Washburn Rural swimming ran its string of Topeka City Boys Championships to seven Thursday, running away with the city meet at Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Washburn Rural boys swimming celebrates in the Capitol Federal Natatorium pool Thursday after winning its seventh straight city team title. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
The Junior Blues were so dominant they claimed all but two of the 11 All-City first-team slots. They racked up 609 points, topping Seaman with 371.
The performance prompted second-year coach Bob Burdick to say that the rebuild from a Class 6A State third-place finish in 2024 is ahead of schedule.
“We lost a lot of seniors (from 2024), and they were really fast seniors. So, we had a rebuild year last year,” Burdick said. “That rebuild went way faster than expected because we got a lot of great swimmers. We’re going to lose 12 seniors this year, but we’re still looking just as solid next year because of all the new freshmen and sophomores coming in as well as the team that will return.
“They’ve got a great attitude and they’ve meshed totally as a team. We don’t have anybody with ego problems or anything like that. So that’s carrying the whole team.”
Daniel Allen won two individual events and swam on two winning relays as Washburn Rural dominated Thursday's city championships. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Braeden Montgomery was a double individual champion Thursday and swam on a winning relay as Washburn Rural won its seventh straight city team title. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Daniel Allen and Braeden Montgomery led the Junior Blues by taking first in two individual events while Thomas Appuhn, Castle Wallace and Davin Potts each collected one win.
Seaman's Kinser Barbosa won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle in Thursday's city swimming meet. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Kinser Barbosa highlighted the Seaman performance by taking first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races.
“I was able to push past my limits and break those benchmarks in my individuals and was able to maintain it in both relays too. So, I feel great,” Barbosa said. “This is a special meet where you get to compete with your friends, but also where everyone has that great mindset to push past your limits. Each race is a great race because they all have the same mindset.”
Will Stewart was named to the All-City first team for placing second in two events and for also helping lead Topeka High relay teams to two third-place finishes.
Allen returned to the Junior Blues for his junior year after devoting last season solely to club competition. Burdick knew what he was getting in Allen because, as a freshman, he placed seventh at the state meet in the 500-yard freestyle and also contributed to a relay team that placed third at state.
“Adding Daniel is the anchor for the relays, so we know we’re going to be strong there, but we also have a lot of good swimmers supporting him,” Burdick said. “His attitude is really great for the team. That helps motivate a lot of people and gives us a great role model in the pool.”
No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball team hits the road for a three-game stretch, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. MIAA tilt at Fort Hays State.
Sophomore Dillon Claussen and the 20-0 Washburn Ichabods will face Fort Hays State on the road Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn, 20-0 overall and 10-0 in the MIAA, is one of just two remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division II along with Cal State East Bay after the Ichabods beat Missouri Western 90-78 last Friday.
Fort Hays State is 15-4 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA, having won its last five in a row after turning back Central Oklahoma 58-53 last time out.
The Ichabods defeated the Tigers on Dec. 6 in Topeka, 73-66, with the 73 points a season-low for Washburn this season.
Washburn has the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the MIAA with 89.2 points per game while the Ichabods have the No. 2-ranked scoring defense at 61.8 points per game behind Fort Hays State's 59.9 average.
The Tigers are averaging 71.6 points, ranking 13th in the MIAA.
FHSU is 9-1 in home games this season, with the lone loss coming on Nov. 16 to Concordia-St. Paul in a 78-68 defeat. Since then the Tigers have won their last eight home games in a row.
The Ichabods have recorded 32 20-win seasons in program history and six under Ichabod coach Brett Ballard in his nine seasons.
Washburn leads the nation in scoring margin at plus 27.4 points per game and is ranked first in field goal percentage at 52.8 percent and second in rebound margin at plus 12.2.
Washburn has not been out-rebounded in a game this season and has only been tied twice (Lubbock Christian and Emporia State).
Ichabod sophomore standout Dillon Claussen is sixth in the nation in field goal percentage at 65.9, which also leads the MIAA.
Junior Jeremiah Jones leads the nation in total steals with 66 and is ranked third in steals per game at 3.30 per contest.
Junior Jack Bachelor is 12th in the nation in assist to turnover ration at 3.14 to 1.
The Ichabods' 20-game winning streak is the longest in the nation, ahead of Cal St. East Bay's 18-game winning streak.
The 20-game winning streak by the Ichabods is the third-longest in program history.
After a week at home, Washburn University women's basketball now heads back on the road for two weeks beginning, with a 5:30 p.m. Thursday night MIAA clash with No. 5-ranked Fort Hays State.
