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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Doubles champions Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham paced Washburn Rural to the Centennial League tennis team championship Monday at Junction City.
Washburn Rural won the Centennial League boys tennis championship Monday in Junction City. [Washburn Rural tennis]
Washburn Rural placed all four of its entries in the top five places en route to a 39-36 victory over Manhattan in the team race.
In addition to Deutscher and Willingham's title, the Junior Blues also got third and fifth-place singles finishes from Keegan Knudtson and Greyson Jones and a fourth-place doubles finish from Ben Tryhus and Keegan O'Connor.
Topeka High's Tres Lassiter was the Centennial League runnerup in singles while Hayden's Chase Blaser and Evan George finished second in doubles.
Lassiter, the city champ in No. 1 singles, dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision to Jay Hoke in the singles final while Deutscher and Willingham took a 6-4, 6-3 win over Blaser and George.
Topeka High junior Tres Lassiter finished second in singles in Monday's Centennial League tournament. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High, which finished third as a team, also got a third-place doubles finish from Alex Raymond and Christian Sink while Hayden finished fourth in the team standings.
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE BOYS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After just under six hours of baseball, 37 hits and 38 runs, city powers Washburn Rural and Shawnee Heights battled it out to a non-league doubleheader split Monday at Rural.
[Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
[Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights, now 15-6, took an 8-7 eight-inning win in the first game before Washburn Rural, 13 -6, rallied from 7-2 and 11-8 deficits to take a 12-11 victory in the nightcap.
Both Rural and Heights had plenty of positives that Junior Blues coach Jay Mastin and T-Bird coach Jason Brown could point to, but both coaches also saw areas their teams need to improve on, with Rural stranding 19 baserunners in the first game and Heights issuing 13 walks in the second game.
"I thought we could have swept them, they could have swept us and we're very fortunate to walk away with a split,'' Mastin said. "Game 1 we just couldn't find the big hit. We put ourselves in scoring position with the bases loaded or second and third and the balls we did get to the outfield were right at the outfielders and we just couldn't get that big hit.''
"I think we swung the bat pretty well, especially in the second game and we got some big-time hits in some big-time situations,'' Brown said. "I thought our defense was really good. We've just got to be a little better on the mound, a little more efficient on the mound, but overall I thought we played well.''
Rural jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead in the opener, but Shawnee Heights tied the game in the third and went in front 6-2 with a four-run fifth.
The Junior Blues answered with a four-spot of their own in the bottom of the fifth to knot things at 6-6.
The two teams traded single runs in the sixth and the game went to extra innings before Shawnee Heights' Camden Olson tripled to knock in the game-winning run in the T-Birds' 8-7 win.
Carson Garner, the fourth T-Bird pitcher, picked up the pitching win and also had a triple.
Washburn Rural had 10 hits in the game, including doubles from Wilson Miller and Gage Dowell.
Shawnee Heights jumped out to a 3-0 lead through two and a half innings in the nightcap and went up 7-2 with a fourth-run fourth as Cambren Floberg and Deacon Pomeroy both homered for the T-Birds.
Rural tied the game with five runs in the bottom of the fifth as the Junior Blues sent 10 players to the plate and got a huge three-run pinch hit double from junior AJ Payne.
The game was tied at 8-all after both teams scored single runs in the sixth but Shawnee Heights regained temporary control with three runs in the top of the seventh as Floberg delivered a two-run single and Pomeroy plated the T-Birds' final run with a single.
Washburn Rural junior Noah Johnson reacts to his game-winning walk in Monday's 12-11 second-game win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior AJ Ditch tied the game with a three-run inside-the-park homer and Rural scored the game-winning run on a bases-loaded walk to junior Noah Johnson, scoring junior Drew Moore, who also walked.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's boys tennis team took some lumps early in Monday's United Kansas Conference championships at Kossover Tennis Center, with the Vikings coming up short in their bid to advance to the title matches in either singles or doubles.
But Seaman was at its best down the stretch, with Jamie Robinson's Vikings rallying to claim their first UKC team crown by a 57-55 margin over Topeka West.
