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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West Class 5A state doubles champions Ian and Miles Cusick headline the 2022 All-City boys tennis team, which includes 12 out of 12 state qualifiers and nine state medalists.
The 2022 All-City boys tennis team -- Front, from left: Carter Cool, Topeka West; James Maag, Topeka West; Mason Casebeer, Washburn Rural; Mason Thieu, Washburn Rural; Gus Glotzbach, Hayden; Michael Sandstrom, Hayden. Back, from left: Gavin Chavez, Topeka West; Miles Cusick, Topeka West; Ian Cusick, Topeka West; Jaden Rodriguez, Shawnee Heights; Kyler Knudtson, Washburn Rural; Nick Luetje, Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Cusick twins captured the state championship with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Maize South's Grayson Wright and Mitchell Krumm, capping a 37-4 season after sweeping city, Centennial League and 5A regional titles for a second straight season. Ian and Miles finished ninth in the 5A state meet as sophomores before dominating last weekend's state tournament with four straight two-set victories.
Topeka West, which finished second as a team in the state meet, is also represented on the All-City team by sixth-place 5A doubles finishers Gavin Chavez and Carter Cool and sophomore singles player James Maag.
Washburn Rural, which shared the city team title with West before winning Centennial League and regional championships, put city, league and 6A regional champ and state placer Mason Thieu on the All-City team along with state doubles placers Kyler Knudtson and Nick Luetje and state singles qualifier Mason Casebeer.
Hayden's Michael Sandstrom and Gus Glotabach are All-City returners after finishing second in doubles in the 4A state tournament for the second straight season, helping the Wildcats earn a 4A team trophy with a third-place finish.
Also earning a spot on the All-City team for the second straight season was Shawnee Heights senior Jaden Rodriguez, a 5A state qualifier in singles.
All-City tennis capsules:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West's Ian Cusick woke up Saturday morning with the feeling that it was going to be a great day for himself and twin brother Miles in the final day of the Class 5A boys state tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center.
The Cusicks then went out and delivered on those positive vibes, completing a spectacular 37-4 season with the state doubles championship.
Topeka West juniors Miles Cusick (left) and Ian Cusick celebrate a big point in Saturday's Class 5A state doubles final. [Submitted]
Topeka West's Ian and Miles Cusick jump for joy after finishing off their Class 5A state doubles championship with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Maize South. [Photo by Katie Davids/Special to TSN]
"I think we were confident coming in,'' Ian Cusick said. "We've been playing great since regionals, even a little before that. We've been on top of our game and then coming into the second day today we were just looking to blow out everyone.''
The Topeka West juniors opened Saturday with a 6-1, 7-5 semifiunal win over Salina Central seniors Collin and Connor Phelps and then followed that up with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Maize South senior Grayson Wright and junior Mitchell Krumm.
Saturday's championship represented a huge step forward for the Cusicks after a ninth-place finish in their first state tournament last season.
"I've thought about getting ninth last year a lot, especially losing in the quarterfinals to Salina Central,'' Ian said. "It's really been at the top of my mind, or at least in my mind, since we lost. I think it motivated us to come out here and do the best that we can, which is win.''
Miles Cusick agreed.
"Every day that we practice, that's what we've thought about, but to come back and win it this year has been really great,'' Miles said.
And Miles said the Cusicks wouldn't have been satisfied with anything less than a title.
"We wouldn't have been satisfied,'' Miles said. "From ninth place to second place, it's not first place.''
Ian said he and his brother even surprised themselves a little bit in the championship match.
The Cusicks jumped out to 3-0 and 5-1 leads in the opening set and never were in any serious trouble.
"I don't think we were personally expecting to perform so well against a team of that caliber,'' Ian said. "They're really great players but we just came out and shocked them in the beginning and they couldn't get back.''
Veteran Topeka West tennis coach Kurt Davids hugs Charger state champions Miles and Ian Cusick Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Katie Davids/Special to TSN]
Topeka West poses with its second-place team trophy after Saturday's Class 5A state tournament. Not pictured is senior Gavin Chavez, who graduated Saturday afternoon after a sixth-place doubles finish. [Photo by Katie Davids/Special to TSN]
Coupled with a sixth-place doubles finish from senior Gavin Chavez and junior Carter Cool, Topeka West finished second to Maize South in the team standings, the highest team finish for the Chargers in Kurt Davids' long tenure as West's coach.
"I've had two third-places for the boys and one for the girls at state, so thi is the highest for me and I'm absolutely very proud of this team,'' Davids said. "The best part is we get five of the six back next year.
"And I don't think these kids are going to have any problem motivating themvelves to improve even more for next year. They'll be easy to rally into a, 'Second place is not a good enough,' mentality.''
Maize South won the team championship by a 33-27 margin over Topeka West, with Blue Valley Southwest third with 25 points.
In addition to the runnerup doubles finish from Wright and Krumm, Maize South got a third-place singles finish from senior Harris Kossover, a member of Topeka's highly-respected Kossover tennis family.
CLASS 5A TENNIS
Team scores
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural’s gruesome schedule this week didn’t stop the Junior Blues from shutting out Junction City on Friday night to cap a wire-to-wire Centennial League championship softball run.
The Junior Blues, 19-1, were able to tally 31 runs on the board by the end of the day at Lake Shawnee on Rural’s Senior Night.
Washburn Rural's softball team listens to coach Liz Stover after wrapping up an 18-2 regular season with a twinbill sweep over Junction City. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Washburn Rural scored 16 runs in game one and 15 runs in game two. The barrage of runs forced each game to end in three innings by the way of the run rule.
Washburn Rural playe seven games on the week, creating many challenges for the Junior Blues before the Class 6A regionals next week.
