and I believe I did that.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- The way Hayden's Jensen Schrickel won the Class 4A boys long jump state title on Saturday at Cessna Stadium would have been considered a clutch performance by any age athlete.
The fact that Schrickel pulled off the unlikely accomplishment as a freshman making his first state meet appearance was even more impressive.
Sitting in fourth place going into his final attempt, Schrickel moved into the lead in a very tight field with a jump of 21 feet, 9-50 inches.
"I just wanted to make it count,'' Schrickel said.
That jump put Schrickel in front of Tonganoxie's Isaiah Holthaus by an inch, but the Hayden standout still had to sweat out Holthaus' final jump.
Holthaus improved his previous best by a half inch, but his jump of 21-9 was still a half inch behind Schrickel's winning mark.
All eight of the 4A placers eclipsed the 21 foot mark, with 8.75 inches separating first from eighth.
Although he coudn't have predicted how everything was going to transpire, Schrickel said he went into Saturday feeling like he could win the title.
"I thought so, I felt good,'' Schrickel said. "When I won regionals I thought I had a good chance at it.''