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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
On the morning of February 20, Washburn University softball was 3-6, and now just over a week later the team is 12-6 after a five-game weekend.
The undefeated weekend gave the team a 10-game win streak, the longest since head coach Brenda Holaday took over in the 2017 season.
“I don’t know about the streak, I know it is fun to win and the kids enjoy that and it is contagious,” Holaday said. “I think the big thing with this team is no one person has to carry the load.”
The Ichabods went a perfect 5-0 in the Washburn Classic and outscored opponents 41-5 over the three days.
Washburn sophomore Jaycee Ginter had a Washburn Classic pitching and at the plate as the Ichabods went 5-0 to stretch their winning streak to 10 games. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]
The run started with a Friday doubleheader, the first game coming against Wayne State College, who jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning.
The Ichabods stayed patient at the plate, responding with a six-run first inning that included four walks and three hit batters.
“They handed us some runs with all of those walks but our kids were patient enough to wait for a good pitch and we got some timely hits,” Holaday said.
Senior Ashton Friend did not watch and wait in the second inning, hitting a solo home run over the left field wall. A sacrifice fly from Friend in the third and an ensuing throwing error scored the next two runs.
“Just trying to keep myself relaxed and not chasing after pitches is what has been key for me,” Friend said.
Sophomore Shawnee Heights product Jaycee Ginter started her big weekend with a solo shot in the third to make it a 10-1 game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No matter what happens in Friday's Class 5A-1A state tournament, Seaman's Makenzie Millard has earned her spot among the top girls high school bowlers in city history.
Millard just can't believe her prep career is almost over.
"It doesn't seem real at all,'' Millard said. "It's just gone by too fast.''
Seaman senior Makenzie Millard will close out a banner high school career in Friday's Class 5A-1A state tournament in Wichita. [File photo/TSN]
After a pair of top-five finishes in the state tournament the past two seasons, including a fourth a year ago, the three-time regional champ obviously would love to end things with an individual state title, but Millard said she's more focused on what the Vikings can do as a team in Friday's 1:40 p.m. girls state tournament at Northrock Lanes in Wichita.
"I just concentrate on the team aspect,'' Millard said. "If our whole team's doing good then I'm happy with wherever I finish, whatever I do. As long as our whole team's happy, I'm happy.''
Seaman went through an unbeaten 2021 season before finishing fourth as a team at state.
The Vikings have turned in another outstanding year this season, with just one loss on their ledger as Seaman won the Centennial League title before rolling to a 5A-1A regional championship by a 3,141-2,891 margin over Augusta last Tuesday at Emporia.
And Millard, who took individual honors at regionals with a 709 series, is confident the Vikings can put themselves in position for a high state finish.
Seaman junior Katie Price finished third in the girls individual regional standings with a 630 series while the Vikings also got a 10th-place finish from sophomore Cheyenne Turkin with a 540 series.
"We've been working really hard at practice and it seems to be paying off, so I'm pretty happy about it,'' said Millard, who rolled a 279 game at regionals.
Millard also feels like she's where she needs to be for a strong individual performance Friday.
"There's still a few things I can always work on, like spares and stuff, but other than that I think I'm getting there,'' she said. "I think I'm pretty good other than that.''
Millard knows there's several bowlers capable of garnering the individual state crown, but she doesn't spend a lot of studying the competition.
"I do follow the (bowling) page on Facebook so I obviously see all the scores and stuff and I follow all their Facebook pages,'' Millard said. "So I watch (the other bowlers) here and there, but I mostly don't worry about them and I focus mostly on our team and how we're doing.''
After she ends her high school career Millard will turn her attention to getting ready for her next step, signing earlier this winter with Peru State, Neb.
"It's a small college, nice people and I know most of the bowlers there already and obviously I know the coach and they gave me a great offer,'' Millard said.
But Millard won't start thinking about college until after Friday's tournament is in the books.
"I'm not thinking about it at the moment,'' she said. "I've had a few thiings that I had to do for them, but other than that I'm just really focused on this season and finishing strong with the rest of my teammates.''
Millard knows that there will be a lot of emotion when her prep career officially comes to an end on Friday.
