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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural soccer is the position it set its sights on way back in March.
Now the Junior Blues are just two wins away from their ultimate goal -- the first Class 6A girls state championship in Rural's proud program history.
Washburn Rural claimed its 11th straight trip to the 6A Final Four with Monday's 5-0 state quarterfinal win over city rival Topeka High in a persistent rain at McElroy Field and the Junior Blues will be back at home Wednesday for a 6 p.m. semifinal contest against Blue Valley.
Washburn Rural senior Zahra Friess (right) scored two goals in Monday's 5-0 Class 6A quarterfinal win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Kate Hinck (right) scored a goal in Monday's 5-0 Class 6A quarterfinal win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We've been looking forward to this game all year,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said of the semifinal clash. "From the first day of practice we said we want to host the semifinal on May 28th, so we've got to battle through a tough schedule, get the top seed, do whatever we've got to do.
"But we've been in that semifinal game 10 straight years, and I think we're 4-6 or something like that. That's a hard game to win because you're playing a good team from Kansas City every time, but I love our chances on this field against whoever has to come here and play us.
"So all year, for three months, we've talked about homefield advantage and playing the semifinal on our field so to accomplish that's a pretty good deal. We'll be ready to go Wednesday night for sure.''
Rural, which improved to 17-2-0 with its 10th straight victory, took control of Monday's game with two goals in the first 5:47 of the game.
Senior Bristol Karr scored the only goal Rural would need at the 37:06 mark and senior Zahra Friess scored the first of her two goals on the night less than three minutes later.
Topeka High was still within two goals at halftime and well into the second half bfore Friess scored again with 23:43 remaining to put Rural in front 3-0.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Four Shawnee County schools earned team berths in four different classes for state golf, which will be contested across the state Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cair Paravel Latin posted an eight-stroke team victory in last Monday's Class 2A golf regional at Horton while Hayden qualified for state with a runnerup finish in the 4A regional at Wamego, Washburn Rural was third in the 6A regional at Topeka Country Club and Seaman placed third in the 5A regional at Lake Shawnee.
This week's state tournaments at a glance:
Washburn Rural golf earned a Class 6A state tournament berth with a third-place finish in last Monday's regional tournament at Topeka Country Club. [Washburn Rural golf]
Class 6A at Winfield
Washburn Rural qualified for the Class 6A state tournament at Winfield with a solid third-place finish in last Monday's regional tournament at Topeka Country Club.
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). The Junior Blues earned their state berth by a whopping 41 strokes over fourth-place Gardner-Edgerton.
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.
SHAWNEE COUNTY QUALIFIERS
At Quail Ridge Golf Course, Winfield
(Tuesday's tee times in parentheses)
Washburn Rural -- Peyton Goehring, jr. (10 a.m, No. 10); Brady Goeden, sr. (10:10 a.m., No. 10); Michael Wilson, jr. (10:20 a.m., No. 10); Higgins Hawks, jr. (10:30 a.m., No. 10); Tagan Monasmith, sr. (10:40 a.m., No. 10); Tadd Armstrong, sr. (10:50 a.m., No. 10).
Seaman golf earned a team berth for the Class 5A state tournament on a tiebreaker. [Seaman golf]
Class 5A at Emporia
Seaman earned a team berth for the Class 5A state tournament at Emporia Municipal Golf Course by the narrowest of margins last Monday at Lake Shawnee, topping Basehor-Linwood on a tiebreaker to claim the third and final state berth.
The tie with Basehor-Linwood was broken by the score of the fifth man of each team and Seaman’s Alex Flanagan shot an 88 while the Bobcats’ fifth man recorded a 92.
Leading the Vikings' regional performance was sophomore Evan Michalski with an 82 while senior Bradley Williamson was right behind with an 83.
Joining the Vikings at state will be Shawnee Heights junior Ayden Valdivia, who shot an 81 to qualify as an individual for his second straight state tournament.
