- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Finally getting a chance to play in the friendly confines of Lee Arena was worth the wait for the Washburn University volleyball team.
Washburn University volleyball celebrates a point in Thursday's 3-1 MIAA win over Pittsburg State at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Playing at home after 12 straight matches on the road in front of a spirited crowd of 953 Thursday night, the Ichabods delivered a 3-1 MIAA win over Pittsburg State.
"The crowd was awesome,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "Wow! There were like 1,000 people here and it was crazy.
"Our freshmen were like, 'Holy cow! This is amazing.' It was a ton of fun.''
Ichabod senior standout Jalyn Stevenson agreed.
"It was amazing,'' Stevenson said. "It feels like it's been forever. It definitely took a toll on us starting off with the entire first month of our season being away and especially with so many tournaments, but this was really great.
"Our student section brings so much energy and having our fans here and our families it's a great feeling.''
Each of the first two sets went to Washburn (10-3 overall, 1-2 MIAA). 25-16 and 25-15, before the Gorillas (6-7, 1-2) got on the board with a 28-26 third-set victory. The Ichabods then closed out their first MIAA victory of the season with a dominating 25-15 win in the fourth set.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University will induct its 2024 Hall of Fame class on Saturday in a ceremony prior to the 3 p.m. Ichabod football game with Northwest Missouri.
Entering the Hall of Fame will be five individuals who were all selected as All-Americans, All-MIAA and school record-holders during their Ichabod careers.
The newest inductees include Trent Hearn (football), Marissa (Cox) Horstick (volleyball), Mollie Lacy (volleyball), Tish Williams (softball) and Jemi Johnson (basketball).
The 2000-01 Ichabod men's basketball team, which advanced to the national championship game will also be inducted.
WU Hall of Fame capsules:
Trent Hearn, Washburn football
Trent Hearn – football – 2002-06
Hearn finished his Ichabod career as the all-time leading rusher in program history with 3,154 yards and now ranks third. He scored 48 career rushing touchdowns on the ground as an Ichabod, which is the most rushing touchdowns in program history by 13 over the next-closest person. He still owns the Ichabod single-season record with 1,203 rushing yards set in 2005, the year the Ichabods won the MIAA Championship and made their first NCAA Playoff appearance.
Hearn also ranks fifth on the single-season rushing chart with 1,116 yards in 2003 and his 111.6 rushing yards per game for a season in 2003 is ranked second all-time. The 20 touchdowns he scored in 2005 is No. 1 on the Ichabod single-season chart and it set the junior class season rushing record. He finished his Ichabod career with 12 100-yard rushing games and he is still the Ichabods' all-time leading scorer with 296 points, scoring 49 total touchdowns.
He was named the Ichabod team MVP in both 2005 and 2006 and was a third-team all-region selection in 2005, an honorable mention all-region pick in 2003 while also earning the MIAA Freshman of the Year award in 2003. He was also a second-team all-MIAA selection in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
Marissa (Cox) Horstick, Washburn volleyball
Marissa (Cox) Horstick – volleyball – 2011-14
Horstick was a first-team American Volleyball Coaches Association and a second team Daktronics All-American selection in 2013 after earning honorable mention All-American honors in 2014. She was a first team All-MIAA selection in 2013 and 2014.
Her 1,254 career kills rank 14th on the all-time chart at Washburn and she owns the school record for the most kills in a single MIAA Tournament match with 27. Her .318 attack percentage ranks eighth on the career chart at Washburn and her 327 total blocks is 18th.
She is one of 18 members of the Ichabod 1,000 kill club at Washburn and one of 10 to have 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in a career.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Fifth-year senior defender Josie Boyle had to wait her turn to crack the lineup for Washburn University's soccer team.
And now that she did, the former multi-sport star at Baldwin, wants to cherish every moment she has remaining with the Ichabods.
Josie Boyle
"For me, last year was kind of my first year making an impact on the field during a game, so I'm nowhere near wanting to be done,'' Boyle said. "It is my fifth year and my last year, but I am proud. I think I've achieved more than what I thought I ever could, honestly, and as a team, but I do have more individual goals that I want to reach this year and more to strive for.''
After Boyle's first season at Washburn was cancelled due to Covid, she saw action in just six matches as a freshman and 11 matches with one start as a sophomore before starting in 21 matches and playing a total of 1,849 minutes (seventh high in program history) last fall as the Ichabods advanced to the NCAA Division II championship game.
Baldwin product Josie Boyle, a fifth-year senior defender, has helped Washburn soccer post six straight shutouts. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
"I didn't know how much I would be able to achieve, but I think I've gone beyond that and the girls I've been with for five years, I think us three (Boyle, Viviana Soto-Herrera and Cloe Quintana) are very happy with how it's all gone,'' said Boyle, who scored her first goal and earned All-MIAA honorable mention last season.
