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Washburn Rural junior Reagan Allen (12) tries to control possession as Topeka High sophomore Molly McGuire closes ground. Allen had a pair of assists in the Junior Blues' 7-1 Centennial League win over the Trojans. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls soccer team still has bigger heights it wants to scale this spring, but the Junior Blues took the first step in that process Monday night at Hummer Sports Park, wrapping up a perfect Centennial League season with a 7-1 romp past Topeka High.
The league title was Washburn Rural's 16th in school history and the Junior Blues' eighth in the past nine seasons. Rural has won 41 straight games in league play.
"I think we're playing at a pretty high level,'' said Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel, whose team improved to 12-2-1. "We're scoring goals and we're a pretty good possession team and we create lots of chances.
"Our goal is always at the end of the season to be there (in the state title hunt). We've been in the last two state championship games and our goal obviously is to be back here (at Hummer) in two and a half weeks and try to win it because we've been really close. We think we have the team to do that, but there's still some things we have to fine tune.''
The Junior Blues needed just 1 minute, 35 seconds to get on the scoreboard against Topeka High, with junior Hunter McWilliams finding the back of the net, and Rural was in command 3-0 with 20:06 left in the first half after goals from junior Emma Krueger and senior Brynn Fitzgibbons.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Ty Baumgardner has enjoyed his time as Topeka High's athletic director the past year, but still had the overwhelming urge to coach basketball after a 25-year career as a high school and college coach.
Ty Baumgardner
Topeka High will give Baumgardner the opportunity to fill both of those positions moving forward, naming Baumgardner the Trojans' new boys coach on Monday. Baumgardner takes over for Eric King, who resigned after two seasons.
Baumgardner admitted that he missed coaching more than he thought he would over the past year, making the opportunity to do double duty at Topeka High an attractive option.
"Coaching is all I've ever done,'' Baumgardner said. "I was pretty good in the fall, but then once the season rolled around and I was watching games every Tuesday and Friday night, I missed it a lot, just working with kids and the camraderie and those types of things.''
Baumgardner takes over a Trojan team that won just three games last season, but he is familiar with High's returning players and is eager to get started.
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done, a ton of things that need to be improved on,'' Baumgardner said. "You will see a much different Topeka High program next year, but that's not unusual any time you have a coaching change because new coaches are going to come in and do things their way.
"I think we've got a total of 8 points returning next year from this year's team, but on the flipside of that, there's a lot of opportunity for playing time, a lot of opportunity for guys to step up and take advantage of the things that are there in front of them.''
Baumgardner said the Trojans will go to work this summer as soon as the state allows.
"I think June 1st is the first day and we'll be in the gym June 1st,'' Baumgardner said. "We've got to take advantage of every day that we can be in the gym to get better. They need to learn our philosophy and our terminology and how we're going to do things.
"It's going to be a very critical summer, no doubt about it.''
Baumgardner served as a head high school coach for 19 years in North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina, including a state title in North Carolina's largest class, following six seasons as a college assistant at Emporia state and Elon University (N.C.).
An Emporia native, Baumgardner was a multiple-sport athlete at Emporia High before playing basketball at Hutchinson Community College and Emporia State. Baumgardner also served as a graduate assistant at ESU under legendary Hornet coach Ron Slaymaker.
Baumgardner has compiled a career coaching record of 370-154 for a 71 percent winning percentage over his high school career.
He spent 10 seasons at Olympic High School in Charlotte, N.C., where he amassed a 222-63 record while winning seven conference championships and the 2013 state shampionship in Class 4A, the largest classification in the state.
Olympic finished the 2012-13 season 30-0 and ranked No. 5 in the country by MaxPreps.
While at Olympic Baumgardner also won a city-record 59 straight conference games with a 42-game home winning streak.
Baumgardner then moved on to Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., where his team captured only the second regional championship in school history while also setting a school record for most wins in a season at 25-5.
Baumgardner captured another regional championship at Westwood High School in Columbia, S.C., the second in school history with a school-record 25 wins in a 25-2 season. Baumgardner has coached more than 50 players that went on to play collegiately, 18 at the Division I level.
Baumgardner said he had some initial reserversations about filling the dual role of athletic director and basketball coach, but said he thinks the support system is in place to allow him to be successful in both positions.
"It's very rare, but I visitied with some really good coaching friends of mine who have done both and are doing both and just kind of picked their brains and got some thoughts,'' Baumgardner said.
"There's such great leadership here at Topeka High with Miss (Rebecca) Morrisey (High's principal) and the assistant principals and our athletic secretary. There's a lot of help that can play a part in maybe taking some of the stuff off my plate during basketball. Fall and spring I'll have my AD hat on.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seven Shawnee County schools will send a total of 25 players to state tennis tournaments Friday and Saturday, with the County represented in all four state events.
Class 5A regional team champ Topeka West and 6A runner-up Washburn Rural both qualified all six players for state while Hayden qualified five players for 4A state, Shawnee Heights four, Highland Park two and Seaman one entry in 5A and Rossville one qualifier in 3A-1A.
Topeka West swept the top two spots in both singles and doubles in Friday's regional at Kossover Tennis Center to qualify its entire team for Friday and Saturday's state tournament at Maize South while taking the regional team championship by a 26-13 margin over runner-up Shawnee Heights.
