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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- For more than a half No. 5 seed Highland Park put itself in position to end Maize's Class 5A championship run Wednesday night at White Auditorium.
But the defending champs, the No. 4 seed, rallied at the end of the third quarter and the early stages of the fourth to take the lead and held off the Scots for a 53-47 victory to advance to Friday's 2 p.m. semifinal to face Seaman, a 54-43 winner over No. 1 seed Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
"We knew that they weren't going to give up,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said of the Eagles. "They play well, they're coached well and they were in this game for a reason as well, too.
"They made a good run on us to end the third quarter and made it tougher on us down the stretch, kind of chasing. We kind of got a little closer in the fourth, but just couldn't get over the hump.''
Highland Park senior Juan'Tario Roberts (23) drives to the hoop against Maize's Avery Johnson in Wednesday's Class 5A state quarterfinal. Roberts scored 17 points in the Scots' 53-47 loss to the Eagles. [Photo
Highland Park, which ended its season 18-5, jumped out in front 18-11 at the end of the first quarter and took a 27-22 advantage to the locker room at the half.
The Scots continued to hold a lead through much of the third stanza, but Maize rallied for a 39-38 lead at the end of the quarter and pushed its lead to eight points in the opening minutes of the fourth, putting Highland Park in a catchup mode the rest of the way.
Highland Park made it a one possession game in the late going, but was unable to get over the hump.
"They're state champions for a reason and they're defending that the right way,'' Williams said.
Senior Juan'Tario Roberts led Highland Park with 17 points while junior Bo Aldridge added 11 points.
While Wednesday's loss was a tough pill to swallow, Highland Park, which was making its second state appearance in in three seasons, returns 10 of 12 players from its state tournament roster.
"That's the silver lining right now and that is what we're trying to hold on to as a silver lining,'' Williams said. "We return a lot of guys going into next year's team, but the tough thing about it is nothing's guaranteed.
"So as much as things look bright and look well right now I just hope that throughout the offseason and as we move into next year we can keep piecing things together and keep guys buying into the program and doing what we can to try to come back and do it all over again next year.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Ron McHenry, the winningest coach in Washburn University women's basketball history, announced his retirement in a Tuesday afternoon press conference after 22 seasons guiding the Ichabods.
McHenry coached Washburn to a NCAA national championship in 2004-05 and posted a career record of 490-180 (.731) at Washburn after becoming the head coach in the 2000-01 season.
"Washburn's been my life, it really has,'' McHenry said Tuesday. "Over half my life I've been here. All my kids went to school here and graduated from here and my wife graduated from here.
"It's just been a great run. The University's been unbelievable. Our adminiistration here is unbelievable. It's got to be one of the top jobs in the country because they give you every opportunity to win. It's just a bigtime place to coach at and I've been blessed to be able to coach 22 years, plus as an assistant coach and play here so it's just been an awesome place and a place that's always supported me. It's been a huge part of me.''
Ron McHenry, the winningest coach in Washburn women's basketball history, announced his retirement in a Tuesday news conference. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
McHenry has won eight MIAA titles and seven MIAA tournament championships at Washburn. McHenry is a four-time MIAA Coach of the Year and a two-time region coach of the year.
McHenry has coached nine players to 21 All-America awards. He’s coached one NCAA South Central Region player of the year, six MIAA most valuable players, five MIAA defensive players of the year, 41 all-conference selections, nine MIAA Scholar Athletes and 84 MIAA Academic Honor Roll members.
He concluded the 2021-22 campaign ranked 16th all-time in career winning percentage as well as 18th in career wins among active NCAA Division II coaches.
McHenry got emotional while talking about his family, but stressed that Tuesday was a happy occasion.
"It's one of those deals where it can be a sad time, but it really isn't,'' McHenry said. "This is a fun time right now.''
During the 2016-17 season, McHenry earned his 400th career Washburn victory at Northeastern State (Okla.) on Jan. 12 with a 67-48 victory. With that win McHenry became the fastest coach in NCAA Division II women's basketball history to reach the milestone, doing so in just 512 games, while becoming just the 23rd individual to accomplish the feat.
