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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden girls soccer opened its Class 4A-1A postseason bid with a bang Tuesday at Hayden, with the Wildcats rolling to an 8-0 regional win over Circle in a game that ended at halftime due to the eight-goal spread.
"Not to take anything away from (Circle), but they gave us the opportunity for everybody to play a little bit and I thought we performed OK,'' Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer said.
Hayden junior Carsyn Broxterman scored four goals in Tuesday's 8-0 Class 4A-1A regional soccer win over Circle. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN[
Junior Carsyn Broxterman led the way for Hayden, the No. 6 West seed, with four goals while junior Reese Huscher registered a three-goal hat trick and freshman Hailey Schmidtlein also scored for the Wildcats.
Juniors Kadence Watts and Lauren Borjon combined for the shutout in goal for the 10-7-0 Wildcats, who won their third straight game, all by shutout while outscoring their foes 17-0.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin posted an eight-stroke team victory in Monday's Class 2A golf regional at Horton while Rossville junior Jack Donovan ran away with the individual title by 12 strokes.
Cair Paravel Latin golf won Monday's Class 2A Horton regional by eight strokes. [Cair Paravel Athletics]
The Lions placed all of their top four players in the top 12 spots individually en route to a 333-341 win over host Horton while Rossville's Donovan shot a sizzling four-under- par 68 to set a school record.
Cair Paravel's Chase Hastert and Jase Pavlik shot 82s to tie for seventh individually while Caleb Cleverdon placed 10th with an 83 and Luke Budden was 12th with an 86.
Regional champion Jack Donovan (left) and Rossville teammate Jonathan Hart qualified for the Class 2A state tournament as individuals Monday at Horton. [Rossville golf]
Rossville's Jonathan Hart joined teammate Donovan as an individual state qualifier, tying for third place with an 81.
The 2A state tournament will be contested next Tuesday and Wednesday in McPherson.
Hayden golf finished second in Monday's Class 4A regional at Wamego, qualifying for the 4A state tournament. [Hayden golf]
Wildcats punch 4A state ticket with runnerup finish
Hayden golf qualified for next week's Class 4A state tournament in Newton with a second-place finish in Monday's regional tournament at Wamego Country Club.
Tournament host Wamego won the team title by a 300-314 margin over Hayden while Bishop Miege was third at 337.
Hayden senior James Kuta tied for third place individually with a 75 while Mateo Garcia finished eighth with a 79 and Colin Scott and Tagen Rodriguez tied for ninth place with 80s.
Hayden's Austin Bean narrowly missed the top 10, tying for 12th with an 81 while Nick Gorman tied for 19th with an 85.
The 4A state tournament will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday at Sand Creek Station.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's boys golf will be back in familiar territory next week, qualifying for the Class 6A tournament with a third-place finish in Monday's regional at Topeka Country Club.
Washburn Rural golf earned a Class 6A state tournament berth with a third-place finish in Monday's regional tournament at Topeka Country Club. [Washburn Rural golf]
All of the Junior Blues' top four posted top-10 individual medals as Rural carded a team score of 316 to finish behind Manhattan (306) and Free State (313) and advance to the state tournament, which will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday in Winfield.
Washburn Rural senior Tagan Monasmith shot a 77 to tie for fourth in Monday's Class 6A golf regional. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Tadd Armstrong tied for seventh in Monday's Class 6A golf regional at Topeka Country Club with a 79. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Tagan Monasmith tied for fourth place with a 77 to lead Rural while senior Tadd Armstrong tied for seventh with a 79 and junior Higgins Hawks and senior Brady Goeden tied for 10th with 80s.
Juniors Michael Wilson (81) and Peyton Goehring (91) rounded out the Junior Blues' lineup, tying for 13th and 23rd, respectively.
"We survived and advanced,'' Washburn Rural coach Jared Goehring said. "The guys accomplished a team goal and 316 on a tough golf course is an accomplishment.
"I'm proud of the guys and proud of the way (seniors) Tagan and Tadd and Brady all stepped up today.''
The trip to state will continue a longstanding tradition for the Junior Blues, who Jared Goehring said will be competing in the state event for the 40th straight season.
Team champion Manhattan was led by individual runnerup Charlie Haney (74) and third-place Tate Reid (75) while Cade Cochran tied for fourth (77) and Cooper Graham tied for 10th (80).
Free State junior Henry Thompson shot a 73 to claim the individual championship.
CLASS 6A REGIONAL GOLF
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By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
It took a clutch effort and some hand wringing, but the Seaman Vikings rode a team effort to qualify as a team for the Class 5A state boys golf tournament next week at Emporia.
Seaman's boys golf team earned the final team berth for next week's Class 5A state tournament in Emporia. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
With the team’s fate in question, Seaman senior Bradley Williamson came down to the last hole believing he needed a par to qualify for state as an individual. With a crowd watching the final group come in, Williamson drew a long putt to within three feet of the hole, then drained it for a par.
When the final scores were entered, a tie with Basehor-Linwood became apparent. Williamson’s par had been crucial for the entire team.
