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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn Rural soccer coach Brian Hensyel, who has not lost to a boys or girls city opponent in more than a decade earned the No. 1 position on TopSports.news' Top 10 Best of the Best Shawnee County Coaches soccer list, edging Hayden legend Klaus Kreutzer who earned the No. 2 spot.
Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel, No. 1 on TSN's Best of the Best soccer list, has not lost to a city opponent in more than a decade while reaching the state championship game nine times. [File photo/TSN]
Veteran Hayden soccer coach Klaus Kreutzer has led the Wildcats to five state titles and eight state championship games. [File photo/TSN]
Hensyel, who has been Washburn Rural's boys coach for 17 seasons and the girls coach for 16 seasons (2020 season was canceled due to COVID), has not dropped a city boys game since his first season in 2005 and he has not lost to a city girls foe since 2011 while winning two state championships and posting seven second-place finishes in Kansas' largest class.
Kreutzer is the all-time city leader with five state team championships, leading the Wildcat girls to state titles in 2012, 2013 and 2015 and the Hayden boys to championships in 2000 and 2012.
Joe Waldron, who led Topeka High to the city's first state soccer championship in 1997, holds down the No. 3 spot on the Best of the Best list while Shawnee Heights state champ Marc Serrano and Topeka West state champ Tim Collins round out the top five.
Kreutzer and former Seaman coach Louis De Leonardo earned the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the Reader's Choice poll, garnering more than 4,200 votes apiece, while Hensyel ranked third in balloting by TSN readers.
A five-person panel of current and past sports media professionals with more than 150 years of combined experience met to help determine the final Best of the Best Top 10.
Longtime former Shawnee Heights coach Mike Balint is No. 6 on the Best of the Best list, followed by former Washburn Rural state champion Lionel Suarez, former Topeka High and Shawnee Heights coach Steve Loy, Di Leonardo and current Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery to round out the Top 10..
Here's a look at the Top 10 and Readers Choice Awards:
TSN TOP 10 BEST OF THE BEST SOCCER COACHES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural coach Jared Goehring, former Rural coach Jeff Stromgren and former Hayden coach Dan Key, who combined for 12 state championships in girls and boys golf, swept the top three positions on TopSports.news' Top 10 Best of the Best Shawnee County Coaches golf list.
Current Washburn Rural golf coach Jared Goehring has led the Junior Blues to five state titles and 13 top-three state finishes. [File photo/TSN]
Jeff Stromgren coached Washburn Rural to boys and girls state golf championships before coaching Washburn University men's golf for nine seasons. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Former Hayden coach Dan Key coached the Wildcats to five state golf titles (four girls, one boys). [Submitted]
Goehring, who has led Washburn Rural to four Class 6A state girls titles as well as a boys championship in Kansas' largest class, earned the No. 1 spot on the Best of the Best list while No. 2 Stromgren led the Junior Blue boys and girls teams to 6A titles before moving on to the college level at Washburn University and Key coached Hayden to four 4A girls titles and one boys crown.
Rounding out the top five are former Shawnee Heights head coach and current Topeka West assistant Lynn Riney and the late Don Williams, who coached Washburn Rural's boys to a 6A championship in 1997..
Stromgren and Goehring, who served as an assistant under Stromgren, earned the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the Reader's Choice poll, garnering more than 2,000 votes, while Key ranked third in balloting by TSN readers.
A five-person panel of current and past sports media professionals with more than 150 years of combined experience met to help determine the final Best of the Best Top 10.
Former two-time Hayden state champ Denis Stanley is No. 6 on the Best of the Best list, followed by former Topeka West coach Jack Wiley, former Shawnee Heights coach Steve Giddens, former Silver Lake coach Alan Cunningham and former Topeka West coach Frank Walton to round out the Top 10..
Here's a look at the Top 10 and Readers Choice Awards:
TSN TOP 10 BEST OF THE BEST GOLF COACHES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Retiring Silver Lake football coach C.J. Hamilton earned the No. 1 spot on TopSports.news' Top 10 Best of the Best Shawnee County Coaches list after ending his 47-year high school coaching career as the winningest coach in Kansas history and No. 15 all-time in the nation.
Former Silver Lake coach C.J. Hamilton is the winningest coach in Kansas history and ranked No. 15 nationally with 447 wins. [Submitted photo]
Former Washburn Rural coach Ron Bowen led the Junior Blues to three Class 5A state titles and a 6A runner-up finish during a 23-year stint at the school. [Submitted photo]
Rossville coach Derick Hammes has led the Bulldawgs to five state titles over the past eight seasons. [File photo/TSN]
Hamilton posted a career record of 447-98, leading the Eagles to eight state championships and reaching 18 state championship games.
Hamilton's victory total, titles and championship game appearances are all Kansas records while his 447 wins rank No. 15 all-time nationally.
Washburn Rural legend Ron Bowen, who won 156 games with three Class 5A state titles and a 6A runner-up finish in his 23-year career with the Junior Blues, earned the No. 2 spot on the Best of the Best list, just ahead of Rossville coach Derick Hammes, the most dominant coach in the county over the past decade with five state titles in eight seasons.
Rounding out the top five are Seaman legend Chuck Logan, who recorded seven undefeated seasons in the 1920s and 1930s, and former Hayden coach Tom Stringer, who led the Wildcats to a pair of undefeated 4A state titles.
