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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Joy Marie Galliart has been selected to lead the Washburn Rural softball program in the 2023-2024 school year.
Joy Marie Galliart
Galliart will take over for Liz Stover, who will step down as the Junior Blues' coach after the conclusion of the current season after accepting a teaching position at Shawnee Mission South High School.
Galliart played softball at Washburn University and graduated from WU with a bachelor’s degree in biology.
Galliart has served as the head softball coach the past 11 years at Bixby High school in Bixby, Okla.
Prior to her stint at Bixby, Galliart taught and coached at her alma mater, Bishop Kelley High in Tulsa, Okla.
Galliart’s past teams have posted a state runner-up finish and two state quarterfinal finishes. She was named All-State Coach in 2008 and 2019 and has coached several All-State players.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural senior Mason Casebeer captured the Centennial League singles championship Monday at Kossover Tennis Center while Junior Blue senior Kiefer Von Lintel and freshman Dylan Willingham won the league doubles title.
Washburn Rural senior Mason Casebeer won the Centennial League singles championship Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Kiefer Von Lintel teamed with Josh Willingham to win the Centennial League doubles title Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman Josh Willingham won the doubles championship in his first Centennial League tournament Monday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Rural finished second to Manhattan in the team race by a single point, 40-39, while Hayden was third with 29 points.
Casebeer, a former Class 6A state medalist rolled to 6-0, 6-1 win over Manhattan's Advith Nataraja in the singles final after Casebeer survived a 7-5, 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker) semifinal with Manhattan's Drake Carr.
Hayden's Joseph Luke (left) and Gus Glotzbach posted a runnerup doubles finish in Monday's Centennial League meet at Kosover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Von Lintel and Willingham dropped a 6-1 decision to Hayden senior Gus Glotzbach and junior Joseph Luke in the first set of the doubles final but the Rural duo bounced back to take a 6-1 win in the second set and took a 10-7 win in the super tiebreaker.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights senior Alex Valdivia added a couple more items to his growing resume Monday, capturing the United Kansas Conference golf championship for the second year in a row and earning back-to-back league Player of the Year honors.
Shawnee Heights senior Alex Valdivia putts for the UKC individual title, his second straight, Monday at Village Greens. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
UKC player of the year Alex Valdivia poses for a picture with UKC co-coach of the year Rick Rineberg of Seaman after Valdivia won the individual title and Rineberg's Vikings won the league team crown. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
The All-UKC golf selections pose for a picture at the conclusion of Mondays UKC meet at Village Greens. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Valdivia, a Washburn University golf commit, shot a 3-over-par 75 at the conference tournament at Village Greens Golf Course in Meriden.
He held off De Soto’s Will Kerr by a stroke on the final hole.
New to the conference this year, the Seaman Vikings took home the team title, shooting a collective 325, led by junior Zach Weir, who tied for third in the tournament with a 77.
“It’s pretty special,” said Seaman coach Rick Rineberg. “We’ve been growing this year. We’ve been gaining momentum as the year has gone on. Our guys shot some nice scores today and I’m really proud of them.
“Zach is kind of our returning vet. He’s been battling demons with his swing this year, as people can. So it was really nice to see him put it all together today.”
“I was confident that I could finish up there, but I needed to just put it all together and have a positive attitude. That really helps me,” Weir said. “I knew I could shoot 77. I haven’t yet in a tournament, this was my best round of the year. It all came together today.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The battle for the Centennial League individual boys golf title went down to a sudden death playoff Monday at Lake Shawnee, but no matter how the playoff came out it was going to be a victory for Washburn Rural.
Washburn Rural sophomore Tagan Monasmith shot a 74 Monday and won the Centennial League title in a sudden death playoff. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Bryan Tyrell shot a 74 and finished second in a sudden death playoff, helping the Junior Blues win the Centennial League title by a 21-stroke margin. [Photo by Trevo
Washburn Rural's golf team poses for a team picture after winning the Centennial League title by 21 strokes Monday at Lake Shawnee. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
It was that kind of day for the Junior Blues.
Washburn Rural regained the league championship after a brief one year's absence by a dominating 21-stroke margin over 2022 champ Manhattan and added a 14 stroke win over St. James Academy in the Midwest Varsity Classic.
