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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It was an impossible task to fit 27 Shawnee County state softball championship teams into just 10 spots on the TopSports.news Best of the Best list.
But after a great deal of consternation and second-guessing, 12 state tournament winners received mention on the Best of the Best list, headed by a pair of co-No. 1s -- Shawnee Heights' 25-0 2017 Class 5A title team and Topeka High's 25-0 2021 6A champions.
Steve Giddens' 2017 Shawnee Heights softball team went 25-0 to win the Class 5A state title, the first in school history. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Shane Miles' 2021 team, which went 25-0 to win Topeka High's first state softball title, shares the No. 1 spot on the Best of the Best list. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Shawnee Heights sent retiring coach Steve Giddens out with a perfect 25-0 record and the T-Birds' first state softball championship in '17, capped by a 10-0 win over Blue Valley Southwest in the state final.
Top players for Heights included seniors Faith Rottinghaus and Kaisha Wells, juniors Kayleigh Bayless and Lydia Ostenson, sophomores Paige Petefish, Abbey Fischer and Sydney Wellshear and freshmen Jaycee Ginter and Aniya Holt.
Shane Miles' Trojans went a perfect 25-0 in '21 en route to the first state softball championship in Topeka High history and High's first of two straight titles.
Current Stanford star pitcher NiJaree Canady was dominant in the pitching circle for the Trojans, who allowed just one run at state, capped by a 7-1 win over Olathe North in the tiitle game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The 2022 college football season turned in an instant for Washburn University tight end Trey Pivarnik.
Trey Pivarnik
Pivarnik, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound junior, went from thinking he had scored his first college touchdown against rival Emporia State to embarking on a long road back from a serious ankle injury.
After hauling in a pass from Kellen Simoncic, the former Hayden standout thought he got in the end zone against the Hornets, but in rapid fire order, the official ruled that Pivarnik was stopped outside the end zone and a second or so later he began to feel extreme pain.
After a long recovery from a serious ankle injury, Hayden product Trey Pivarnik is looking to have a big junior season for Washburn. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"I did think I scored and that's why I stood up and when I stood up I felt my ankle dislocated and I thought, 'Oh shoot, something's not right.' '' Pivarnik said. "I was so excited, thinking that I had scored and wanted to stand up and celebrate with my teammates and that wasn't going to happen.
"I tore all the ligaments in my ankle and dislocated my peroneal tendon and actually dislocated my ankle on impact.''
Pivarnik suffered another setback midway through his recovery.
"I originally rehabbed for four months, went through all of that and started getting ready for spring ball and started running routes and had a couple of pops,'' Pivarnik said. "I got re-evaluated again and they found out that my tendon had not located yet and I had a couple of ligaments that still needed to be tightened up so I had to get surgery during spring ball.''
The good news is that Pivarnik has made major strides and was back on the field for the start of WU's fall camp on Monday and soon expects to be at full strength.
"My recovery's going really good. I'm going to be (100 percent),'' he said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's nationally-ranked 2009 Class 6A state championship team has been selected for the No. 1 spot on the TopSports.news Best of the Best boys soccer list.
Washburn Rural's 2009 Class 6A state championship team is No. 1 on the TSN Best of the Best boys soccer Top 10. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Brian Hensyel's 20-1-0 Junior Blues beat Free State to win the Class 6A state title, finishing the season ranked No.11 in the nation while allowing only seven goals all season.
The Junior Blues' lone loss came against 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas, which went unbeaten on the season and was top-ranked in the nation.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Silver Lake star Shannon Kruger and former Hayden star Corrinne (Stringer) McGreevy are returning to their alma maters as head coaches, part of a group of 18 new varsity head coaches who have been announced by Shawnee County high schools for the 2023-2024 school year.
Former Hayden star Corrinne (Stringer) McGreevy will take over as the Wildcats' volleyball coach this fall. [File photo/TSN]
Kruger, a former Silver Lake multi-sport standout and a Washburn University Hall of Famer, takes over as the Eagles' head boys basketball coach, while McGreevy is the new Hayden volleyball coach after starring for the Wildcats in that sport.
Former Shawnee Heights All-Stater and Cair Paravel Latin coach Trey Brown is the new boys basketball coach at Hayden. [File photo/TSN]
Joining Kruger as a new head coach for Silver Lake is Colt Rogers, who is taking over as the Eagles' wrestling coach, while former Shawnee Heights star and Cair Paravel Latin coach Trey Brown is Hayden's new boys basketball coach.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Heartland Motorsports Park has been a staple on the NHRA national drag racing schedule since the facility opened in 1989, hosting at least one national event every season except 2020 when Topeka's largest sporting event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But the facility that bills itself as the "House of Speed'' will end hits long and distinguished assocation with the NHRA on Sunday at the conclusion of the 2023 Menards NHRA Nationals presented by PetArmor, with event scheduled to move to Odessa, Mo. in 2024.
But while Sunday will be a sad day for Topeka and area drag racing fans, Heartland Motorsports Park, formerly Heartland Park Topeka, will leave behind a proud legacy.
With the final national event set to kick off on Friday, here’s a look back at 15 of the great moments in Topeka drag racing history from the perspective of someone who's had the privilege of attending every national event since the track opened:
Drag racing legend John Force won the Funny Car title at Heartland Motorsports Park in 2021, his track-record 10th Topeka win. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
1. John Force called his Funny Car win at Heartland in 2008 the biggest of his career. That’s saying a lot for a driver who has won 16 championships and an NHRA-record 155 national events as a driver and 22 world championships as an owner with John Force Racing.
What made the 2008 victory stand out for the drag racing legend was that it was Force’s first victory after a serious crash at Dallas in '07 that ended his season and put his career in jeopardy.
“Coming back from that wreck, that race was key,” Force told The Topeka Capital-Journal in an interview. “It showed that I could still drive, that I could still cut it.
"I knew even then my legs were still weak. I struggled just getting in and out of the car, but to get that win after a year of rehab was huge -- to be there and hear those fans scream the way they did.”
2. In 1990 the late Gary Ormsby put Topeka on the national racing map, becoming the first driver in NHRA history to break the 4.9-second and 295 mile-per-hour barriers in his Top Fuel dragster, clicking off a pass of 4.881 seconds at 296.06 mph.
Ormsby, who won the 1989 Top Fuel championship, died after a battle with cancer on Aug. 28, 1991. Ormsby ran his final race at HMP, defeating Lori Johns in a match race.
Ormsby will always be linked with Heartland Park, with the main entrance into the facility named Gary Ormsby Drive after his death.
3. The 1993 Sears Craftsman Nationals at HMP delivered a double dose of history in the Funny Car class when Chuck Etchells and Jim Epler both broke the four-second and 300-mph barriers.
Etchells became the first Funny Car racer to run in the fours with a 4.987 pass while Epler recorded the first 300-mph run with a 300.40 pass.
Former Funny Car star Courtney Force posted the 100th win by a woman in NHRA history at Heartland Motorsports Park in 2014. [Photo by NHRA]
4. Courtney Force topped Cruz Pedregon in the 2014 Funny Car final at HMP to post the 100th event win by a woman in NHRA history.