Senior Payton Sterk is coming off a season-high 22-point performance in last Friday's 71-55 home win over Missouri Western. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn has reeled off four straight wins, including a 71-55 win over Missouri Western on Friday, to improve to 14-5 overall and 7-3 in the MIAA, while Fort Hays State is 18-1 and 9-1 in the conference after a 78-65 win over Central Oklahoma last time out for an 11th straight win since losing to the Ichabods 67-64 on Dec. 6.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah averages 12.8 points and 7.9 rebounds for Washburn while shooting 55.9 percent from the floor.
With 280 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah ranks third in program history and she is fifth with 765 career boards. Her career field goal percentage of .577 is the third-best in Washburn program history and she ranks 13th among all Ichabods with 1,222 career points. Nwidadah is also 11th in program history with 69 career blocked shots.
Senior Payton Sterk averages 12.2 point for the Ichabods and has drilled a team-high 33 3-pointers while Gabi Giovannetti averages 10.6 points with 29 3-pointers while leading WU with 1.8 steals per game.
Sterk's career free throw percentage of 85.8 percent is the best for any Ichabod.
Sterk scored a season-high 22 points in Friday's win over Missouri Western.
Talexa Weeter averages 27.9 points on 52.1-percent shooting overall and 42.9 percent from deep for Fort Hays State while also grabbing a team-high 9.1 rebounds per game. Weeter leads the nation in points per game, is second nationally in free throws made and is second in the conference in rebounding average.
Coming off a second straight Baldwin Invitational championship, the Hayden Wildcats welcomed the winless Shawnee Mission West Vikings to the Ken Bueltel Activity Center on Wednesday, building a big halftime advantage en route to a 75-63 non-league win.
Hayden senior Connor Hanika scored a team-high 17 points in Wednesday's 75-63 non-league win over Shawnee Mission West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Wildcats, who lost three games at the start of January, have since won five of their last six.
Hayden would get things started Wednesday with senior Makhi Kidd scoring the Wildcats' first two baskets to take a 4-3 lead.
The only lead changes of the night would come in the first quarter as the Wildcats and the Vikings would answer each other with six lead changes until Hayden senior Connor Hanika would give his team the lead and score two of his team-high 17 points as the Wildcats would go on an 8-0 run before the Vikings would get a basket with a free throw to make it 14-8.
The Vikings would keep digging and make it a two-point game at 19-17 late in the first quarter before the Wildcats would close with two 3-pointers to make it 25-19 at the end of the first.
Senior Makhi Kidd scored 16 points in Wednesday's 75-63 Hayden non-league win over Shawnee Mission West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The second quarter would get started with Hayden senior Kade Mitchell, who before the game accepted his invitation to play in the 2026 Kansas Shrine Bowl, would find the basket followed by Kidd, who would score his eighth point of the night on the way to a 16-point night.
Hayden would outscore the Vikings 18-10 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a commanding 43-29 lead.
The Vikings would come out on fire and go on a 7-0 run to make it 43-36 before Wildcat junior Mason Becker would make his second of four 3-pointers on the night to stop the Viking run.
“The same message that we've had all season is our energy and effort have to be consistent,'' Hayden coach Dwayne Anthony said. "And that has to be something that doesn't waver and sometimes we get into the funk of letting that waver.”
After receiving a message from Anthony the Wildcats would go on a 13-0 run to blow the lead to 57-41 and Hayden would close the third out with a 61-47 lead.
Kidd would continue staying hot in the third quarter as he would score six points in the quarter.
“When I would cut, my teammates would give me the ball,'' Kidd said. "My teammates were getting tip passes. I was coming up with them, getting putbacks, doing everything I can to help the team win, really.”
“Makhi is having a good year,'' Anthony said. "And the crazy thing is, I really believe that Makhi has even more that he's going to show us before the season's over because he's just really a strong kid. He has really good skills and he's starting to learn how to play in some areas that may have been uncomfortable for him before. He's really doing a good job.”
Hayden junior Carter Compton scored 16 points Wednesday night against SM West, one of four Wildcats in double figures [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Wildcats would have four players in double figures, with juniors Carter Compton and Mason Becker scoring 16 and 14 points.
“That's the vision I have for this program,'' Anthony said. :You know, if we play basketball with a certain pace and the way that we do, it should be easy for guys to get easy buckets into being double figures a lot more than sometimes they are.”
“It's huge,'' Kidd agreed. "If you look at the games we've won, that's that's how we do it. We have multiple people in double figures and that really pushes us to be great when we're sharing the ball and getting everybody touches because everybody on the floor can score.”
Shawnee Heights' bowling team celebrated its Senior Day with a sweep of all four championships in Wednesday's five-school competition at Gage Bowl.
