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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's boys tennis team hasn't quite achieved perfection over its first three tennis meets of the 2024 season.
But Brad Johnston's Junior Blues have been darn close, going undefeated as a team while dropping just one match.
Rural continued its hot start in Wednesday's Topeka West quadrangular at Kossover Tennis Center, rolling to 4-0 victories over Seaman, Topeka West and Lawrence.
"I love the talent and the depth that we have, having a couple of seniors but being able to fill out the lineup with sophomores and I still have other guys,'' Johnston said. "They're playing hard and they're buying into the team mentality that we have.''
Rural senior Dylan Dodge posted 8-2, 8-0 and 8-1 wins in No. 1 singles while sophomore Keegan Knudtson recorded two 8-0 decisions and an 8-1 victory in No. 2 singles.
Washburn Rural's No. 1 doubles team of senior Lawsen Lobatos and sophomore Dylan Willingham didn't drop a game on the day, winning three straight 8-0 decisions while the Junior Blues' No. 2 doubles team of sophomores Cale Duetscher and Brayden Kohls posted 8-2, 8-4 and 8-5 victories.
"I feel like this season and the seasons going forward that we're going in the right direction and team first is our mentality,'' Johnston said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman girls soccer coach Kyle Seevers is still looking for his Vikings to put more shots in the back of the net as the season moves on.
But the Vikings are making progress in that area, including a season-high six goals Tuesday night in Seaman's 6-0 United Kansas Conference romp past Topeka West at Hummer Sports Park.
"I think we're going to keep making progress,'' Seevers said. "We're going to pick up the intensity at practice and training.
"We're going to pick it up a hair each training session so that we can get balls in the back of the net. We can create (opportunities). Unfortunately, sometimes we can't put them in the back of the net so those creations don't count for anything but a pat on the back.''
Sophomore Ryin Miller and freshman Julia Molleker scored two goals apiece for the Vikings while Seaman also got goals from senior Marin Schuler and sophomore Maya Martin.
Miller, Marin Schuler and sophomore Elle LaBin were credited with assists and senior Makena Schuler recorded the shutout in goal as Seaman improved to 3-0-1 overall and 1-0 in the UKC with its third straight shutout.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Sadie Walker turned in a solid freshman campaign in the pitcher's circle for Washburn University's softball team last season, posting an 8-4 record with a 3.11 earned run average and 97 strikeouts.
But those numbers pale in comparison to the numbers the left-hander has put up in Year 2, with the former Holton standout helping lead the 24th-ranked Ichabods to a 30-10 record with seven straight wins.
Walker currently leads the nation with 17 wins and ranks fifth in the nation with six shutouts and 10th with a sparkling 0.88 earned run average.
Walker is 17-5 overall with two saves while recording 118 strikeouts and holding opponents to a .210 batting average.
"I felt like my freshman year I spent most of the year worrying about trying to prove myself and this year I feel like I'm just trying to stand on my name and make sure that everybody knows that they have a tough weekend when they're facing me,'' Walker said.
Walker is coming off an outstanding week for the Ichabods, including WU's first seven-inning complete-game no-hitter since 2021 in a 1-0 win over Missouri Western last Saturday as Walker struck out 10 while facing just one above the minimum batters in the win, her second no-hitter of the season.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
At 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Washburn University outfielder Payton McHarg isn't likely to strike fear in Ichabod opponents ... until he swings the bat.
The native of Saskatchewan, Canada, McHarg has turned in an outstanding first season for Washburn, leading the nation with 17 home runs while batting .383 and leading the 18-14 Ichabods in runs, hits and runs batted in while compiling a .908 slugging percentage and and a .487 on-base percentage.
McHarg landed at Washburn after two seasons at Kansas City Kansas Community College and Ichabod coach Harley Douglas said he knew McHarg could be a special player after he first saw him in the fall prior to the 2023 season.
"The fall before the season when KCK came in here, he was facing Casey Steward and Rane Pfeifer and some of those arms and he hit one off the scoreboard against us and we were like, 'Man, this kid's really good,' '' Douglas said. "We loved him and made an offer to him.
"He wasn't ready to pull the trigger and we thought, 'Oh great, somebody's going to come along, some D-Is and like that,' but he hurt his wrist and he really didn't get to play the second half of the season.''
McHarg's injury worked out well for both McHarg and Washburn.
"He liked what he had here and he ended up jumping on it and taking it and it's been a blessing for us,'' Douglas said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It's usually a difficult task for freshmen to crack the varsity roster in any sport, and even harder to make an immediate impact.
But Shawnee Heights' freshmen girls soccer players apparently didn't get the memo.
T-Bird freshmen Morgan Robinson and Soleil McNaughton combined for all three of Heights' first-half goals and freshman Nina Bolanos dished out a pair of assists in Monday's 3-2 non-league road win over Topeka High at Hummer Sports Park.
"We're a really young group and I thought we played really well the first half,'' Heights coach Kellen Griffin said. "The second half we got caught out a little bit but they stuck through it the whole game and we won a close game.
"We didn't win any close games last year so that's a step in the right direction already.''
Robinson scored a pair of goals against the Trojans to give her eight goals in three games for the 2-1 T-Birds while McNaughton scored Heights' third goal and Bolanos registered her two assists Monday after scoring three goals in an earlier 9-0 win over Ottawa.
Thus far all 12 Shawnee Heights goals on the year have come from freshmen.
"We don't have a lot of upperclassmen but the upperclassmen we have are really great leaders and then we've got a lot of underclassmen -- freshmen and sophomores -- that are just hungry to get playing time and hungry to get wins and they come to practice every day and they're ready to work,'' Griffin said.