SHAWNEE COUNTY QUALIFIERS
At Emporia Municipal Golf Course
(Tuesday's tee times in parentheses)
Seaman -- Jordan Burghart, jr. (10 a.m, No. 10); Nicholas Hill, so. (10:10 a.m., No. 10); Hunter Gerhardt (10:20 a.m., No. 10); Evan Michalski, so. (10:30 a.m., No. 10); Alexander Flanagan, sr. (10:40 a.m., No. 10); Bradley Williamson, sr. (10:50 a.m., No. 10).
Shawnee Heights -- Ayden Valdivia, jr. (9:40 a.m., No. 10).
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The 2025 All-City girls swimming and diving team -- Front, from left: Kaitlyn Aldridge, Shawnee Heights; Joslynn Grace, Seaman; Hara Del Castillo, Topeka High; Clara Sobba, Shawnee Heights. Back, from left: Ava Von Lintel, Washburn Rural; Ashtynn Landry, Shawnee Heights; Audrey Appuhn, Washburn Rural; Sophie Heinen, Washburn Rural; Caroline Toland, Topeka High. Not pictured: Kaylee Gregg, Hayden, and Genevieve Miranda, Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Multi-time state placers Audrey Appuhn of Washburn Rural, Joslynn Grace of Seaman and Kaylee Gregg of Hayden headline the 2025 All-City girls swimming and diving team.
Appuhn, a junior, earned a pair of Class 6A individual medals for the third straight season while Seaman senior Grace was a multiple-event individual 5A-1A medalist for the second straight season and Hayden senior Gregg finished fifth in the 5A-1A state meet in one-meter diving for the second straight year.
Hayden senior Kaylee Gregg finished fifth in Class 5A-1A diving for the second straight season last Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Genevieve Miranda was a 2025 Class 6A state medalist in the 100-yard butterfly. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Genevieve Miranda was also a state medalist in 6A in last Saturday's state meet at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Rural, which won its 22nd straight city title, put a city-high four swimmers on the All-City first team, which is determined by performances in the city meet, while Shawnee Heights has three first-teamers.
Washburn Rural put Appuhn, Miranda and juniors Sophie Heinen and Ava Von Lintel on the first team while Heights is represented by senior Ashtynn Landry and sophomores Kaitlyn Aldridge and Clara Sobba.
Topeka High junior Hara Del Castillo is a three-time first-team honoree and is joined on the All-City team by senior teammate Caroline Toland.
Washburn Rural junior diver Rhiannon Good headlines the 12-member All-City second team and finishing third in Class 6A in one-meter diving.
All-City first-team capsules:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Three separate rain or lightning delays and nearly six hours after the match began No. 9-ranked Washburn University's men's tennis season came to an end with a 4-2 national championship loss to No. 1 Valdosta State on Saturday evening.
Washburn University men's tennis finished as the NCAA Division II national runnerup Saturday, falling 4-2 to No. 1 Valdosta State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods ended their historic season with a 23-4 record.
The top-seeded Blazers (26-0) jumped ahead in doubles play at No. 3, defeating Pavlos Parson and Moritz Pieper 6-2 to take the advantage.
Playing on the top court Matthew Earle and Tim Hammes fought in a top-five battle with No. 5 Takeshi Taco and Saveam Van Wijk. After the dual was tied 4-4 the final two games went to Valdosta State to take the doubles point.
Tommy Cecchetti and Vasek Schneider led 5-4 on court two for Washburn over No. 8 Edgar Destouet and Arthur Bord and were leading 30-15 in the game when the point was decided.
In singles play the first court featured a top-five battle between No. 4 Hammes and No. 2 Takeshi Taco. Hammes fell in the first set 6-1 before bouncing back to reverse the score in the second and force a third set.
In the third he fell behind early and was unable to make up the ground, losing 6-1. Finishing just behind him was Zino Nahirniah on court five, who put the Ichabods on the board with a pair of 6-3 victories.
Court two also had a meeting of top-10 opponents with No. 8 Schneider taking on No. 3 Boruch Skierkier. Schneider fell behind 4-0 early in the first set but was able to battle back, winning six straight games for a 6-4 win.
