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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick has had a long line of Junior Blue teams qualify for the Class 6A state tournament, with eight state champions, and every one of those teams holds a special place in his heart.
Washburn Rural's volleyball poses for a team picture Saturday after earning a trip to the Class 6A state tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And Bordewick is especially happy to be taking his 2024 Junior Blues to Salina for next weekend's state event after Washburn Rural turned in a dominating performance in Saturday's 6A sub-state at Rural.
The Junior Blues, now 30-6 on the season, opened their day with a 25-11, 25-8 semifinal win over Liberal before Rural, the No. 1 West seed, earned its state berth with a 25-14, 25-19 win over Lawrence Free State in the championship match.
Rural began the season with some question marks after heavy graduation losses, but Bordewick said he was very proud of how the Junior Blues have responded this fall.
"Every year is special,'' Bordewick said. "It's always just a little bit different group, and in this case it's a lot different group. We're relying on kids that we haven't had to rely on and through the course of the season they have really stepped up and we trust them.
"When you go through this whole process of the season, every day you hope to get better and better and I'm really proud of these kids because I think we've done that in large part.''
After dominating its semifinal match against Liberal (4-30), the Junior Blues, ranked No. 5 in 6A by the Kansas Volleyball Association, were locked in a tight first set with Free State (14-18) in the early going, including a 4-2 deficit and a tie at 5-5 before Rural took control.
The Junior Blues rode a long service run from senior Kate Hinck to go up 12-6 and went up 17-9 on a kill from senior Layla Collins.
Rural went in front 21-12 on a Collins service ace and also got a pair of kills from junior Karsyn Horyna before closing out the 11-point win on a dink from junior Stella Kelly.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
On Saturday afternoon, the Class 5A defending state-champion Seaman Vikings volleyball team began their road to the state tournament next weekend in Salina.
Seaman volleyball poses for a team picture with its Class 5A Sub-State trophy Saturday at Seaman. [Seaman Athletics]
The Seaman Vikings opened the sub-state against their city rivals and United Kansas Conference foe, Topeka West.
In the opening set, the scoring went back and forth to begin and Seaman took their largest lead at 12-9. Senior Campbell Chabot followed with four straight service points, extending the lead to 16-9. After a Topeka West side out, junior Kinsley Smith finished the set with nine straight points to take the first set, 25-10.
In the second set, Seaman started quickly and built a 14-6 lead, causing Topeka West to take a timeout. Seaman continued to lengthen their lead and won the set and the match, 25-11.
The Vikings were led by Kinsley Smith in service points, senior Maegan Mills in kills, Chabot and junior Harper Hafenstine in assists and senior Kinley Wilhelm in digs.
The Chargers were led by sophomore Sydney VanDyke in kills, junior Daisy Cott in assists and Cott and senior Josie Lim in digs. Topeka West finished their season with a 13-22 record.
In the sub-state championship match, top-seeded Seaman faced ninth seeded Maize South, which defeated eighth seed Emporia, 25-17, 25-18.
Set one began as a back and forth battle, until Harper Hafenstine scored three straight points on her serve to give Seaman an 8-3 lead, causing Maize South to take a timeout. The Vikings were able to extend their lead to 20-12, which led to the Mavericks to take their final timeout of the set. Seaman outscored Maize South 5-3 to win the first set, 25-15.
The second set was exciting, with Seaman only able to build a lead of four points on two different occasions, while Maize South led once by one point. A quick spurt of two Seaman points led to Maize South taking their first timeout with Seaman leading 21-17. After trading side outs and the Vikings leading 23-20, the Mavericks called their final timeout of the set.
Seaman closed out the match with the final two points and punched their ticket to the state tournament with a 25-20 victory.
The Vikings were led in service points by Wilhelm, Mills and senior Ava Esser in kills; Hafenstine and Chabot led in assists and Wilhelm led in digs.
“Today was really good because we had to play a tough opponent to get to the state tournament,'' Seaman coach Tatiana Dowling said. "We need that high level of competition and it’s nice to play these games. Being able to practice and go back to the state tournament, we are definitely excited to be back.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Ryin Miller's biggest cross country meet of the season is obviously next Saturday -- the Class 5A championships at Rim Rock Farm -- but she had definite goals in mind for the 5A regional at Kanza Park.
