- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After posting an outstanding 27-6 record over a three-year span from 2021-2023, Washburn Rural football struggled to a 3-6 mark last season.
Veteran Washburn Rural football coach Steve Buhler is starting his 13th season at Rural, with the Junior Blues coming off a 3-6 record last fall after going 11-1 and advancing to the Class 6A semifinals in 2023. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
This fall Steve Buhler's Junior Blues will be out to prove that last season was an simply an anomoly and that Rural is ready to get back on track.
"The previous three years were really good for us,'' said Buhler, who is starting his 13th season at the school. "You kind of hope you have something that's going to be continuous, then you hit a road bump.
"Part of that's the schedule, part of it's some other issues, but it wasn't as good as we hoped. But at the same time, you still want to live off the previous three years.''
And with a veteran cast returning, including 26 seniors, Buhler thinks the Junior Blues know what it's going to take to get the job done this season.
"There's enough kids on this team that have been around and that were part of that previous group and the success they had,'' Buhler said. "This year's seniors, they know.
"They had a really good offseason in the weight room and we saw some good senior leadership so far in the summertime, so hopefully they learned from the negative part of last year record-wise and couple that with their knowledge of what it takes to be really successful and they'll put the two together for us.''
Buhler said that the 2024 Junior Blues had their moments where they played very solid football, but were plagued by inconsistency, something they'll need to change moving forward.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Six Shawnee County schools earned Top 10 spots in the Kansas Volleyball Association's preseason state rankings released Wednesday.
Hayden tops the county contingent with a No. 2 ranking in Class 4A while perennial state contender Washburn Rural holds down the No. 5 spot in 6A.
Hayden, which won a Class 4A sub-state title before posting a third-place state finish, is ranked No. 2 in Class 4A in the KVA Preseason State Rankings. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman and Shawnee Heights are ranked No. 8 and 9, respectively, in 5A while Silver Lake is ranked No. 8 in 3A and Rossville is ranked No. 10 in 2A.
Seaman was the 5A runnerup last season while Hayden finished third in 4A and Washburn Rural was a state qualifier in 6A.
Current classifications for the rankings are based on enrollments from the 2024-25 school year.
The rankings will be adjusted when the updated KSHSAA classifications are released at the end of September.
Kansas Volleyball Association Preseason Rankings
CLASS 6A
1. Mill Valley
2. Blue Valley West
3. Olathe West
4. Blue Valley North
5. Washburn Rural
6. Gardner-Edgerton
7. Manhattan
8. Olathe North
9. Wichita Northwest
10. Olathe South
CLASS 5A
1. St. Thomas Aquinas
2. Blue Valley Southwest
3. St. James Academy
4. Maize South
5. Kapaun Mt. Carmel
6. Lansing
7. Bishop Carroll
8. Seaman
9. Shawnee Heights
10. Great Bend
CLASS 4A
1. Bishop Miege
2. Hayden
3. Rock Creek
4. Clay Center
5. McPherson
6. Andale
7. Eudora
8. Concordia
9. Holton
10. Buhler
CLASS 3A
1. Halstead
2. Nemaha Central
3. Hoisington
4. Beloit
5. Neodesha
6. Royal Valley
7. Girard
8. Silver Lake
9. Frontenac
10. Riverton
CLASS 2A
1. Ellinwood
2. Valley Heights
3. Inman
4. Sedgwick
5. Maranatha Christian
6. Oakley
7. Wichita-Central Christian Academy
8. Hillsboro
9. Doniphan West
10. Rossville
CLASS 1A Division I
1. Little River
2. Centralia
3. Clifton-Clyde
4. Rock Hills
5. Goessel
6. South Gray
7. Spearville
8. Pretty Prairie
9. Greeley County
10. Rawlins County
CLASS 1A Division II
1. Hanover
2. Ingalls
3. Marais des Cygnes Valley
4. Lebo
5. Wheatland-Grinnell
6. Argonia
7. Attica
8. Cheylin
9. Linn
10. Dighton
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Athletic Department has announced its 2025 Hall of Fame class, which will be enshrined on Oct. 18 in a brunch ceremony prior to the Ichabod home football game with Central Missouri.
