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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Michael Christopher
Michael Christopher, Topeka High
Christopher, a junior, earned All-City honorable mention recognition in 2020 for Topeka High, placing eighth in the city meet. Christopher opened his current season with a 35th-place finish out of 76 runners in last Saturday's Manhattan Invitational at Warner Park.
Jackson Esquibel
Jackson Esquibel, Shawnee Heights
A sophomore, Esquibel placed in the top five in five of the seven meets he competed in as a freshman en route to earning All-City recognition. Esquibel took third place in the city meet and was a runner-up in Class 5A regional competition, helping the T-Birds qualify for state as a team. Esquibel finished 30th in the state meet. Esquibel opened his 2021 season with a second-place finish in Basehor-Linwood's Bobcat Invitational.
Spencer Haddock
Spencer Haddock, Washburn Rural
Haddock, a senior, earned All-City honorable mention last season after placing 11th in the city meet for the team-champion Junior Blues and taking 17th place in the Centennial League championships. Haddock placed 18th among 76 runners in the season-opening Manhattan Invitational as Rural placed third as a team.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Anna Becker
Anna Becker, Seaman
Becker turned in an impressive performance in her first high school country meet as a freshman, placing ninth individually in Saturday's Manhattan Invitational. Becker helped the Vikings finish third as a team, just four points behind Manhattan and Washburn Rural.
Khloi Bird
Khloi Bird, Washburn Rural
Bird, a two-time All-City pick, placed third in the Centennial League meet last fall after helping the Junior Blues win the city team championship with a fifth-place individual finish. Bird, who placed 52nd in the Class 6A state meet as a junior, opened her senior season with a seventh-place finish in Saturday's Manhattan Invitational.
Madeline Carter
Madeline Carter, Washburn Rural
A junior, Carter is a two-time All-City pick, winning the city individual title last season after a second-place finish as a freshman. Carter placed second in the Centennial League and 6A regional meets in 2020 before taking eighth in the 6A state meet. Carter opened her '21 season with an impressive individual victory in Saturday's Manhattan Invitational.
Bethany Druse
Bethany Druse, Seaman
Druse, a junior, was an All-City pick last fall, placing second in the city meet, eighth in the Centennial League and second in 5A regional competition before posting a ninth-place finish in the 5A state meet. A two-time state qualifier and state medalist in track, Druse opened her current season with a fifth-place individual finish in the Manhattan Invitational.
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Defending Class 4A state champion Tanner Newkirk opened his senior cross country season with the individual championship in Saturday's Missouri Western Griffon Invitational at St. Joseph, Mo., leading the Wildcats to the boys team title.
Newkirk covered the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 25.18 seconds to win by more than a minute while the Wildcats put three runners in the top five en route to the team crown by a 30-48 margin over West Platte (Mo.).
Tanner Newkirk
Senior Ryan Rochford placed fourth in 18:41.50 while junior Jake Muller was fifth in 19:13.20.
Senior Nick Padilla finished 11th for the Wildcats (19:43.52) and sophomore Zach Moore was 13th (20:01.12) to round out Hayden's top five.
Hayden's girls finished second in the team standings behind North Platte (Mo.) by a 29-45 margin, with freshman Elliot Wrench leading the Wildcats with a fifth-place finish (23:08.90). Sophomore Elaina Wolff finished 10th (24:44.51).
MWSU GRIFFON INVITATIONAL
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Washburn Rural junior Madeline Carter claimed the girls individual title in Saturday's Manhattan Invitational cross country meet at Warner Park, posting a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 52.6 seconds to win by nearly 34 seconds.
Washburn Rural junior Madeline Carter, last year's city champion, won the girls individual title in Saturday's Manhattan Invitational. [File photo by Craig Strever/Special to TSN]
Carter was one of three Junior Blues in the top seven places individually as Washburn Rural tied Manhattan for the team title with 58 points. The Indians won the championship on a tiebreaker (higher sixth runner).
Payton Fink placed sixth for Rural (20:02.3) while Khloi Bird was seventh (20:03.7).
Seaman placed third as a team, just four points behind Manhattan and Washburn Rural, with Bethany Druse leading the way with a fifth-place finish (19:56.3) while Anna Becker finished ninth (20:13.1).
Washburn Rural and Seaman placed third and fourth in the boys team standings, just a point apart (120 and 121).
Seaman's Jace Moore paced the local contingent with a 13th-place finish (17:17.4) while Hayden Keller placed 17th (17:28.7) to lead Washburn Rural.
MANHATTAN INVITATIONAL
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 8-ranked Washburn University volleyball team capped a 4-0 run in the Washburn Invitational with a 3-1 win over No. 15 Northern State Saturday at Lee Arena.
The Ichabods, now 5-0 on the season, took a 25-14, 25-15, 25-27, 25-20 win over the Wolves after dispatching Minot State, 25-11, 25-10, 25-11 earlier in the day.
Washburn senior Allison Maxwell (right) celebrates a kill with her teammates Saturday at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The win over Northern State capped a stretch of five matches in three days, with WU playing a regular-season match against Cameron on Thursday before opening tournament play with wins over Colorado-Colorado Springs and No. 19 Harding on Friday.
The third-set loss to the Wolves was one of just two sets the Ichabods dropped in their season-opening five matches.
"I'm very happy,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "I thought we played really, really well against (Northern State) in the first two sets especially. We just got in one rotation twice where we couldn't get out of it and they took advantage of that in the third set and that was the difference in that set, but overall we played really well.''
"We did a lot of nice things, so I'm extremely happy.''
Ichabod senior Allison Maxwell said Washburn enjoyed the busy stretch of matches.
"We love to play,'' Maxwell said. "Practice is definitely a vital part of it all, but it was really nice to play and this was a great weekend for us. I'm really happy with our performance.''
Washburn senior Genna Berg was named the most valuable player in the Washburn Invitational after helping lead the Ichabods to a perfect 4-0 record in the tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Maxwell was one of four Ichabods that earned post-tournament recognition, with Maxwell and senior teammates Kelsey Gordon and Faith Rottinghaus named to the all-tournament team while Washburn senior Genna Berg was named the tournament's most valuable player.
Berg contributed 19 kills and eight digs in the win over Northern State.
Washburn jumped out to a 12-4 first-set lead against Northern State on a kill from freshman Jalyn Stevenson and the Wolves got no closer than four points the rest of the set, with a kill from Maxwell closing out the 11-point win.
The Ichabods jumped out to 15-5 lead in the second set and went up 17-7 on a kill from Sydney Fitzgibbons and 20-11 on a kill from freshman Payton Van Veen and Northern State got no closer than seven points the remainder of the set.
Washburn had a set point at 25-24 in the third set to close out the sweep, but the Wolves scored three straight to take the 27-25 victory and force a fourth set.
Northern State led early in the fourth set, but Washburn took the lead for good on a Maxwell kill and Berg, senior Taylor Antonowich and Fitzgibbons followed with kills to put WU in front, 10-6.
Back to back kills from Fitzgibbons put Washburn up 23-16 and the Ichabods went on to close out the five-point win.
WASHBURN INVITATIONAL
Most valuable player -- Genna Berg, Washburn University.
All-tournament team
Washburn University -- Kelsey Gordon, Allison Maxwell, Faith Rottinghaus. Northern State -- Sally Gaul, Taylor Buckley. Cameron -- Alanni Carter. Rockhurst -- Morgan Conner, Averi Vosmastic. Harding -- Ally Stoner, Libby Hinton. William Jewell -- Lilly Johnson. Colorado-Colorado Springs -- Hannah Ammerman.
