Silver Lake's Burkhardt, Seaman's Brewer named Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Athletes of the Week
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman senior baseball standout Dagen Brewer (3) has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Boys Athlete of the Week. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
DAGEN BREWER, Seaman
A senior catcher/infielder, Brewer had a big day in last Friday's 14-1, 12-1 Centennial League doubleheader baseball sweep over Topeka High at Hummer Sports Park.
Brewer homered in both games and went 4 of 4 at the plate with two doubles and five runs batted in for the Vikings in the nightcap as Seaman improved to 6-1 on the season.
Silver Lake senior Taryn Burkhardt has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Girls Athlete of the Week. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
TARYN BURKHARDT, Silver Lake
Burkhardt, a senior, went 8 for 8 at the plate in last Monday's 11-1, 14-2 non-league doubleheader softball sweep at Hayden.
Burkhardt contributed a triple and a pair of doubles while scoring four runs and knocking in three runs on the day for the Eagles, who finished second in the Class 3A state tournament last spring.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn athletic director Loren Ferré has announced the hiring of former Lady Blues standout Lora Westling as the sixth head coach of the Washburn women's basketball program.
A formal press conference to officially announce Westling as the head coach will be held in Washburn's McPherson Booster Room at 10 a.m. Friday.
Lora Westling
"I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to lead Washburn women's basketball into the future," Westling said. "This program was so instrumental in shaping me as a young woman and I do not take that responsibility lightly.
"Thank you to Dr. Farley, Loren Ferré, and the rest of the search committee for their work during this process and especially for their belief in me. I am ready to get to work immediately with this tremendous group of student-athletes, and look forward to being a part of the Topeka community again."
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
One of the most impressive streaks in Topeka prep softball came to an end Tuesday afternoon at Hummer Sports Complex.
Topeka High’s 31-game win streak came to a close with a 1-0 Washburn Rural victory in Game 1 and the Junior Blues finished off the Centennial League sweep with an 8-1 win in the second game.
Washburn Rural knew how big of a day Tuesday could potentially be, but the Lady Blues just wanted to approach the day as just another day.
“Today is a huge day for us,” first-year Washburn Rural coach Liz Stover said. “Topeka High is an incredibly tough and competitive team. Getting two high-quality wins against (High) is a big stepping stone for us. We have room to grow, but today was huge.
“We found out more about the heart of our team today. We knew what we had here was good. If we got behind at the plate, we were able to keep our head up and play good defense. Learning how to make adjustments earlier in the game will be big for us for the remainder of the season.”
Washburn Rural junior pitcher Emmerson Cope is congratulated by her teammates after Tuesday's 1-0 Rural first-game win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Campbell Bagshaw slides safely into base in Tuesday's doubleheader sweep over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural’s Emmerson Cope’s contributions played a large part in the doubleheader sweep of the reigning Class 6A state champions.
Cope pitched two complete seven-inning games, with a combined 15 strikeouts and two walks. Cope would also hit two home runs, two doubles and brought in four runs, all in Game 2.
“Today was a huge confidence booster for myself and the team,” Cope said. “Going into the rest of the season with wins like today on our backs is big for us. We played great together today and getting a win against a team like Topeka High is special.
“At the end of the day, the only team that can beat us is ourselves.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brandon McDonnell had a bird's eye view of the amazing turnaround that Rick Bloomquist's Topeka West's boys basketball team has put together in recent seasons.
Now the former Topeka High and Baker University player will try to engineer a similar turnaround in his first head coaching job at Rossville.
McDonnell was introduced Tuesday as the Bulldawgs' new head coach, taking over a team that was just 3-18 this past season but heading to a school that is very well-respected as a small-school athletic power.
Topeka West assistant Brandon McDonnell has been named the new head boys basketball coach at Rossville. [File photo/TSN]
McDonnell, a 2000 Topeka High graduate, has been on Bloomquist's staff for four seasons, serving as a varsity and junior varsity assistant and guiding the Chargers' freshman team the past two seasons.
He gives Bloomquist, who has led West to back-to-back Class 5A state appearances, a great deal of credit for getting him ready to to be a head coach.
"I love Bloom to death and one of the main reasons why is you don't often come across a coach that allows you to be on all three benches,'' said McDonnell, who played 13 seasons with the Harlem Legends. "My game nights consisted of putting puzzle pieces togethers with Dwayne (Anthony) at the JV level, then halfway into the fourth quarter I'd go and get my freshman boys ready and I'd coach that game and get those puzzle pieces together and then after that I'm walking into the pregame of the varsity and I'm helping put those puzzle pieces together. So for me I'm coaching three games in one night and loving every second of it because of the autonomy, I had the freedom to do it.
"There's obviously certain things that (Bloomquist) wanted implemented at the freshman level, but outside of that he actually gave me the program and there's not a lot of coaches that do that. Bloomquist let me coach and that's one of the main reasons why I'm in this position today because he didn't put a leash on me. He let me explore, he let me coach, he let me go through some failures and then work my way out of it and that's the only way that I learned. He made that possible. He's a phenomenal guy. He's a father figure to me and I know I could go to him for anything.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin got a pair of goals and an assist from sophomore Katherine Keys as the Lions rolled to a 5-0 win over Heritage Christian on Tuesday.
The Lions, who improved to 4-3, also got goals from Sage Schwartz, Zahra Lewis and Allison Schwarz.
Sawyer Schwartz got the shutout in goal for the Lions.
CAIR PARAVEL LATIN 5, HERITAGE CHRISTIAN 0
Cair Paravel 2 3 -- 5
Heritage Christian 0 0 -- 0
Cair Paravel -- Goals: Keys 2, Sage Schwartz, Lewis, Allison Schwarz Assists: Keys. Shutout – Sawyer Schwartz
Hayden soccer remains unbeaten
Sophomore Jill Lenherr scored the game's only goal off an assist from senior Kate Roeder as Hayden improved to 5-0-1 with a 1-0 non-league victory over Baldwin.
Senior Macy Smith and junior Hannah Schmitz combined for the shutout in goal for the Wildcats.
HAYDEN 1, BALDWIN 0
Hayden 0 1 -- 1
Baldwin 0 0 -- 0
Hayden -- Goal: Lenherr. Assist: Roeder. Shutout: Smith/Schmitz.
Topeka West Myles Cusick (right) and Ian Cusick won the doubles championship in last Saturday's Goddard Invitational. [Submitted]
Cusicks win doubles title at Goddard
Topeka West juniors Ian and Myles Cusick captured the doubles championship in the Goddard Invitational, topping Andover Central in the championship match.
Senior Gavin Chavez and junior Carter Cool beat McPherson to take third place in doubles for the Chargers.
West sophomore James Maag placed ninth in singles.
The Chargers' next meet is the Topeka West Invitational on April 19 at Kossover Tennis Center.
