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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Obviously, the Washburn University women's soccer team would rather not be entering the NCAA Tournament off a loss.
Senior Khloe Schuckman leads Washburn with nine goals and five assists entering the NCAA Soccer Tournament. [File photo/TSN]
But it's a role the Ichabods are familiar with, and have flourished in.
A year ago Washburn lost in the MIAA Tournament semifinals before going on a postseason run that ended with a berth in the national championship match.
Davy Phillips' Ichabods will be looking for a similar run this season, beginning with a Central Region matchup with Central Oklahoma at 12 p.m. Friday in Warrensburg, Mo. on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.
The Ichabods will be playing Central Oklahoma for a second straight game after dropping a 1-0 decision to the Bronchos in last week's MIAA Tournament semifinal.
"Right after the game I told them, 'As much as we wanted to win we've been here before and it turned out well last year,' '' Phillips said. "I do think it's provided a renewed sense of urgency and commitment from the group. This group isn't too used to losing, which is a good thing, so that stung a little bit.
"They had every intention of going down there (to Wichita) and winning the tournament, they really did. But I think there's some positives that we can take away from it, despite the result.''
The Ichabods, 14-4-2, are the No. 5 seed while 12-6-3 Central Oklahoma is the No. 4 seed.
Washburn is in the top half of the Central bracket, joined by Central Missouri, Central Oklahoma, and Ouachita Baptist. Central Missouri earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Region and will host the first two rounds of the tournament. The Jennies are 15-4-2 and won the 2024 MIAA Tournament Championship. Central Missouri will take on No. 8 seed Ouachita Baptist (8-7-4).
The bottom half of the Central Region bracket will be played in Mankato, Minn., hosted by No. 2 seed Minnesota State. The Mavericks will face No. 7 seed St. Cloud State, while No. 3 seed Missouri Western will play No. 6 seed Concordia-St. Paul.
Senior Khloe Schuckman leads Washburn with nine goals and five asists while senior Ana Muruzabal has scored four goals.
Senior goalkeeper Alli Harrington has made seven starts in goal for the Ichabods since a knee injury to Hailey Beck and has posted a goals-against average of 0.56 per game with 23 saves and four shutouts.
Rebekah George leads UCO with 10 goals scored this season. George scored seven goals in conference play to earn MIAA Offensive Player of the Year.
Caleah Carter, Harmony Turner and Emma Nicholas share the team lead with four assists each.
Avery Bass has made 18 starts in goal for the Bronchos, making 73 saves with a goals against average of 1.11. Washburn is 3-13-2 all-time against Central Oklahoma.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball got the early-season monkey off its back with Tuesday's 22-point road romp at William Jewell.
Now the Ichabods will be looking to continue that upswing when they face off with Truman State on Friday at 11 a.m. in Kirksville, Mo. to wrap up their beginning of the season six-game road trip.
Washburn is 1-4 on the year after getting its first win with Tuesday's 80-58 road victory over William Jewell while Truman State will enter the morning matchup at 2-2 after falling 70-64 on the road to Winona State last time out.
Ichabod newcomer Payton Sterk scored a Washburn career-high 25 points Tuesday night as the Ichabods picked up their first victory, 80-58 at William Jewell. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics
"We just had to get that monkey off our back a little bit,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "I've said a lot that I really believe in this team and every team has got to run their own race. Our season started a little slower than we wanted it to, but we're continuing to get better and grow.''
Sophomore Madelyn Amekporfor, who had a seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds against William Jewell, agreed with her coach.
"Our last four games before the last one we knew we were getting better and better each game,'' Amekporfor. "We just knew it was our defense. We couldn't allow teams to score points in the 70s and 80s and we knew our defense was going to win that game. Our goal was to keep them under 60 points and be above 65 and that's exactly what we did and we came out on top.''
The matchup with former MIAA foe Truman State will be the 53rd in the series history.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn offensively with a 17.2 scoring average while also shooting a team and MIAA-high 67.9 percent from the field grabbing a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game. Nationally, Nwidadah is 10th in field goal percentage, shooting over 50.0 percent in every game this season.
Junior Payton Sterk is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game while starting all five contests and playing a team-high 30.8 minutes per game. She is shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and a team-high 34.6 percent from 3-point range while dishing out 3.4 assists, most on the squad.
Gabi Giovannetti is averaging 12.6 points while shooting 43.1 percent from the floor and 100.0 percent at the free throw line. The junior has started all five games and leads the team with 10 made 3-pointers including, seven in the last three games.
Amekporfor, an Andover Central product, is scoring 8.0 points a game on 46.7 percent shooting while starting in all five games.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news will post letter of intent signing updates as they are received. Email any signing information and signing day pictures to Rick Peterson at
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Shawnee Heights baseball star Deacon Pomeroy and Highland Park basketball star Ja'Corey Robinson have signed NCAA Division I letters of intent.
Shawnee Heights senior Deacon Pomeroy, surrounded by T-Bird coaches, signs his ceremonial baseball letter of intent with Oklahoma State Wednesday at Heights. [Submitted photo]
Highland Park senior Ja'Corey Robinson, with Scots coach Mike Williams, signed to play basketball at Austin Peay on Wednesday at Highland Park. [Submitted photo]
Pomeroy signed with Oklahoma State on Monday while Robinson signed with Austin Peay Wednesday.
A three-time All-Shawnee County first-team selection, Pomeroy was named the United Kansas Conference and Kansas Asssociation of Baseball Coaches Class 5A player of the year last season after helping lead Shawnee Heights
Robinson, a 6-foot-4 junior, was named the boys basketball player of the year in Shawnee County and the Meadowlark Conference after leading 23-2 Highland Park to a second straight third-place state finish in 5A last season.
