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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After playing in all 11 games last fall with three starts as a redshirt freshman, Washburn University sophomore quarterback Keller Hurla was excited for the 2025 season before a preseason injury put him on the sidelines.

Quarterback Keller Hurla is back in action for Washburn after recovering from a pre-season hamstring injury. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

But after missing the Ichabods' first three games, the former St. Marys star is back in action and hoping to help Washburn get hot over the second half of the season.

"I had a Grade 2 hamstring tear that happened late in fall camp,'' Hurla said. "At first they thought it was a Grade 1, so I thought I'd be back in a week or so and hopefully be back for Week 1 or Week 2, but then it ended up being a little worse than they thought so they held me out four or five weeks.

"I was able to return the week of (Central Oklahoma). That Wednesday I was able to get a full go and start practicing again. It's good to be back and healthy and just being with the guys out there again. I feel like (last week) I was finally getting back to 100 percent and now it feels great.''

While splitting time with graduate QB Justin Lewis, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Hurla has completed 11 of 20 passes for 149 yards and two TDs and carried the ball 21 times for 60 yards and two scores as WU pushed UCO and Nebraska-Kearney to the limit in six and seven-point losses.

Hurla also split time running the offense last season when he passed for 812 yards and five TDs and ranked No. 2 on the Ichabods with 332 rushing yards and a team-high five rushing TDs. 

"It's kind of tough not knowing exactly when you're going to be thrown in, but it's always just staying ready and being prepared as if you're the starter every week and just being ready to go whenever your name's called,'' he said. 

"I've kind of learned how to deal with situations like that just in the past year, so it's really nothing new for me and I'm just trying to take advantage of every opportunity I get.''

Washburn, 1-4 overall and 0-3 in the MIAA, faces a tough test Saturday on the road at Pittsburg State, but Hurla feels like the Ichabods' best days are ahead of them in the second half of the season.

"It's going to flip,'' Hurla said. "It will, just with our culture of this new coaching staff and the leaders on this team.

"We have the same mindset every week, just attack the new seven-day season no matter what happened last week. We  flush it, we move on and attack the seven-day season and attack it to the best of our ability.''

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

On a beautiful morning as the calendar flipped to the second month of the cross country season, Seaman High School hosted the Seaman Invitational at Shawnee North Park.

Brody Anderson, Seaman

Brynn Spencer, Seaman

In the varsity girls race, the Washburn Rural, Seaman and Shawnee Heights teams finished in fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Washburn Rural had two medalists -- freshmen Clara Dillon finished ninth in a time of 21:47.96 and Lily Palmer finished in 19th with a time of 22:23.98.

Topeka West’s lone runner, freshman Phebe Phelps, finished 16th in a time of 22:09.56.

The top local finisher was Seaman junior Brynn Spencer, who finished third in a time of 20:16.43. Fellow Seaman junior Hannah Wempe earned medalist honors by finishing 17th with a time of 22:18.22.

“I didn’t do as well as I had hoped time-wise, but I knew I had a chance to finish in the top three,'' Spencer said. "So my main goal was to push up toward the front and use my home course advantage.”

Looking ahead to next week’s city meet, Spencer talked about getting to run once again on her home course.

“It will help me since I have one race under my belt here and to know where my advantage points,'' she said. "It will also be helpful to know the parts of the course where I’ll need to push myself more.”

In the varsity boys race, Seaman senior Brody Anderson won his third race of the season, finishing in a time of 15:25.07. After dealing with a heat-related issue last week at Rim Rock, Anderson talked about his plan going into Saturday's race.

“It was a good day. I went out slower than normal, which was the plan, but I wanted to progress through the race and that went well. My hope was to stay healthy through the state meet.”

Anderson was also looking to next week and the city meet, one last time to run at his home course.

“I’m confident after today, but there is good competition throughout the city,'' he said. "I’m hoping to get good work in next week.” 

Washburn Rural finished second as a team and had five medalists. Senior Wyatt Shorb finished ninth in a time of 17:32.10, freshman Julius Wood-Nichols finished 12th with a time of 17:35.85, senior Rylan Rake was 14th with a time of 17:39.03, sophomore Brady Meek was 16th in a time of 17:39.30 and senior Wesley Meek finished 20th with a time of 17:51.88.

Seaman finished third overall and had one other medalist, junior Conner Bloom, who finished eighth in a time of 17:25.55.

