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Details: Created: 27 September 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The No. 7-ranked Washburn Ichabod volleyball team fell for the first time this season Saturday night, with No. 24 Missouri Western taking a 25–23, 19-25, 25-20, 25–19 decision in the MIAA matchup inside Whiting Fieldhouse.

Washburn senior Austin Broadie contributed a match-high 23 kills Saturday night, but Missouri Western handed the Ichabods their first loss of 2025 in four sets. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"They played harder than us, they played with more urgency than we did,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "They got balls up that we thought were down and they just made plays. They made hellacious plays tonight. I thought they played really, really well.

"This week will show what (the Ichabods) are made of. We just got through talking about, 'Are you soft or are you tough?' We'll see.''

The opening set was tightly contested, with seven ties and four lead changes, as senior Austin Broadie provided early offense for Washburn with seven kills before the Griffons, coming off a loss Friday at Emporia State, were able to outlast the Ichabods for a 25-23 victory.

In the second set the Ichabods jumped out to a commanding 13–5 lead behind sharp serving from Autumn Gibbs and timely swings from Broadie, holding the Griffons to .096 hitting while the Ichabods hit .263 to take a 25-19 win and even the match.

In the third set, the Griffons jumped out to a 6-2 lead and were in control most of the way before Washburn rallied to get within 19-16, but Western closed on a 6-4 run to go up 2-1 in the match.

The fourth set saw seven lead changes and nine ties as Broadie contributed five kills with only one error, but the Griffons hit .395 compared to .268 for the Ichabods to hand Washburn its first loss of the season.

Broadie finished with a match-high 23 kills on a .362 attack percentage, while Brynne Topolski had nine kills.

Corinna McMullen collected a double-double with 23 assists and 15 digs and Taylor Rottinghaus paced all players with 20 digs.

Details: Created: 27 September 2025

By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Coming into the week, Hayden volleyball was 14-0 on the season and No.1-ranked in Class 4A.

But on Thursday in a triangular at Emporia, that long winning streak was snapped, with the Wildcats losing to Manhattan and Emporia.

Hayden sophomores Hailey Schmidtlein (22) and Blakely Walter (10) were named to the Seaman Invitational all-tournament team Saturday. [File photo/TSN]

The Wildcats were hoping to avenge those two losses in Saturday's Seaman Invitational, but to open pool play on Saturday, the defending Class 4A state champs, Bishop Miege (0-12), stunned Hayden in three sets, 25-21, 16-25, 26-24. The Stags also beat Hayden in pool play in the state tournament in 2024.

“The girls played hard. As coaches, if they play hard and stick together, that's all we can ask,” Hayden coach Corrinne McGreevy said. “Sometimes, you have to take a loss for what it is. They came out really good. Number 14, she was a stud. She was unstoppable.

"It’s one of those things, you have to brush it off, learn from it. We’re going to see them again, whether it’s Sub-State or State. That’s a great team, those are 50-50 games that go either way.”

Hayden then lost to Lansing in two sets, 25-14, 25-21, before picking up its first win of the day with a sweep over Spring Hill, 25-17, 25-16.

The Wildcats squared off with Maize South (16-1) in the quarterfinals match and that was a battle from both squads.

Hayden lost set one to the Mavericks and trailed 11-10 in set two. The Wildcats went on a little run, going up 13-11. Hayden would extend their lead to 19-14 off a kill from Mallory Tanking on the outside. The Mavs trimmed the deficit to 19-17 but then Avery Holthaus stopped the mimi run with a kill and Hayden led 20-17.

The Wildcats were up 21-17, Hailey Schmidtlein served, the Hayden starters and bench thought Schmidtlein got her serve in before the back row line, the officials called it out of bounds and shifted the momentum of the match. Maize South would knot the match at 21 and then eventually swept the Wildcats, 25-18, 25-23.

“Maize South is a really good team,” McGreevy said. “Like our team, they know how to stick together… it would boil down to they wanted it and we wanted it to and volleyball is a weird sport. It just boils down to points here, points there and sometimes momentum swings are huge.

"They have that lefty (Ava Stoughton) out there and lefties are hard to block. They got a couple of power swings that threw us off a little bit, but that’s just a part of volleyball. We still regrouped, we still battled and I’m really proud of how they played the whole day because this is a great tournament.”

Hayden's Schmidtlein and Blakely Walter were named to the all-tournament team.

Details: Created: 27 September 2025

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

LAWRENCE -- On a very warm Saturday morning and afternoon, seven local schools competed in the Rim Rock Farm High School Classic in Lawrence. There were 171 other schools from seven states competing in a total of 10 high school races.

Brynn Spencer, Seaman

Brooks Kehoe, Washburn Rural

There were C-team races for boys and girls, junior varsity races for boys and girls, and three varsity level races -- Crimson, Blue and Gold.

In the C-team and junior varsity boys races, Washburn Rural finished second in both to Johnston High School from Iowa.

The varsity blue boys race included Silver Lake, Topeka High, Hayden and Rossville. Silver Lake and Topeka High finished in the top 40 teams, 32nd and 35th, respectively.

The varsity blue girls race included Hayden, Silver Lake and Rossville. Hayden’s Sofia Harper was the top local finisher in 39th place with a time of 21:23.03.

