- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After opening her junior cross country season with the fourth-fastest five-kilometer time in Kansas history last week at Manhattan, Seaman star Ryin Miller set her sights on a higher goal in Saturday's Joe Schrag Invitational at Kanza Park -- the state record.
Miller then went out and shattered that mark by more than 13 seconds in a blazing time of 16 minutes, 32.62 seconds while winning her third straight Schrag Invitational title by 2 minutes, 28 seconds.
With Saturday's performance Miller moved past one of the most accomplished runners in Kansas history, former Girard superstar Cailie Logue of Girard, who clocked a time of 16:45.75 at Baldwin in 2016 before going on to earn multiple All-American honors and Big 12 Conference titles for Iowa State.
Miller said she upgraded her goals after eclipsing the 17-minutes mark for the first time in her career at Manhattan's Warner Park to taking a run at Logue's record on a Kanza Park course that is regarded as one of the state's faster layouts.
"It definitely became a goal today,'' Miller said. "I'm trying to enjoy it now because I know that Twilight's still tonight (in Olathe) so it could easily go down tonight but it was definitely a goal. That was on my mind for sure.''
As it turned out, Miller's record time easily held up, with Salina Central stars Katelyn Rupe and Kaylie Shultz, who finished ahead of Miler in the 2023 Class 5A state meet, finishing one-two in the Twilight event in 16:52.70 and 17:28.50.
Saturday's Schrag race was Miller's from the opening gun, with Miller jumping out to an early lead and steadily building on it the rest of the way, with junior Eva Garlich of Lee's Summit West a distant runnerup in 19:13.87.
"The goal was just to get after it,'' Miller said. "I wanted a fast mile and obviously you've just got to race the middle and then I knew the last mile was going to hurt but you've just got to push through and that was kind of the plan, to go out hard and try to keep it.''
While Miller entered Saturday thinking about Logue's mark, veteran Seaman coach Rick Brading said he and Miller didn't discuss it.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden posted its second straight rout Friday night to open the 2024 football season, rolling to a 42-14 win over St. Michael Archangel (Mo.) in the Wildcats' home opener.
Hayden dominated the first quarter, not allowing St. Michael a first down until the first series of the second quarter.
Hayden opened its scoring in the first quarter on a six-play, 50-yard drive, with Jett Wahlmeier's 5-yard jump pass to Xander Blasing. The Wildcats added a 2-point conversion to to go up, 8-0.
The Wildcats got a second-series touchdown on a 2-yard TD run from Jackson McGivern. The Wildcats added the extra point kick to take a 15-0 lead.
Hayden took a 21-0 lead in the second quarter on a 16-yard pass from Wahlmeier to Jensen Schrickel.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
GUNNISON, Colo. -- Washburn volleyball ran its streak of consecutive sets won to 15 with sweeping victories over Western Colorado and Fort Lewis on Day 1 of the Mountaineer Volleyball Classic.
The Ichabods will wrap up the tournament on Saturday with two more matches, the first at 11 a.m. MST against Western New Mexico.
All six sets on the day for Washburn were won by at least six points. The day began with an 11 a.m. local time match and ended with a second sweep at past 10 p.m. in the mountain time zone.
Match one: Washburn 3, Western Colorado 0
The Ichabods got off to a slow start in the first set but three straight points finished off by a block from Jalyn Stevenson and Alex Dvorak put them ahead, 13-11.
Western Colorado tied the set at 14 before Washburn won five of the next six points to take control of the set for good, winning 25-18 on a kill from Austin Broadie.
Points came early in the second set as the Ichabods led 11-6 following three straight kills. It was a defensive effort for Washburn all match. In the second set the Ichabods held the Mountaineers (0-6) to a .053 hitting percentage with nine kills to seven errors.
It was back-to-back blocks that pushed the lead to 19-11 and forced a timeout from the home squad. The Ichabods took advantage of errors from Western Colorado down the stretch, taking the second set, 25-19.
After trailing 2-1 to begin the third set Washburn won six of the next seven points led by a trio of kills from Broadie to gain control.
Both sides traded points through the middle of the set until the Ichabods pulled away for good late on a 4-0 run sparked by a kill from Bella Limback. They were able to finish off the match on an ace by Abby Leaf, taking the final set 25-16.
Washburn hit .233 as a team in the match with 43 kills while holding the Mountaineers to a .069 attacking percentage with 19 errors to just 28 kills. The Ichabods also won the assist and dig battles, 39-25 and 67-51 respectively.