Senior Chevy Stallbaumer captured the boys individual title in Wednesday's five-school Shawnee Heights meet at Gage Bowl with a 688 series as the T-Birds also won the team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Chevy Stallbaumer, who rolled a perfect 300 game last week, followed that up with a 688 three-game series on Wednesday to take boys individual honors by 40 pins as the T-Birds took the team title by 145 pins (2,545-2,400) over United Kansas Conference foe Basehor-Linwood.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Emma Wederski reacts to a strike during her final-game 257 Wednesday at Gage Bowl. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TopSports.news]
It was also a big day for Shawnee Heights sophomore Emma Wederski, who took top honors in the girls division with a 587 series as the T-Birds took the team championship by 113 pins (2,245-2,132) over Basehor-Linwood.
Stallbaumer's 688 series topped the 676 series he recorded in last Thursday's meet in Lawrence when he rolled his 300, with the T-Bird standout on target from the outset on Wednesday, bowling a 222 in his opening game before following that up with a 209 and finishing with his best game of the day, a 257.
"I felt great today,'' Stallbaumer said. "Everything kind of clicked. I missed a spare my first frame, but I kind of just shrugged it off my shoulder. There's nothing you can do. When you miss a spare you miss a spare and you get back up and you keep on pushing.''
Stallbaumer said his perfect game has just served as motivation for the remainder of the 2026 season.
"It definitely motivated me a lot,'' Stallbaumer said of his 300 game. "That's just going to keep me motivated throughout the whole season.''
Stallbaumer wasn't on the top six when Heights won the Class 5A state title in 2024 but played a major role last season as the T-Birds advanced to state and he feels like the team can contend to be among the state's elite again this season.
"I feel like we can definitely progress as a team and just see how this season plays out,'' he said. "I feel like we can (contend). There's no doubt in my mind we can.''
Heights' Kaden Evans finished third individually in Wednesday's meet with a 621 series (203-214-204) while Evan Jones also topped the 600 mark with a 611, including a high game of 231.
Wederski began her day with games of 168 and 162 before catching fire in the third game with eight straight strikes out of the gate on the way to a 257.
Wederski said her team and a big crowd at Gage kept her going.
"My team was hyping me up, along with the crowd and that really helped, and I was pretty proud of myself,'' Wederski said. "No one gets to see what we do in practices. We hype each other up during practices and having a crowd adds to the joy of it.
"Today was packed. I think this was the most packed we've seen it this season so far.''
And now Wederski just wants to build off Wednesday's success as the season goes along.
"This is my first season on varsity, so it's a whatever happens happens kind of thing and I'm just taking one meet, one day at a time,'' she said.
Shawnee Heights put three bowlers in the girls top five, with Addison VanMetre finishing third with a 577, just one pin out of second and 10 pins behind Wederski, while Reese Bell placed fourth with a 547.
Bell had a high game of 228 while VanMetre had three games between 184 and 204.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS INVITATIONAL
At Gage Bowl
Girls
Team scores
Shawnee Heights 2,245, Basehor-Linwood 2,132, Lawrence Free State 1,903, Leavenworth 1,752, Lawrence 1,751.
Individual results
1. Emma Wederski, Shawnee Heights, 587; 2. Elly Findley, Basehor-Linwood, 587; 3. Addison VanMetre, Shawnee Heights, 577; 4. Reese Bell, Shawnee Heights, 547; 5. Kayleigh Ussery, Basehor-Linwood, 525.
Shawnee Heights 2,545, Basehor-Linwood 2,400, Lawrence 2,386, Lawrence Free State 2,304, Leavenworth 2,196.
Individual results
1. Chevy Stallbaumer, Shawnee Heights, 688; 2. Graesyn Hoss, 648; 3. Kaden Evans, Shawnee Heights,621; 4. Liyam Southammavong, Lawrence, 617; 5. Thomas Futtrell, Lawrence Free State, 616.
Other Shawnee Heights -- Evan Jones 611, Henry Schattilly 586, Trey Donath 531, Nathan Burnett 520.
Rural girls roll to quadrangular win
Led by individual runnerup Megan Glinka, Washburn Rural's girls took the team championship in Tuesday's Rural quadrangular at West Ridge Lanes.
Glinka, a junior, led the Junior Blues with a 637 series as Rural won the team title by a 2,194-2,068 margin over Centennial League rival Emporia, while Manhattan was third at 2,046 and Junction City fourth at 1,963.
Senior Payton Sterk is coming off a season-high 22-point performance in last Friday's 71-55 home win over Missouri Western. [File photo/TSN]
