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State wrestling: Krentz, Mitchell, Willett post runnerup finishes
*By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden senior 190-pound wrestling star Jude Krentz capped his high school career with a runnerup Class 4A state finish Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
A two-time state medalist, Hayden senior Jude Krentz posted a runnerup Class 4A state finish at 190 pounds Saturday in Salina. [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]
Krentz, fourth in the state tournament as a junior, advanced to his first state championship match before dropping a 9-1 major decision to Columbus junior Mason O'Banion to finish a 40-4 season. O'Banion improved to 44-2 on the year.
Hayden junior Caleb Menke posted a fourth-place Class 4A state finish at 175 pounds Saturday in Salina. [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]
Wildcat junior Caleb Menke also earned a state medal, finishing fourth at 175 pounds.
Menke (41-5) dropped a 6-2 decision to Labette County junior Aaron Wyrick (43-6) in the third-place match.
Krentz and Menke helped Hayden finish 13th in 4A with 40 points while Tonganoxie won the state team title with 152 points.
Rossville sophomore Nora Mitchell (left) finished second at 105 pounds in Saturday's Class 3A-1A state meet at Hays. [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]
Rossville's Nora Mitchell second in 3A-1A
Rossville sophomore Nora Mitchell finished second in the Class 3A-1A 105-pound division Saturday at Hays, finishing off a 37-12 season.
Mitchell dropped an 8-3 decision to Wichita County senior Jentri Porter, who completed a perfect 34-0 season.
Bulldawg junior Madelyn Wonnell captured her second straight state medal, finishing third at 145 pounds.
Wonnell (38-6) pinned Osage City sophomore KayLynn Nicholson (32-7) at the 3:19 mark of the second period.
Silver Lake had four state medalists, with Eagle junior Kamiryn Clark (27-11) finishing fourth at 100 pounds, freshman Ally Burgos (29-16) fifth at 140 pounds, senior MaKayla Connor (33-8) fifth at 155 and junior Riley Mohler (27-11) sixth at 125 pounds.
Silver Lake finished fifth as a team with 67 points while Rossville placed 10th with 45.4 points.
Russell won the state team championship with 156 points.
Silver Lake senior Paxton Willett (top) finished second at 190 pounds in Saturday's Class 3A-1A state meet at Hays. [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]
Eagles' Paxton Willett earns runnerup finish in 3A-1A
Silver Lake senior Paxton Willett advanced to the Class 3A-1A boys state championship match at 190 pounds Saturday in Hays, posting a second-place finish.
Willett, who posted a 41-11 record on the season, dropped a heartbreaking 9-8 decision to Atchison County junior Elijah Webb (40-8) in the state final.
Silver Lake had three other wrestlers earn state medals, with senior 120-pounder Bryce Cormier (33-10) posting a third-place finish while junior 175-pounder Kayden Clelland (35-8) and sophomore 285-pounder Carter Spreer both placed fifth.
Silver Lake finished ninth with 73.5 points.
Graves’ long-awaited title one of record three individual championships for Heights
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.”
Washburn women's basketball improves to 21-7 with sixth straight win
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Payton Sterk, playing defense, tied for game-high scoring honors with 19 points as Washburn improved to 21-7 with an 83-64 Senior Day win over Missouri Southern. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]Before the game Washburn recognized seniors Gabi Giovannetti, Payton Sterk, Aniah Wayne and Yibari Nwidadah along with student assistant Karly Neufeld. The senior class has helped lead Washburn to its first 20-win season since 2019.
After a 5-0 run early in the first quarter to lead 10-5 Washburn, 14-5 in the MIAA, never trailed the rest of the way. The Ichabods shot 8-8 at the free throw line in the opening quarter to help build an 18-14 lead.
The Lions (19-9, 13-6) cut the deficit down to one point early in the second quarter but the third 3-pointer of the game by junior Madelyn Amekporfor stopped the run.
The Ichabods were able to push the lead to 10 points at 35-25 on a Giovannetti 3-pointer with 1:44 remaining in the first half. Washburn ended the half on a 5-0 run in the final 17 seconds to go into halftime leading 40-27.
A personal 5-0 run by Sterk pushed the lead to 15 points at the 6:40 mark of the third quarter.
Missouri Southern answered with six points in a row to reduce the WU lead to single digits, but Wayne hit a pair of 3-pointers inside the final minutes of the quarter as the Ichabods took a 62-50 advantage into the fourth stanza.
Sterk opened the fourth with a 3-pointer, but the Lions continued to chip away, bringing the lead back down to nine points with 5:29 remaining.
Over the next 2:13 Washburn answered with a 10-2 run, with the final six points coming at the free throw line. That pushed the lead to 17 and it was all Ichabods from there as they eased into the 19-point victory.
Washburn shot 42.9 percent from the field for the game and was an efficient 9 of 23 from deep. The Ichabods got to the line 32 times and converted 26 opportunities.
On the other end Missouri Southern was held to 33.9 percent shooting and the Lions went just 1-12 from behind the 3-point arc. Southern shot 21-31 at the charity stripe.
Five players cracked double figures for Washburn, led by Sterk with 19 ponts on 5-9 shooting.
Sterk said she tried to avoid getting too emotional for Senior Day.
"I was a little bit, but we still have a long way to go before you get emotional,'' Sterk said. "I thought (today) was good. I think we were locked in and kind of followed our game plan. It was a little messy, a lot of fouls, but I think we did a good job of sticking together and finishing the game.''
