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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After winning city and United Kansas Conference individual championships, Seaman sophomore cross country star Ryin Miller added a Class 5A regional title on Saturday at the Shawnee North Community Center, leading the Vikings to a team berth for next Saturday's 5A state meet.
Running on her home course, Miller took control of Saturday's race from the outset, clocking a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 20.89 seconds to post a win by more than a minute over De Soto sophomore Addison Gillespie (19:28.79).
Now Miller, who finished fifth in 5A as a freshman, will turn her focus to next Saturday's state meet at Rim Rock Farm north of Lawrence and said she feels like she's where she needs to be to be ready to challenge for another strong state finish.
"My knee's kind of been bothering me a little bit, but other than that, yes,'' Miller said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There's probably no other high school cross country runner in the state with more race experience than Shawnee Heights senior star Jackson Esquibel.
After all, Esquibel has been on the T-Birds' varsity team since he stepped on campus, has been a multi-time state qualifier and a two-time state Class 5A state medalist.
But Esquibel admits that he still gets nervous for each and every race.
"Of course,'' Esquibel said. "You get a little nervous but you get to the start line and you know what you're going to feel out there, you know that it's going to hurt, but I think once that gun goes off all the fear goes away.
"You've done it so many times throughout the four years that I just feel like it's fun now, you know. Being able to enjoy it a little bit more this year has been the best part about it.''
After the gun went off Saturday, Esquibel, also a state 3,200 meters champion in track, turned in another in a long line of dominating performance in the Class 5A regional meet at Shawnee North Community Center, posting a five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 46:02 seconds to take the individual title by more than 53 seconds over De Soto junior Vance Krudwig (16:39.21).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin, in only its second season competing as a full KSHSAA member in football, finished off a 6-2 regular season with a 74-28 victory over Maranatha Academy.
The Lions, who finished second in Eight-Man I District 2 will host 4-4 Sedan, which finished third in District 1, in a first-round playoff game next Friday (site to be determined)
Senior Jesiah Bonura had a huge game in the Lions' win over Maranatha, compiling 435 all-purpose yards.
Bonura caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown, carried the ball five times for 193 yards and two TDs and had four kickoff returns for 195 yards and two scores.
CPLS junior quarterback Jase Pavlik completed nine of 14 passes for 86 yards and five touchdowns and carried the ball five times for 95 yards and a TD.
The winner of Cair Paravel's opening playoff game next week will advance to face the winner of the game between Central-Burden (8-0) and Goessel (1-7).
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 47, LEAVENWORTH 7 -- Shawnee Heights put the cap on a 6-2 regular season with a 47-7 United Kansas Conference road win at Leavenworth.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Seaman put together a drive in the waning minutes of its final regular-season contest Friday night, going 64 yards for a game-winning touchdown to beat Piper High School 28-21 at Seaman.
With two touchdowns already to his credit, Seaman receiver Bryer Finley raced across the end zone to give quarterback Max Huston a target. Huston delivered a strike to Finley with 36 seconds remaining to secure the victory.
Having suffered three close losses, the Vikings were relieved to end the regular season at 4-4.
“I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of our kids, how happy I am for them,” Seaman coach Jared Swafford said. “They keep showing up every day, continue to work really, really hard and believing in what we’re doing. So, for them to be on the right side of one of those for a change against a good team is a good feeling.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Barring a major upset, Hayden's football team was going to win Friday's regular-season finale against Hiawatha ... most likely by a sizeable margin.
But there were still several things Hayden coach Bill Arnold wanted his team to accomplish and the Wildcats did that in convincing fashion, wrapping up a perfect 8-0 regular season with a 56-7 Senior Night win over the Red Hawks at Hayden.
"We've got to keep getting better,'' Arnold said. "We haven't hit the top of the mountain yet with this group. We wanted to come out tonight and execute some things, but more than anything else I wanted the seniors to have a good night. This is a game that they'll remember the rest of their lives. Ironically, my last (high school) game was against Hiawatha my senior year and I remember almost every single play from it because Senior Night is something special and you want to add that to the memory books.
:"We also wanted to come out of here healthy, which is a big key right now for us. I thought we did some good things but we also did some things that we've got to correct a little bit.''