News - Top Sports News - The top sports news from Topeka & Shawnee County.

Rick Peterson, Top Sports News Writer — Rick Peterson

Details: Created: 01 December 2022

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

GIRLS

WASHBURN RURAL vs. TMP-MARIAN

At Hays Shootout

Senior Brooklyn DeLeye is a top returner for Washburn Rural after helping lead the Junior Blues win the Class 6A state title last season. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn Rural will open defense of its Class 6A state championship with three games in three days in the Hays Shootout. The Junior Blues, who are coming off a 23-2 season, will take on Thomas More Prep-Marian in Thursday's opening round at 3 p.m., with the winner advancing to a 6:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday to face the winner of the first-round game between tournament host Hays and Newton. The tournament championship game will be played at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Top returners for the Junior Blues include seniors Brooklyn DeLeye and MaRyah Lutz and junior Zoe Canfield. DeLeye averaged 11.8 points and 7.0 rebounds last season while Canfield averaged 10.8 points and hit ?? 3-pointers and Lutz averaged 5.5 points and hit 23 3-pointers. Canield shot 47.5 percent from 3-point range and 84.8 percent from the free throw line.

Topeka High senior Kiki Smith is back to lead the Trojans after being named the Shawnee County and Centennial League player of the year last season. [File photo/TSN]

TOPEKA HIGH at WAMEGO

Topeka High will begin the Brittney Redmond era in Thursday's 6 p.m. season-opener at Wamego. Redmond, a Topeka High graduate, takes over for Hannah Alexander, who accepted the head coaching position at Andover after leading the Trojans to four straight Class 6A state tornament berths, with a pair of state runner-up finishes. Senior Kiki Smith returns to lead High after being named the Shawnee County and Centennial League player of the year last season. Smith averaged 18 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 4.1 steals as a junior while connecting on 49 3-pointers. Smith earned first-team All-Class 6A honors from the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association. Senior Adisyn Caryl received All-Shawnee County Second 10 honors last season, averaging 8.4 rebounds and shooting 56 percent from 2-point range.

CAIR PARAVEL LATIN vs. WAVERLY

At Burlingame

Cair Paravel Latin will play three straight games in the Burlingame tournament, opening on Thursday with a 6 p.m. game against Waverly. The Lions will have to replace leading scorer Jaley Barkley (15.4 points per game), now playing at Sterling. Sophomore Gracie Babbitt averaged 5.3 points and 5.4 rebounds as a freshman while junior Allison Schwarz averaged 3.6 points and 5.2 rebounds last season. Cair Paravel will play a 6 p.m. game on Friday against host Burlingame before losing out its tournament appearance with a 10 a.m. Saturday contest against Northeast Kansas Homeschool.

BOYS

TOPEKA HIGH at WAMEGO

Topeka High grad Geo Lyons makes his debut as the Trojans new coach in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. season-opener at Wamego. Lyons, who came back to his alma mater after serving as Kansas City-Schlagle's head coach, is Topeka High's third head coach in three years, taking over for Ty Baumgardner, who led the Trojans to a 4-17 record a year ago. Topeka High suffered a blow in preseason when 6-foot-6 junior BJ Canady opted not to go out this season to deal with a foot injury. Top returners for the Trojans include senior Mason Gomez and juniors Bryson Thrasher and Isaiah Lyons. Gomez had 24 points and seven 3-pointers in a win over Emporia while Thrasher had 23 points with our 3-pointers in a win over Manhattan.

CAIR PARAVEL LATIN vs. WAVERLY

At Burlingame

Former Shawnee Heights state champ and MidAmerica Nazarene standout Trey Brown takes over as head coach at Cair Paravel Latin, which will play three straight games in the Burlingame tournament, opening on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. game against Waverly. Cair Paravel will play a 7:30 p.m. game on Friday against host Burlingame before losing out its tournament appearance with an 11:30 a.m. Saturday contest against Northeast Kansas Homeschool. Cair Paravel suffered heavy graduation losses off last season's 16-5 team and will build about several underclassmen, including juniors Simon Everhart and Evan Will.

Details: Created: 30 November 2022

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

For many elite swimmers, high school swimming can take a backseat to training and competing at the club level.