Stevenson paced the squad with 12 kills while hitting .414 and added 14 digs for a double-double. Broadie finished with nine kills and a .313 hitting percentage.
Sydney Conner led Washburn finishing with 17 assists to go with seven digs and Taylor Rottinghaus finished with a match-high 18 digs.
Match two: Washburn 3, Fort Lewis 0
After falling behind 3-1 to begin the match the Ichabods (5-0) began to roll, winning eight of the next nine points including the last seven finishing with a kill from Emery Keebaugh.
After building a five-point advantage with the streak the lead grew to double digits after Sydney Conner snuck a kill in between the Skyhawk (1-5) defenders to go up 20-10. Both sides would trade points the rest of the way to give Washburn a 25-15 win to begin the match.
It was a slower start in set two as a service error saw the Ichabods down 8-6. They were able to tie the match up at nine on a kill by Austin Broadie and the teams traded the next six points.
Washburn finally created some separation in the set with five straight points, beginning with a kill from Bella Limback. Washburn hit .414 as a team in the second set and used that efficient attack to pull away late with a 25-17 win.
Set three began tightly contested once again with both teams tied at nine. Alex Dvorak sent a pass from Conner to the floorboards and that sparked a six-point burst for Washburn, which wrapped up with a kill from Brynne Topolski to make it 15-9.
Fort Lewis hit -.041 as a team in the third which stifled any chance of a comeback in the set. The Ichabods were able to empty much of the bench down the stretch and come away with a 25-15 set and match victory.
Washburn hit .304 as a team with 40 kills and just 12 errors. They held the Skyhawks to an even .000 hitting percentage with both 26 kills and errors. In assists, the Ichabods led 39-24 while holding a 50-30 edge in digs as well.
Dvorak led Washburn in hitting from the middle with eight kills with a .538 percentage along with seven total blocks. Limback and Keebaugh each had seven kills with Limback hitting .545.
Conner paced the team with 18 assists while Rottinghaus did in digs with 13.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Shawnee Heights football coach Jason Swift gave his team high marks for its performance in Friday's 53-8 United Kansas Conference win over city rival Topeka West at Hummer Sports Park.
But Swift was also quick to give Trey Parker's Topeka West team kudos for its play.
"I would have to give credit to Topeka West,'' said Swift, whose T-Birds improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the UKC. "I thought that was a well-planned game plan on both sides of the ball. I thought offensively they were able to take the ball out of our hands and they were able to make some movement and defensively they put a lot of pressure on us and made us have to respond and I thought we did.
"I just told the kids, 'Probably the difference in this game is we were able to finish drives and we were able to hold them off on their drives.' But from where we played Topeka West Week 7 last year to where they are now, they're a much improved team. That's a credit to coach Parker and that buy-in right there. I don't know if the score necessarily indicates how good of a game that was.''
Topeka West (0-2 overall, 0-2 UKC) put together several sustained drives, reaching the Heights 32-yard-line, the 40, the 26 and the 25 in the first half, but the Shawnee Heights defense came up with stops when it needed to, keeping the Chargers off the scoreboard en route to opening up a 25-0 halftime advantage.
"For us it's just a matter of learning how to execute,'' Parker said. "We feel like we can move the ball and we look good moving the ball. We did it last week as well, but then we get in that red zone and teams tend to tighten up and we just can't execute. It's just a matter of making the right plays at the necessary times.''
Shawnee Hights junior quarterback Aiden Scott topped the 300-yard passing mark for the second straight week, completing 14 of 26 pass attempts for 333 yards and three touchdowns -- 21 yards to junior Tyren Parker, 42 yards to junior AJ Gallegos and 74 yards to sophomore Christian Labrador.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabod soccer team picked up its first win of the 2024 season Friday with a 2-0 victory over the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs in Marshall, Minn. while former Washburn Rural Hailey Beck picked up her first career shutout in goal.
The Ichabods will have a short turnaround, traveling to Wayne, Neb. for a Sunday contest against Wayne State College. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Washburn put on the pressure early, recording six shots in the first 30 minutes of action.
The Ichabods struck first after a long pass from Presslee Amick found Riley Wells down the right wing, with Wells finding the back of the net.
Washburn took their 1-0 lead into halftime, recording seven shots while preventing any shot attempts from the Mustangs.
The Ichabods controlled possession for most of the beginning of the second half before a Khloe Schuckman shot hit off the crossbar and across the line to extend the Washburn lead.
The Washburn defense held the Mustangs without a shot until the 80th minute, allowing Beck to record her first and only save of the afternoon.