"It will be a bittersweet moment,''
Seaman swept the individual and team titles in the Emporia regional, with the Viking boys claiming the team championship a 3,610-3,554 margin over De Soto as senior Jack Easum claimed top individual honors with a 747 series, including a 279 game.
Centennial League champion Ethan Burns, a junior, finished fourth individually for the Vikings with a 697 series while Seaman junior Zander White also cracked the top 10, finishing ninth with a 659 series.
Shawnee Heights earned the third boys team berth for state by an eight-pin margin over Mill Valley as junior Josh Egly led Heights with a 649 series, finishing 12th individually, while senior Kaleb Rohrke was right behind Egly in 13th with a 647 and senior Aidan VanMetre took 16th with a 638.
Topeka West sophomore Cole Rodriguez finished 10th individually with a 655 series, earning an individual state berth for state.
The 5A-1A boys state tournament will get under way at 8:50 a.m. Friday.
Topeka West claimed the third team berth in the girls division as the Chargers put a pair of bowlers in the top 10, with sophomore Brenna Rutschman taking fourth with a 627 series and sophomore Megan Wood finishing sixth with a 601 series.
Shawnee Heights senior Karli Gilliland was the top individual girls qualifier, finishing fifth with a 603 series.
RURAL GIRLS, HAMMONS QUALIFY IN 6A
Washburn Rural's girls bowling team punched its ticket to Thursday's 6A state tournament with a third-place finish in last Friday's 6A regional at West Ridge Lanes while Rural junior Josh Hammons qualified for the boys state meet as an individual.
Washburn Rural’s girls placed third with a team score of 2,768, finishing behind team champion Olathe Northwest (2,829) and Junction City (2,806).
Sophomore Claire Ireland paced the Rural girls, shooting a three-game series of 539 to finish fifth individually, while junior Amaya Buchanan was a pin behind Ireland in sixth with a 538 and senior Kaitlyn Doyal and sophomore Taylin Sakers also placed in the top 15 overall.
Doyal finished 11th with a 508 series while Sakers was 13th with a 495.
Hammons earned a fifth-place finish with 664 series.
The 6A boys will begin competition at 8:50 a.m. Thursday, with the girls tourney following at 1:40 p.m.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Maranda Bell
MARANDA BELL, Shawnee Heights
A senior 191-pound star girls wrestler, Bell won a Class 6A-5A state championship last Thursday at Park City's Hartman Arena, becoming Shawnee Heights' first official girls state champ and first girls wrestler to reach 100 wins in her career. Bell, who was 27-1 on the season, won all four of her state matches by pin, in 13 seconds, 3:01, 56 seconds and 1:03 in the championship match over Derby sophomore Meya Howell. Bell led Heights to a fifth-place team finish, with the T-Birds the highest-finishing 5A school.
Aidan Boline
AIDAN BOLINE, Washburn Rural
A state medalist as a junior, Boline capped a 34-6 senior season with the Class 6A 160-pound wrestling championship last Saturday at Park City's Hartman Arena, taking a 5-0 decision over Olathe East senior Nick Carlson in the championship match as the Junior Blues won their second straight 6A state team title. Boline reached the finals with a pair of pins and a 15-0 technical fall.
Jack Easum
JACK EASUM, Seaman
Easum, a senior, won the boys individual championship in last Tuesday's Class 5A-1A bowling regional at Emporia's Flint Hills Lane, winning by 30 pins with a three-game series of 747. Easum put together games of 235, 279 and 233 leading the Vikings to the regional team championship by a 3,610-3,554 margin over De Soto.
Austin Fager
AUSTIN FAGER, Washburn Rural
Fager, a senior, captured the Class 6A 182-pound state wrestling championship last Saturday at Park City's Hartman Arena while helping lead the Junior Blues to their second straight team title by a 151-142.5 margin over Derby. Fager, a state runner-up as a junior went 4-0 at state to improve to 43-2, posting three pins and a 15-0 technical fall. Fager pinned Campus senior Aidan Williams in the finals in 1:13.
Kendra Hurla
KENDRA HURLA, Rossville
The Rossville sophomore girls wrestler won her second straight state championship in the Class 4A-1A state meet last Thursday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina. Hurla capped a 39-0 season with the 120-pound title, taking a 3-0 decision over Pratt junior Jadyn Thompson in the finals. Hurla reached the finals with three straight pins, in 1:27, 1:58 and 1:47.