On Dec. 18, 2018 against Embry-Riddle, McHenry captured his 432nd victory to pass Patty Dick as the winningest head coach of the WU women's basketball program.
McHenry was named Molten/Division II Bulletin national coach of the year in 2004-05 after guiding Washburn to its first NCAA Division II national title in any sport.
He led Washburn to a third straight MIAA regular season title, an MIAA tournament title and a South Central Region title with a 35-2 record. The school won its final 19 games en route to the national title.
Washburn turned that winning streak into an NCAA record the following year. The Lady Blues finished the 2005-06 regular season with a perfect 27-0 record and swept through the MIAA postseason tournament and first two rounds of the NCAA South Central Region tournament. They then fell in overtime in the regional final to end the winning streak at 51 games and end the year with a 32-1 record.
McHenry was named the MIAA coach of the year that season after leading the team to a perfect 16-0 conference season.
He coached consensus national player of the year Jennifer Harris as she won the award from three different organizations. She was also the region and MIAA player of the year and she went on to be drafted No. 20 by the Chicago Sky in the 2006 WNBA Draft.
McHenry guided Washburn to a 23-6 record in 2012-13 and a second straight MIAA regular season title with a 16-2 mark in the conference. McHenry was named MIAA coach of the year for his efforts. His team earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA region tournament for the second straight year as he made his 12th straight trip to the event.
In his 12 appearances in the NCAA tournament, McHenry has three Elite Eight appearances with trips in 2002-03, 2004-05 and 2007-08. He has a 20-11 record overall in the NCAA tournament.
McHenry guided the Lady Blues to a regular season MIAA title in 2002-03, just his third season as a head coach. He also won an MIAA postseason tournament championship and a berth to the Division II Elite Eight. McHenry was named District VI coach of the year that season.
In his second season, McHenry engineered one of the best turnarounds in Division II, guiding Washburn to the NCAA South Central Region tournament and finishing with a 23-7 record. The year after that he guided the Lady Blues to back-to-back 20 win seasons after finishing with a 13-14 record in 2000-01, his first season as a head coach.
McHenry was named the women's basketball head coach on May 8, 2000. He became only the fifth coach in program-history at Washburn and the first since Patty Dick took over in the 1977-78 season.
Before taking over as Washburn's women's coach McHenry spent 11 seasons as a member of the men’s basketball coaching staff Bob Chipman. He was a part of 243 wins while also guiding the men’s golf team for eight seasons.
McHenry began as a graduate assistant to Chipman during the 1984-85 season. He then went on to Perry-Lecompton High School in 1986 where he served as assistant boys coach. In 1988 McHenry became an assistant coach with the Topeka Sizzlers of the Continental Basketball Association.
McHenry eventually became the Sizzlers’ interim head coach before joining the Washburn staff for the 1989-90 campaign.
McHenry played for Washburn after stints at Coffeyville Community College and Kansas.
He graduated from Washburn with a bachelor’s degree in communications and went on to earn a master’s degree in sports administration from Wichita State in 1987.
McHenry and his wife, Mischa, have three children, daughters Dani and Sami and son Ronnie.
Ronnie was a member of the Washburn golf team (2012-16) and was named the Ichabods' head coach during the summer of 2021. Dani and Sami both played basketball and volleyball at Washburn. Dani is a Class of 2016 inductee into the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kansas State High School Activities Association is currently in the midst of its 50 for 50 project, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which opened the door for female athletes across the United States. As part of that project TopSports.news contributor Rick Peterson wrote the following story on the late Janell (Smith) Carson, a United States Olympian and trailblazer for female athletes.
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The late Janell (Smith) Carson of Fredonia, who passed away in 2020 after a battle with cancer, was one of the greatest girls track and field athletes in Kansas history despite never getting the opportunity to run a single high school race.
But Carson, who passed away at the age of 73, was one of many outstanding female athletes in the pre-Title IX era who accentuated the need for the legislation that has changed the lives of countless athletes over the last 50 years.
The late Janell (Smith) Carson in her familiar place atop the podium during her outstanding track and field career.
Carson still owns the all-time state record of 52.3 seconds in the 400-meter dash and also recorded a best of nearly 20 feet in the long jump, but was an athlete ahead of her time, with the first Kansas State High School Activities Association state girls meet not held until 1972, seven years after Carson graduated from Fredonia High School.
