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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with boys cross country and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 25, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4868071x75d4DC58-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Local boys cross country teams have captured 12 state team championships in a whopping five decades, dating back to Topeka West's first title in 1968 through Washburn Rural's crown in 2019.
Now its time to see which one of those teams deserves the top spot on TopSports.news' Best of the Best list.
Topeka West won its first of four state boys cross country titles under Hall of Fame coach Joe Schrag in 1968. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Jim Casper coached Hayden to its first of the school's six state boys cross county championships in 1975. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Hayden won the Class 4A state cross country championship in 1981, the Wildcats' first of five boys titles under Ben Meseke. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Legendary Hall of Fame coach Joe Schrag established Topeka West as a state power in the late 1960s and 1970s and the Chargers won their fourth championship in 1985.
Schrag led Topeka West to their first state championship in 1968 and the Chargers added titles in '74, '77 and '85.
Hayden followed West's lead with its first team title in 1975 under Jim Casper and Hall of Famer Ben Meseke followed with a dominating run from 1981 to 1995, with the Wildcats running off five Class 4A championships.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
OTTAWA -- Former Shawnee Heights standout Gavin Zuperku will not play college football, opting to study engineering at Kansas State.
But that didn't stop Zuperku from jumping at the chance to play football one last time in Saturday night's 50th Kansas Shrine Bowl at Hays after getting the call a little over a month ago to join the East team as a replacement pick.
Former Shawnee Heights standout Gavin Zuperku (68) will play offensive line for the East in Saturday night's 50th Kansas Shrine Bowl at Hays. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It's a great opportunity for me, just to be out here and play football one last time,'' Zuperku said before Sunday night's East practice session at Ottawa University.
An All-Shawnee County Top 22 and first-team All-United Kansas Conference selection as a senior, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound offensive lineman admitted that it wasn't an easy decision to quit playing football, but said it was time to move on to the next stage in his life.
"I love football, I've played it all my life,'' Zuperku said. "Football's taught me so many things and it was tough to walk away from it, but I just realized that my intentions or my desires were elsewhere and I wanted to move on and go to K-State.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with girls cross country and readers will have the opportunity to vote for teams in that sport through July 24, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4868068x97de4f3f-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Hayden is not a lock to land the No. 1 spot in the TopSports.news Best of the Best girls country team rankings.
But the numbers are certainly in the Wildcats' favor, with Hayden accounting for seven of the 11 state championships captured by Shawnee County gils teams over the years.
Hayden's girls won the Class 4A cross country title in 1986, the first of seven state team championships for the Wildcats. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Hayden won its third straight Class 4A girls cross country championship in 1994. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Ben Meseke coached Hayden to its first Class 4A state title in 1986 before Kathy Strecker led the Wildcats to their other six state crowns after serving as Meseke's assistant in '86.
Strecker led Hayden to a three-peat from 1992 through 1994 and coached the Wildcats to back-to-back championships in '89 and '90 and the school's most recent title in '12.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brian Walker started Sunday's final round of the Topeka Golf Association City Stroke Play championship with a two-stroke advantage and never looked back, shooting a 73 to take a four-stroke victory at Topeka Country Club.
Brian Walker captured the second TGA City Stroke Play title of his career Sunday at Topeka Country Club, closing the 54-hole event with a 73 to win by four strokes. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
City Stroke Play champion Brian Walker executes a chip during Sunday's final round at Topeka Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Walker, a former Hayden and Washburn University standout, earned his second City Stroke Play title to go with a pair of City Match Play crowns while Jason Buessing closed with a day's best 69 to finish second at 213.
Walker trailed Seth Kelley by three strokes after an opening-round 67 at Lake Shawnee but shot a 69 in the second round at Cypress Ridge to take the tournament lead and his top spot was never in serious jeopardy on Sunday.
"Each day I got off to a good start,'' Walker said. "The first day I was 3-under though 5 (holes). The second day I was 2-under through 3 and today not so much, but I made a long putt on 1 to kind of settle my nerves because Gavin (Wilhelm, City Match Play champ) had made birdie and it was not an easy two-putt for me on 1 but I made a couple of good putts on the first nine.
"I just didn't hit it good at all today but just left it in the spots I needed to be with uphill chips and uphill putts just so I could make pars and I kind of parred the course to death basically.''
With his final-round playing partners, Kelley, Blake Buessing and Wilhelm having up-and-down days, Walker sensed that he was in good shape to finish off the championship and said he just concentrated on trying to play a solid final round.
Brian Walker holds his daughter and his TGA Stroke Play championship trophy after Sunday's win at Topeka Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"You think about being up 4 or 5 but it doesn't take much, one bad swing and you could double bogey and they birdie and that's three shots right there,'' Walker said. "So you kind of have to stay aggressive but aggressive to the safer spots.
"As soon as you start getting tentative and kind of play scared bad things happen so I tried not to do that. I knew I didn't need to do anything special, just really make your pars and keep moving on.''
Hayden Beck, who carded a 72 on Sunday, and Kelley (77) tied for third place at 215 while 2022 champion Addison Alonzo and Blake Buessing tied for fifth at 216.
TGA CITY STROKE PLAY TOURNAMENT
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time best teams in 21 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. The project continues with boys and girls bowling and readers will have the opportunity to vote for bowling teams through July 23, with the top teams in all categories announced in late July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on https://take.quiz-maker.com/poll4867535x4F9E480F-151 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Compared to a lot of other sports in Kansas, high school bowling is a relative newcomer, with the Kansas State High School Activities Association approving the sport for state competition in 2005.
Shawnee Heights' girls won the county's first state bowling team title in 2010. [Submitted photo to TSN]
But it didn't take long for Shawnee County teams to make their mark, with local bowlers earning their first state medals in 2006 and Nick Harris' Shawnee Heights' girls posting the county's first team championship in 2010.
To date local teams have won a total of nine state titles -- five boys, four girls -- with four county schools earning championhips.
Seaman's girls won the Class 5A-1A state team title in 2022, part of a championship sweep by the Vikings. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
Seaman's boys won the third state boys team title in school history in 2022. [File photot/TSN]
Washburn Rural's boys won their first Class 6A state bowling title in 2023, rolling to a 135-pin victory. [File photo/TSN]
Highlights include a Class 5A-1A girls and boys sweep by Bob Benoit's Seaman Vikings in 2022 and a dominating performance by Jo Ricard's Washburn Rural boys en route to a 135-pin victory in the Class 6A boys tournament this past season.