Makenzie Millard
MAKENZIE MILLARD, Seaman
Millard, a senior bowler, won her third Class 5A-1A girls regional title last Tuesday at Emporia's Flint Hills Lanes. Millard took top individual honors by a 26-pin margin with a 709 three-game series, including games of 279 and 265. Millard, who has finished fifth and fourth at state the past two seasons, led the Vikings to the team championship by a 3,141-2,891 margin over Augusta.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The expectations couldn't have been a whole lot higher when Josh Hogan took over the vaunted Washburn Rural wrestling program last spring.
After all, Rural was coming off its first Class 6A state wrestling championship and returned two state champions and a state finalist from that team.
But the former Washburn Rural star, who had cut his coaching teeth with the Topeka Blue Thunder Wrestling Club the previous nine years, said he really didn't feel any pressure when he took over for coach Damon Parker.
"No, there really was no pressure,'' Hogan said Saturday night affter Washburn Rural wrapped up its second straight title by a 151-142.5 margin over Derby. "I've been coaching wrestling for a long time, I've been wrestling for a long time and as far as I'm concerned wrestling is a way to raise young men and young women up. I don't put much more on it than that.
"It's nice to win, it sucks to lose, but there's also a greater picture that we're after.''
Washburn Rural wrestling coach Josh Hogan watches the action during the Class 6A state tournament at Park City's Hartman Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior star Austin Fager flips Rural coach Josh Hogan to the mat in celebration Saturday after winning the Class 6A 182-pound state title. [Photo by Jeff Jacobsen/Action Images Photography]
Hogan said he felt all season that the Junior Blues were the premier team in 6A, but it wasn't all smooth sailing.
"When we lost out 220-pounder and then we lost our 138, both to shoulder injuries for the season, there was a little worry that may have crept in there because that's a lot of points that we lost,'' Hogan said. "But I knew that our backups were strong across the board.
"The way that we've done this the last 10 years is just by having so many kids wrestle, so there's a plethora of kids to pick from and some of our second guys would be first guys a lot of other places. So we step up when we need to.''
Senior Austin Fager, the 6A 182-pound state champ said that even though Rural changed coaches and graduated a great senior class, including three-time state champ Bishop Murray and state finalist David Huckstep, the Junior Blues were capable of doing exactly what they did Friday and Saturday at Park City's Hartman Arena.
"We just proved ourselves as a program,'' Fager said. "That's what we just did. Here yesterday and today we proved ourselves as a program and our coach proved that he can come out here and coach us and losing guys doesn't mean anything. We can still come out here and win.''
Senior Aidan Boline, the 160-pound state champ, agreed.
"There's nobody in the state that deserves it more than this squad,'' Boline said. "We've worked harder than anybody for the last 268 days, not just the last 100 days of the season.
"These guys are in the room in the offseason busting their butts. I couldn't have asked for a better team to be a part of.''
RUNNER-UP CARVER LEADS FIVE COUNTY 3A-1A STATE PLACERS
Rossville junior 285-pounder Jacob Carver advanced to the Class 3A-1A state championship match Saturday at Hays before finishing second, pacing five Shawnee County wrestlers who earned state medals.
Rossville 285-pounder Jacob Carver (top) battles Douglass' Joe Martin in the Class 3A-1A state championship match Saturday at Hays. Carver finished second. [Submitted]
Carver was pinned in the second period by Douglass' Joe Martin in the finals.
Rossville also got third-place finishes from senior 138-pounder Colby Hurla and senior 160-pounder Sam Twombly.
Silver Lake senior Triston Vande Velde finished third at 182 pounds while senior Daigan Kruger placed fourth at 170 pounds.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn men's basketball team won its sixth game in a row Saturday, wrapping up a 19-9 regular season with an 85-59 MIAA win over Emporia State in White Auditorium.
The Ichabods have earned the No. 4 seed in the MIAA Citizens Bank and Trust Postseason Tournament and will face the same Hornet squad at 6 p.m. Friday in Kansas City, Mo. in the tournament quarterfinals.
