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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Koti Best

KOTI BEST, Seaman

A senior wrestler, Best returned from an injury to claim the 125-pound championship and reach the 100-win milestone for her career in Saturday's Class 5A West regional at Seaman. Now 17-2 on the season, Best went 4-0 on the day with none of her matches lasting longer than 1 minute, 25 seconds, including pins in 25 seconds, 30 seconds and 1:02.

KaeVon Bonner

KAEVON BONNER, Seaman

Bonner, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, scored 26 points last Tuesday as No. 7-ranked Seaman took a 68-66 home United Kansas Conference win over No. 8-ranked Shawnee Heights. Bonner scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and went 12 of 15 at the free throw line as Seaman improved to 12-4 on the season. 

 Jaxon Cowdin

JAXON COWDIN, Topeka High

A senior swimmer/diver, Cowdin captured his third straight Centennial League championship in one-meter diving last Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. Cowdin dominated the competition en route to a winning 11-dive score of 428.75. Cowdin's third league title came on the heels of his fourth straight city title.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Silver Lake's boys outlasted Rossville Monday night for a 66-63 Big East League win on the Eagles' home floor, avenging an earlier loss to the rival Bulldawgs.

Junior Dayne Johnson led Silver Lake with 31 points in Monday's 66-63 win over Rossville. [File photo/TSN]

The game was tight throughout, with Rossville leading 15-13 at the end of the first quarter before Silver Lake used a 19-12 second quarter to go up 32-27 at the half.

It was still a five-point game at the start of the fourth quarter (47-42) before the Eagles held off the Bulldawgs down the stretch.

Junior Dayne Johnson led the 14-4 Eagles to their fourth straight win with a game-high 31 points while Jared Johnson and Brody Deiter added 11 points each, with J. Johnson hitting three 3-pointers.

Junior Jack Donovan led 12-6 Rossville with 20 points (three 3-pointers) while Cameron Miller added 18 points with three 3s and Kameron Badura had 12 points.

Eagle girls roll to 38-point victory over rivals

Silver Lake's girls dominated the first half Monday night on the way to a 58-20 Big East League win over rival Rossville at Silver Lake.

The 16-2 Eagles outscored the 8-10 Bulldawgs 17-4 in the first quarter and then used a 20-2 second quarter to take a huge 37-6 cushion to the locker room at the half.

Silver Lake increased its advantage to 56-16 at the end of the third quarter, forcing a running clock the rest of the way.

Freshman Karys Deiter led the Eagles with a game-high 19 points while Taylor Zordel added 13 points and Ella Bolan 12.

Junior Rylee Dick led Rossville with 13 points. 

Junior Simon Rowley scored a game-high 18 points Monday night as Washburn Rural posted a 65-39 road win over Emporia. [File photo/TSN]     

Rural boys clinch share of Centennial crown with 65-39 romp

Washburn Rural's boys rode a monster first half to a 65-39 Centennial League road win at Emporia Monday night, with the clinching at least a share of the league championship with three games remaining.

The Junior Blues put the game away by halftime, hitting 11 3-pointers en route to opening up a commanding 41-18  lead at the break after leading by as many as 29 points.

Rural cooled off a little in the second half but still connected on 13 of 28 3s on the night.

Junior Simon Rowley scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the first half, going 4 of 4 from 3-point range.

Senior Kaden Ballard hit three 3-pointers in the first half on the way to a 12-point night while freshman Brooks Ballard canned a pair of first-half treys.

With Monday's win the Junior Blues improved to 13-4 overall and 7-0 in the league, holding a full three-game lead over Junction City in the league race.

Washburn Rural will be at home Friday to host Hayden in a Centennial League tilt.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After advancing to the Class 6A-5A state championship match as a sophomore, the last two seasons have been a bit of a nightmare for Seaman girls wrestling star Koti Best.

Seaman senior Koti Best returned from an injury Saturday to win the 125-pound title in the Class 5A West regional at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

A four-time state qualifier and two-time state placer, Best missed a big chunk of her junior season with concussion issues although she did return -- briefly -- in time for state.

"I wrestled the first round and I got re-concussed,'' Best lamented.

Best was back at full strength for the start of the current campaign, but was forced to the sidelines again after suffering a dislocated shoulder in the Newton tournament.  

"It was not a good time,'' Best said. "I was so scared. I was like, 'I can't lose my season two years in a row.' ''

Seaman senior Koti Best reached the 100-win milestone in Saturday's Class 5A West regional en route to the 125-pound title. [Seaman Athletics]

Fortunately, that didn't happen, with Best returning to action with a dominant performance in Saturday's 5A West regional tournament at Seaman while capturing the 125-pound title and reaching the 100-win career milestone during the tournament.

"It's been so frustrating because I was so close and then I just kept getting shot down and shot down and hurt and hurt, but it motivated me a lot,'' Best said.

And Best got through regionals without any further damage to her shoulder.

"I felt very good,'' she said. "My shoulder was a little bit sore, but that's expected.''

Best, now 17-2 on the season, went 4-0 on the day with none of her matches lasting more than 1 minute, 25 seconds.

Best posted 30-second, 1:02 and 25-second pins to reach the championship match before defeating Great Bend freshman Micah Ellegood in a final that was halted at the 1:25 mark due to an injury to Ellegood that occurred during a Best takedown.

"I felt so awful, I felt so bad,'' said Best, who was leading 9-2 when the match was stopped.

"We've been there and I don't want to see anybody ever get hurt,'' said Seaman coach Jordan Best, Koti's father. "That's not how we want to win matches. It's unfortunate, but I hope she makes a quick recovery and I know she can bounce back. She's going to be a stud.''

Best will now look forward to her final state meet Feb. 28-March 1 at Park City's Hartman Arena as one of seven state qualifiers for the Vikings.

Seaman senior Taylie Heston was the 120-pound runnerup in Saturday's Class 5A West Regional. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman senior 120-pounder Taylie Heston (29-7) also advanced to the regional finals before she dropped 2-1 four-overtime decision to Emporia junior Kensley Medrano.

Seaman, which finished sixth as a team, also got fourth-place finishes from senior 110-pounder Natalie Smith (26-9) and 130-pound junior Makenna Stuke (23-13) and sixth-place finishes from freshman 115-pounder Avery Villines (13-16) and senior 190-pounder Abagail Soppe (11-9) and a seventh-place showing from freshman Savannah Rivera (11-24).   

"Actually that's a little bit more than I envisioned happening, so it's a good day,'' Seaman coach Jordan Best said. "We had some girls that themselves didn't think they would actually make the state tournament that made it so that's awesome.''  

Topeka West qualified two wrestlers for state, with sophomore 235-pounder Monica Stewart (12-13) finishing sixth and sophomore 170-pounder Haylee Jessepe (6-12) finishing eighth.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel won the regional team title by a 218.5-180.5 margin over Hays.

CLASS 5A WEST GIRLS REGIONAL WRESTLING

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