- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The fact that Hayden senior Tanner Newkirk posted three victories in the three longest individual races of the night in Friday's Joe Schrag City Invitational was an outstanding achievement by itself.
The fact that the Wildcat star set city meet records in all three of his events put Newkirk in rarefied air as arguably the best individual performance in the history of the meet.
Hayden distance star Tanner Newkirk set city meet records Friday night in the 1,600, 800 and 3,200 in the Joe Schrag City Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden's Tanner Newkirk flashes the No. 1 sign after finishing off his third city record in the 3,200 meters in Friday's Joe Schrag Invitational. [Photo by Kyle Grunert/Special to TSN]
Newkirk started his busy night with a runaway win in the 1,600 meters in a personal-best time of 4:10.88 and he followed that up with a personal-best in the 800 in 1:55.69 and finished things off with a 22-second-plus victory in the 3,200 in 9:18.89, setting city meet records in all three races.
Newkirk said he decided to give the dificult triple a try to give the Wildcats their best shot at winning the city team title.
"I wanted to do it for the team,'' Newkirk said. "I wanted to get every point I can for the team to give us a chance to win city. It feels good to know that I did everything I can to help us try to reach that goal.''
Washburn Rural won its fifth straight boys city team championship in Friday's Joe Schrag Invitational at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Wildcats came up short in their title bid, with Washburn Rural claiming its fith straight city crown, but it was a still a day for the ages for Newkirk, who didn't know what any of the city records were entering Friday's meet.
"I didn't, but I was just hoping to PR and if they fell, they fell,'' Newkirk said. "On that last 3,200 I was going to coast through it, but when I heard (from the track announcer) I had a chance I was like, 'OK, we're going to grab this real quick.'
"I wish I could have gone sub-4:10 in that mile -- I definitely could have with some competition -- but I'm super-excited about the shape I'm in and that 800 just kind of came out of nowhere. I had no clue that I had that in me -- a 1:55 after a tough mile -- so I'm really happy with those two races and I'm really happy running a 9:18 after two races. And I think in all the races I have a lot more in me.''
Washburn Rural used its depth and a sweep of the throws by seniors Zach and Josh Sulzen-Watson to continue its city reign by a 138.5-126 margin over Hayden.
Zach Sulzen-Watson won the shot put with a throw of 51 feet, 7.50 inches and the discus at 163-0 while brother Josh captured the javelin title with a throw of 152-8.
The champion Junior Blues also got a win from Adrien Tibbetts in the high jump (6-2) while Rural posted top-three finishes in seven events and top-six finishes in 15 of 18 events.
"We knew this one was going to be extremely competitive,'' Rural coach Keith Wetzel said. "As we were looking at things ahead of time, Shawnee Heights was up there, Seaman's in there, Silver Lake's got a good team, Hayden's got a very good team so we knew it was going to be a very competitive meet.
"We talked all week about how it's great to win an event, but we needed those other places and that really helped us tonight being able to get even a fourth, fifth or sixth place.''
Runnerup Hayden also got wins from Jensen Schrickel in the 400 (51.05), Jake Muller in the 300 hurdles (39.72) and the 4 x 400 relay team of Ethan Florence, Muller, Ryan Rochford and Schrickel (3:29.66).
• Shawnee Heights junior Jeremiah Smith and Topeka West senior Zsamar Sipple both posted a pair of individual victories, with Sipple winning the long jump at 22-7 and the triple jump at 44-10 while Smith took the 110-meter hurdles in 14.26 seconds and the 100 dash in 10.45 seconds.
• Other city champions included Seaman's Lain Anderson in the pole vault (11-6), Silver Lake's Brogen Renfro in the 200 (22.40), Topeka West's 4 x 800 relay team of Louis Wilson, Mark Wilkie, Elijah Phelps and Lenny Njoroge (8:22.66) and Topeka High's 4 x 100 relay team of V'Ante Peoples, Jaziah Mack, Logan Murray and DyKestair Matlock (43.54).
Joe Schrag City Invitational
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman junior star Bethany Druse posted a pair of individual wins in Friday's Joe Schrag City Invitational track and field championships.
But Druse's most important feat may have come in the meet-ending girls 4 x 400-meter relay.
Druse, Seaman's anchor runner, took the baton in fourth place but picked off the three runners in front of her one by one while clocking a 59-second split as the Vikings rallied for a win in 4 minutes, 15.31 seconds to put a capper on their city team championship by a 146-134 margin over Washburn Rural.
Seaman girls track and field poses for a team picture after winning the title in the Joe Schrag City Invitational Friday at Hummer Sports Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"That's exciting,'' Druse said of the team championship. "(Coach Rick Brading) said that there was going to be a real good chance that we could win, but we had to work for it.
"We had our team spread in a wide variety of events, so that really helped bring the team score together.''
Druse had earlier won the 1,600 in 5:23.31 and the 800 in 2:19.96 before teaming with Taylie Heston, Jaida Stallbaumer and Taylin Stallbaumer to win the 4 x 4.