Seaman rallied from a slow start to capture its first UKC boys tennis championship Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We lost some early matches that I thought we could win,'' Robinson said. "We lost a heartbreaker in a tiebreaker when we were up in the tiebreaker with one of our doubles teams, but we were able to rebound in the last few rounds and that was enough. It was close and that was a lot of fun.''
Seaman got third and fifth-place singles finishes from Ethan Winter and Camden Dutton while Dayton Schneider and Owen Stewart took third in doubles and Wesley Budge and David Budge rounded out the Viking lineup with a ninth-place doubles finish.
Robinson said the Vikings have continued to grow as a team as the season has progressed.
"I knew we had depth this year,'' he said. "I didn't know if we had any big, big juggernauts, but we had depth and that came through. We had a lot of success early in the year and I thought, 'Wow, we're for real.' ''
Shawnee Heights' Brock Curley fought through cramping issues to win the UKC singles championship Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights also had a UKC title to celebrate, with Brock Corley overcoming mid-match cramping issues to take an 8-4 win over Topeka West's Mark Cianciarulo in the singles championship match.
"Usually I really don't have cramps, but today I was dehydrated so I was cramping up,'' Corley said.
Corley returned to action after being forced to take a short break and was able to take control down the stretch for the victory.
"I was drinking electrolytes and eating salt to help the pain go away and it went away after I took the salt,'' he said.
Corley said he tried to play with a sense of urgency after the cramping problems.
"I was like, 'Lets just go end it now. Lets go end it so we don't have to worry about it any more,' '' Corley said. "It felt good to win.''
In addition to Cianciarulo's second-place finish, team runnerup West also posted a second-place finish in doubles, with Julian Ramcharan and Collin McGee dropping an 8-2 decision to Piper in the final.
Seaman and Topeka West will compete in a Class 5A regional tournament on Saturday at Bonner Springs while Shawnee Heights will compete the same day in a regional at De Soto.
The 5A state tournament will be contested May 16-17 at Salina.
UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE CITY BOYS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NOTE: Top.Sports.news will compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2025 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at
GIRLS
100 METERS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 12.44
Ciarra Hartz, Highland Park 12.77
Morgan Robinson, Shawnee Heights 12.80
Karys Deiter, Silver Lake 12.94
Ally Steiner, Seaman 12.95
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High
200 METERS
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 25.72
Molly Worley, Washburn Rural 26.10
Ally Steiner, Seaman 26.20
Morgan Robinson, Shawnee Heights 26.58
Adriana Raub, Washburn Rural 27.10
400 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 57.65
Keimara Marshall, Topeka High 60.28
Madison Blanco, Washburn Rural 61.65
Ali Gerber, Silver Lake 61.75
Ally Steiner, Seaman 62.01
Ryan Miller, Seaman
800 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 2:09.28
Payton Fink, Washburn Rural 2:21.21
Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural 2:23.09
Kinley Robinson, Seaman 2:24.07
Emily Graf, Washburn Rural 2:24.19
1,600 METERS
Ryin Miller, Seaman 4:41.47
Emily Graf, Washburn Rural 5:08.24
Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural 5:09.15
Brooklyn Nolte, Washburn Rural 5:20.69
Kenzie Maddox, Washburn Rural 5:21.56
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Tadd Armstrong
TADD ARMSTRONG, Washburn Rural
A senior golf standout, Armstrong captured the individual championship in last Monday's city golf tournament at Topeka Country Club, posting a 27-hole score of 118 and winning his first city title in a playoff over Hayden's James Kuta as Washburn Rural won the team crown by a single stroke (489-490) over the Wildcats.
Eric Buchenau
ERIC BUCHENAU, Cair Paravel Latin
A junior foreign exchange student from Germany, Buchenau teamed with fellow Cair Paravel junior Drew Fay to win the No. 1 doubles title in last Thursday's city tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. Buchenau and Fay registered a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) win over Washburn Rural's Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham in the city title match, improving to 20-1 on the season.
Drew Fay
DREW FAY, Cair Paravel Latin
Fay, a junior, teamed with fellow Cair Paravel junior Eric Buchenau to win the city title in No. 1 doubles title in last Thursday's city tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. Fay and Buchenau won the city championship with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) win over Washburn Rural's Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham in the city title match.
