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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The word diverse immediately comes to mind when looking at Washburn University's 32-member football recruiting class, announced Wednesday.
Washburn Rural star linebacker Ty Weber, a consensus all-stater and two-time TopSports.news Shawnee County defensive player of the year, signed with Washburn University on Wednesday. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural standout receiver Amr Sabbarini (23) has signed a letter of intent with Washburn University. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park senior Mackey James, named the Meadowlark Conference defensive player of the year as a senior, has signed a letter of intent with Washburn University. [File photo/TSN]
Silver Lake standout receiver Troy Heiman (11) signed a letter of intent with Washburn University on Wednesday. [File photo/TSN]
The class includes 12 Kansans, including Shawnee County senior stars Amy Sabbarini and Ty Weber of Washburn Rural, Highland Park's Mackey James and Silver Lake's Troy Heiman.
But the class also includes players from four other states, including a whopping seven players from both Georgia and Missouri, four from Texas and two from Arizona.
"One of our coaches, Malen Luke, has had connections for years in Georgia and we've had a few years of it already and then it really seemed to work well this year,'' said Washburn coach Craig Schurig, whose team is coming off a 7-4 season. "Those kids are very well coached, just like they are around here, and they feel comfortable coming here so it seems like it's a really good setup for us.''
There's also diversity among position groups, with 11 players projected as wide receivers, seven as linemen, five defensive backs, three running backs, three quarterbacks, two linebackers and one player listed as an athlete.
"We went after a lot of skill this year as far as power group and skill group,'' Schurig said. "We've had a lot of signings in the skill group over the last two years as kids have graduated -- a lot of D-backs and receivers, and obviously quarterback. We have our quarterback (Kellen Simoncic) back, but we lose our backup quarterback (Jared Taylor) so we wanted to sign some good quarterbacks and we did.
"It's probably as diverse from areas as we've had. It's a little bigger signing class than typical because we had such a big senior class. We had a lot of six-year seniors last year so we had 22 seniors and we had a couple of more guys that aren't coming back for their sixth fall so we have about 25 kids that are no longer going to play next year. So we needed to re-load in some respects and this class should do that.''
Washburn recruiting capsules:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Five Shawnee Heights boys players scored between seven and 16 points as the T-Birds posted a 57-48 United Kansas Conference road win at Basehor-Linwood.
Sophomore Jaret Sanchez led a balanced Shawnee Heights attack with 16 points as the T-Birds posted a 57-48 UKC road win at Basehor-Linwood Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The T-Birds improved to 10-4 overall and 7-3 in the UKC while earning a regular-season sweep over the Bobcats.
Sophomore Jaret Sanchez scored 16 points to pace the T-Birds while junior Brennon Dodge joined Sanchez in double figures with 15 points.
Seniors Jeremyah Kendrick and Q Stovall added eight point apiece while sophomore Deacon Pomeroy had seven points.
BASEHOR-LINWOOD GIRLS 37, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 33 -- No. 9-ranked (Class 5A) Shawnee Heights dropped a tough 37-33 United Kansas Conference road decision at Basehor-Linwood Tuesday night, with the T-Birds falling to 9-5 overall and 7-3 in the league.
The Basehor-Linwood win Tuesday night avenged an earlier 48-40 loss to the T-Birds. The Bobcatss improved to 10-3, 8-2.
Senior Riley Showalter led Shawnee Heights with 11 points while seniors Emari Doby and Taylor Rottinghaus added 10 and seven points for the T-Birds.
Washburn Rural senior Brooklyn DeLeye scored 19 points in the Junior Blues' 54-52 non-league overtime loss to Blue Valley Northwest Tuesday night. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST GIRLS 54, WASHBURN RURAL 52 (OT) -- Blue Valley Northwest held a 9-7 scoring edge in overtime to take a 54-52 non-league win over No. 4-ranked (Class 6A) Washburn Rural.
Rural, which fell to 9-4 on the season, led 21-14 at the end of the first quarter but the Huskies outscored the Junior Blues 12-2 in the second quarter to take a 26-23 halftime lead.
Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick talks to his team during Tuesday's 54-52 overtime loss to Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
Northwest (6-7) led 37-31 at the starf of the fourth quarter, but Rural held a 14-8 edge over the final eight minutes of regulation to force ovetime.
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye led Washburn Rural with 19 points while senior Chloe Carlgren added 11 points and sophomore Tenly Bunck nine points on three 3-pointers.
Washburn Rural will be at home Friday to host Emporia in a Centennial League game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's boys and Seaman's girls held on to the No. 1 spot in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Class 5A state rankings, released Tuesday night.
Senior Bo Aldridge and the Highland Park boys remain No. 1 in the KBCA 5A boys rankings for the fourth straight week. [File photo/TSN]
Taylin Stallbaumer and the Seaman girls remain No. 1 in the KBCA Class 5A girls rankings after winning last week's Glaciers Edge Tournament. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
The undefeated Scots held the top spot in the 5A boys rankings for the fourth straight week while Seaman's girls are No. 1 for the second straight week after regaining the top spot.
Highland Park and Seaman are two of eight Shawnee County teams in this week's KBCA rankings.
Washburn Rural's girls fell to No. 4 in 6A while Topeka High's girls moved up to No. 5.
Shawnee Heights girls are still ranked No. 9 in 5A while Hayden's girls moved up to No. 8 in the 4A rankings.
Silver Lake's girls moved up a sport to No. 6 in 3A.
Topeka West remained No. 9 in the 5A boys rankings.
KANSAS BASKETBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION STATE RANKINGS
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Tuesday was a different game day for Highland Park coach Mike Williams.
Williams spent his day at the local hospital with chest pains and was stuck in the hospital until 6:00 p.m.
Mike Williams spent most of his Tuesday in the hospital but returned in time to see his Highland Park Scots improve to 12-0 with a 76-43 win over KC-Washington. [File photo/TSN]
Still, he was able to rush over to the gym and help lead his team to a dominant 76-43 victory over Meadowlark Conference opponent Kansas City-Washington.
"I was having chest pains, and I had no idea if I was having a heart attack or what," Williams said. "It's just been a crazy day. I wasn't around in school, I wasn't around at the end of the day, and I missed the JV game. But the guys were able to stay intact and keep their heads right."
Luckily, his heart was okay, and so was his team.
Class 5A No. 1-ranked Highland Park kept its 12-0, undefeated record alive in a loud way.
The Scots have now won eight games by at least 30 points. Highland Park's bench players are getting more minutes than the average team's starting five.
The Scots' starting five of Tre Richardson, Bo Aldridge, Jahmir Kingcannon, Quentin Adams and Aydren Drew-Gregory put the team in the best position possible to secure another enormous victory.
Four Highland Park players had double-digit scoring nights. Tamir Anderson led the Scots with 16 points off the bench while Aldridge had 15 points, Adams 12 and Richardson 10 points.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Tuesday night's 65-23 romp over Meadowlark Conference foe Kansas City-Washington was everything Highland Park girls basketball coach Rob Brown could've asked for in his team.
"No matter who we play, we just need to continue playing the right way," Brown said. "Moving the ball around with Millie (Amelia Ramsey) touching the ball and everyone else getting touches is what we want. Defensively, we've been able to execute different defenses that we've been trying to touch base on and work on."
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in Highland Park's 65-23 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Washington Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park extended its win streak to four games with the 42-point conference win over Washington. Last year Highland Park's longest win streak was two games.
Last season the message was "trust the process." In the 2021-2022 campaign, Highland Park went 4-17 with a lot of painful growth.
With Highland Park sitting at 9-3 on the season, the potential for this young team is tremendous.
"We talk about last year a lot," Brown said. "Last year was a foundational year for us. We were trying to get those (roster) numbers up. Those seniors from last year built the foundation for us to get us in the right direction. The seniors got the young ones ready for what they are doing now. So we want to keep looking forward and try to keep getting better and better."