Robinson registered three straight double-doubles in the state tournament, scoring a total of 61 points and grabbing 35 rebounds. Robinson was a Second 10 all-county selection as a sophomore.
Four Rural standouts sign college letters
Four Washburn Rural standouts signed letters of intent on Thursday morning, including three with hometown Washburn University.
Layla Collins, Washburn Rural
Kate Hinck, Washburn Rural
Destiny Higgs, Washburn Rural
Zahra Friess, Washburn Rural
Layla Collins signed with Washburn University to play volleyball while Kate Hinck and Destiny Higgs to play soccer for the Junior Blues.
Zahra Friess signed with the Air Force Academy to play soccer.
Collins was named the Centennial League volleyball player of the year and was named to the All-Shawnee County first team while Hinck has received all-league, all-county and All-State honors in multiple sports and Higgs and Friess have received multiple soccer honors.
Other signing pictures:
Former Washburn Rural standouts Max and Sam Bettis have signed letters of intent to play baseball at Kansas State. [Submitted photo]
Perry-Lecompton standout Eli Dean has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Washburn University. [Submitted photo]
Shawnee Mission North's Cash Messenger has signed to play baseball at Washburn University. [Submitted photo]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural, which captured its 30th straight Centennial League boys championship (outright or shared) and finished third in the Class 6A state tournament, leads the 2024 Topeka All-City boys soccer team with four first-team picks.
Ryder Nikkel, Washburn Rural
Brandon Hamiton (14), Washburn Rural
Liam Morrison (4), Washburn Rural
Dylan Willingham, Washburn Rural
The Junior Blues are represented on the 16-member first team, selected by city coaches, by senior Ryder Nikkel (defense) and juniors Brandon Hamilton (defense), Liam Morrison (defense) and Dylan Willingham (midfield).
Valentin Del Real (3), Topeka West
Diego Gonzalez-Talavera, Topeka West
Jafet Rodriguez, Topeka West
Topeka West is represented on the All-City team by freshman Valentin Del Real (midfield), sophomore Diego Gonzalez-Talavera (forward) and senior Jafet Rodriguez (defense) while Charger coach Josh Kutter was named the 2024 city coach of the year after being named co-coach of the year in 2023.
Jaime Alvarado, Topeka High
Antonio Aguirre, Topeka High
Billy Lutz, Topeka High
Topeka High also put three players on the All-City team, with first-team repeat pick Jaime Alvarado (forward) joined by senior Antonio Aguirre (midfield) and junior Billy Lutz (goalkeeper).
Camden Granado (6), Shawnee Heights
Mason Haas, Shawnee Heights
Dalton Smith, Seaman
Logan Townsend, Seaman
Shawnee Heights is represented on the All-City team by junior Camden Granado (forward) and sophomore Mason Haas (midfield) while Seaman is represented by senior Dalton Smith (defense) and senior Logan Townsend (midfield).
Cooper Grace (18), Hayden
Hayden senior Cooper Grace (defense) earned All-City first-team honors for the second straight season while Highland Park junior Neri Diaz (midfield) rounds out the first team.
Aguirre, Granado, Lutz, Rodriguez, Nikkel and Willingham all moved up to the first team after receiving honorable mention in 2023.
Willingham was named the Centennial League player of the year this fall while Rural's Hamilton, Morrison and Nikkel and High's Alvarado, Aguirre and Lutz and Hayden's Grace were also first-team picks.
Seaman's Smith and Townsend, Topeka West's Del Real, Gonzalez-Talavera and Rodriguez and Shawnee Heights' Granado and Haas were all named All-United Kansas Conference first team and Highland Park's Diaz made the All-Meadowlark Conference first team.
2024 TOPEKA ALL-CITY SOCCER
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No matter what happens this week, Washburn University has put together a highly-successful 2024 volleyball season, hitting the 20-win mark on the year while topping last season's win total by three victories and earning a No. 25 national ranking.
No. 25-ranked Washburn volleyball will open its MIAA Tournament bid on Thursday night against Northwest Missouri in St. Joseph, Mo. [File photo/TSN]
But Ichabod coach Chris Herron knows there's work to do in the MIAA Tournament if Washburn is going to extend its season.
The fourth-seeded Ichabods (20-6 overall, 11-5 in the MIAA) will face No. 5 seed Northwest Missouri (15-11, 9-7) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in a tournament quarterfinal inside the St. Joseph, Mo. Civic Arena, with Washburn looking to enhance its chances for an NCAA Tournament berth.
Washburn volleyball remained No. 6 in the final NCAA Central Regional Rankings released Wednesday. WU is 19-5 inside the region that is led by St. Cloud State in the top spot with a 24-2 overall record and a 20-1 in-region mark. Nebraska-Kearney is second in the region, followed by Concordia-St. Paul, Missouri Western and Central Oklahoma. Behind the Ichabods are Southwest Minnesota State, Wayne State, Northern State and Emporia State.
Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis. The bracket will be revealed on Monday at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
While the clear path to a NCAA berth would be an MIAA championship, Washburn can help itself the further it advances in the conference tourney.
With a win Thursday Washburn will advance to a 7:30 p.m. semifinal match on Friday to face the winner of the quarterfinal beween top seed Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State. The championship match is set for 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The Ichabods split regular-season matches with the Bearcats, with WU dropping a 3-2 road decision and sweeping Northwest in Lee Arena.
"If we play like we've been playing it will be a great game,'' Herron said. "And if not, we're going to come home early because they're good.''
Herron said he feels like WU needs a win over Northwest to give itself an opportunity to make the NCAA field.
"We have to win at least this first match for us to have a chance,'' Herron said. "And if we can win two, I think we're in. I'd probably say for sure, so winning is important.''