This season Boyle has helped 4-2-2 Washburn make school history with a six-game shutout streak entering Friday's 7 p.m. MIAA road contest at Nebraska-Kearney.
On Sunday against Newman the Ichabods set a school record for consecutive minutes played without allowing a goal. Washburn has played 568 minutes and 44 seconds since allowing its last goal, dating back to the 62nd minute of the game against Maryville on Sep. 7.
"The first weekend, allowing the goals that we did (four goals in 2-0 and 2-1 losses), it was a shocker because we didn't allow that many in lots of games last year, even in the national tournament,'' Boyle said. "So the first weekend it was like, 'Oh, we should not be letting in these goals,' but now we're on this six-game streak and it's the most minutes ever of no goals allowed so we're happy about that for sure.''
Washburn coach Davy Phillips said he has high expectations and a great deal of respect for Boyle and her fellow defenders.
"Within our game model our first priority is defending and being hard to break down and organized, '' Phillips said. "We want to attack out of that. I think you'll always have a chance to win the game if you defend well, so I think that's why we prioritize it. I think this particular back four especially is experienced, it's mature.
"It's three seniors and a junior and the junior has started every game of her career, so they've played a lot of soccer and I think that's a big part of college defending is recognizing the situations and seeing them before they develop. This group's played together, they've been around college soccer for a long time, they know what it should look like and they're kind of leading from the back. There's a lot of trust put in that back four right now.''
Now the goal for the Ichabods is to make another deep playoff run after last season's career year.
"The two words, pressure and expectations, have been thrown around a lot, but Davy has said a lot that he recruits girls that are competitors and have had a lot of success, in high school and before that, so a lot of us come from winning programs, championship teams, so pressure's not new to any of us,'' Boyle said.
"We had pressure even before coming to Washburn and I think having pressure is a privilege as well because there's a lot of teams that can go into weekends being like, 'Well, if we win we win, if we lose we lose, it's OK.' But for us, a tie is not good enough any more.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman junior cross country star Ryin Miller and Highland Park sophomore football standout G'Honi Montgomery have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the bulk of the 2024-2025 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Miller and Montgomery over the past week:
Seaman junior Ryin Miller has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency female Rising Star of the Week after posting her fourth straight individual win of the season in last Saturday's Rim Rock Classic. [File photo/TSN]
RYIN MILLER, Seaman
Miller won her fourth individual championship in as many starts this fall last Saturday, posting a five-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 14.1 seconds to win the Gold Division title in the prestigious multi-state Rim Rock Classic at Rim Rock Farm, north of Lawrence.
Miller topped two-time Class 5A state champion Katelyn Rupe of Salina Central by just over three seconds (17:17.4).
Earlier in the season the Seaman junior notched individual wins in the Manhattan Invitational, the Joe Schrag Invitational and the Shufelberger Top City Classic, setting an all-time girls state five-kilometer record in the Schrag meet at Kanza Park.
Highland Park sophomore G'Honi Montgomery has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency male Rising Star of the Week after rushing for 157 yards and scoring three touchdowns in a 48-0 Meadowlark Conference victory over KC-Harmon last Friday. [File photo/TSN]
G'HONI MONTGOMERY, Highland Park
Montgomery continued his outstanding sophomore season for the Scots in last Friday's 48-0 Meadowlark Conference victory over Kansas City-Harmon at Hummer Sports Park as Highland Park improved to a perfect 4-0 on the season.
Montgomery gained 157 yards on just six rushing attempts, including touchdown runs of 22, 26 and 62 yards.
Montgomery and the Scots posted their fourth straight shutout against Harmon and have now outscored their opponents by a 174-0 margin.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Twelve matches into its 2024 season Washburn University volleyball will encounter a new experience Thursday night ... a home match.
After playing 12 straight matches away from home, Washburn volleyball will make its Lee Arena debut at 6 p.m. Thursday against Pittsburg State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will finally make their Lee Arena debut at 6 p.m. on Thursday against MIAA foe Pittsburg State, followed by a Friday night conference match against Newman.
"It's going to be fun, it's going to be cool,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said. "I know our freshmen are looking forward to it. They've never been around it, so they get a chance to witness and feel the crowd and it's going to be really cool for us.
"I'm excited about the fact that we get to play at home finally.''
Freshman Brynne Topolski, a Lincoln, Neb. native, agreed.
"Since it is going to be our first home game, I'm super-excited to be able to see what the atmosphere is like,'' Topolski said. "I've heard it's great but I'm excited to see in person how the atmosphere is, how loud it gets in here and how excited everyone gets to be able to play at home.''
Washburn is 9-3 on the year after losing a pair of five-set matches last weekend on the road to both Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western in the opening weekend of MIAA play.
"I really liked our effort,'' Herron, in his 23rd season as the Ichabods' coach. "There was no letdown in effort or anything like that and if we play like that the rest of the year we're going to be good.''
