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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After spotting Wayne State a 1-0 lead, Washburn University's soccer team dominated the remainder of Sunday's non-conference match, scoring four unanswered goals to take a decisive 4-1 victory at Yager Stadium.
The Ichabods improved to 3-1 on the season after winning their second straight home match.
After scoring four goals in the first half on Friday and never trailing, Washburn fell behind in the sixth minute of Sunday's match, with Washburn Rural product Reagan Allen scoring for Wayne State on a breakaway.
"I thought we were better than them to begin with,'' Ichabod coach Davy Phillips said. "For me it's about competing the whole time. I think we have a tendency when we feel the game is in hand to relax a little bit. In college it's different than high school. Every team can punish you if you let them, so for us it's about being at our best for longer periods of time.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights senior cross country star Jackson Esquibel had a couple of goals in mind when he took the starting line for Saturday's Topeka West Joe Schrag Invitational at Kanza Park.
The two-time Class 5A state placer in cross country and a state champion in track accomplished both of them in convincing fashion, setting a personal-best by about 20 seconds while also setting the Shawnee Heights school record by 13 seconds with his winning five-kilometer effort of 15 minutes, 28.20 seconds.
Esquibel broke the previous school record of 15:41 set by his former teammate,Kory Sutton, who was on hand to cheer on his close friend.
"I ran a summer race here and ran pretty well,'' Esquibel said. "I ran under 16, 15:59, and I knew after last week's meet where I ran 40 seconds faster than I did the year before at that course (Wyandotte County Park), I just came into this meet telling myself that this is a race where you could really work on your front-running and you've run this course enough to know when you want to push it and when you feel like you're letting off the gas.''
Esquibel went out hard at the start of the race to take the lead en route to a win by nearly 28 seconds over Leavenworth senior Jonathan Purvis (15:56.07).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman cross country standout Ryin Miller turned in an oustanding freshman season last fall, capped by a fifth-place finish in the Class 5A state meet.
Miller has served notice over the first two meets that her 2023 season could be even better.
After finishing second in the season-opening Manhattan Invitational, MIler posted a dominating performance in Saturday's Topeka West Joe Schrag Invitational at Kanza Park, repeating as the individual champion by more than two minutes while also helping the Vikings repeat as team champions.
Miller dominated Saturday's race from the opening gun en route to breaking her own Seaman five-kilometer record by almost 40 seconds in a time of 17 minutes, 41.04 seconds while winning the race by just over two minutes and eight seconds.
"Last year I ran a 5:20 (first mile) when I got my school record and I wanted to get under that so I was trying to go out hard so I could be under that and then hopefully that would boost my confidence for the rest of the race and it definitely did,'' Miller said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After ending Friday's Washburn Invitational slate with a dramatic five-set comeback victory over Oklahoma Baptist, the No. 17-ranked Washburn volleyball team rode that momentum to a 3-0 sweep over No. 25 Harding on Saturday, completing a perfect 4-0 record over the three-day event at Lee Arena.
Washburn coach Chris Herron said that Friday's comeback win against OBU provided a big momentum boost for the Ichabods on Saturday.
"That was huge,'' Herron said. "Let's be honest, because if you lose that in three or you lose it in five, then you've got the negative vibe about it and it's tough to get up for that next one.
"A great weekend for us. Everybody got to play and contribute and I'm excited about some of the young kids, and now the conference starts.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural improved to 2-0 on the season Friday night with a 28-14 non-league decision over De Soto at Bowen-Glaze Stadium.
The Junior Blues and Wildcats were knotted at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter before Rural opened up a 21-7 advantage at the half while taking advantage of two De Soto turnovers.
De Soto cut its deficit to 21-14 early in the fourth quarter before Washburn Rural added an insurance TD.