Seaman junior Ryin Miller remained undefeated on the season in Saturday's Class 5A regional while the Vikings earned a team berth with a second-place finish. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Seaman junior star then went out and checked all of those items off the list as the Vikings punched their ticket to state with a solid regional performance on Saturday.
Miller ran away with the individual title in a five-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 6 seconds while Seaman qualified for state as a team with a second-place finish behind defending state champion St. James Academy.
"I wanted to have a good time so it gave me confidence going into state, but the main goal was just to get our team through because it's way more fun with the team obviously,'' Miller said. "I'm happy we were able to do that.
"I know what I had to do to make that happen. I had to get first, which I had full confidence in myself to do that. I'm happy with how I raced, happy with the time, considering that they extended the course, so I'll take that.''
Seaman sophomore Brynn Spencer (19:26.4) and senior Stella Appelhanz (19:33.9) finished eighth and ninth for the Vikings while sophomore Kinley Robinson placed 16th (20:39.2) and freshman Avery Villines was 22nd (21:16.6) to round out Seaman's top five.
"I thought we ran well,'' Seaman coach Rick Brading said. "You just hope nobody will crash on a day like today and we were able to avoid that and our No. 4, Kinley Robinson, had a super good day. It was a good day for her and everybody else was solid.''
St. James placed all of its top five in the top 10 spots on the way to a 30-56 team win over the Vikings.
Seaman's boys also turned in a solid performance, earning a state team berth with a third-place team finish.
Seaman junior Brody Anderson finished second in Saturday's Class 5A regional cross county meet and the Vikings qualified as a team with a third-place finish. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Brody Anderson led the Vikings with a runnerup individual finish in 15:42.2 while Seaman also got an 18th-place showing from senior Alex Newell (17:18.9), a 20th-place finish from sophomore Conner Bloom (17:23.3), a 23rd from senior Corbin Murrow (17:36.1) and a 25th-place finish from junior Drake Spurlock (17:43.3).
St. James Academy (42 points) and De Soto (52) swept the top two spots in the team standings while Seaman grabbed the final team berth with 88 points. Basehor-Linwood was fourth with 108 points, one point ahead of Topeka West.
Seaman coach Luke Wiens said he knew the battle for a team berth was going to be tough.
"We expected that, especially coming off city, where West was ahead of us, and then the (United Kansas Conference),'' Wiens said. "We knew West and Basehor were really good teams so we anticipated it was going to be close.
"What I liked was we were really poised early and we were patient with it and we moved up over the course of the race and they took care of business.''
Topeka West senior Adrian Lehman qualified for the Class 5A state cross country meet with a third-place finish in Saturday's 5A regional at Kanza Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka West qualified seniors Adrian Lehman and Mark Wilkie for state as individuals.
Lehman finished third in 16:16.0 while Wilkie placed 12th in 16:52.0.
The 5A girls race is scheduled for a 10 a.m. start next Saturday at Rim Rock while the boys race is set for 11:45 a.m.
CLASS 5A REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Rylee Ismert followed up her Centennial League individual cross country title with a Class 6A regional win on Saturday at Kanza Park, leading Washburn Rural to the team championship.
Washburn Rural senior Rylee Ismert claimed the individual title in Saturday's Class 6A cross country regional. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Ismert took individual honors with a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 06.7 seconds, one of four Junior Blues in the top eight spots as Rural took the team title by a 45-55 margin over Lawrence Free State.
Washburn Rural senior Payton Fink finished third in Saturday's Class 6A cross country regional, helping the Junior Blues win the team crown. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rural senior Payton Fink finished third in 18:17.3 while junior Emily Graf was fifth (18:58.9) and senior Brooklyn Nolte eighth (19:32.6). Junior Kenzie Maddox finished 29th (21:55.2) to round out the Junior Blues' scoring runners.
Ismert used the same strategy Saturday that had produced a league title a week earlier, staying with Fink early before taking control of the race over the final mile.
"My goal was pretty much the same as last week, to run together and then just to see when it felt right to push,'' Ismert said.
Ismert said she feels like she's running the best she's ever run over the past few weeks.
"Honestly, I just really started having more faith in myself and I've been training really hard all week,'' Ismert said.
Rural's girls have now swept city, league and regional team titles and are on the short list of state title contenders next Saturday at Rim Rock Farm, north of Lawrence.
"That's where we want to be, that's the plan,'' Washburn Rural coach Matt Swedlund said. "We have a few things to figure out. We'll work on tweaking some stuff this week and want to be competing for that title next Saturday.''