Junior Bethany Druse won the 1,600 and 800 meters and anchored the winning 4 X 400 relay as Seaman captured the girls team title in Friday's Joe Schrag City Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman sophomore Taylin Stallbaumer swept the girls 100 and 300-meter hurdles and won three gold medals overall in Friday's Joe Schrag City Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Taylin Stallbaumer, a sophomore, was also a triple gold medalist, winning the 100 hurdles in 16.25 and the 300s in 49.21 to go with the win in the 4 x 4 while the Vikings' foursome of Heston, Anna Becker, Leah Spurlock and Savannah Sampson won the 4 x 800 relay in 10:31.13 and Ally Trier won the javelin with a personal-record throw of 132 feet, 10 inches.
Seaman posted top-three finishes in nine events and top-six finishes in 17 of 18 events.
"When there's 18 different events you know that even if on paper it looks like you could win, anything can happen at a meet,'' Brading said. "Kids drop batons,kids fall down, issues happen, but our kids in almost every area exceeded what we thought they would so we had a good meet.''
Runner-up Rural, which had won the previous four city titles, got wins from Raegen Petersen in the discus (115-7) and from Payton Fink in the 3,200 meters (11:37.61).
• Highland Park sophomore Victoria Reed was a double individual city champ, winning the long jump at 16-7.50 and the 100 in 12.49 while also finishing second in the 400 (58.72) and taking third in the 200 (26.37).
• Shawnee Heights won four events on the day, with Molly Busenitz winning the pole vault (9-0), Taylor Rottinghaus taking the victory in the 400 (58.18), Ta'Mijha Nichols winning the 200 (25.78) and the T-Birds taking the 4 x 100 relay (50.73).
• Other city champions included Hayden's Jadyn Paige Falley in the shot put (35-4), Topeka West's MaKinsey Jones in the high jump (5-2) and Silver Lake's Kaibryn Kruger in the triple jump (33-9).
Joe Schrag City Invitational
- Details
[Washburn Athletics]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Eight Washburn University baseball players received recognition on the 2022 All-MIAA Baseball Team, released Thursday afternoon by the conference office.
Three Washburn players earned All-MIAA second team accolades.
Senior third baseman Brett Ingram earned a second-team nod for the second consecutive year as he has put together a career season, surpassing his stats from the previous two years combined. He has started all 47 games and leads the team with a .369 batting average, 72 hits (fifth in the MIAA), 48 runs, 17 doubles (sixth in the MIAA) and 24 multi-hit games. He is also second on the team with 43 runs batted in and 11 home runs. On March 13 at Northeastern State, Ingram was a grand slam shy of hitting for the home run cycle as he finished the game 5-7 with three homers, four runs, and six RBI.
Pitchers Dalton Huggins and Casey Steward both earned their first all-conference award and joined Ingram on the second team.
Huggins, a Washburn Rural product, has recorded an impressive senior season on the mound for the Ichabods as he ranks in the top-10 among MIAA pitchers in 11 different stat categories. He has a conference-low 3.22 ERA to go with a team-leading 79 strikeouts (third in the MIAA). He's held opponents to a .220 batting average (third in MIAA) and a conference-low 46 hits and 25 runs. The southpaw is 5-1 with three saves in 58.2 innings of work. Against Fort Hays State earlier this year, he struck out a career-high eight batters and allowed just one run, one walk, and three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Not even a 50-minute mid-game rain or a two-hour starting time delay could slow down the No. 23-ranked Washburn Ichabods as they rolled to an 8-0 win over Emporia State behind Jaycee Ginter's no-hitter in the opening game of the 2022 MIAA Softball Championships.
Washburn, the No. 1 seed and MIAA regular season champions, will face Missouri Western on Friday at 4 p.m. The Ichabods have won 23 straight games.
Jaycee Ginter threw her second career no-hitter for Washburn in Friday's 8-0 MIAA tournament win over Emporia State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Ginter, a former Shawnee Heights star, tossed her second no-hitter in a Washburn uniform, improving to 29-3 in the circle while striking out three and needing just 76 pitches in the game.
- Details
By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Wins don’t come any tougher than they did for the Seaman Vikings in Thursday night’s 3-1 Centennial League road soccer victory over Topeka High.
The Vikings (9-4-1), who posted their third straight win, had to overcome a rainstorm and a Topeka High (10-4-0) squad, which had won five straight games.
Seaman soccer coach Tim Nussbaum talks to his team after Thursday's 3-1 Centennial League win over Topeka High. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
In back-to-back games, Seaman was able to put up outstanding first halves, giving their defense quite a bit of security in the second half.
In the last two games, Seaman has outscored their foes (High and Hayden), 6-0.
“We are playing great soccer this time of the year,” Seaman coach Tim Nussbaum said. “You want to play your best soccer at this time of the year and we are doing that as a team right now. We will keep continuing to get better every day. If we keep staying connected, playing strong and doing what the game requires us to do, we will be solid.
“We will keep learning every day and getting better every day.”
