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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Missouri Western junior volleyball star Taylor Russell is excited for every match she plays.
But the 6-foot-1 outside hitter admits that she gets even more fired up when she has the opportunity to play in her home town of Topeka.
Former Washburn Rural standout Taylor Russell (3) is congratulated by her Missouri Western teammates after one of her 18 kills in Saturday night's 3-1 win over Washburn. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Russell, a returning All-MIAA first-team pick and AVCA All-America honorable mention honoree, got that opportunity Saturday night and delivered a team-high 18 kills on .444 hitting as the No. 24-ranked Griffons (9-4 overall, 1-1 MIAA) handed No. 1 Washburn (12-1, 1-1) its first loss of the season in a 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 25-19 Western win.
"Coming back to the hometown, it's like every time we come back here it's a big rivalry between us and Washburn and I think because we have so many Topeka girls on our team it just feels really good to get that win and kind of prove ourselves,'' Russell said.
Russell, who helped lead Washburn Rural to the Class 6A state championship in 2022, said it's fun to get a chance to play in front of a lot of people she grew up around, including her high school coach, Kevin Bordewick.
"We have a lot of fans here,'' said Russell, who has 807 kills in her career. "I don't know if half of them are rooting for us our Washburn, because they are from Topeka, but it's always great to play in this environment.
"I love the loud environment and just seeing all my friends and family here.''
Shawnee Heights product Emily Loy (10) registered 13 kills in Missouri Western's MIAA win over Washburn Saturday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Former Shawnee Heights standout Emily Loy, a 6-foot junior rightside hitter who received All-MIAA honorable mention last fall, also came up big for the Griffons Saturday, delivering 13 kills, while former Seaman 5A state champ Brooklyn Gormley, a 6-1 redshirt freshman, also plays for Missouri Western.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn senior Austin Broadie contributed a match-high 23 kills Saturday night, but Missouri Western handed the Ichabods their first loss of 2025 in four sets. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Coming into the week, Hayden volleyball was 14-0 on the season and No.1-ranked in Class 4A.
But on Thursday in a triangular at Emporia, that long winning streak was snapped, with the Wildcats losing to Manhattan and Emporia.
Hayden sophomores Hailey Schmidtlein (22) and Blakely Walter (10) were named to the Seaman Invitational all-tournament team Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
The Wildcats were hoping to avenge those two losses in Saturday's Seaman Invitational, but to open pool play on Saturday, the defending Class 4A state champs, Bishop Miege (0-12), stunned Hayden in three sets, 25-21, 16-25, 26-24. The Stags also beat Hayden in pool play in the state tournament in 2024.
“The girls played hard. As coaches, if they play hard and stick together, that's all we can ask,” Hayden coach Corrinne McGreevy said. “Sometimes, you have to take a loss for what it is. They came out really good. Number 14, she was a stud. She was unstoppable.
"It’s one of those things, you have to brush it off, learn from it. We’re going to see them again, whether it’s Sub-State or State. That’s a great team, those are 50-50 games that go either way.”
Hayden then lost to Lansing in two sets, 25-14, 25-21, before picking up its first win of the day with a sweep over Spring Hill, 25-17, 25-16.
The Wildcats squared off with Maize South (16-1) in the quarterfinals match and that was a battle from both squads.
Hayden lost set one to the Mavericks and trailed 11-10 in set two. The Wildcats went on a little run, going up 13-11. Hayden would extend their lead to 19-14 off a kill from Mallory Tanking on the outside. The Mavs trimmed the deficit to 19-17 but then Avery Holthaus stopped the mimi run with a kill and Hayden led 20-17.
The Wildcats were up 21-17, Hailey Schmidtlein served, the Hayden starters and bench thought Schmidtlein got her serve in before the back row line, the officials called it out of bounds and shifted the momentum of the match. Maize South would knot the match at 21 and then eventually swept the Wildcats, 25-18, 25-23.
“Maize South is a really good team,” McGreevy said. “Like our team, they know how to stick together… it would boil down to they wanted it and we wanted it to and volleyball is a weird sport. It just boils down to points here, points there and sometimes momentum swings are huge.
"They have that lefty (Ava Stoughton) out there and lefties are hard to block. They got a couple of power swings that threw us off a little bit, but that’s just a part of volleyball. We still regrouped, we still battled and I’m really proud of how they played the whole day because this is a great tournament.”
Hayden's Schmidtlein and Blakely Walter were named to the all-tournament team.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
LAWRENCE -- On a very warm Saturday morning and afternoon, seven local schools competed in the Rim Rock Farm High School Classic in Lawrence. There were 171 other schools from seven states competing in a total of 10 high school races.
Brynn Spencer, Seaman
Brooks Kehoe, Washburn Rural
There were C-team races for boys and girls, junior varsity races for boys and girls, and three varsity level races -- Crimson, Blue and Gold.
In the C-team and junior varsity boys races, Washburn Rural finished second in both to Johnston High School from Iowa.
The varsity blue boys race included Silver Lake, Topeka High, Hayden and Rossville. Silver Lake and Topeka High finished in the top 40 teams, 32nd and 35th, respectively.
The varsity blue girls race included Hayden, Silver Lake and Rossville. Hayden’s Sofia Harper was the top local finisher in 39th place with a time of 21:23.03.
The varsity crimson boys race included Shawnee Heights and Topeka West. The top finisher was Max Esquibel of Shawnee Heights, who finished in a time of 18:02.93 to finish in 23rd place.
Shawnee Heights was the only team to compete in the varsity crimson girls race.
The varsity gold boys race was set up to be a great race between Kapaun-Mt. Carmel’s Daniel Enriquez and Seaman’s Brody Anderson. Enriquez ran the second fastest time in Kansas history last weekend at the Southern Stampede in Joplin, Missouri, with a time of 14:43.04. Anderson had run two races in a time of 15:11.
The start of the race saw Anderson take a substantial lead, but in the final 1,000 meters, he was unable to finish due to heat-related issues.
Washburn Rural finished in 18th place with Brooks Kehoe leading the way with a 69th place finish with a time of 17:19.02. Duke Graf ran a time of 17:23.79 to finish in 78th place.
The varsity gold girls race had Washburn Rural finish in 18th place while Seaman finished in 25th place. Seaman’s Brynn Spencer was the top city finisher in 20:26.84, good for 54th place. Rural was led by Kenzie Maddox, who finished in 58th place with a time of 20:33.15.
Team Scores and Individual Results
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn junior Chase Allen-Jackman had a pair of receiving TDs in Saturday's 31-24 MIAA loss to Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Ichabod quarterback Justin Lewis passed for 99 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 31-24 MIAA loss to Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]Sophomore linebacker JC Heim recorded a team-high nine tackles for the Ichabods while Jordan Finnesy added six stops and forced a fumble that Josh Grant recovered in the third quarter.
Washburn's offense finished with 317 total yards on 68 plays compared to UNK's 456 yards on 65 plays.
The Ichabods were especially effective on third down, converting 6 of 13 chances (46 percent) while UNK managed just 4 of 14 (29 percent).
Ky Thomas rushed for 56 yards, including a 22-yard run, in Washburn's 31-24 MIAA loss to Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
On the ground, Cam Robinson rushed 11 times for 71 yards while Ky Thomas added 56 yards on 13 carries.
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