The Junior Blue boys tied Manhattan for second place with 86 points and finished third on a tiebreaker to garner the final team berth for state. Centennial League champion Junction City earned the team championship with 60 points, led by senior individual champion Ethan Fontaine, who clocked a time of 15:51.1.
Washburn Rural freshman Henry Laubach (1935) posted a third-place individual finish in Saturday's Class 6A regional cross country meet, helping the Junior Blues earn a Class 6A state berth. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Freshman Henry Laubach finished third in 16:06.0 to pace Washburn Rural while junior Brooks Kehoe finished eighth (16:24.3), senior Bodie King 15th (16:33.7), freshman Clayton Fink 28th (17:09.1) and senior Chris Quarles 32nd (17:20.0).
"It's survive and advance,'' Swedlund said. "We got a good look at Junction City and Manhattan last week at league, so we knew if we could be competitive with those two teams and stay as close as possible that would give us a good shot. I felt we ran well, I was happy with that.''
The 6A girls race is scheduled for an 11:10 a.m. start next Saturday at Rim Rock while the boys race is the final race of the day at 12:55 p.m.
CLASS 6A REGIONAL CROSS COUNTRY
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Silver Lake made big plays down the stretch to ward off a challenge from visiting Council Grove with playoff implications on the line, winning 29-12 at home Friday.
Eagle quarterback Dysen Schooler shook off a second-quarter injury to complete 22 of 27 passing attempts for 242 yards. He also ran for a 31-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to seal the victory.
Silver Lake senior quarterback Dysen Schooler passed for three touchdowns and also ran for a TD in the Eagles' 29-12 win over Council Grove. [File photo/TSN]
With the win, the Eagles claimed second in Class 2A District 3. They will await the matchups for the first round of the playoffs to be announced Saturday. Council Grove, however, saw their hopes of playing on dashed with the loss at Silver Lake.
Eagle coach Logan Pegram was quick to credit the seniors who made sure their last regular-season game would be a good one.
“I told the kids before we came out that it’s a special night,” Pegram said. “I love seeing seniors compete. At this time of the year when the sand runs low in the hourglass, it’s fun to see them show up and we had that all night.”
Silver Lake quickly drove to a touchdown to open the contest on a short pass from Schooler to fellow senior Logan Cathcart.
Council Grove then dominated time of possession for the rest of the first half, running 30 plays to just 17 for Silver Lake. But the Braves had just six points to show for it and trailed 7-6 at the break. When the visitors scored on their opening possession on a catch and run of 48 yards by Ace Monihen, the tide seemed to have turned against the Eagles.
On the ensuing possession, a pass by Schooler was batted into the air by a Silver Lake receiver and intercepted by Council Grove at the Eagle 36-yard line. Looking to pad their 12-7 lead, the Braves reached the 13-yard line before their drive stalled. They turned the ball over on downs.
“It’s been in that defense all year,” Pegram said. “I think we finally saw tonight where it all clicked and we got off the field, forced some turnovers and earned the privilege to get after the quarterback a little bit, which helped us in the second half.”
The Silver Lake offense responded to the stop by the defense, going 81 yards to finish with a second touchdown pass from Schooler to Cathcart, reclaiming the lead,15-12.
The Silver Lake defense then took over the game for good. The Eagles harried the Braves’ quarterback into interceptions on back-to-back plays, with a short Eagle touchdown drive sandwiched in between. They forced a third interception a few minutes later, slamming the door on the Braves’ chances.
“The kids really responded in the second half,” Pegram said. “I thought our seniors really stepped up and made some plays. It’s fun to see, when it got hard, I thought our kids got together for the first time and just leaned into it, which is what we talk about as a program.”
Schooler was nearly perfect, throwing to six different receivers for three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion.
“My receivers were getting open. Huge shout out to them,” Schooler said. “The play calls were good. I was just seeing it really well.”
The senior quarterback led the Eagles to improve to 6-2 on the season. He said he believes the team has even bigger things ahead.
“I think we’re capable of going all the way,” Schooler said. “I think we can play with any team in the state on any given night when we’re at our best. So, I’m really excited to see how this thing unwinds.”
Gritty senior running back Monihen provided most of the attack for Council Grove in his final game. He rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown and caught two passes for 60 yards and the Braves’ other score.
SILVER LAKE 29, COUNCIL GROVE 12