“Going into 18, my coach mentioned that he thought the (individual) cut line was going to be in the 84, 85 range,” said Williamson, who finished with an 83. “He didn’t know how the rest of the team was doing. He didn’t let me know that. I just knew I had to get a good score to give myself a chance. I felt a lot of relief draining it. There was a lot of pressure standing over it because we had a gallery.”
The tie with Basehor-Linwood was broken by the score of the fifth man of each team. Seaman’s Alex Flanagan had carded an 88 while the Bobcats’ fifth man recorded a 92.
“It’s a lot more fun to take the whole group down,” Seaman coach Rick Rineberg said. “Over the past few weeks, we’ve played our best golf and it really came out today in a big way. They are a tight-knit group. So, it makes it all the more fun to be able to take everybody down with us.”
Leading the Vikings with an 82 was sophomore Evan Michalski. He will be making his first trip to state.
It’s really exciting,” Michalski said. “I started off kind of rough through the first couple of tournaments. I’m just happy I’m starting to go on the scoring for the team.
“I think today my head was in the game. There were mistakes I definitely made, but I think I can get a lot better if I stop making those mistakes that I know I can fix.”
Rineberg was quick to praise assistant coach Jeff Schuh for his contribution to the team’s success.
“Four out of the six kids on this year’s state-qualifying team either spent all last year on the JV or part of the year on JV,” Rineberg said. “So, Coach Schuh deserves a huge shoutout for the development of our quote-unquote “farm system” to get those kids ready for when they meet the challenges like today.
Joining the Vikings at state will be Shawnee Heights’ Ayden Valdivia, who makes his second trip to state. The T-Bird junior hopes the fates are kinder this year than they were last.
Valdivia was in Newton, site of last year’s 5A state meet, the night before the event when the town was hit by a tornado. A gust of wind lifted Valdivia off his feet and threw him roughly to the ground. He was treated in the local emergency room, which was operating without electricity.
Valdivia took the course the next day with a severe abrasion on his right hip.
“I wound up playing pretty well,” Valdivia recalled. “I birdied like six holes, but I just had to tough it out. I hope I can just show how much I’ve improved and shoot better than I did with the injury.”
Valdivia is carrying on the family legacy. His brother Justice won Class 4A state playing for Hayden in 2011. Brother Alex took sixth at 5A state for Shawnee Heights in 2023. His sister Lauryn, a Shawnee Heights sophomore, has already made two trips to state.
“It’s just an everyday thing,” Valdivia said. “We go out and play tournaments with my family. It’s been part of our family for as long as I can remember.”
The Class 3A Regional meet was held at Lake Shawnee simultaneous to the 5A event. Silver Lake served as host but failed to qualify as a team or to send any individuals to the state meet. Coach Johnny Roberts reflected on the improvement he saw in the team during the season.
"I would say it was a season of growth and development,” Roberts said. “We had a lot of guys who hadn’t had varsity experience, and they needed to get that experience, to know what it feels like. So, we had some peaks and valleys. We’ve got some young guys that we’re trying to develop, so next year looks better.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Mike Williams stepped down as Highland Park's boys basketball coach on Monday after a highly-successful seven-year run that included five Class 5A state tournament appearances and a runnerup state finish this past season.
Mike Williams resigned Monday as Highland Park's boys basketball coach after a highly-successful seven-year stint. [File photo/TSN]
Williams, who informed his Scot players of his decision Monday afternoon, said that stepping down at Highland Park, which gave him his first head coaching job in 2018, was one of the toughest decisions he's ever had to make.
"I'm wiping tears from my eyes right now,'' Williams told TopSports.news. "Highland Park took a chance on a young asstantant coach that had no head coaching experience and I had applied for jobs before and hadn't gotten an opportunity.
"I knew what I could do, or what I believed that I could do, but I wasn't proven and Highland Park and Topeka Public Schools as a whole, they had to kind of step out on a ledge to put me in the position that I've been in and I'm thankful for that, to be given this opportunity to be the head coach at Highland Park.''
Williams, the TopSports.news Shawnee County boys coach of the year the past three seasons after leading the Scots to a 71-4 record over that span, said that a big factor in his decision to step away from basketball was to be able to devote more attention to his family and his education.
Williams' son, Mike Jr., is a 2025 Highland Park graduate and will play college basketball at Barton County Community College, while Micah is a star sophomore soccer player for the Scots. Mike Sr. is scheduled to earn his Master's Degree in the summer of 2026.
"I want to make sure that people know that this wasn't because I got another job or I had a job offer waiting,'' Williams said. "I never put in for a head coaching job since I've been the head coach at Highland Park and I've never been offered another job, so it wasn't like I was running out for the next best opportunity.
''I wear my emotions on my sleeve when I get involved in something. I'm neck deep in it because I want to do a good job and I want to impact people, so I've been so wrapped up in Highland Park every day for the last seven years that there were a lot of times in my life when the basketball program came before me and the basketball program came before my family. I hate to say that because that's not the man I want to and as a father, but it was the coach that I wanted to be and the leader that I wanted to be for Highland Park.''