Hammes earned the No. 1 spot in the Reader's Choice poll, garnering more than 2,000 votes, while former Topeka High coach Walt Alexander and Bowen finished second and third in balloting by TSN readers.
A five-person panel of current and past sports media professionals with more than 150 years of combined experience met to help determine the final Best of the Best Top 10.
Current Hayden coach Bill Arnold, who has a state title and three state runner-up finishes, is No. 6 on the Best of the Best list while Topeka High's Buck Weaver, who won 100 games and had three undefeated seasons in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, is No. 7.
Former Topeka High coach Walt Alexander is No. 8 on the Best of the Best list, followed by Topeka West Hall of Famer Frank Walton and former Rossville and current Washburn Rural coach Steve Buhler to round out the top 10.
Here's a look at the Top 10 and Readers Choice Awards:
TSN TOP 10 BEST OF THE BEST FOOTBALL COACHES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Former Topeka West coach Joe Schrag, who earned not only state but national acclaim for a legendary career that spanned more than four decades, earned the No. 1 spot on TopSports.news' Top 10 Best of the Best Coaches list for cross country, narrowly edging out former Hayden perennial state contenders Kathy Strecker and Ben Meseke.
Former Topeka West coach Joe Schrag has been honored by five halls of fame for his legendary four-decade career with the Chargers, winning eight state championships in cross country and track. [Submitted]
Former Hayden coach Kathy Strecker led the Wildcat girls to six state titles over three decades before moving on to the college level at Rockhurst. [Hayden High]
Ben Meseke
Bob Camien
Schrag coached West's boys for 41 seasons and the Charger girls for 29, earning induction into the National High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame as well as four other halls of fame.
Schrag led West to four state championships as well as five second-place finishes and coached West to a total of eight state championships in cross country and track and field.
Strecker and Meseke were a one-two coaching punch for Hayden, with the Wildcat legends leading Hayden to six state championships apiece spanning three decades.
Rounding out the top five are former Seaman coach Bob Camien and current Viking coach Rick Brading, who both led Seaman teams to state titles.
Schrag also earned the No. 1 spot in the Reader's Choice poll, winning by more than 600 votes, while current Washburn Rural coach Matt Swedlund and Strecker finished second and third in balloting by TSN readers.
A five-person panel of current and past sports media professionals with more than 150 years of combined experience met to help determine the final Best of the Best Top 10.
Former longtime Washburn Rural coach Scott Shufelberger is No. 6 on the Best of the Best list while his former star runner, Swedlund, is No. 7.
Longtime former Shawnee Heights coach Fred Wiens is No. 8, followed by Bob Karr and Ken Darting, who led Seaman's boys and Silver Lake's girls to state championships in the late 1970s.
Here's a look at the Top 10 and Readers Choice Awards:
TSN TOP 10 BEST OF THE BEST CROSS COUNTRY COACHES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
OTTAWA -- Torrey Horak loved playing quarterback for Rossville, but the two-time Class 2A state champ knew there would probably come a day when he would have to change primary positions.
That day will come next month when the 5-foot-11, 170-pounder reports to Central Missouri, where he will play safety.
Former Rossville star Torrey Horak (6) will play a final high school game with former teammate Corey Catron (2) in Saturday's Kansas Shrine Bowl at Pittsburg. [File photo/TSN]
"A couple of schools looked at me for safety, one as a receiver and one as a running back, so I had a couple of different options but I really fell in love with Central Missouri and I feel like that's home to me now,'' Horak said.
But before he switches to the defensive side of the football, Horak, who played both ways for Rossville, will get one last chance to play quarterback for the East in Saturday night's 7 p.m. Kansas Shrine Bowl at Pittsburg.
"Offense is definitely something that I love, but I'm getting an opportunity to play at a high level with some really high-class athletes that not everybody gets that opportunity, so I'm going to take it and I'm going to run with it and we'll see where it goes,'' Horak said. "I'm really excited to get down there.''
Horak said he knew Central Missouri was the right place for him after visiting the Warrensburg campus.
"My mom (Wendi) was down on my official visit with me and she really enjoyed it and we both just kind of felt like it fit my personality really well,'' Horak said. "So far I've been there all summer and I feel like that still holds up.''
Horak also reached out to older brothers Tucker, a former running back at Pittsburg State, and Thatcher, who played baseball at Washburn, for their input.
"I talked to Thatcher and Tucker because both of them had had some experience in the recruiting process and really both of them just said to just enjoy it,'' Torrey Horak sai. "They said, 'Don't stress over it. The right school will come to you and when your decision's made you'll enjoy it.' And to this point I definitely have.''
Horak thinks this week's training camp at Ottawa University will help him get ready to begin his college career.
"Our fall camp, I've seen some leaks of the schedule and it's going to be intense, but this week with having two and three practices a day I feel like it will kind of build up my stamina a little bit and kind of give me an idea of what's coming when fall camp rolls around,'' he said.
Saturday night's game will also give Horak one last chance to play with former Rossville teammate and close friend Corey Catron, who will play slotback for the East, while Bulldawg coach Derick Hammes is an East assistant. Horak and Catron were named the Shawnee County co-offensive players of the year after leading the Bulldawgs to a second straight 13-0 season last fall.
"I think this is going to be an incredible week and I'm just blessed to be here, really,'' Horak said during an East practice session. "I'm excited for this.''
