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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee County teams didn't necessarily get the day they were looking for in Saturday's state cross country meets, but 10 county runners earned state medals and a pair of teams narrowly missed top-three finishes.
Here's a look at Shawnee County's state highlights.
Tanner Newkirk finished third in the Class 4A state cross country meet, earning his fourth state medal. [File photo/TSN]
-- Hayden senior Tanner Newkirk came up short in his bid for a second straight Class 4A boys state title, but Newkirk posted a county best third-place finish in a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 24.3 seconds at Wamego Country Club.
Newkirk earned his fourth straight 4A state medal and posted his third top-three finish, previously finishing second as a sophomore and first as a junior
Newkirk led Hayden to a sixth-place team finish.
-- Washburn Rural placed fourth as a team in Saturday's 6A girls race at the 4-Mile Creek Resort, with three Junior Blues earning state medals.
Junior Madeline Carter placed seventh individually in 18:35.2, while senior Khloi Bird was 14th (10:15.5) and freshman Payton Fink 19th (19:35.4).
Carter earned an eighth-place state medal as a sophomore.
Washburn Rural's Madeline Carter (left), Khloi Bird and Payton Fink all earned medals in the 6A state meet, led by Madeline Carter (left), who placed seventh. [File photo/TSN]
Rural senior boys standout Alex Holmes placed 13th in the 6A boys race (16:13.3), leading the Junior Blues to an eighth-place team finish.
Seaman junior Bethany Druse finished sixth in the 5A state girls meet, leading the VIkings to a fourth-place team finish. [File photo /TSN]
-- Seaman junior Bethany Druse posted a sixth-place individual finish in 19:10.4 as the Vikings finished fourth as a team in the 5A girls meet at 4-Mile Creek Resort.
Druse posted a second straight top-10 state finish, taking ninth as a sophomore.
-- Cair Paravel's girls earned a pair of state medals en route to a fifth-place team finish in the 1A state meet at Victoria.
Freshman Zahra Lewis earned a ninth-place finish in 21:29.0 while sophomore Katherine Keys placed 19th in 21:48.0.
The Cair Paravel boys also advanced to state as a team, finishing seventh.
-- Shawnee Heights sophomore Jackson Esquibel and junior Kory Sutton both posted top-20 state finishes in Saturday's 5A boys meet.
Esquibel finished 13th in 16:27.4 while Sutton was 20th in 16:38.9 as Heights finished seventh as a team.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
SALINA -- Kevin Bordewick hopes that sometime soon his Washburn Rural volleyball team will be able to appreciate what a special season they had in 2021.
But Bordewick also knows it's going to take awhile.
"If you look at the process we went through, 41-2 is pretty dad gum good,'' Bordewick said. "It's just unfortunate we had our two losses here on the last day of the state tournament.''
After running off 41 straight wins this fall, the Junior Blues' season ended with a pair of three-set losses as Rural finished fourth in Class 6A Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
After posting a perfect 3-0 record in pool play on Friday, Rural suffered a semifinal loss to Blue Valley West before dropping another three-set loss to Olathe Northwest in the third-place match. Blue Valley West rallied for a 21-25, 25-16, 28-26 semifinal victory before Olathe Northwest also dropped the first set to the Junior Blues before rallying to take a 22-25, 26-24, 25-18 win.
"I thought we competed in the semis, but we just did some uncharacteristic things that weren't like us,'' Bordewick said. "We had some balls drop, we had some mis-fires on hits and there were just things that for whatever reason were going on, but having said that, we still battled a really good team all the way to 26-28 and it just didn't go our way.''
Washburn Rural trailed in all three semifinal sets against the Jaguars, but rebounded in the first set to put itself in position to advance to the finals with a four-point win, ending the set with a kill from junior Brooklyn DeLeye.
Rural jumped in front 2-0 in the second set and there was a tie at 3-3 but Blue Valley West took control in the middle stages of the set, opening up leads of 15-7 and 18-11.
The Junior Blues cut West's lead to 18-13 on a DeLeye service ace and got within 21-15 on a kill from junior Taylor Russell, but the Jaguars outscored the Junior Blues 4-1 to end the set and force a third set.
After falling behind 2-0 on back-to-back Blue Valley West aces Rural led most of the third set, including 20-16, 21-17 and 23-21 leads, but West scored three straight points to take a 24-23 lead.
