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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural in Class 6A, Shawnee Heights in 5A, Hayden in 3A and Rossville in 2A all kept their state championship hopes alive with Friday night victories in the opening round of the state playoffs.
Washburn Rural advanced with a 36-0 victory over Dodge City, while Shawnee Heights took a 28-21 decision over Lansing, Hayden rolled to a 63-8 win over Baldwin and Rossville routed Minneapolis, 57-6.
All four Shawnee County winners last Friday were at home but all four will be on the road Friday, with Washburn Rural traveling to Garden City, Shawnee Heights playing at Mill Valley, Hayden at Wellsville and Rossville at Nemaha Central.
Here's a game-by-game look at last week's Shawnee County Games and this Friday's matchups:
Washburn Rural junior Branton DeWeese passed for 214 yards and four touchdowns in last Friday's 36-0 Class 6A playoff win over Dodge City. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
WASHBURN RURAL 36, DODGE CITY 0 -- Washburn Rural fought through a disheartening injury to senior leader Lukas Hanks early in the game to turn in a dominating opening-round performance in the Class 6A playoffs, the Junior Blues' fourth straight victory.
The Junior Blues, now 7-2, advanced to a second-round clash at Garden City, also 7-2, with the Buffaloes taking a 35-14 first-round win over Campus.
Washburn Rural junior quarterback Branton DeWeese threw for 214 yards and four touchdowns, including three TD strikes to junior Titan Osburn.
DeWeese was 11 of 15 on the night while Osburn had three catches for 117 yards.
Rural also rushed for 328 yards as a team, including 193 yards on 24 carries from senior Ma'Kenttis Adams and 83 yards on 18 attempts from freshman TJ Minikwu.
Washburn Rural junior JC Heim (25) celebrates a big defensive play in the Junior Blues' 36-0 playoff win over Dodge City last Friday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Defensively, Rural came up with a huge goal-line stand while nursing a 2-0 lead late in the opening quarter and the Junior Blues held Dodge City (4-5) in check the rest of the night, holding the Red Demons to 80 total yards, including minus-10 rushing as seniors Wyatt Conklin and Ty Weber came up with several big plays to lead the charge.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's volleyball team, which won the United Kansas Conference championhip before posting a fourth-place state finish in Class 5A, put three players on the eight-player All-UKC first team while sophomore Maegan Mills was named the conference offensive player of the year and Viking coach Tatiana Dowling was named the UKC coach of the year.
Maegan Mills
Taylor Rottinghaus
Laynee Brown
Brooklyn Gormley
Makinsey Jones
Seaman volleyball coach Tatiana Dowling was named the United Kansas Conference coach of the year after leading the Vikings to the league title and a fourth-place finish in Class 5A. [File photo/TS
Mills was joined on the first team by senior Laynee Brown and junior Brooklyn Gormley as city schools earned five of the eight first-team spots.
Shawnee Heights senior Taylor Rottinghaus was a first-team pick and was also named the UKC defensive player of the year while Topeka West senior MaKinsey Jones also earned first-team honors.
Seaman sophomore Reagan McGivern and Shawnee Heights senior Emily Loy were named to the all-conference second team.
Eight city players received honorable mention.
ALL-UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Diana Floyd was the grand prize winner in the season-long TopSports.news 2022 “Pick 6’’ contest, sponsored by State Farm Insurance Agent Julie Fischer.
Diana Floyd was the grand prize winner in TopSports.news' 2022 "Pick 6'' contest, receiving a football autographed by Washburn University's 2022 football team and a $75 gift certificate. [TSN photo]
Floyd received a football autographed by the 2022 Washburn University football team as well as a $75 gift certificate.
Runner-up prizes of $50 gift certificates will go to Lloyd Tajchman, Craig Cochran and Mark Wilson.
Receiving $25 gift certificates to Sheridan’s Frozen Custard are Delbert Smith, Zachary Nuss, Melissa Thompson, Shanna Perine, Trevor Pleasant and Douglas Desch.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls earned a state trophy with a third-place Class 6A team finish Saturday at Rim Rock Farm while Topeka West boys star Lenny Njoroge led eight Shawnee County individual medalists with a fourth-place finish in the 5A boys race.
Washburn Rural's third-place girls cross country team (front row) poses for a team picture with the top-three team finishers Saturday at Rim Rock Farm. [Twitter photo/Washburn Rural XC
Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge earned his third Class 5A state medal with a career-best fourth-place finish Saturday at Rim Rock Farm. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Payton Fink earned her second straight Class 6A cross country medal on Saturday, placing fifth to help lead Rural to a third-place team finish. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore Payton Fink and senior Madeline Carter led the Junior Blues to their top-three team finish, with Fink finishing fifth in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 53.5 seconds and Carter finishing 11th in 19:21.9. Carter earned her third 6A state medal while Fink medaled for the second straight season.
Rylee Ismert took 26th (20:16.6), Brooklyn Nolte 49th (20:57.0) and Vilde Tronstad 54th (21:08.4) to round out Rural's top five as the Junior Blues finished with a team score of 112 points, one point ahead of fourth-place Olathe North.
Olathe West won the 6A girls team championship with 46 points while Shawnee Mission East was second with 95 points.
West's Njoroge closed out his high school cross country career with his third 5A state medal in as many state meets, finishing a career-best fourth in a photo finish.
Njoroge, who missed his entire junior season with a broken leg, and Blue Valley Southwest's Thomas Caul were both clocked in 15:51.9, with Caul awarded third and Njoroge fourth.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A new era for Washburn University women's basketball will get its unofficial start at 1 p.m. Sunday as first-year coach Lora Westling and the Ichabods will play their only exhibition game of the 2022-23 season at No. 22-ranked Nebraska.
With two weeks of official practice under their belts, 5-foot-7 junior guard Aubree Dewey said the transition to a new coach has been a smooth one.
Junior point guard Aubree Dewey is one of nine returning players for Washburn women' basketball, which will open its 2022-2023 season under new coach Lora Westling with a Sunday exhibition aat Nebraska. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"I honestly don't think it's been difficult at all,'' said Dewey, a Plainville product. "The way Coach Wes runs practices and stuff, she's all about competing all the time and that's what me and all the other girls on the team love to do and why we play basketball is to compete.
"She's just made it really easy to connect with her and to start to get into more of a flow as a team.''
Washburn is coming off a 14-16 season in '21-22 while the Huskers went 24-9 last year and were a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
After finishing the 2021-22 regular season in a tie for eighth place in the conference standings, Washburn was voted 10th in both the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and the Media Poll for the upcoming season.
Dewey played in all 30 games last season with four starts, averaging 3.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists, and is one of nine returners from last year's Washburn team.
Now in her third season in the program, Dewey is being counted on to step up as a leader this season.
"Coach has told me that she wants me to be a voice on the team, so I'm just working on stepping that up every day,'' Dewey said.