Washburn Rural accepted this week’s challenge and ended it in a loud way.
“They showed a lot of grit today after a long week,” Washburn Rural coach Liz Stover said. “Our games on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday were tough, but they pulled through. If they can keep up this rhythm going into next week, that will be good for all of us heading into regionals.”
One of the biggest stars in Friday night’s blowout sweep was junior pitcher Emmerson Cope. Cope got the win and the no-hitter in the circle in Game 1. Cope pitched all three innings and fanned four batters.
“This game meant a lot for me going into regionals,” Cope said. “I felt good going out there and taking care of business. I think today will help us going into next week. If we can carry over what we did today, we will be good.”
In both games combined, Cope had five runs batted in including a double and a three-run opposite-field home run giving her another stellar outing.
Cope wasn’t the only Junior Blue that crushed a ball past the fence on Friday night. Mckenna Schuler and Mikaila Herring both hit three-run home runs. Schuler and Herring, who are both seniors, were able to crush home runs in their last regular-season game.
“It was my first home run and it felt great,” Herring said. “Having that big home run today has me really hyped up and excited for next week. Our hitting has been great for us this year. If the offense keeps playing this well, regionals will be fun.”
In Game 1, the Washburn Rural offense started off the day in a good way.
In the first inning, Rural put up two runs on three hits. After Cope and Baylee Dial got on base, Emily Louderback plated one run while an error scored another.
Five runs would come home in the bottom of the second inning thanks to quality hitting and four Junction City errors. Cope and Trenna Whitmore drove in two runs with their hits while the errors took care of the rest as the Junior Blues took a seven-run lead in just two innings.
Washburn Rural’s offense nearly doubled its incredible run total from the second inning into the bottom of the third inning. Luckily for Rural, Junction City would commit four more errors assisting the Junior Blues. In Rural’s nine-run third inning, they collected just three hits.
After five runs came in off of Junction City’s struggling defense, Schuler would hit a three-run home run.
Rural’s nine-run inning would end the contest with a 16-0 victory.
Seniors Campbell Bagshaw, Baylee Dial, Whitmore, Schuler, Emily Louderback, Ryanne Rapp and Herring were honored in between the doubleheader.
Game 2 was nearly identical to the opener. While Junction City played much better, Washburn Rural’s offense was stellar.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A year ago, Topeka West's Ian and Miles Cusick made their Class 5A state tennis debut, with a tough quartefinal loss derailing the Cusicks' state championship hopes on the way to a ninth-place doubles finish.
Back in the state field Friday, the Cusicks rolled past that quarterinal stumbling block and into Saturday's 9 a.m. state doubles semifinals at Kossover Tennis Center.
Topeka West doubles players Miles Cusick (center) and Ian Cusick (right) talk to West coach Kurt Davids during Friday's Class 5A state quarterinal match. The Cusicks advanced to the semiinals with a 6-0, 6-1 win. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Now 35-4 on the season, the Topeka West juniors opened this year's state bid with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel's Gavin Bhargava and Johnathan McIlvain and then followed that up with a 6-0, 6-1 quartefinal victory over Maize South's Hudson Grizzell and Noah Rodriguez
The Cusicks said that with a year of state tournament experience under their belts they felt a lot more comfortable on Friday.
"I think I was 10 times more comfortable,'' Ian Cusick said. "Improving as a player makes you feel more comfortable on the court and then just knowing how its going to go and seeing all these really great players, I know what to expect.''
Miles Cusick agreed.
"We're just a lot more comfortable and it helps that we're at home,'' Miles said. "It's really cool to have a lot of people here to support us and we're excited to play tomorrow.''
The Cusicks said that getting past the quarterfinals was a big confidence-builder.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
City athletes won 20 events in Thursday's Centennial League track and field championships at Emporia's Welch Stadium, including double gold medalists Taylin Stallbaumer and Bethany Druse of Seaman, Zach Sulzen-Watson of Washburn Rural, Tanner Newkirk and Jake Muller of Hayden and Tre Richardson of Highland Park.
Taylin Stallbaumer, Seaman
Bethany Druse, Seaman
Tanner Newkirk, Hayden
Jake Muller, Hayden
Zach Sulzen-Watson, Washburn Rural
Tre Richardson, Highland Park
Stallbaumer swept the girls league titles in the 100-meter and 300 hurdles, clocking a time of 15.86 seconds in the 100s and 51.02 in the 300s, while Druse won the 800 meters in 2 minutes, 17.38 seconds and ran on the Vikings' winning 4 x 800 relay (10:38.26) with Anna Becker, Savannah Sampson and Taylie Heston as Seaman finished second in the girls team standings.
Newkirk won the 1,600 in 4:13.86 and the 800 in 1:55.74 while Muller won the 300 hurdles in 39.80 and ran on Hayden's winning 4 x 400 relay (3:27.63) along with Ethan Florence, Ryan Rochford and Jensen Schrickel, helping the Wildcats post a second-place boys team finish.
Z. Sulzen-Watson won the shot put at 51-11.50 and the discus at 166-1 while Richardson won the long jump at 23-2.25 and the triple jump at 46-5.
Other city girls league champions included Seaman's Maggie Lesmeister in the javelin (112-5), Topeka West's MaKinsey Jones in the high jump (5-0), Washburn Rural's Rylee Ismert in the 1,600 (5:32.18), Rural's Madeline Carter in the 3,200 (11:38.17) and Highland Park's Victoria Reed in the 400 (59.76).
Other city boys league champions included Washburn Rural's Josh Sulzen-Watson in the javelin (160-4), Highland Park's KeiJuan Johnson in the 110 hurdles (14.57) and Seaman's Jace Moore in the 3,200 (10:13.34).
Centennial League Track and Field Championships
