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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls tennis team finished off its sweep of city, Centennial League and Class 6A regional championships Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center.
The Junior Blues, who have not lost a competition this fall, qualified all six of its players for Friday and Saturday's state tournament at Wichita en route to a 22-19 regional victory over runner-up Manhattan.
Washburn Rural's girls tennis team poses with its Class 6A regional championship trophy Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural got a one-two finish in doubles from the teams of Kate Fritz and Meredith Kucera and Hailey Beck and Shelby Schmutzler while Sheriden Wichman finished second and Mena DiMarzio fifth in singles.
"I'm really proud of these gals,'' Hedberg said. "It's a team effort. We're not star-laden, but we have good solid players at the top.
"They all pull together for each other and it's been really satisfying to watch them have some success.''
Fritz and Kucera, both juniors, captured the regional doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over junior Beck and senior Schmutzler in the championship match, while Wichman, a senior, advanced to the singles final, dropping a 6-1, 6-1 decision to Manhattan star Jillian Harkin. DiMarzio closed out the Junior Blues state qualifiers, finishing fifth in singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win over in the fifth-place match.
Topeka High also turned in a solid regional performance, with the Trojans qualifiying both their doubles teams for state while finishing third as a team.
Juniors Adisyn Caryl and Haley Carpenter finished fourth on Saturday, dropping a 6-3, 7-5 decision to Manhattan in the third-place match while senior Mary Dietrick and sophomore McCall Beall finished sixth, dropping a three-set decision in the fifth-place match.
Dieterick and Beall turned in what was arguably the match of the two-day tournament, surviving a 3 hour, 40-minute three-set match on Friday to punch their ticket to state.
"In over 50 seasons of coaching that's got to be clearly one of my all-time favorite matches to watch, to not only see what it meant to them, but just the effort,'' Topeka High coach Duane Pomeroy said. "They were dead tired and just kept digging down deeper and deeper and going longer and longer and never gave up.
"We're really excited to be able to take four girls to state.''
CLASS 6A GIRLS TENNIS REGIONAL
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
Following a 3-1 victory the night before, No. 1-ranked Washburn volleyball was back in action Saturday against Pittsburg State University, which was fresh off a sweep of Emporia State.
After a slow finish on Friday the Ichabods were looking for a clean, strong effort all the way through.
“It was really important, that was one thing that we made sure to talk about last night and then focus on today,” said senior middle hitter Allison Maxwell, who finished with a game-high 15 kills.
Washburn senior Allison Maxwell (8) celebrates a kill during Saturday's 3-0 win over Pittsburg State at Lee Arena. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/TSN]
Washburn got back to finishing the job in three sets, winning 25-14, 25-18, and 25-17. The sweep moved the Ichabods to 16-1 on the year.
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
After sweeping both matches the weekend prior, No. 1-ranked Washburn volleyball began another weekend at home with a match against Missouri Southern, which entered Friday winless in the conference and 3-12 overall.
Washburn's success has set high standards for the team each night out and although Friday's match was a somewhat suprising four-setter, the Ichabods remained undefeated in MIAA play, taking a 25-8, 25-8, 22-25, 25-14 victory at Lee Arena.
“We should have beat them in five more minutes and then gotten out of the gym,” said Head Coach Chris Herron.
Washburn senior Genna Berg had a match-high 18 kills in Saturday's 3-1 Ichabod home win over Missouri Southern. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]
The first set was business as usual for Washburn as it jumped out to an early 8-1 lead and cruised from there to a 25-8 victory. Five Ichabods up front had at least three kills in the set while senior libero Faith Rottinghaus recorded 8 digs.
“We were just connecting really well with the setters, and I think confidence was really big,” said senior outside hitter Genna Berg, who recorded 5 kills in the first set.
There was more resistance early in the second set as it began 4-4 but Washburn took control from that point, going on a 21-4 run to win the set, 25-8. The Ichabod defense was stout, forcing the Lions to record six errors in the set compared to just three kills.
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By Kyle Manthe
The Washburn Review
Just like the last time the two played in 2019, Washburn football and Fort Hays State would need more than 60 minutes to settle the score Saturday.
This time around it would be the Ichabods who walked off with a 23-20 MIAA victory to move to 4-2 on the season and remain undefeated at Yager Stadium.
“That was fun, we haven’t had one of those in awhile, we haven’t had a walk-off in awhile so that was cool,” said Washburn coach Craig Schurig.
Washburn senior receiver James Letcher Jr. caught the game-winning touchdown pass in Saturday's 23-20 overtime win over Fort Hays State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn coach Craig Schurig gets out of the way as the Ichabods celebrate Saturday's 23-20 overtime win over Fort Hays State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After scoring at least 24 points in each game, offense was hard to come by for Washburn in the Hall of Fame game.
The Ichabods' offense in the first half gained only 122 yards on the way to its first scoreless half of the year.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After an injury-riddled spring track season, Hayden senior Tanner Newkirk has been back in his happy place this fall, getting past his injuries and preparing himself for his Class 4A state cross country title defense.
Newkirk took a step in that direction Saturday at the Kanza Park Course, capturing his second straight city boys title with a dominating performance while helping the Wildcats to a solid second-place team finish behind Washburn Rural.
Newkirk clocked a five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 22.0 seconds in the city meet, winning by nearly 20 seconds over Shawnee Heights junior standout Kory Sutton (15:41.8).
Hayden senior star Tanner Newkirk (1699) and Shawnee Heights junior Kory Sutton lead the pack early in Saturday's city cross country meet. Newkirk captured his second straight city title while Sutton finished second. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Newkirk has been dealing with a respiratory issue in recent weeks, but is just happy to be rounding back into form after missing the 2020 state track meet with an injury.
"In terms of injuries and everything I feel great, which is awesome,'' Newkirk said. "I obviously had a solid race here today and I'm happy for my teammates as well because I saw some really big (personal records) out here today.
"Today I just wanted to get the win and try to do all I can to help the team.''
Senior Alex Holmes finished fourth (16:51.1) to pace four Washburn Rural runners in the top 12 individually and five in the top 18 as the Junior Blues topped Hayden by a 47-60 margin.
Sophomore Hayden Keller placed sixth for Rural (16:47.2) while senior Spencer Haddock was seventh (16:56.7), junior Davin Johnson 12th (17:16.3) and junior Grayson Fink 18th (17:37.9) for the Junior Blues.
Washburn Rural coach Matt Swedlund said he is pleased with how his Junior Blues are coming together as a team.
"This is kind of what I anticipated,'' Swedlund said. "Alex Holmes was out early (offseason surgery) and our focus this entire year has been October.
"We think we can pull things together in October and make it interesting.''
Runner-up Hayden also got a top-10 finish from sophomore Aiden Amis (10th in 17:13.3) while senior Ryan Rochford was 14th (17:22.1), junior Jake Muller 15th (17:26.6) and junior Nick Lloyd 20th (17:44.1) to round out the Wildcats' top five runners.
Shawnee Heights and Seaman finished a close third and fourth in the team race, with sophomore Jackson Esquibel finishing third (16:06.4) and junior Andrew Emerson eighth (17:11.3) for the T-Birds and senior Jace Moore leading Seaman with a fifth-place finish (16:40.8).
Topeka West senior Louis Wilson placed ninth (17:12.6) to lead the Chargers while Topeka High junior Michael Christopher narrowly missed a top-10 finish, taking 11th (17:15.6).
CITY BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