The Ichabods jumped out a an 8-3 lead behind four straight buckets by Jonny Clausing to start the game, but back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers by Tray Buchanan with a 3 from Jalen Lewis sandwiched in between a layup from Lewis and a layup by ESU's Jumah'Ri Turner gave ESU (19-9, 16-6 MIAA) its last lead of the game at 14-13,
But the Ichabods hit 4 of 6 3-pointers over a six-minute stretch to take a 27-21 lead midway through the opening half.
Jalen Lewis led Washburn with 23 points in Saturday's 85-59 road victory at Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]
ESU cut the lead to four at 30-26 with 5:38 to play in the half, but back to back 3-pointers by Tyler Nelson and a layup by Kevaughn Ellis and a layup by Tyler Geiman sent the Ichabods to the halftime break with a 40-33 lead.
Starting the second half, the Ichabods came out with a 10-0 run, hitting their first four shots of the half, to push out to a 17-point lead at 50-33.
ESU eventually cut the lead down to 10 with 6:55 to play, but a 15-0 Ichabod run put the game out of reach and Washburn led by as many as 26 points as the Ichabods swept the regular-season series.
Lewis led the Ichabods with 23 points, hitting five 3-pointers in 10 attempts, and pacing three other Ichabods in double figures.
Clausing had 17 points while hitting 8 of 9 shots in the game. Michael Keegan scored 14 and Geiman finished with 12 points, recording a double-double with 11 assists giving him 696 assists in his career.
Buchanan scored 16 points in 16 minutes before leaving the game and Turner had 11.
Washburn finished the game shooting 50 percent (33 of 66) from the field while Emporia State was held to 38 percent shooting (24 of 64).
Washburn outrebounded the Hornets 38-33 in the game.
WU WOMEN DROP 79-77 HEARTBREAKER
The Washburn women's basketball team rallied from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter and took its first lead of the game with 90 seconds left in regulation, but a late foul call helped set up the game-winning jump shot to give Emporia State the 79-77 victory in Saturday's regular-season finale.
The Ichabods (13-15, 11-11 MIAA) now turn their attention to next week's MIAA Championship Tournament as the No. 9 seed. Washburn will take on the No. 8 seed Pittsburg State in the first round at noon on March 3 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
Hunter Bentley
Abby Oliver
Emporia State (15-13, 10-12 MIAA) jumped out to a 14-1 lead in the first 4:34 of the game and held a 21-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
A 6-0 run by Washburn trimmed Emporia State's lead to 29-23 with 3:58 in the first half, but the Lady Hornets extended their lead with three triples and made a jump shot right before the buzzer to go up 44-31 at halftime.
Emporia State took its largest lead of the game at 52-35 with 7:06 on the clock in the third frame when Washburn started its comeback with an 11-0 burst.
After the Lady Hornets stopped the run with a 3-pointer, Washburn started another scoring tear with six unanswered points to make it a 55-52 game at the 3:06 mark. The teams traded baskets in the final two minutes and Emporia State led 63-57 heading to the fourth quarter.
Trailing 75-69 with 3:53 to go, Abby Oliver made a layup to start an 8-0 run to give Washburn its first lead of the game at 77-75 with 1:30 remaining. Oliver scored six of the eight points during that run.
ESU went 1 of 2 at the free throw line at the 38 second mark to put the score at 77-76 and on Washburn's ensuing possession, a jump ball was the official call and the arrow pointed in ESU's direction.
A technical foul was issued to Washburn's head coach Ron McHenry after the jump ball decision and the Lady Hornets' Tre'Zure Jobe went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe again to level the score at 77.
ESU got its final possession started with 33 seconds remaining and Jobe hit the go-ahead jumper with three seconds left and Washburn's half court heave was off line as the buzzer sounded.
The Ichabods finished the game shooting just under 50 percent, making 29-of-59 from the floor, while the Lady Hornets had a 46.8 field goal percentage (29-of-62).
WU outrebounded ESU, 37-27.
Hunter Bentley played all 40 minutes and led the Ichabods with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Oliver also scored 20 points to set a new career-high.
Nuria Barrientos was 8 of 14 from the field for a season-best 18 points.
All seven Lady Hornets who played scored at least three points, led by Ehlaina Hartman's 21 points.
