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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High junior football player Isaiah Kincade and Hayden sophomore tennis standout Ainzley Zulueta have been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Rising Stars of the Week for last week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the 2022-2023 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Kincade and Zulueta last week:
ISAIAH KINCADE, Topeka High
Kincade, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior, helped lead Topeka High to a 34-21 Centennial League win over Emporia last Friday at Hummer Sports Park, the 1-3 Trojans' first win of the season.
Kincade carried the ball 15 times for 104 yards, including a victory-clinching 61-yard touchdown run, and he caught eight passes for 84 yards.
AINZLEY ZULUETA, Hayden
Zulueta, the defending Class 4A state singles champion, won her second straight city singles title last Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, improving to 19-1 on the season and leading the Wildcats to the city team championship by a 26-25 margin over Seaman.
Zulueta took a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the championship match over Seaman senior Lauren Sweeney, a 2021 5A state champion in doubles.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's golf team turned in a solid performance in Monday's Centennial League tournament at Village Greens Golf Course, with five Junior Blues shooting in the 80s.
But it wasn't enough to top Emporia, which rode a one-two-three individual finish by the Eckert sisters to win its first-ever Centennial team championship by a 332-340 margin over the Junior Blues.
"You've got to tip your hat, they played great golf today,'' Washburn Rural coach Jared Goehring said of Emporia. "That' spretty solid, 78, 79, 82 at the top of their lineup. I'm proud of our girls, we just didn't have enough today.''
Emporia senior Avary Eckert shot a 78 to win her second straight league individual title while her twin sister Olivia finished second with a 79 and freshman Elise Eckert was third with an 82.
"Everybody did what they needed to do,'' Emporia coach Rick Eckert said. "Avary and Olivia played very consistently. We played the back nine first and they were nervous and had a hard time getting their rhythm going but they eventually got it established and they both played really well on the front, which was their back nine.
"And Elise was just consistent all day. She made some really huge putts and I can't be more proud of her as a freshman coming in and doing that. She really did a nice job.''
Senior Avery Scott finished fourth individually with an 83 to lead Washburn Rural while Junior Blue senior Mallory Nelson placed fifth with an 84.
Rural junior Raegan Petersen (86) tied for sixth and finished eighth in a scorecard playoff while sophomore Natalie Peterson (87) tied for ninth and finished 10th in a scorecard playoff to round out the Junior Blues' top four.
The Junior Blues have two more regular-season meets to get ready for postseason.
"We just want to shore things up and ideally we want to be playing our best golf in October,'' Goehring said. "We'll keep plugging away and keep working on fixing our mistakes because a lot of it is around the greens that we can shore up and get ready for postseason.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka West senior cross country star Lenny Njoroge continued his red-hot start to the 2022 season on Saturday, recording his third individual victory of the year in the Rim Rock Classic,
Njoroge bested a field of 270 runners to win the title in the Crimson division, winning by over 14 seconds in a time of 16 minutes, 00.10 seconds.
David Flaig of Regis Jesuit placed second in 16:14.60.
Njoroge has inished first or second in all four of his starts this fall.
Shawnee Heights junior Jackson Esquibel and senior Kory Sutton finished sixth and eighth in the Crimson division, with Esquibel clocking a time of 16:37.30 and Sutton 16:39.00.
Washburn Rural finished second as a team in the girls Gold division, just eight points behind Blue Springs South, Mo. (144-152).
Washburn Rural sophomore Payton Fink placed seventh among 152 runners in 19:06.20 to pace the Junior Blues.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
ALLEN BAUGHMAN, Shawnee Heights
Baughman, a junior running back, carried the ball 29 times for 284 yards and three touchdowns in Shawnee Heights' 27-0 United Kansas Conference victory over Basehor-Linwood Friday night at Wetter Field. On the season Baughman has 781 rushing yards and 10 TDs for the 3-1 T-Birds.
LOIS DEETER, Seaman
A senior, Deeter won her second straight individual title in last Monday's city girls golf tournament at Western Hills Golf Course, shooting an 81 and carding a birdie on the first sudden playoff berth to take the victory over Washburn Rural's Raegan Petersen. A two-time top-five Class 5A state medalist, Deeter led Seaman to a second-place team finish behind Rural.
LENNY NJOROGE, Topeka West
The Topeka West senior cross country star posted his third individual victory in four races on the season in Saturday's Rim Clock Classic, clocking a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 00.10 seconds to win the Crimson division title by 14 seconds. Njoroge now has three wins and a runner-up finish this fall.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The Washburn Ichabods played their first overtime game of the 2022 season and needed only one offensive play to come away with a 38-31 victory over Missouri Western State.
The Griffons (2-2 overall, 2-2 MIAA) scored first, driving nine plays on the opening drive to set up a field goal.
It would be the first and only lead for Missouri Western in the game.
Washburn (3-1, 3-1 MIAA) responded with a 40-yard pass from Kellen Simoncic to James Letcher Jr. to set up a 1-yard quarterback sneak from Simoncic into the end zone.
The Ichabod defense forced two more punts in the first quarter.
On the next offensive possession, Simoncic found Letcher again, this time in the end zone from 25 yards out to give Washburn a 14-3 lead.
The first Washburn drive of the second quarter stalled in the red zone and the ensuing field goal attempt was blocked by the Griffons.
Missouri Western drove 87 yards on 10 plays to score. Ending with back-to-back passes from Reagan Jones to Caleb Martin for 12 and 36 yards respectfully to make it 14-10.
Both teams traded punts until the next Ichabod drive with under two minutes in the half. A 29-yard catch and run by Letcher set up another field goal attempt by Kameron Lake which was successful from 38 yards. A long field goal attempt by the Griffons with one second in the half was no good and Washburn led 17-10 at the break.
Missouri Western began the third quarter with a 13-play drive to tie the game at 17. The Ichabods needed just four plays to answer, with a 35-yard pass to Washburn Rural grad Collin Wilson setting up a 7-yard rush by Taylon Peters, putting Washburn up 24-17.
One punt for each team wrapped up the third quarter. Two plays into the fourth quarter the Griffons tied the game with 14:33 to play after two runs by Jonas Bennett.