"Probably what was most unique about my track career was that it took place before Title IX was passed into law,'' Carson said in her Kansas Sports Hall of Fame induction speech in 2009. "The thing I really missed the most about my competition was not having other girls to train with and having a team to run on. I was always announced as, 'Janell Smith, running unattached.' ''
But despite missing out on high school and college athletics, Carson was one of the best known track athletes in the world in the 1960s.
Carson qualified for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games as a 17-year-old, set several Junior Olympic national records; was a two-time AAU national champion in the 400, competed in the 1963 Pan American
Games in Brazil and was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1965.
"All we started out to do was have a good time," the late Meade Smith, Janell's father and coach, said in the Sports Illustrated story. "I was coaching our boy Sonny at the time, and Janell came out every day to watch. She was 10. It is easy to coach a girl at 10 because she will do anything you tell her. Later there was another girl who worked with us, but she worried about how she looked running. Janell has never let that worry her."
Carson said in her 2009 speech that being a female athlete in the '60s certainly had its challenges.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Senior Washburn University second baseman Tyler-Clark Chiapparelli has seen the world differenly than most collegiate athletes throughout the years.
Clark-Chiapparelli began his collegiate career at Texas State University. He signed on with the Bobcats as a two-way player.
Tyler Clark-Chiapparelli
At the end of his time in Texas State, they wanted the 6-foot-2 athlete to become just a pitcher but Clark-Chiapparelli wasn’t ready to give up the bat.
After one year at Texas State, Clark-Chiapparelli transferred to San Jacinto Community College in Pasadena, Texas. San Jacinto is known for bringing in a high amount of baseball players and Clark-Chiapparelli realized that if he wanted to get important playing time, he’d have to hit the road again.
With just one semester at San Jacinto, Clark-Chiapparelli transferred to McCook Community College in McCook, Nebraska. Clark-Chiapparelli was recruited by notable pitching guru, Pat Robles, whose current position is with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The weekend he was recruited at McCook, Clark-Chiapparelli and his father drove 18 hours to the college from Houston, Texas to see the opportunities he could potentially have. Clark-Chiapparelli loved everything about the college.
Clark-Chiapparelli looks at McCook as the savior of his baseball career with that move a stepping stone to his time at Washburn.
Tyler Clark-Chiapparelli has been a key cog in Washburn baseball's hot start to the 2022 season. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]
“I had 32 offers out of McCook,” Clark-Chiapparelli said. “Washburn was one of my top choices at the time. I visited Washburn and love it. I loved coach (Connor) Crimmins, Lane (Harvey), and (Harley) Douglas. I originally committed to Middle Tennessee State University out of McCook. Middle Tennessee had some coaching changes and I felt that coach (Harley) Douglas connected on many levels, so I texted him to let him know that Middle Tennessee wasn’t meant for me and I’d like to come to Washburn.
“Coach Douglas said he would take me in a heartbeat, so from there that started my journey as a baseball player at Washburn.”
In a condensed COVID-19 ridden 2020 season, Clark-Chiapparelli had a .282 batting average, drove in 14 runs and had 20 hits in a minimal 71 at-bats before the season was taken away from the Washburn baseball team.
Clark-Chiapparelli would come back stronger in 2021, slashing a .292 batting average, collecting 30 hits, seven doubles, 16 runs batted in and only striking out 17 times in 102 plate appearances.
In 2022, Clark-Chiapparelli is on pace to shatter his personal-best numbers at Washburn by a hefty amount.
Clark-Chiapparelli has been a consistent leadoff man for Washburn (15-4, 7-0) this season for a reason.
“I do believe that I have progressed quite a bit from last year to this year,” Clark-Chiapparelli said. “There have been a lot of small things I’ve needed to fix in my swing and I feel more comfortable with the corrections along the way. Seeing my swing on video in slow-motion has been a big help for me. The coaches that know my swing really well are the people that have helped me fine-tune my swing.
“There is never truly a break for baseball players, so having a correct mindset and approach has been a key to my personal growth and the team’s growth.”
