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By NATHAN SWAFFAR

Topsports.news

PARK CITY -- Saturday had the chance to be special for the Shawnee Heights girls wrestling program. 

With three chances at state titles, multiple prospects for medal finishes and a possible top-three team finish, the only question was if the T-Birds could capitalize on the opportunity. 

In the end, not only was the day nearly perfect, it was historical.

Shawnee Heights senior star Cianna Graves reacts while having her hand raised as the Class 5A 155-pound state champion Saturday in Park City. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]  

Shawnee Heights senior Cianna Graves accepts the Class 5A third-place team trophy Saturday in Park City. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]

The T-Birds saw senior Cianna Graves, sophomore Olive Jones and freshman Brinnley Morris all capture individual titles en route to a third-place team finish for Shawnee Heights (141.5 points) for the second straight year as Basehor-Linwood (200.5) and Kapaun Mt. Carmel (157) finished first and second, respectively.  

“Three state champions is a record for us,” Shawnee Heights coach Chad Parks said. “We’ve had two in the past, we’ve never had three at once, so that was really awesome. Even the girls that didn’t get on the podium, they wrestled really, really well.” 

The three champs in one day was a program-wide record as well, and Graves got the party started. 

A senior, Graves (35-2) finally captured the 155-pound state title that eluded her for three years when she pinned Basehor-Linwood’s Falasteen Shalabi in the second period.

After two state medals as an freshman and sophomore and a third-place finish last year, the triumph brought Graves to tears immediately after the whistle blew. 

“I feel like I put in a lot of hard work and the people who have helped me get there, just getting to see their faces, I hope they know they played a part in it,” Graves said. 

The four-time state medalist led 1-0 after an escape point. However, Graves saw her opportunity when Shalabi chose to be on bottom in the second period.  

“I’ve wrestled her before in neutral, I knew we were going to be moving around and there was going to be a lot of pushing back and forth,” Graves said. “When she chose bottom, that’s my place to be.” 

But the T-Birds’ fun was just getting started. 

Shawnee Heights freshman Brinnley Morris celebrates her 120-pound state title Saturday in Park City. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN] 

Freshman Brinnley Morris (21-3) captured Shawnee Heights’ second title of the day a little while later at 120 pounds.

She physically dominated Salina Central’s Natalia Garcia wire-to-wire, leading 15-4 in the second period before she ended things early with a pin. 

“[Physicality] that’s kind of what we did all year at practice, summer conditioning, just making sure we could keep up the strength and endurance to dominate the whole time,” Morris said.  

And finally, a little bit later with a chance to go three for three in title matches, sophomore Olive Jones (39-1) capped off the day for Shawnee Heights as she captured the 135-pound title with a second-period victory by fall over Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Grace Hare.

Shawnee Heights sophomore Olive Jones gains the upper hand en route to the 135-pound Class 5A state championship Saturday in Park City. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]  

Jones qualified for state last year, but failed to find the podium. Parks said that lit a fire for her that burned for a year.  

“She said, ‘I’m never going to feel that again. I’m never going to let that happen again,’ ” Parks said. “And she has absolutely worked her tail off. She’s calm, collected all the time and she comes out and attacks.” 

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

The No. 1 seeded Cair Paravel boys are off to the semifinal round in the Class 2A sub-state bracket, taking down Horton at home Friday night, 68-28.

 

Chase Hastert paced Cair Paravel with 16 points in Friday's 68-28 win over Horton. [File photo/TSN]

“I love our home crowd, it’s such a cool little atmosphere man,'' Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer said. "We have a special community here. Love the student section. We're really grateful that we have another opportunity to pack The Den.”

 CPLS got out to a 4-2 lead but the Chargers went on a mini 5-0 run to lead 7-4 before sophomore Chase Hastert rattled off two 3-pointers to put the Lions back in front 10-9 and the hosts would lead 14-11 heading into the second quarter.

“We weren’t particularly strong with the ball against their zone,'' Kueffer said. "They’ve pretty much run it all this season and we knew it was coming. When we did get it to the spots that we wanted to, we caught it and were hesitant and played on our heels, we jumped passes and floated some shots.

“I think we did a much better job of turning defense into offense in the second half than turning them over because in the halfcourt we were not very good at all.''

 

Cair Paravel opened the second quarter on a 7-0 run as senior Caleb Cleverdon started it with a trey, as the Lions got the lead to 21-11.

The Lions had it going from distance, as Cleverdon and Hastert would hit one three apiece, extending the lead to 13 (27-14).

Horton’s Talon Hooper drilled one from way beyond the arc right before the buzzer as CPLS took a 33-22 lead into the half.