The 24-23 advantage was the first of three match points for Blue Valley West and Rural also had a match point before the Jaguars took the 28-26 win.
Washburn Rural tried to bounce back from the heartbreak of the semifinal loss, but after winning the opening set against Northwest the Junior Blues let opportunities to end the match in the second set slip away. Rural led 20-19 and there were ties at 20, 22 and 24 before Northwest scored two straight points to take the win.
Washburn Rural poses for a team picture Saturday after finishing fourth in the Class 6A state volleyball tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"The third-place match, I don't even know if I can talk about that,'' Bordewick said. "That's just a whole wave of emotions that went south.''
The Junior Blues led early in the decisive third set against Northwest, but the Ravens dominated the middle of the set to build a 17-10 lead and rural could not recover.
Blue Valley North went on to win the state championship with a 25-10, 25-23 win over Blue Valley West.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
SALINA -- After advancing to the state quarterfinals in 2020, Seaman's volleyball team took another step forward with Saturday's fourth-place finish in the Class 5A state tournament at Tony's Pizza Events Center.
But coach Tatiana Dowling and her Vikings won't be completely satisfied until they get the chance to do what familiar foe Lansing got to do Saturday -- celebrate a state title.
After earning a berth in the semifinals with a 2-1 pool play record on Saturday, Seaman dropped a 25-15, 25-18 semifinal decision to Lansing before ending a 27-13 seaon with a 25-13, 25-21 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in the third-place match.
"We took a step and we're proud of what we accomplished this season, but we're not satisfied,'' Dowling said. "We want to come back next year and we want to do better. We want to end the season on a win in the state championship match.''
Seaman volleyball coach Tatiana Dowling hugs senior standout Drew Baxter as the Vikings receive their fourth-place state medals Saturday in Salina. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Lansing, which handed the Vikings four of their 2021 losses, went on to claim the state championship with a 25-20, 25-22 win over St. James Academy in the final.
Lansing jumped out to a 7-2 first-set lead over the Vikings in the semis, but Seaman was still within two points (13-11) before the Lions ran off three straight points to take a 16-11 lead.
Seaman got back within 17-14 on a kill from senior Drew Baxter before Lansing outscored the Vikings 8-1 to close out the set.
The Vikings took an 8-7 lead in the second set on a kill from freshman Maegan Mills and the score was tied at 10-all before the Lions scored 10 of the next 11 points to take control.
"They're a great team because they push us to be better,'' Dowling said. "They make great plays which forces long rallies and forces us to execute.''
Seaman was within 10-8 of Aquinas to start the third-place match but the Saints rallied for a 21-10 lead before closing out the 12-point first-set win.
Seaman and Aquinas were tied at 16 and 17 in the second set before the Saints opened up 23-19 lead and scored the final two points of the match for the five-point victory.
Seaman's volleyball team poses for a team picture after Saturday's fourth-place finish in the Class 4A state tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Saturday was the final high school matches for seniors Baxter, Elizabeth Stover and Elizabeth Meier, but the Vikings will return nine underclassmen off their state roster.
"We do have great young players and there's lots of talent coming back but it's hard when lose seniors, especially seniors like Drew who are great vocal leaders and who play all the way around for us and are leaders during the season and during the offseason,'' Dowling said.
"All of our seniors stepped up in different ways and became leaders for us throughout the season. It's always hard when you lose three people who were a big part of your team.''
CLASS 5A STATE VOLLEYBALL
Semifinals
Lansing def. Seaman, 25-15, 25-18; St. James Academy def. St. Thomas Aquinas, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24.
Championship
Lansing def. St. James Academy, 25-20, 25-22.
Third place
St. Thomas Aquinas def. Seaman, 25-13, 25-21.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Seaman rebounded from last week’s 42-31 loss to Centennial League rival Washburn Rural in style Friday night, keeping Emporia quiet all night long in a 57-6 Class 5A playoff victory at Seaman.
Fortunately for the Vikings they were familiar with league opponent Emporia, which Seaman had knocked off 22-6 earlier in the season.
Looking for a better performance in Friday's rematch Seaman got off to quick start on Camden Barta's 77-yard touchddown run..
