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 boys soccer and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 30, 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/poll4873423x5d49410c-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Washburn Rural leads the list of TopSports.news Best of the Best boys soccer candidates, with the Junior Blues posting three Class 6A state championships and adding three state runnerup finishes over the last two decades.
But the Junior Blues aren't the only Shawnee County team to experience success at the state level, with Hayden winning a pair of state titles and Topeka High posting the county's first championship back in 1997.
Washburn Rural's boys soccer team won its most recent Class 6A state title in 2012, the program's third state championship. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Washburn Rural posted a 20-0-1 record in 2002 to win its first of three Class 6A boys state soccer championships. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Lionel Suarez coached Washburn Rural to its first state championship in 2002, with the Junior Blues capping a 20-0-1 season with a win over St. Thomas Aquinas in the championship game, handing the Saints their lone loss on the year.
Brian Hensyel, who was a Rural assistant in '02, led the Junior Blues to a 20-1-0 record in '09, with Rural beating Free State in that final, and the Blues went 18-2-1 in '12 to claim their third championship, capped by a win over Wichita Northwest.
The Junior Blues also advanced to the state final in '14, '15 and '21, losing to Blue Valley Northwest on penalty kicks in '15 and ending a 19-1-0 season in '21 with a 1-0 overtime loss to Olathe West.
Joe Waldron's Topeka High boys soccer team won the Class 6A state title in 1997, Shawnee County's first state title in soccer. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Joe Waldron's Topeka High team beat Shawnee Mission South to win the '97 championship in 6A after runnnerup state finishes in '95 and '96 and the Tojans added runnerup finishes in '98 and '99.
Klaus Kreutzer's Hayden boys soccer team won its first of two Class 4A-1A state titles in 2000. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Klaus Kreutzer's Hayden team won the 4A-1A championship in '00, topping Kansas City Christian in the state final and added a second state title in '12 with a victory over Tonganoxie.
Shawnee Heights also had an impressive run of success in the late '90s and 2000s, with Mike Balint's T-Birds posting 5A state runnerup finishes in '99, '04 and '08.
Vote for your favorite team at https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4873423x5d49410c-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 boys soccer will be accepted through July 30 before TSN publishes our Best of the Best lists in late July and August.
NEXT UP: Softball (ballot will be published on TopSports.news on Monday).