The varsity crimson boys race included Shawnee Heights and Topeka West. The top finisher was Max Esquibel of Shawnee Heights, who finished in a time of 18:02.93 to finish in 23rd place.

Shawnee Heights was the only team to compete in the varsity crimson girls race.

The varsity gold boys race was set up to be a great race between Kapaun-Mt. Carmel’s Daniel Enriquez and Seaman’s Brody Anderson. Enriquez ran the second fastest time in Kansas history last weekend at the Southern Stampede in Joplin, Missouri, with a time of 14:43.04. Anderson had run two races in a time of 15:11.

The start of the race saw Anderson take a substantial lead, but in the final 1,000 meters, he was unable to finish due to heat-related issues.

Washburn Rural finished in 18th place with Brooks Kehoe leading the way with a 69th place finish with a time of 17:19.02. Duke Graf ran a time of 17:23.79 to finish in 78th place.

The varsity gold girls race had Washburn Rural finish in 18th place while Seaman finished in 25th place. Seaman’s Brynn Spencer was the top city finisher in 20:26.84, good for 54th place. Rural was led by Kenzie Maddox, who finished in 58th place with a time of 20:33.15.

Team Scores and Individual Results

Details: Created: 27 September 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn junior Chase Allen-Jackman had a pair of receiving TDs in Saturday's 31-24 MIAA loss to Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Ichabod quarterback Justin Lewis passed for 99 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 31-24 MIAA loss to Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

"There's no moral victories,'' Washburn coach Zach Watkins said. "We played well, but not well enough to win.''

Watkins said that the fact that Saturday's game came down to just a few plays was not a surprise.

"I've been in the MIAA a long time and I told these guys that's what it's going to come down to,'' Watkins said. "We've preached that all week and good or bad you're going to come down to a few plays and they made a few more than we did.''

After a 47-yard field goal by Nebraska-Kearney's Kyle Failing broke a 14-14 halftime deadlock, Washburn (1-4 overall, 0-3 MIAA) answered with a 50-yard Aidan Battle field goal to tie the game at 17 and and later in the quarter Keller Hurla found Aden Canty for a 5-yard touchdown to give the Ichabods their seven-point lead with 43 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Nebraska–Kearney responded with big plays in the fourth quarter, getting a 62-yard touchdown pass from Daron Bryden to Jaden Jude to tie the game with 14:18 left in the fourth and then marching 81 yards for a Jett Turner 3-yard run for the go-ahead TD after forching a Washburn punt.

Sophomore linebacker JC Heim recorded a team-high nine tackles for the Ichabods while Jordan Finnesy added six stops and forced a fumble that Josh Grant recovered in the third quarter.

Washburn's offense finished with 317 total yards on 68 plays compared to UNK's 456 yards on 65 plays.

The Ichabods were especially effective on third down, converting 6 of 13 chances (46 percent) while UNK managed just 4 of 14 (29 percent).

Ky Thomas rushed for 56 yards, including a 22-yard run, in Washburn's 31-24 MIAA loss to Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

On the ground, Cam Robinson rushed 11 times for 71 yards while Ky Thomas added 56 yards on 13 carries.

Details: Created: 27 September 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Defending Class 1A District 2 champion Rossville opened defense of its district crown with a 69-0 road romp past Maranatha Christian Academy Friday night.

Rossville senior quarterback Canann Mitchell threw for four touchdowns and ran for a TD in Friday's 69-0 win over Maranatha Academy. [File photo/TSN]

Now 3-1 overall, the Bulldawgs put the game out of reach with a 34-point opening quarter and added 21 points to open up a 55-0 halftime cushion before scoring its final two touchdowns of the night in the third quarter.

Bulldawg senior Jack Donovan set the tone for the night when he returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown.

Senior Conner Bush and senior Canann Mitchell followed Donovan's TD with 51 and 47-yard scores and Mitchell completed a 55-yard touchdown strike to Landen Lewis and a 42-yard scoring pass to senior Cameron Miller to close out the first quarter.

Andre Johnson opened the second-quarter scoring with a 31-yard run and Mitchell followed with an 11-yard TD pass to Lewis and a 27-yard scoring pass to Miller.

Dalen Dick scored on a 20-yard run and Ryder Foster scored from 3 yards out for the Bulldawgs' final touchdown.

Rossville will be at home next Friday to host Mission Valley.

Washburn Rural senior quarterback John Hoytal threw for two touchdowns in Thursday's 31-7 road win over Blue Valley Northwest. [File photo/TSN]

Junior Blues roll to 31-7 road win

Washburn Rural improved to 3-1 on the season, equaling its win total from the 2024 campaign, with a wire-to-wire 31-7 non-league road romp past Blue Valley Northwest Thursday night.

The Junior Blues never trailed after getting a 35-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback John Hoytal to junior Jadyn Baum with 1:10 left in the first quarter.

A 36-yard pass play from Hoytal to junior Gavin Vantuyl set up a 4-yard TD run from Baum that put Washburn Rural in front 14-0 midway through the second quarter.

After Northwest cut its deficit to 14-7 junior Ryan Austin connected on a 28-yard field goal to put the Junior Blues in front 17-7 with 50 seconds left in the half.

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