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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden girls tennis has enjoyed plenty of success over the years, but the Wildcats have never had a day like they did on Saturday at Prairie Village's Harmon Park.
Hayden's girls tennis team poses for a team picture after sweeping the singles, doubles and team championships in the Class 4A state tournament Saturday at Harmon Park. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
Hayden completely dominated the Class 4A tournament, sweeping the singles, doubles and team championships while all six Wildcat players earned state medals.
Sophomore Ainzley Zulueta captured her second straight state singles championship while junior Lauren Sandstrom and sophomore Emily Sheetz won the state doubles title after finishing seventh in 2021.
Freshman singles player Grace Funk posted a 10th-place state finish in her first state tournamennt while the senior doubles team of Bri Barnett and Sloane Sims finished 12th as Hayden won the girls team championship for the first time in school history by a 40-31 margin over Independence.
Hayden sophomore Ainzley Zulueta won her second straight Class 4A state singles championship Saturday at Harmon Park, helping the Wildcats win the team title. [Submitted photo]
Zulueta, 28-2, completed her second state title run with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Chapman junior Elyssa Frieze in a rematch of last week's regional final.
Hayden junior Lauren Sandstrom (left) and sophomore Emily Sheetz won their first Class 4A state doubles title on Saturday, helping the Wildcats win their first 4A girls team title. [Submitted photo]
Sandstrom and Sheetz capped a 34-4 season with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Wichita Trinity's Darcy Dunne and Sophia Majors.
Funk dropped a 9-4 decision to Pratt's Bailey Jackson in the ninth-place singles match while Barnett and Sims dropped a 9-5 decision to Wellington's Kadynce Aufdengarten and Ashlyn Gerten in the 11th-place match.
Sweeney posts runner-up finish in 5A singles
Seaman senior Lauren Sweeney came within a set of winning a second straight Class 5A state championship Saturday at Andover, dropping a three-set decision to Bishop Carroll junior Brynn Steven (25-2) in the singles championship match.
Seaman senior Lauren Sweeney posted a runner-up singles finish in the Class 5A state tournament Saturday at Andover after winning the state doubles title as a junior. [File photo/TSN]
Sweeney, who teamed with Grace Unruh to win the 5A state doubles title as a junior, took a 6-4 win in the first set of Saturday's singles final but Steven bounced back to force a third set with a 6-4 win and cruised to a 6-0 win in the third set.
Sweeney, a four-time state qualifier and three-time top-four state medalist, finished the season 32-6, while Steven won the state title after a secord-place finish in 2021.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural swept the Centennial League cross country team championships on Saturday at Warner Park, while sophomore Payton Fink added the girls individual title to lead a one-two-three finish.
Washburn Rural's girls won the Centennial League team title by a 27-62 margin over Junction City Saturday at Warner Park. [Twitter]
Washburn Rural's boys cross country team won the Centennial League title by a 44-47 margin over Manhattan. [Twitter]
Fink, who finished third in the league meet as a freshman, won the girls title in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 53.9 while senior Madeline Carter (19:11.0) and sophomore Rylee Ismert (19:25.1) finished second and third as the Junior Blues won the team championship by a 27-62 margin over Junction City while Emporia was third with 66 points.
Washburn Rural's boys got third and fourth-place finishes from seniors Davin Johnson and Easton Dial to lead the way as the Junior Blues edged Manhattan by a 44-47 margin to win the team title, while Junction City was third with 74 points.
The Rural girls also got an eighth-place finish from Brooklyn Nolte (20:36.4) and a 13th-place finish from Vilde Tronstad (21:03.7) to round out the Junior Blues' top five.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Costly mistakes at the beginning of Seaman’s United Kansas Conference tilt with Basehor-Linwood led to a 47-32 loss at Seaman Stadium on Friday night.
The loss to the Bobcats was a tough pill to swallow for the Vikings as Friday's contest had major implications in the league and for playoff seeding in the Class 5A East.
Seaman sophomore quarterback Max Huston passed for 285 yards and two touchowns in the Vikings' 47-32 UKC loss to Basehor-Linwood Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman sophomore quarterback Max Huston passed for 285 yards in the Vikings' 47-32 UKC loss to Basehor-Linwood Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
In the first 12 minutes, Basehor-Linwood’s special teams unit blocked a punt for a touchdown, returned a kickoff for a touchdown, recovered a fumble on a Seaman kickoff return and blocked an extra point.