[Graphic by Washburn Athletics]
The 2025 Hall of Fame class includes four individuals, including a current head coach and a complete team.
The newest inductees include Jenna Hatlestad (women's soccer), Steve Ivanisevic (football), Matt Warnock (golf), current Ichabod volleyball coach Chris Herron and Herron's 2007 Washburn volleyball team.
Hall of Fame capsules:
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news has finished its tour of preseason football practices at all 10 Shawnee County high schools and will post preview stories over the coming days leading into the opening games of the 2025 season on Sept. 4 and 5.
-----------------------------------------
When former Washburn University standout Trey Parker was thrust into the position of interim coach at Topeka West for the final three games of the 2022 season, he knew there was a lot of work to be done.
Topeka West football coach Trey Parker begins his third full season as head coach this fall and is counting on the Chargers to take another step in their rebuilding process. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After all, Parker was taking over a Charger program that hasn't produced a winning season since 2004.
But as Parker enters his third full season at West, he is proud of the progress the Chargers have made and thinks his team is ready to take another step forward this fall after three straight 1-8 campaigns.
"Everyone wants the big leaps in Year 1 and Year 2, but we understood that this was a multi-year process and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor,'' Parker said. "We've still got a long ways to go, but we're definitely way farther than where we were before, so we're excited about that.''
Parker will build this year's Charger team around a nucleus of players who have been with him since he got to West.
"Those are the guys that we're starting to lean on now,'' Parker said. "When I got them they were freshmen and sophomores and now they are juniors and seniors and they are leading our team.
"They understand what we expect day in and day out and now they're putting in the work in the offseason and during the season, so we're expecting big things from them.''
Parker knows that wins will still be hard to come by in the tough United Kansas Conference, but the West coach is confident that his Chargers will be able to compete.
"Being in one of the toughest leagues in Kansas, it's hard to compete right off the bat, so we understood it was going to take time for us to compete,'' Parker said. "But now we feel like we're starting to turn that corner where we can compete.
"We're going to compete in every game, and certain games we feel like we may be able to turn the tide and maybe be able to sneak out a win here or there. It's Year 3 now for us, so we feel like now we've got a little bit of momentum going.''
Top returners for Topeka West include senior lineman Logan Hunninghake, senior wide receiver Gad Munganga, junior lineman Dorian Rhoten Jr. and junior running back Damon Webb Jr.
Webb carried the ball 17 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns in last fall's 32-20 UKC win over Kansas City-Turner.
The Chargers also return sophomore quarterback Josiah Wilke, who took over as West's starter the second half of the 2024 season.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Washburn volleyball was ranked No. 22 nationally in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Poll released on Wednesday.
Washburn volleyball is ranked No. 22 in the AVCA preseason national poll released Wednesday. [File photo/TSN]
After finishing last season ranked No. 24 the Ichabods jump two spots in the first set of rankings before the 2025 regular season.
Washburn went 21-8 a season ago and advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinals.
Washburn earned 210 total points in the preseason poll.
Leading the way in the poll is last season's national champion, Lynn, with 45 of 47 first-place votes and 1,171 total points.
Angelo State comes in second with one first-place vote, followed by St. Cloud State and San Francisco State. Ferris State received the final first-place vote as it rounds out the top five.
Around the MIAA, Central Oklahoma is ranked No. 7 nationally and Nebraska Kearney sits at No. 12. Missouri Western received votes in the poll.
The Ichabods will begin the 2025 season at the Oredigger Volleyball Classic in Golden, Colo. next Friday, Sept. 5, with four matches in two days, beginning with Colorado Christian at 11 a.m. MST on Friday.
Washburn was picked to finish third in the 2025 MIAA Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll.
The Ichabods' first MIAA match will come on Sept. 26 against Northwest Missouri State inside of Whiting Fieldhouse at 6 p.m.