The Spartans tried to keep the ball out of Seaman’s hands with read options and short passes, but the Vikings' pressure on the outside were able to make the Emporia offense uncomfortable, resulting in negative yardage on several plays.
“Our great week of practice carried over,'' Seaman coach Jared Swafford said. "Our guys have done a phenomenal job, honestly. It was nice for everything to come together. I think with the weather being what it was, we could've made any excuse, but we dealt with it. We had the best week of practices we ever had.”
Seaman quarterback Camden Barta had a big night in Friday's 57-6 win over Emporia, throwing for more than 318 yards and having a hand in five touchdowns. [Photo by Shelly Prengel/Special to TSN]
The 77-yard TD set the stage for a big night for Barta, who passed for 243 yards and three touchdowns in the first half and finished the night with 318 passing yards, 87 rushing yards and five total touchdowns.
“Camden (Barta) is starting to get it,'' Swafford said. "Camden did a great job of reading coverages today. He popped off a couple of big runs for us as well. He’s doing a great job and we are really proud of him.”
Seaman's PJ Vargas had a three-touchdown night in the Vikings' 57-6 win over Emporia Friday night, [Photo by Shelly Prengel/Special to TSN]
Receivers PJ Vargas, Casen Stallbaumer and Brody Gormley hauled in the four total TD passes thrown by Barta, with the Viking receivers turning the passes into big gainers.
With injuries to running backs (Kaden Ireland & Aiden Polter), sophomore Jack Bloom has stepped up in a big way for Seaman. Bloom rushed for 37 yards and two touchdowns against the Spartans.
Seaman (6-3) will be back in action against Blue Valley Southwest (3-6) next Friday at Seaman.
SEAMAN 57, EMPORIA 6
Seaman (6-3) 14 22 14 7 -- 57
Emporia (1-8) 0 0 0 6 -- 6
First Quarter
Seaman -- Barta 77 Run (Wilhelm kick)
Seaman -- Bloom 1 run (Wilhelm kick)
Second Quarter
Seaman -- Vargas 17 pass from Barta (Wilhelm kick)
Seaman -- Gormley 32 pass from Barta (Wilhelm kick)
Seaman -- Stallbaumer 10 pass from Barta (Conversion good)
Third Quarter
Seaman -- Vargas 10 pass from Barta (Wilhelm kick)
Seaman -- Bloom 1 run (Wilhelm kick)
Fourth Quarter
Emporia -- Woydziak 16 pass from Geitz (Conversion failed)
Seaman -- Vargas 85 return (Wilhelm kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing -- Emporia: Geitz 16-24, Keys 11-59, Trujillo 3-9, Galbreath 1-5. Seaman: Bloom 14-37, Barta 4-87, Stallbaumer 2-6, Huston 2-5.
Passing -- Emporia: Geitz, 8-15, 45 yards. Seaman: Barta 18-22, 318; Huston 0-1, 0.
Receiving -- Emporia: Leeds 4-14, Woydziak 3-29. Seaman: Stallbaumer 6-116, Gormley 4-72, Vargas 4-44, Colley, 3-38.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
For the first time in a long time, Washburn Rural's volleyball team had its back to the wall Friday night after a first-set loss to Shawnee Mission Northwest in the second round of Class 6A pool play at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
But the Junior Blues responded about like you'd expect from a undefeated, nationally-ranked team, outscoring its opponents 100-57 the rest of the night on the way to claiming the Pool I title with a 3-0 record.
After starting pool play with a 25-17, 25-16 win over Olathe Northwest, Shawnee Mission Northwest took a 25-20 win over the Junior Blues in the first set before Rural bounced back with a vengeance, evening the match with a 25-20 win and then routing Northwest in the third set, 25-13.
With the brief scare behind them the Junior Blues wrapped up the Pool I title with a 25-16, 25-8 romp past Hutchinson.
Washburn Rural's volleyball team improved to 41-0 on the season with a 3-0 record in Class 6A pool play Friday in Salina. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural, which improved to 41-0 on the year, will now face Pool II runner-up Blue Valley West (30-10), the defending 6A champ, in a 1 p.m. semifinal Saturday.
Pool II winner Blue Valley North (38-2) will face Olathe Northwest (26-12) in the other semifinal, also at 1 p.m.
The championship and third-place matches will follow the semifinals.