Individually, Rural sophomore Tagan Monasmith and senior teammate Bryan Tyrell both shot 74s to force a playoff for the championship in both events, which Monasmith won on the first extra hole, but both players agreed that the fact that it was an all-Rural showown made it a little easier to accept the outcome no matter which way it went.
"I didn't really think about it too much,'' Monasmith said. "I knew either way, that's my boy, so win or lose it was definitely going to be a good day.''
Tyrell agreed.
"It's fun to compete and especially when it's your teammate, it's fun,'' Tyrell said.
Rural senior Andrew Burdett was just a stroke behind his teammates at 75 to tie for third in the Centennial League while senior Tyler Baumchen shot a 76 to finish fifth and junior Hayden Glynn tied for sixth with a 79.
Monday was the first time that Jared Goehring's Junior Blues were able to beat Manhattan this spring, which was an added bonus for Rural.
"Finally,'' Monasmith said. "Coach was pretty happy about that one.''
"We had a lot of pretty good scores throughout the year but we just couldn't put four scores together,'' Tyrell said. "But today we showed we could put four scores together and we beat them.''
Goehring said that Monday's performance was a big momentum boost for the Junior Blues.
"Crunch time is here and postseason golf is about a week away and we feel like we're playing some of our better golf of the season,'' Goehring said. "It was a team goal for us to break 300 and we accomplished that today (at 299) and that's good momentum moving forward.''
Hayden sophomore Tagen Rodriguez earned the 11th-place medal with an 83 while Topeka High junior Rich Helmbold tied for 12th (84), Hayden senior Noah Haverkamp tied for 14th (85) and Topeka High senior Luis Muniz Rodriguez tied for 16th (86).
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE
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By VINCE FRYE, Chairman
Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee
The selection committee for the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame has selected local sports greats Chris Barnes, Kevin Bordewick and Crystal Kemp along with longtime local sportswriter Rick Peterson as the Class of 2023 for induction into the local shrine on June 28.
Chris Barnes was a state basketball champion at Topeka High before embarking on a Hall of Fame career in the Professional Bowlers Association. [Wikipedia photo]
Kevin Bordewick has coached Washburn Rural to eight Class 6A state volleyball championships and two state girls basketball titles as a head coach. [File photo/TSN]
Rick Peterson is in his fifth decade as a sportswriter, covering high school sports throughout his career. [The Topeka Capital-Journal]
Crystal Kemp was an All-State basketball player and state discus champion at Topeka High and an All-Big 12 basketball pick at Kansas. [Submitted photo]
TopSports.news, in partnership with University of Kansas Health Systems St Francis Campus, A-1 Lock and Key and Washburn University, will host the induction and Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards ceremonies at the Washburn University Memorial Union.
A 1988 Topeka High graduate, Barnes was a member of the Trojans' 1986 Class 6A state championship boys basketball team and went on to become an All-American bowler at Wichita State before embarking on a Hall of Fame career in the Professional Bowlers Association, which continues today.
Bordewick has carved out a legendary coaching career at Washburn Rural, leading the Junior Blues to 10 Class 6A state championships in volleyball (eight) and girls basketball (two). Bordewick surpassed the 1,000 win mark in volleyball last fall on the way to the 2022 state title.
A 2002 Topeka High graduate, Kemp was an All-State pick in basketball and a state champion in track and field for the Trojans before going on to an outstanding four-year career at the University of Kansas, where she earned first-team All-Big 12 recognition as a senior.
Peterson is in his 44th year as a sportswriter, covering primarily high school sports throughout his career. Peterson spent 31 years as a sportswriter for the Topeka Capital-Journal before retiring in 2020 and is currently a contributing writer for TopSports.news.
Shawnee County's top senior high school student-athletes will be also be honored on June 28th.
Shawnee County high schools Cair Paravel Latin, Hayden, Highland Park, Rossville, Seaman, Shawnee Heights, Silver Lake, Topeka High, Topeka West and Washburn Rural have been asked to nominate one female and male candidate with a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade point average as outstanding student-athlete nominees for the fall, winter and spring seasons. County high schools have also been asked to nominate a female and male candidate for most inspirational athlete.
A committee of local media members will select the 2023 winners, including the selection of overall female and male athletes of the year.
Hayden's Tanner Newkirk and Topeka High's NiJaree Canady were named the overall athletes of the year in 2022.
The nominees for this year's high school awards will be announced in early June after the conclusion of the spring high school season.
Hall of Fame Class of 2023 capsules:
