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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.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No matter what happens in Washburn soccer's MIAA Tournament quarterfinal at Northwest Missouri State on Sunday (1 p.m. start), the Ichabods have taken steps forward in the 2022 season.
Washburn finished the regular season with an 11-5-2 record, already showing a two-win improvement over 2021 with its most wins since 2009, and is in the running for an NCAA Tournament berth, earning a No. 8 ranking in the latest Central Region rankings.
Davy Phillips and his Washburn University women's soccer team will open the MIAA Tournament Sunday at Northwest Missouri State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We've taken a lot of (steps), not only within the season but from last year to this year,'' Washburn coach Davy Phillips said. "I feel good progress going forward. It's been a good thing, no doubt.''
And on Sunday Phillips and his team will have their sights set on taking yet another step forward in the conference tourney.
"I told the girls, we don't have to do anything other than just be the best version of ourselves,'' Phillips said. "We feel really good that if we're the best version of ourselves we can go make a run at this.''
The Ichabods, picked eighth in the MIAA preseason coaches poll, finished the regular season in sixth place in the conference and will be the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, facing No. 3 seed Northwest (12-4-2).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn defense held Northeastern State to 54 yards in the second half, forcing six punts, and Taylon Peters scored on a 3-yard run with 1:49 to go as the Ichabods notched their 10th win in a row over Northeastern State in a 21-17 win on Saturday in Tahlequah, Okla.
Washburn senior Grant Bruner and the Ichabod defense shut down Northeastern State in the second half as WU rallied for a 21-17 MIAA victory. [File photo/TSN]
Junior running back Taylon Peters scored the game-winning touchdown in Washburn's 21-17 MIAA win at Northeastern State on Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
After trailing 17-6 at halftime, Washburn (6-3, 6-3 MIAA) had the first possession of the third quarter, but an interception on the first play of the drive returned the ball back to the host RiverHawks.
But the Ichabod defense forced the first of their six punts in the half and Washburn took over. On the drive, Peters had rushes for 22, 3, 2, 9 and 22 yards for the score with 10:27 left in the third quarter cutting the NSU lead 17-12. Peters would then catch the 2-point conversion from Kellen Simoncic trimming the lead to 17-14.
On the go-ahead drive, Jared Taylor connected with James Letcher Jr. on a 25-yard strike converting a 3rd and 7 and after two rushes by Peters, with a pass from Taylor to Letcher in between, Peters rushed for 2, 7, 4, 7 and the 3-yard touchdown with 1:49, putting the Ichabods up 20-17 following the extra point by Kameron Lake.
The RIverHawks moved the ball to the Ichabod 50 with 33 seconds to go, but did not complete the 4th and 6, turning the ball back to the Ichabods and a kneal down by Taylor finished the game, recording Craig Schurig's 15th winning season at the helm of the Washburn program in his 20th season on the sidelines.