But for Shawnee Heights senior star Luke Perkins, an eight-time state medalist, representing the T-Birds in what very well could be the final season of his competitive career is his main focus.

Shawnee Heights swimming star Luke Perkins opened his senior season with three wins in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

"I'm not really swimming club much anymore,'' Perkins said. "I worked a lot over the summer and I swam a little bit but it wasn't my top priority. But I'm getting back into it for high school and it's my last year.''

At this point Perkins is not planning to pursue a college career which makes the upcoming season even more important.

"I think (high school swimming) is more fun and I enjoy the team aspect of it,'' Perkins said. "I really like the team this year. We've got a lot of good guys and they're improving a lot and it's been really fun for us.

"It's really a tight-knit team. We don't have a lot of kids, but we really get along and they all try their best.''

Perkins, who won four Class 5A-1A state medals as a junior, kicked off the 2022-2023 season in Wednesday's 11-school Topeka West Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium with a sweep of his two individual events as well as first and third-place relay finishes.

Details: Created: 30 November 2022

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

Washburn volleyball added two more names to the program's All-American list on Wednesday as Halle Meister and Jalyn Stevenson earned AVCA All-America honorable mention accolades.

[Photos courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

Washburn volleyball has now collected 32 AVCA All-American awards with all of those coming since 2002 under the leadership of head coach Chris Herr

Meister, a senior middle hitter from Omaha, Neb., started 31 of the 32 matches this fall and turned in a career year as she was second on the team with 269 kills (2.24 kills per set) with a conference-best .360 hitting percentage for the season and made a team-high 103 total blocks.

Meister was efficient on the attack all season as she hit above .400 in 13 matches including nine above .500. Meister recorded five or more kills in 30 matches and had at least one block in every match except two.

Against Saint Leo on Sept. 3, Meister knocked down 16 kills on 23 swings and finished with a sizzling .565 attacking percentage.

After seeing limited action the prior three seasons and totaling 34 kills and nine blocks during that time, Meister will now have her name hanging on the All-American banner in Lee Arena.

In addition to being an AVCA All-American this season, Meister was also named to the AVCA All-Central Region first team, D2CCA All-Central Region second team, All-MIAA first team, the MIAA All-Tournament Team, and was the Lee Invitational MVP.

Stevenson, a sophomore outside hitter from Spring Hill, also played in all 32 matches with 31 starts and received All-MIAA first-team honors as she led the Ichabods with 386 kills (3.22 kills per set) and tied for the team-high in double-doubles (14), was second on the team in aces (36) and third in digs (392).

Stevenson recorded 20 matches with double-figure kills and ended the fall on a 17-match streak of double-digit digs.

At No. 24 Central Missouri on Nov. 4, she recorded a career-high 24 kills and had a .370 attacking percentage to go with 17 digs in the four-set win.

Stevenson becomes the youngest Ichabod to earn All-America status since Allison Maxwell also earned honorable mention accolades as a sophomore in 2018. There have been just six total Washburn players to earn All-American honors as sophomores.

Washburn volleyball went 24-8 this past fall and earned the program's first-ever MIAA Tournament championship and went on to make its 17th appearance in the NCAA postseason.

Details: Created: 30 November 2022

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

Emporia State senior Hannah Woolery, a Cair Paravel Latin product, and Hornet teammate Mackenzie Dimarco have received first-team All-America soccer honors from the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) as selected by the College Sports Communicators.

Cair Paravel Latin graduate Hannah Woolery, a senior soccer standout for Emporia State, has received first-team All-America honors. [Photo courtesy of Emporia State Athletics]

Woolery also earned first-team All-MIAA honors this season after ranking fourth in the MIAA in goals, third in shots on goal, fourth in points and sixth in assists.

Woolery holds the Emporia State career record with 21 assists. She also ranks second in shots on goal while ranking third in both career goals and career points.

Off the pitch, Woolery was named CSC Academic All-District with a 3.90 GPA in English.

Dimarco, also a senior, was unanimously named first-team All-MIAA at forward after leading the MIAA in goals, shots, shots on goal and points while ranking second in game-winning goals.