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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman entered this past summer needing a girls tennis coach and Jamie Robinson seemed like a good fit.
But it was the Viking players who were the deciding factor in Robinson taking the job.
"I tell you what, they were practicing by themselves before I took the position, organizing and practicing among themselves, and I was so impressed with that,'' Robinson said.
"That was one of the impetuses for me to take the position because they were so disciplined and coordinated as a team. I was so impressed with them and I thought, "How can you not want to coach these girls? They have such a good attitude.' ''
Seaman tennis coach Jamie Robinson (right) visits with Viking athletic director Steve Bushnell during last week's city girls tennis tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The 63-year-old Robinson, who retired from his career in medical sales at the end of 2020, took on the Seaman's boys coaching job in the spring at the urging of former Viking coach Greg Lutz before adding the girls position this fall.
"I love it,'' he said. "I'm tapping into something that I never knew about myself. It's so rewarding to see the players coming off and smiling and you're the first person they look at. Or they'll look over to see if I'm over there watching. They know, and that's cool.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Centennial League girls golf championship trophy is back in a familiar home.
After winning 10 straight league titles from 2010-19, Washburn Rural finished second to Manhattan in the 2020 league meet.
But the Junior Blues started a new streak on Monday at Western Hills Golf Course in decisive fashion, with all six Rural players placing between second and a tie for seventh en route to a 43-stroke victory over runner-up Emporia.
Senior Kaitlyn Crough took second place individually with a 75 while junior Avery Scott was third with a 76, senior Aliyah North tied for fourth with a 77 and juniors Annika Peterson and Mallory Nelson and senior McKenna Merrick all tied for seventh with 84s.
"It was definitely a goal of ours since the season ended last year to make sure that we took the league trophy back to Washburn Rural and accomplish a team goal that I know these seniors wanted very badly,'' Rural coach Jared Goehring said.
Washburn Rural's girls golf team poses for a picture with the Centennial League trophy after winning Monday's league meet by 43 strokes. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Lois Deeter
LOIS DEETER, Seaman
A junior former state medalist and Centennial League champion, Deeter captured her first city individual girls golf championship last Monday at Western Hills, shooting an even-par 70 to win the city title by a five-stroke margin over Washburn Rural's Kaitlyn Crough, a former city champ.
Jarin Sanders
JARIN SANDERS, Shawnee Heights
Sanders, a senior running back, had a career night last Friday as Shawnee Heights picked up its first football victory of the season, a 54-6 romp past Kansas City-Schlagle. Sanders carried the ball 15 times for 178 yards and scored five touchdowns as the T-Birds improved to 1-3.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls cross country team rode a three-four-five individual finish in Saturday's Allie-T Invitational at Augusta to capture the team championship by a 55-68 margin over Great Bend.
Junior Madeline Carter led the Junior Blues with a third-place finish among 84 runners in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 54.8 seconds while senior Khloi Bird finished fourth (19:23.3) and freshman Payton Fink fifth (19:25.6).
Rural also got a 17th-place finish from sophomore Sydney Laster (20:25.5) and a 27th-place showing from freshman Rylee Ismert (20:59.0) to round out its top five.
Washburn Rural's girls cross country team won the team title and the Junior Blue boys finished second in the Allie-T Invitational at Augusta Saturday. [Submitted]
Senior Anna Phelps paced Topeka West, placing 19th in 20:32.9.
Washburn Rural's boys posted a second-place team finish behind Olathe South (26-89), with senior Alex Holmes leading the Junior Blues with a sixth-place finish (16:35.5).
Sophomore Hayden Keller finished 15th for Rural (17:00.2), while senior Spencer Haddock was 19th (17:05.4), junior Davin Johnson 26th (17:35.2) and Grayson Fink 29th (17:42.5).
Topeka West's boys were led by senior Louis Wilson, who placed 28th (17.39.6).
DRUSE, ESQUIBEL, NEWKIRK SHINE IN RIM ROCK CLASSIC
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Senior libero Faith Rottinghaus tied Washburn University's single-match dig record and three Ichabods finished with double-digit kills as No. 1 Washburn volleyball won another top-10 battle on Saturday with a four-set victory at No. 7 Central Missouri.
Washburn defeated the Jennies, 25-14, 19-25, 25-19, 25-23, improving to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA.
Former Shawnee Heights standout Faith Rottinghaus tied Washburn's school record for single-match digs with 51 in Saturday's 3-1 win at Central Missouri. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Rottinghaus, a former Shawnee Heights state champ, dominated defensively as her 51 digs tied the program's single-match record, which another Heights grad, Erica Cowhick, set in 2006 in a five-set match at Pittsburg State.
Rottinghaus is now the record-holder for the most digs in a four-set match, finishing with seven more than Cowhick did in 2006 against Northwest Missouri.
With the score knotted up at three to start the match, Washburn went in front on a service error by Central Missouri (10-2, 3-1) and led for the remainder of the opening set. The Ichabods won six of the final eight points as they cruised to an 11-point victory.
The Jennies jumped out to an 10-3 advantage in the second set, thanks to a 7-0 scoring run. Genna Berg put an end to the run with a kill and the Ichabods started to chip away at the deficit, winning five of the next seven points to pull within four at 12-8.
UCM responded with another mini-run to create some space at 16-9. Washburn continued to fight and got within three points at 17-14 and then at 22-19, but were unable to complete the comeback as Central Missouri evened the match with its 25-19 win.
Allison Maxwell hammered down a kill to start the third set and Washburn quickly took a 4-1 lead. Central Missouri got within one at 6-5, but a 6-1 scoring run and then a 7-1 scoring run by the Ichabods pushed their lead to 22-12. Washburn held off a late 7-2 rally by the Jennies and won the set by six points on a Jennies service error.
The fourth set went back and forth early before the Ichabods went on a 4-1 run to go in front, 8-6.