“It definitely took the wind out of your sail, early on,” Seaman coach Jared Swafford said. “It was a huge setback. When you play a good team like that, you can’t have those things. It’s nothing our kids did. This falls on me, as the head coach.
“We have to continue to progress and get better after the loss.”
The Bobcats didn’t tread lightly with the opportunities its special teams earned in the first quarter. Basehor-Linwood would put up 20 points from those opportunities.
“Special teams have been big for us all year, and that was huge at the start, getting the blocked punt returned for a touchdown, and then the kickoff return for a touchdown,” Basehor-Linwood coach Rod Stallbaumer said.
Seaman was stunned right out of the gate, but never gave up no matter how lopsided or tight the score was on Friday night.
“Our guys did battle and continued to fight until the end,” Swafford said. “Give (Basehor-Linwood) credit for executing. They did a heck of a job. When we answered the call, they did it right back, too. That’s what good teams do. We are a dang good team, too. Our season is still in front of us and we have a lot of good things going.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights junior running back Allen Baughman went into Friday night's United Kansas Conference game against Topeka West knowing that he needed just 13 yards to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season.
Shawnee Heights junior running back Allen Baughman went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season in Friday's 49-6 UKC win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights junior Allen Baughman (5) is congratulated by teammates after one of his five touchdowns in Friday's 49-6 win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Baughman took care of that milestone when he gained 22 yards on his first carry of the night and he went on to 128 yards and five touchdowns on just 10 attempts as Shawnee Heights (4-3 overall, 4-2 UKC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 49-6 romp past the Chargers at Hummer Sports Park.
"I didn't think I would come out this season do what I've done but I really just powered through the adversity of coming straight to varsity from JV and not really seeing the field (last year),'' Baughman said. "I am doing good, my whole line's doing good and we're doing good things.''
Baughman said it was important for the T-Birds to get back on track Friday after back-to-back losses to undefeated De Soto and Wamego.
"It was real important,'' Baughman said. "We knew we had to come out here and handle business. They have some good players and we knew if we won this game we'd have momentum going to Homecoming week and we needed that.''
Topeka West (1-6, 1-6) put together one of its best drives of the night on its opening possession, reaching the Shawnee Heights 12-yard-line before senior Jayden Berry recovered a Charger fumble.
"I thought Topeka West did a great job of coming out and giving us their best shot and they moved the ball, but credit our defense for bending and not breaking and making a great strip of the ball,'' Shawnee Heights coach Jason Swift said. "The offense did a nice job of answering and that was big. The offense needed to come back and show that they could run the ball and set the tone for the night and they did on that first series.''
Baughman gained 58 yards on four carries on Heights' first possession, capping the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run with 6:16 left in the first quarter.
Baughman made it 13-0 with a 26-yard TD with 2:15 left in the first and added his third TD of the opening stanza with a 17-yard scamper and followed with a 2-point conversion to put the T-Birds in command 21-0 with 3.9 seconds left in the period.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Returning state champions Ainzley Zulueta of Hayden and Lauren Sweeney of Seaman are two wins away from another title, advancing to the semifinals in their respective state tournaments, while the Hayden doubles team of Lauren Sandstrom and Emily Sheetz also advanced to the final four.
Hayden sophomore Ainzley Zulueta advanced to the Class 4A singles semifinals Friday with two straight-set wins. [FIle photo/TSN]
Hayden junior Lauren Sandstrom (left) and Emily Sheetz (middle) advanced to the Class 4A doubles semifinals with a pair of Friday wins. [File photo/TSN]
After winning a state doubles title last season, Seaman senior Lauren Sweeney advanced to the Class 5A singles semifinals on Friday in Andover. [File photo/TSN]
Zulueta, who won the Class 4A state singles championship as a freshman, advanced to Saturday's semifinals with a pair of wins at Harmon Park.
Zulueta, now 26-2, earned her semifinal berth with a 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Winfield senior Vivien Laszlo.
Sandstrom, a junior, and sophomore Sheetz (32-4) will play in a 4A doubles semifinal after going 2-0 on the day, including a 6-1, 6-4 win over Buhler in the quarterfinals.
Seaman's Sweeney, a senior, won a 5A doubles championship as a junior and will take a 31-5 record into the singles semifinals on Saturday in Andover.
Sweeney went 2-0 on Friday including a 6-2, 6-3 win over Andover's Gaddis in the state quarterfinals.
Several other Shawnee County players remained alive for state medalis, competing on the backside of the state brackets.
Saturday competition at all sites will get under way at 9 a.m.