Clark-Chiapparelli’s slick glove in the infield followed by his red-hot bat in the batter’s box is a catalyst for Washburn’s 2022 success.
The Ichabods currently sit on top of the MIAA due to a bond that the clubhouse has.
“From last year to this year, Crimmins and Douglas did a great job recruiting great pitchers for the team,” Clark-Chiapparelli said. “We brought back so many bats. Everyone, one through nine, approaches the game like a veteran should. So many of us have embraced a leadership role this year. The culture has changed and we expect everyone to be ‘Bod-in.
“The ultimate goal for me personally is to leave this university in better shape than it was when I got here.”
At this point last year, Washburn had a 7-12 record. They endured a few losing streaks in the 2021 season and they’re well aware of that. Washburn wants to have a better year than their 20-22 season.
“Our goal this year is to win the conference championship,” Clark-Chiapparelli said. “Our coaching staff has helped us put us in winning situations. The guys who don’t get a ton of playing time are guys who can start on any team in our conference. When you have 15 guys that can swing the bat, a bullpen full of good arms and a coaching staff that believes in you, the ceiling will always be high.
“We have a solid chance of winning a championship this year.”
Clark-Chiapparelli has no regrets for any stops or bumps on his long journey. The senior believes that this journey has been exactly the way it should’ve gone.
“Washburn has been the best decision and life-changing opportunity that I could have ever asked for,” Clark-Chiapparelli said. “No matter where you go to school, whatever division, there is talent everywhere and I am so grateful for everyone here who has helped me become a better ballplayer and person.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Bo Aldridge
BO ALDRIDGE, Highland Park
The Highland Park junior basketball standout scored 54 points in two games last week as the Scots advanced to the Class 5A boys state tournament for the second time in three seasons. Aldridge scored 27 points in a 78-65 sub-state semifinal victory over St. Thomas Aquinas last Tuesday and followed that up with another 27-point performance in Friday's 89-52 romp past Piper in the sub-state championship game.
Malachi Berg
MALACHI BERG, Topeka West
A junior, Berg turned in a pair of big performances as Topeka West advanced to the Class 5A boys state basketball tournament for the second straight season. Berg scored 16 points in last Tuesday's 78-46 sub-state semifinal win over Goddard Eisenhower and then followed that up with a career-high 23-point game in Friday's 73-59 victory over Andover in the sub-state final as the Chargers improved to 21-1 with their 20th straight victory.
Ethan Burns
ETHAN BURNS, Seaman
A junior bowler, Burns rolled a three-game series of 668 in last Friday's Class 5A-1A state bowling tournament at Wichita's Northrock Lanes, tying for ninth place and finishing 10th on a tiebreaker as Seaman captured the state 5A-1A team championship by a 3,483-3,472 margin over Goddard Eisenhower. Burns, who finished 13th at state as a sophomore, bowled a high game of 257 in his first game at state.
Kaitlyn Doyal
KAITLYN DOYAL, Washburn Rural
Doyal capped her high school career with a fourth-place finish in last Thursday's Class 6A state bowling tournament at Wichita's Northrock Lanes, helping lead the Junior Blues to a third-placer team finish. Doyal bowled a 616 series with a high game of 235 to crack the top five after finishing seventh individually as a junior. Doyal helped Washburn Rural finish third in the 6A state meet for the second straight season.
Makenzie Millard
MAKENZIE MILLARD, Seaman
Millard, a senior bowler, earned her third Class 5A-1A girls state medal last Friday at Wichita's Northrock Lanes, posting a career-best second-place finish while leading Seaman to the state team championship. Millard bowled a 697 three-game series, including a first-game 279, after finishing fifth at the state meet as a sophomore and fourth as a junior. Millard led the Vikings to the team championship by a 3,173-3,144 margin over Bishop Carroll.
Kiki Smith
KIKI SMITH, Topeka High
A junior guard, Smith scored 33 points with three 3-pointers as Topeka High's girls advanced to the Class 6A state basketball tournament for the fourth straight season with a 67-46 victory over Liberal last Friday at Topeka High. Smith will be playing in her third straight state tournament, helping the Trojans post a runner-up state finish last season and helping lead High to a perfect 23-0 record as a sophomore before the tourney was cut short due to COVID-19.