To begin the third quarter, the Lions started out on fire, beginning with a 6-0 run and forcing the Chargers into a timeout just over a minute into the quarter. After that, CPLS had the fullcourt press on and created turnover after turnover, turning into easy buckets and the lead just kept growing.

“We definitely like to be able to get to that fast start in the first two minutes of the game as opposed to the first two minutes of the third quarter, but that’s something we like to do,” Drew Fay said.

“We knew from film that they were a scrappy team and they play really hard and have given teams a lot of trouble and we came out and struggled.''

Kueffer credited Fay, who finished with 13 points, on that hot start to begin the second half.

“He’s so consistent for us. He showed up ready to play today and he always does, but I just think it's misunderstood how much value he brings to our team,'' Kueffer said. "He’s super composed and a high IQ kind of guy and when he’s the guy who puts the ball in the hoop it's great because everyone puts eyes on him.

"I’m excited for him to get those transition finishes because he’s one of those guys who you love to see make plays.''

Hastert got it to 20 (42-22) off a floater and senior Fay converted an and-one, pushing the advantage to 25 (47-22). It eventually got to 34 points at the end of the quarter, 58-24.

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By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

The Washburn Rural girls lost their regular-season finale Friday night at home to Manhattan, 61-46, which ensured the Indians would share the Centennial League crown with Topeka High.

Freshman Brynn Anderson led Washburn Rural with 13 points in Friday's 61-46 loss to Manhattan. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

After tying the game at 20, the Junior Blues fell off the pace late in the second period. They trailed 30-24 at the half and 44-33 after three periods. Washburn Rural crawled back to within seven, 49-42, midway through the final period, but ran out of gas at that point.

The Indians needed a win to split the league title with Topeka High, which finished its season on Tuesday. Both teams finished the season with 8-2 league marks.

“Manhattan is a really good team. I told (Indians coach Scott Mall) I’m not sure that’s not his best team since they won state in 2017,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “We were just kind of off balance all night. We didn’t help ourselves turning the ball over so much, especially in the first quarter. But they are really, really good.

“We had our chances. We were able to keep it close, but we didn’t execute very well under pressure when they did apply the pressure they did, and that was a little disheartening.”

Washburn Rural freshman Brynn Anderson knocked down all four field goals she attempted – all three-pointers – to lead the team with 13 points. Senior Hallie Walker hit all three of her field goal attempts as well. But the rest of the Junior Blues struggled mightily from the field, connecting on just eight of 33 shots from the field.

Senior Ella Hirschi added 10 points for Rural with a pair of 3-pointers.

Still feeling her way back from ACL surgery, junior Maddie Vickery missed all nine of her shots and scored just six points, all from the free throw line.

Despite the loss to close the regular season 15-8, 5-5 in the league, Bordewick was upbeat about the overall direction of the Junior Blues. Washburn Rural played three freshmen in critical points in the game Friday, and in just the last eight days began working Vickery back into the rotation.

“With this group doing what they’ve done so far this year, it seems to me somewhat miraculous,” Bordewick said. “Just the way they’ve come together and played together. And we’re still getting Maddie mixed in a little bit, too. So, it’ll take a little bit. It takes a little while to get used to a new player, even though she’s a two-year starter.”

Washburn Rural now awaits the Class 6A sub-state schedule to find out where it will play on Tuesday. While the regular season didn’t end like they wanted, the Junior Blues are getting a lift by the addition of Vickery – a Kansas State basketball commit – at playoff time.

“I tell you what, she’s looked so good in practice this week. I saw really great things from her in practice,” Bordewick said of Vickery. “Now, she wasn’t shooting it well tonight. But she knows what to do to correct that. So, I’m not too worried about her.”

MANHATTAN GIRLS 61, WASHBURN RURAL 46

Manhattan         16 14 14 17 -- 61

Washburn Rural   8 16 9 13 -- 46

Manhattan (18-5, 8-2) – Larson 3-5 0-0 7, Depusoir 2-2 1-2 5, Ball 4-6 5-6 14, Busch 5-7 5-8 17, Banks 6-12 1-2 16, Ingram 0-5 0-0 0, Becket 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-38 12-18 61.

Washburn Rural (15-8, 5-5) – Rutherford 0-2 0-0 0, Hirschi 4-12 0-0 10, Walker 3-3 1-3 7, Anderson 4-4 1-2 13, Carlgren 3-6 0-0 7, Vickery 0-9 6-7 6, Smith 1-3 0-0 3, Hinck 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-40 8-12 46.

3-point goals – Manhattan 7 (Banks 3, Busch 2, Ball, Larson), Washburn Rural 8 (Anderson 4, Hirschi 2, Carlgren, Smith). Total fouls – Manhattan 14, Washburn Rural 17. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.