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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman state doubles champions Grace Unruh and Lauren Sweeney and Hayden state singles champ Ainzley Zulueta have been named to the 2021 Kansas Tennis Coaches Association All-State girls tennis team.
Unruh, a senior, and Sweeney, a junior, capped a perfect 36-0 season with the Class 5A state doubles championship last Saturday at Emporia while freshman Zulueta finished off a 35-5 season with a 4A state singles title last Saturday at Winfield.
Seaman Class 5A state doubles champions Grace Unruh and Lauren Sweeney have received All-State honors from the Kansas Tennis Coaches Association. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden freshman Ainzley Zulueta has received All-State recognition from the Kansas Tennis Coaches Association after winning the Class 4A state singles title. [File photo/TSN]
Unruh and Sweeney, who had finished fourth in 5A in 2020, led the Vikings to a fifth-place team finish while Zulueta led the Wildcats to a third-place state finish.
Manhattan junior Jillian Harkin, the 6A state singles champion, was also named to the KTCA All-State team.
KTCA All State Tennis Teams 2021
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THE PENNANT PLAYER PROFILE
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After more than two years of waiting his turn, redshirt freshman quarterback Kellen Simoncic was suddenly "the guy'' for Washburn University's offense last week against then-No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri, pressed into service early in the game when senior standout Mitch Schurig went down with an injury.
And the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Smithville, Mo. native responded exactly the way he and his coaches and teammates hoped he would, helping the Ichabods end a 15-game losing streak to the Bearcats with a 17-16 MIAA win at Yager Stadium.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kellen Simoncic came off the bench to help Washburn knock off No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri, 17-16, last Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Simoncic, who had seen mopup duty earlier in the year against Lincoln, admitted it took him a few moments to grasp the situation he was in when Schurig went down (concussion protocol), but then just tried to concentrate on the task at hand.
"My first thought was, 'Is he OK, is he getting up, how's he doing?' '' Simoncic said of Schurig. "After that I went and grabbed my helmet and started playing catch a little bit and kind of mentally preparing to get in the game.
"You never want to see anybody get hurt, especially Mitch because he's helped me so much throughout the years, but it was also very exciting. You couldn't ask for a better opportunity.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
In Thursday's final regular-season soccer game of the year, Topeka High and Seaman squared off in a thrilling defensive matchup that resulted in a 0-0 tie at Seaman.
Seaman honored its seniors on Senior Night before the first kick with a ceremony honoring Gavin Wilhelm, Kyson Evans, Pablo Font, Jake Moss, Trustin Shafer, Lawson Greig and Justin Kruse.
After the ceremony concluded, it was time to get to work.
Topeka High goalkeeper Logan Murray displayed that he is one of the area’s best young goalkeepers. As a sophomore, he’s opened a lot of eyes with his strong athleticism and his abilities in the goal. On the other side, junior Ayden Thompson has also been impressive for the Vikings with his long reach and blocking abilities and both goalkeepers provided shutouts for their teams throughout the game.
In the first couple of halves, things were mute offensively. Strong, physical pushes by both sides and clutch preventive kicks made the game competitive.
No matter how great the kicks were by either side in the first half, Murray and Thompson prevented them from putting a tally in the score column.
In the first overtime, the Vikes and Trojans sped up the game speed.
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
It was a top-five showdown in Lee Arena as No 2 Washburn University volleyball faced the third-ranked University of Central Missouri in a battle to remain atop the MIAA standings.
And with the end of the regular season in sight Washburn is looking for a leader to help the Ichabods get to the end on a strong note.
“At some point you know you think when you have this old of a group that someone on the floor has got to step up and be lead,” said Washburn coach Chris Herron.
Leadership will be important going forward as Washburn fell in four sets, 19-25, 25-17, 28-30, and 22-25. The loss moves WU to third place in the MIAA and snaps the team's undefeated home record.
“I think we just move onto the next game, like obviously it’s disappointing but we can’t let one game define us so we are just focusing on practicing and getting better from here on out,” Washburn senior middle hitter Allison Maxwell said.
Allison Maxwell
Allison Sadler
The match started back and forth, tied at eight points each before the attack errors piled up for the Ichabods putting them in a deficit. A strong offensive attack from Central Missouri, which logged a nearly .400 attack percentage as a team in the set, helped them claim the first set of the match. On the other end senior middle hitter Sydney Fitzgibbons knocked down six kills on her way to hitting .458 in the match.
“But (Kersti) Nix killed us, we couldn’t stop her. I mean hell we could have put a surfboard up there, we couldn’t block her,” Herron said. “I think that’s the key to the match was she just did so much and we did little with her.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The 2021 soccer season didn't get off to a great start for Shawnee Heights, with the T-Birds dropping a 5-1 decision to Class 6A powerhouse Washburn Rural in their season-opener.
But Nic Simons' T-Birds responded to that loss by winning 14 of their next 15 games, putting the capper on a 14-2-0 regular season with a 3-1 non-league victory over Manhattan Thursday night at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.
"We went into this year wanting to initally test where we were the first game of the season and we certainly found out,'' Simons said. "And we wanted to test what progress we made by the last game of the season and I think we did and we have made progress.
"Opening the season with a 5-1 loss is certainly humbling and we used that as motivation to play everybody else as competitively as we possibly could and I told the kids all year, 'We have to be tough and we have to have grit,' and they've shown it in the face of adversity.''
Shawnee Heights senior Garrison Johnson (center) and junior Jovany Retana (left) scored goals and sophomore Brennon Dodge (right) had an assist in the T-Birds' 3-1 non-league soccer win over Manhattan Thursday night at the Bettis Family Sports Complex. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights, which won the United Kansas Conference championship, never trailed against the 10-5-1 Indians after getting on the scoreboard at the 22:35 mark of the first half on a goal from junior Jovany Retana off an assist from sophomore Brennon Dodge.
The score remained 1-0 through the first half before Shawnee Heights scored twice within 19 seconds early in the second half to put the game out of reach.
T-Bird senior Garrison Johnson converted a penalty kick at the 32:34 mark of the second half and then junior Isaac Wilson made it 3-0 seconds later off an assist from junior Jordan Garvin.
Manhattan's lone score came on an own goal with 17:36 left to play, but the Indians couldn't muster any more serious scoring chances.
Shawnee Heights senior goalkeeper Jaden Rodriguez comes up with a save on a shot from Manhattan senior Marco Zambrano in the T-Birds' 3-1 win Thursday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We really haven't put together a compete game,'' Simons said. "We have had stretches of brilliance followed by some knucklehead stuff on the field, but this has probably been our most complete game that we've played all year.''
Shawnee Heights will be at home for the first round of the Class 5A playoffs next Tuesday. Postseason pairings will be determined on Saturday.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 3, MANHATTAN 1
Manhattan (10-5-1) 0 1 -- 1
Shawnee Heights (14-2-0) 1 2 -- 3
Manhattan -- Goal: Own goal.
Shawnee Heights -- Goals: Jovany Retana, Garrison Johnson, Isaac Wilson. Assists: Brennon Dodge, Jordan Garvin.
