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Created: 10 April 2023

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

NOTE: Top.Sports.news will compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2023 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Coaches should designate whether times were fully automatic (FAT) or hand-timed. FAT times for individual sprints are considered .024 of a second faster than hand times. TopSports.news will rank the Top 5 in each event.

GIRLS

100 METERS

Nichols, Shawnee Heights         12.36

Torres-Hill, Topeka High              13.07

Marshall, Topeka High                13.17

Estudillo, Washburn Rural           13.30

Ross, Silver Lake                        13.36

200 METERS

Nichols, Shawnee Heights          25.88

Brooks, Topeka West                  25.98

Fredrickson, Washburn Rural      26.98

Marshall, Topeka High                 27.13

Rezac, Rossiville                        27.63

400 METERS

Hillebert, Hayden                          58.65

Brooks, Topeka West                    58.98

Fredrickson, Washburn Rural       60.01

Miller, Seaman                              61.85

Foster, Rossville                            62.89

Returning senior state champion Bethany Druse of Seaman is the Shawnee County leader in the girls 800. [File photo/TSN]

800 METERS

Druse, Seaman                             2:21.67

Ismert, Washburn Rural                 2:28.92

Carter, Washburn Rural                 2:29.51

Foster, Rossville                            2:33.78

Rottinghaus, Shawnee Heights     2:33.97

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Details

Created: 10 April 2023

 By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Audrey Appuhn

AUDREY APPUHN, Washburn Rural

Appuhn, a freshman girls swimming standout, was a part of three victories in last week's Topeka West Invitational, helping lead Washburn Rural to the team championship. Appuhn won the 200-yard freestyle (2:01.90) and the 500 free (5:23.61) and also swam on the Junior Blues' winning 200 medley relay (2:01.14).

Alesecio Batson

ALESECIO BATSON, Topeka West

Batson, a sophomore track and field standout, posted a third-place finish in the boys triple jump in last Friday's Kansas Relays at Lawrence, jumping a career-best 46 feet, 10.50 inches in the meet.

Natalie Hillebert

NATALIE HILLEBERT, Hayden

Hillebert, a junior track standout, ran a 58.65-second 400-meter dash in last Friday's Kansas Relays preliminaries, breaking a Hayden school record that had stood since 1986. HIllebert, a returning Class 4A state placer, went on to finish seventh in Saturday's final of the 400. 

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Created: 14 April 2023

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University's Andrew Paulsey secured the series win over rival Emporia State in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon, delivering a pinch-hit two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Ichabods a 7-6 walkoff victory at Falley Field.

Washburn's Andrew Paulsey delivered a two-run, walkoff home run on Sunday to give the Ichabods a 7-6 MIAA win over Emporia State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

Washburn's Andrew Paulsey wears a big smile as he rounds the bases on Sunday's walkoff home run against Emporia State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

Emporia State (16-26 overall, 10-17 MIAA) had gone up 6-5 in the top of the ninth on a two-run home run from Chandler Bloomer, but the Ichabods answered in the bottom of the inning to improve to 24-17 overall and 17-10 in the MIAA.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, former Hayden standout Andrew Schmidtlein reached base after getting hit by the pitch and Paulsey was called upon to be a pinch-hitter and was down in the count 1-2 when he launched a home run down the right field line for the win.

"I have not hit a walkoff home run before, not high school or anything, this is the first time,'' Paulsey said.

Paulsey said he wasn't necessarily thinking home run in that situation and just wanted to prolong the inning.

"I was just thinking, get the next guy up, put a good swing on a good pitch,'' Paulsey said. "Schmidtlein ahead of me got on base and I just knew I had to get to the next guy.''

Paulsey knew when the ball left his bat that it might have a chance to get out of the park.

"It felt pretty good off the bat,'' he said. "I had a feeling. It wasn't really a no-doubter, but I liked the way it felt.''

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Created: 14 March 2023

By KEVIN HASKIN

TopSports.news

Musings at the mid-month:

• Could the rise of middle school sensation Aria Pearce become the next Jim Ryun moment for Kansas high schools?

• More than a half-century since Ryun’s landmark achievements at Wichita East, and later KU, Pearce is setting American middle school records.

• Oh, I know track meets don’t fill grandstands like they did when Ryun drew throngs at Memorial Stadium.

• However, Pearce could become a box office hit.

• As a sprinter, she runs events that are now more popular than Ryun’s jaw-dropping times in the half-mile and mile.

• Pretty cool that Pearce made her splashy Kansas Relays debut at the 100th anniversary of the event.

• Allow me to wax on a bit about the term, sensation.

• After my sister Diane and her husband Jim moved to Topeka, Ryun worked out here while competing among the best in the world.

• They told me he often jogged down her street.

• Sure enough, I spotted Ryun one day during a routine jog.

• That’s when my jaw dropped, knowing his Olympic races were must-see TV throughout the US.

• Later in life, I interviewed Ryun multiple times, completing a what-goes-around-comes-around oval of my own.

• Credit, by the way, to those who have worked with Pearce to date. Amazing feats and incredible top-end speed.

• Hey, I get to watch the Royals again after a long hiatus using Dish Network as my TV provider.

• Hooked up with an internet provider. It declared my rural locale to be in the Kansas City market.

• Pretty certain I missed very little from not accessing the Royals.

• They struggle, it seems, to hit baseballs thrown with velocity and hit baseballs thrown with movement.

• Not a good combination.

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