Shawnee Heights had one medalist, senior Max Esquibel, who finished sixth with a time 17:24.12.

Topeka West also had one medalist, junior Ezra Phelps, who was 15th, finishing with a time of 17:39.27.

Next week all of the Topeka city schools will return to Shawnee North for the city meet beginning at 9 a.m. for the girls race, following by the boys race at 9:45.

SEAMAN INVITATIONAL

Team Scores & Local Results

Girls Varsity

Piper 40, Blue Valley Northwest 50, Lawrence 59, Washburn Rural 99, Seaman 114, Shawnee Heights 145

(Local team finishes)

4. Washburn Rural

9. Clara Dillon 21:47.96; 19. Lily Palmer 22:23.88; 24. Katherine Wolgast 23:17.42; 25. Harper Tenbrink 23:22.64; 26. Rayauna Huey 23:29.51; 32. Lily McCoy 24:20.79; 39. Lacey Middleton 25:44.98

5. Seaman

3. Brynn Spencer 20:16.43; 17. Hannah Wempe 22:18.22; 28. Avery Villines 23:32.88; 34. Jaydin Frickey 24:49.24; 40. Emma Gonzalez 26:02.90

6. Shawnee Heights

22. Hazel Rondash 23:02.36; 27. Kendall Lewis 23:30.71; 33. Arantza Urbina 24:35.07; 37. Adelaide Davis 25:23.73; 38. Piper Geil 25:24.21

Topeka West

16. Phebe Phelps 22:09.56

Topeka

35. Victoria Reynaga 25:10.58; 36. Breanna Maldonado 25:22.32; 41. Lyzet Cortez-Castro 26:43.92; 42. Maricruz MerriWeather 28:51.54

Boys Varsity

Lawrence 39, Washburn Rural 57, Seaman 82, Piper 94, Shawnee Heights 137, Topeka West 149, Topeka 186

(Local team finishes)

2. Washburn Rural

9. Wyatt Shorb 17:32.10; 12. Julius Wood-Nichols 17:35.85; 14. Rylan Rake 17:39.03; 16. Brady Meek 17:39.30; 20. Wesley Meek 17:51.88; 21. Cohen Thiessen 18:00.99; 22. Gauge Dial 18:04.27; 25. Cadin Stratman 18:13.74

3. Seaman

1. Brody Anderson 15:25.07; 8. Conner Bloom 17:25.55; 24. Drake Spurlock 18:07.36; 33. Emmanuel Armstead 18:45.04; 34. Weston Kennedy 18:51.28; 36. Maddox Moore 18:58.53; 38. Abe Heffley 19:00.42; 46. Camden Dutton 19:39.60

5. Shawnee Heights

6. Max Esquibel 17:24.12; 28. Andrew Schulte 18:28.44; 42. Cash Reitcheck 19:16.09; 43. Ronin Wiggs 19:20.05; 47. Deyton Coufal 19:58.92; 49. Carter Vincent 20:26.52

6. Topeka West

15. Ezra Phelps 17:39.27; 27. Cameron Parrett 18:26.29; 40. Rhys Green 19:04.37; 44. Maks Rodriguez 19:33.68; 55. Mason Gore 22:13.52

7. Topeka

35. Oliver Snethen 18:51.89; 37. Will Toland 18:58.54; 51. Nicholas McDonald 20:55.49; 52. Amir El-Jammal 21:01.21; 54. Matthew Hanes 21:26.50; 56. Sam Stanton 22:17.70; 57. Dexter Lonergan 23:32.99; 58. Salis Bechard 24:23.87; 59. Sebastian Homerding 28:56.17

Girls JV (local results)

Seaman

4. Zoey Gooden 25:37.93; 5. Kennedy Gatewood 25:57.54; 12. Bailey Martin 28:35.17 

Shawnee Heights

6. Natalia Venegas 26:14.04; 10. Alyson Moss 27:48.98; 13. Brooklyn Binkley 29:45.57; 18. Eva Austin 31:24.42 

Topeka West

8. Lily Phelps Roper 26:23.67

Boys JV

Washburn Rural 15, Seaman 73, Lawrence 77, Blue Valley Northwest 85, Piper 127, Shawnee Heights 181

1. Washburn Rural

1. Bennett Wells 18:08.81; 2. Trey Recob 18:22.50; 3. Oliver Haberman 18:28.31; 4. Ayden Mooney 18:47.68; 5. Ethan Koci 19:02.92; 6. Jackson Svaty 19:05.13; 9. Kael Harman 19:19.08; 11. Ethan Lake 19:36.03; 12. Marlon Barrios Martinez 19:55.32; 13. Blake Harader 19:56.70; 15. Dylan Ragsdale 20:03.07; 17. Jackson Buesing 20:07.06; 19. Charles Stones 20:19.82; 22. Thomas Reed 20:24.70; 31. Cole Replogle 20:39.04; 32. Eli Replogle 20:42.11; 34. Cedric Geotz 20:49.61; 38. Asher Denman 20:57.08; 39. Alex Jeffries 20:57.78; 42. Ryan Olsen 21:09.22; 43. Korbin Jones 21:26.23; 44. Avery Knappenberger 21:36.75; 46. Antonio Fernkopf 21:37.19; 47. Ryder McClintock 21:40.16; 51. Jacob Eilert 21:59.14; 60. Ethan Lanier 23:07.38; 77. Zachary Inloes 25:09.88; 80. Jason Hall 26:06.97; 81. Grady Wells 26:07.23; 82. Dylan Weigel 26:24.39; 84. Caleb Pearce 26:29.13

2. Seaman

8. Tate Oliva 19:17.75; 18. Trace La Row 20:17.10; 20. Cody Moses 20:19.84; 24. Stephen Miano 20:27.30; 28. Nick Horton 20:35.07; 29. Max Roark 20:36.16; 40. Eli Mott 20:58.20; 48. Wesley Eckert 21:41.45; 55. Levi Rodecap 22:15.64; 56. Josh Horton 22:20.91; 65. Gabe Ferguson 23:06.22; 67. John Holloway 23:45.83; 68. Davis Yarnell 24:02.82; 76. Aaron Haynes 24:56.39

6. Shawnee Heights

57. Jakob Rowland 22:22.91; 58. Xain Brown 22:23.88; 62. Lennox Garretson 22:39.11; 75. Colton Geil 24:43.94; 87. Jackson Osborne 29:45.39

Topeka West

83. Erich Abbo-Mott 26:28.77; 85. Jack Morgan 26:45.44

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Perennial Class 6A state volleyball power Washburn Rural got off to a bit of a slow start this season both in terms of a so-so 5-4 record and the number of matches played.

Washburn Rural volleyball celebrates a point during Saturday's 5-0 run to the Centennial League championship. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

But a busy stretch has paid big dividends for the Junior Blues, with No. 6-ranked Washburn Rural running off 11 straight victories over the past week, seven in the past three days and five on Saturday as host Rural dominated the Centennial League tournament en route to the league championship.

"We haven't played near as many matches as some of those other teams have,'' Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "We've got this kind of weird schedule where we don't play very much and then we play a lot.

"But the fact is we've got to get out and play and we had some good matches today that tested us pretty good.''

Washburn Rural freshman Brynn Anderson (20) celebrates a kill during Saturday's 5-0 run to the Centennial League championship. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

Now 16-4 on the season, Rural dropped a 25-20 decision to Manhattan in its first set of the day, but the Junior Blues proceeded to win 10 straight sets over the remainder of the league meet.

After its first-set loss to the Indians, Rural bounced back to top Manhattan with 25-18, 25-17 wins and then followed that performance with a 25-16, 25-14 victory over No. 3 (4A) Hayden, a 25-14, 25-13 win over Junction City, a 25-13, 25-17 win over Emporia and a 25-9, 25-8 romp past Topeka High.

Washburn Rural senior Taylor Guffey sets the ball during Saturday's 5-0 run to the Centennial League championship. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

Bordewick said he feels like his team is making progress.

"I do, and we still have a pretty high ceiling,'' Bordewick said. "Manhattan and Hayden are really good teams and I thought we clicked in the second and third set against Manhattan pretty well and against Hayden I thought both sets we played pretty well, but I think we've got more in us.''

Washburn Rural senior Dayne Shriver spikes the ball during Saturday's Centennial League championships. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

Rural senior Dayne Shriver said she agrees with Bordewick that the Junior Blues are starting to gain momentum.

"In the beginning of the season we hadn't played as many games, so I feel like now we're starting to get into the flow of it playing more games and connecting better,'' Shriver said. "I just really think that as the season goes we're flowing better.

"It's nice sometimes to have it be go, go, go.''

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