Sophomore Carter Cool and freshman teammate James Maag finished one-two in singles, while sophomore twin brothers Ian and Miles Cusick won the doubles title, topping junior Gavin Chavez and freshman Caden McGee in the doubles final..
Topeka West sophomore Carter Cool won the 5A regional singles title Friday at Kossover Tennis Center as the Chargers won the regional team title and qualified their entire team for this weekend's state meet at Maize South. [Submitted]
Miles Cusick (left) and his twin bother Ian have won city, Centennial League and Class 5A regional doubles titles this spring for Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights qualified junior singles players Jaden Rodriguez and Paul Quidu and the doubles team of juniors Garrison Johnson and Ajay Sharma while Highland Park qualified the doubles team of seniors Eliseo Barreno and Azarion Perkins and Seaman qualified junior singles player Justin Kruse.
Kruse finished third in singles while Rodriguez was fourth and Quidu fifth..
Johnson and Sharma finished third in doubles while Barreno and Perkins finished fifth.
The 5A state tournament will be played next Friday and Saturday at Maize South.
Washburn Rural finished second to Centennial League rival Manhattan in the 6A regional at Wichita's Riverside Tennis Complex, with junior Nick Luetje and sophomore Mason Casebeer finishing second in doubles while juniors Jiyoon Park and Zach Willingham finished fifth.
Rural junior Kyler Knudtson and senior Aryamann Zutshi earned state singles berths for the 6A tournament at Prairie Village's Harmon Park with third and fourth-place regional finishes.
Hayden junior Michael Sandstrom teamed with sophomore Gus Glotzbach to win a 4A regional doubles title last weekend. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden, which will host the 4A state tournament at Kossover Tennis Center, finished one-two in doubles in the 4A regional at Harmon Park, with junior Michael Sandstrom and sophomore Gus Glotzbach topping senior Johnny Holloway and junior Patrick Gorman in the final
Wildcat junior Tyler Broxterman qualified for state in singles with a fourth-place regional finish as Hayden finished second as a team.
Rossville senior Alex Sherer, who competed during the regular season for Hayden as a co-op player, qualified for the 3A-1A state tournament with a second-place regional finish.
The 3A-1A tournament will be contested at Wichita's Riverside Tennis Complex.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NOTE: TopSports.news plans to compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2021 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at
BOYS
100 METERS
Smith, Shawnee Heights 10.36
Rezac, Rossville 10.68
Renfro, Silver Lake 10.90
January, Shawnee Heights 10.92
Shawnee Heights sophomore Jeremiah Smith is the Shawnee County leader in the boys 100 and 200-meter dashes and 110-meter high hurdles. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
200 METERS
Smith, Shawnee Heights 21.85
Rezac, Rossville 22.03
Renfro, Silver Lake 22.50
Richardson, Highland Park 22.69
January, Shawnee Heights 23.04
400 METERS
Arnold, Shawnee Heights 51.68
Myers, Shawnee Heights 53.41
Kaniper, Silver Lake 53.75
Rochford, Hayden 53.76
Roney, Washburn Rural 54.15
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It was going to take a special opportunity to lure Perry-Lecompton defensive coordinator Jared Swafford away from his hometown high school, but Seaman fit that bill.
Swafford, who helped the Kaws reach the Class 3A state championship game the past two seasons, was approved by the USD 345 school board Monday night as the Vikings' new head football coach, taking over for Glenn O'Neil, who resigned after five seasons at Seaman to accept a position at Dodge City.
The 37-year-old Swafford, a 2002 Perry-Lecompton graduate, has also served as the Kaws' head boys basketball the past seven seasons, posting a 92-63 record. Swafford's Kaws have posted five straight winning seasons in basketball, including back-to-back 3A state berths in 2018 and 2019 (third place).
"It's always going to be difficult when it's your hometown but I felt like I was ready for a different opportunity in the right opportunity presented itself and I've heard nothing but good things about Seaman High School,'' Swafford said.
"When that chance came aong it felt right through the interview process and meeting some of the people that work there and I have no reservations at all. I love the opportunity.''
New Seaman head football coach Jared Swafford (left) chats with Rossville's Derick Hammes during last week's Junior Combine at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Swafford, who played collegiately at Emporia State, has been on Perry-Lecompton's coaching staff since 2009 and started as a para-professional before teaching business and technology.
"I had a couple of different jobs (out of college) and realized I wanted to get into coaching and reached out to Coach (Mike) Paramore in one of the local camps that he was running and it got to the point that where he asked me if I would have interest in joining the staff maybe,'' Swafford recalled. "I said, 'Absolutely!' ''
Now Swafford is eager to take the next step in his coaching career at Seaman.
"You've got a blue-collar community and you've got a community that's fully invested in their programs, all their programs,'' Swafford said. "The facilities are great, you've got great prople in the administration and it's hard to turn down that kind of an opportunity.''
Swafford will be taking over a Seaman team that posted a 7-2 record last fall, earning the No. 1 East seed in 5A before losing to Blue Valley Southwest, 27-21.
"I'm very excited,'' Swafford said. "I'm just ready to get things going and ready to meet the kids and get in there and watch them work and build relationships.''
Swafford and his wife, Jamie, have three sons -- Chase, Cash and Jett.
O'Neil posted a 26-22 record at Seaman, including an 8-3 record in Year 1 and last fall's 7-2 campaign.
