By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with girls soccer and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 29, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4873429xba7E716F-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Washburn Rural has been the city's dominant girls soccer team for more than a decade, with Brian Hensyel's not losing a game to a Topeka foe since 2011.
But Rural, which has posted nine straight top-four finishes in the Class 6A state tournament, will have plenty of competition, including five state champioship teams, when it comes down to picking the Top 10 in TopSports.news' Best of the Best project.
The Junior Blues have advanced to the state championship game in Kansas' largest class four times since 2015, most recently in '22, and continue to dominant the Centennial League.
Klaus Kreutzer's Hayden girls soccer team won its second staight Class 4A-1A state title in 2013. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
But Hayden counters with an impressive run of success in the 4A-1A ranks, with Klaus Kreutzer's Wildcats winning state championships in '12, 13 and '15 while also posting multiple runnerup state finishes.
Marc Serrano's Shawnee Heights team won the Class 5A-1A girls state title in 2004. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Tim Collins' Topeka West girls soccer team won the city's first state title in 2001. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Shawnee Heights also boasts an impressive resume, with Jessica Mainz, who went on to earn All-America honors at Washburn University, helping lead the 18-1-1 T-Birds to the 5A-1A title in '04 and Marc Serrano's teams posting runnerup state finishes in '05 and '07.
Topeka West also has a state championship to its credit, with Tim Collins' Chargers beating Bishop Miege to win the 5A-1A state championship in '01, while Chris McGinnis' West team finished as the runnerup to Shawnee Heights in '04.
Washburn Rural's girls soccer team finished second in Class 6A for the fourth time in 2022. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural posted its first 6A state runnerup finish in '15, with the 19-1-1 Junior Blues falling to Blue Valley Northwest, and Rural dropped state finals to perennial state champion Blue Valley West in '18, '19 and '22.
Hayden topped Wichita Trinity for its first state title in '12 and the Wildcats beat Winfield in '13 and McPherson in '15.
Another intriguing candidate is the 2022 Cair Paravel Latin team, which made school history when the Lions, a KSHSAA newcomer, advanced to the 4A-1A Final Four.
Vote for your favorite team at https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4873429xba7E716F-151 while readers also have the option of writing in a candidate.
Vote as many times as you wish. Final selections will be based on reader vote as well as input from TSN contributors and current and past local sports media professionals.
Votes in girls soccer will be accepted through July 29 before TSN publishes our Best of the Best lists in late July and August.
NEXT UP: Boys soccer (ballot will be published on TopSports.news on Sunday).