The second set went back-and-forth with ties at 2-2, 3-3- and 4-4 before Schneider claimed two straight games to win 6-4 and tie the match at two.
Parson dropped a first set at No. 3, 6-2. In the second set he bounced back with an early lead to win 6-3 and force a third set.
In the third No. 20 Destouet went in front 4-1 over Parson before winning 6-2.
Playing at No. 6, Earle built an early lead and was able to work a 6-4 victory in his first set of play. In the second set the score went in the other direction 6-3.
Earle fell behind early in the third set, and trailed 5-2 when the final delay of the match for lightning was called, lasting over two hours. After play resumed the final game went to Valdosta State as they clinched the set 6-2 and the match, 4-2.
After falling in his first set at No. 4, 6-4, Cecchetti battled back for a 6-3 win in the second set and was tied 1-1 in the third when the point and match were decided.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Saturday was a painful, but very rewarding day for Washburn Rural junior diver Rhiannon Good.
Despite fighting through a knee injury, which required her to compete with a brace on her right knee, Good posted a career-best third-place finish in Saturday's Class 6A one-meter diving event, her second straight state medal.
Washburn Rural junior Rhiannon Good fought through a knee injury to finish third in Class 6A in one-meter diving Saturday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After missing a chunk of the regular season with her injury, Good bounced back late in the season before suffering another setback between qualifying third in Thursday's semifinals and Saturday's championship finals.
"I hyper-extended it and strained some muscles during cheer and it put me out for like half the season and I just started coming back to compete for city and league and state,'' Good said. "I had qualified early in the season for state so I didn't have to worry about that, but city and league were rough because I was still getting over the injury.
"It had been fine and then I re-injured it on Thursday at cheer tryouts after state (prelims and semis) so it's pretty injured right now, but I was just like, 'I have three dives, I just have to do it.' ''
Washburn Rural junior diver Rhiannon Good won her second straight Class 6A medal Saturday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Good was able to hold on for her third-place finish with a score of 378.75 while Olathe East sophomore Irene Getya dominated the event at 519.20 and Olathe North junior Avery Metcalf finished second at 388.20, less than 10 points in front of Good.
"(The knee) wasn't great, but I just told myself that I just needed to push through these last three dives and then I have all the offseason to rest but these three dives, I needed them to be good to maintain my spot in third,'' Good said. "So I just pushed through. I was like, 'It's going to hurt, I know it's going to hurt, but it will just be fine and it will be worth it in the end.' And it was.''
Good's top-three showing came after she had finished seventh at state as a sophomore.
"After state last year I told myself that this year I just wanted to make top five and that's something I did do, but top-three's better than top five, so I'm excited,'' Good said. "It was a rough season, so I'm just happy I was able to compete here.''
Washburn Rural junior Audrey Appuhn reacts after a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in Saturday's Class 6A state meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior star Audrey Appuhn added two more individual medals to her growing career medal haul and has now been a multi-event state medalist the past three seasons.
Appuhn posted a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1 minute, 57.55 seconds and came back later in the day to finish third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.80, posting an improvement by more than a second after qualifying fourth.
Appuhn's sixth-place showing in the 200 free came after she qualifed third, but she said she was still pleased with that performance.
"I was happy with it, I thought it was a good race,'' she said. "I think it's OK to not go a best time every time you race. I'm glad that I got to hit right around what I've been hitting this season, so it's a win in my book.''
And Appuhn's confidence showed through in the 100 breast.
"That time in that breaststroke felt amazing,'' said Appuhn, who earned second-team All-State honors. "I didn't start racing the 100 breaststroke until this year and then just learning how to use the tempo and seeing everything that I want finally all put together it felt amazing.''
Washburn Rural senior Genevieve Miranda earned a Class 6A state medal with an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly Saturday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Genevieve Miranda finished eighth in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.53 and won the 'B' final in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.17.
