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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seven Shawnee County schools will send a total of 25 players to state tennis tournaments Friday and Saturday, with the County represented in all four state events.
Class 5A regional team champ Topeka West and 6A runner-up Washburn Rural both qualified all six players for state while Hayden qualified five players for 4A state, Shawnee Heights four, Highland Park two and Seaman one entry in 5A and Rossville one qualifier in 3A-1A.
Topeka West swept the top two spots in both singles and doubles in Friday's regional at Kossover Tennis Center to qualify its entire team for Friday and Saturday's state tournament at Maize South while taking the regional team championship by a 26-13 margin over runner-up Shawnee Heights.
Sophomore Carter Cool and freshman teammate James Maag finished one-two in singles, while sophomore twin brothers Ian and Miles Cusick won the doubles title, topping junior Gavin Chavez and freshman Caden McGee in the doubles final..
Topeka West sophomore Carter Cool won the 5A regional singles title Friday at Kossover Tennis Center as the Chargers won the regional team title and qualified their entire team for this weekend's state meet at Maize South. [Submitted]
Miles Cusick (left) and his twin bother Ian have won city, Centennial League and Class 5A regional doubles titles this spring for Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights qualified junior singles players Jaden Rodriguez and Paul Quidu and the doubles team of juniors Garrison Johnson and Ajay Sharma while Highland Park qualified the doubles team of seniors Eliseo Barreno and Azarion Perkins and Seaman qualified junior singles player Justin Kruse.
Kruse finished third in singles while Rodriguez was fourth and Quidu fifth..
Johnson and Sharma finished third in doubles while Barreno and Perkins finished fifth.
The 5A state tournament will be played next Friday and Saturday at Maize South.
Washburn Rural finished second to Centennial League rival Manhattan in the 6A regional at Wichita's Riverside Tennis Complex, with junior Nick Luetje and sophomore Mason Casebeer finishing second in doubles while juniors Jiyoon Park and Zach Willingham finished fifth.
Rural junior Kyler Knudtson and senior Aryamann Zutshi earned state singles berths for the 6A tournament at Prairie Village's Harmon Park with third and fourth-place regional finishes.
Hayden junior Michael Sandstrom teamed with sophomore Gus Glotzbach to win a 4A regional doubles title last weekend. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden, which will host the 4A state tournament at Kossover Tennis Center, finished one-two in doubles in the 4A regional at Harmon Park, with junior Michael Sandstrom and sophomore Gus Glotzbach topping senior Johnny Holloway and junior Patrick Gorman in the final
Wildcat junior Tyler Broxterman qualified for state in singles with a fourth-place regional finish as Hayden finished second as a team.
Rossville senior Alex Sherer, who competed during the regular season for Hayden as a co-op player, qualified for the 3A-1A state tournament with a second-place regional finish.
The 3A-1A tournament will be contested at Wichita's Riverside Tennis Complex.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
NOTE: TopSports.news plans to compile a weekly track and field honor roll for Shawnee County high schools throughout the 2021 season. Coaches are asked to email updated times and marks or any corrections to Rick Peterson at
BOYS
100 METERS
Smith, Shawnee Heights 10.36
Rezac, Rossville 10.68
Renfro, Silver Lake 10.90
January, Shawnee Heights 10.92
Shawnee Heights sophomore Jeremiah Smith is the Shawnee County leader in the boys 100 and 200-meter dashes and 110-meter high hurdles. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
200 METERS
Smith, Shawnee Heights 21.85
Rezac, Rossville 22.03
Renfro, Silver Lake 22.50
Richardson, Highland Park 22.69
January, Shawnee Heights 23.04
400 METERS
Arnold, Shawnee Heights 51.68
Myers, Shawnee Heights 53.41
Kaniper, Silver Lake 53.75
Rochford, Hayden 53.76
Roney, Washburn Rural 54.15
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It was going to take a special opportunity to lure Perry-Lecompton defensive coordinator Jared Swafford away from his hometown high school, but Seaman fit that bill.
Swafford, who helped the Kaws reach the Class 3A state championship game the past two seasons, was approved by the USD 345 school board Monday night as the Vikings' new head football coach, taking over for Glenn O'Neil, who resigned after five seasons at Seaman to accept a position at Dodge City.
The 37-year-old Swafford, a 2002 Perry-Lecompton graduate, has also served as the Kaws' head boys basketball the past seven seasons, posting a 92-63 record. Swafford's Kaws have posted five straight winning seasons in basketball, including back-to-back 3A state berths in 2018 and 2019 (third place).
"It's always going to be difficult when it's your hometown but I felt like I was ready for a different opportunity in the right opportunity presented itself and I've heard nothing but good things about Seaman High School,'' Swafford said.
"When that chance came aong it felt right through the interview process and meeting some of the people that work there and I have no reservations at all. I love the opportunity.''
New Seaman head football coach Jared Swafford (left) chats with Rossville's Derick Hammes during last week's Junior Combine at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Swafford, who played collegiately at Emporia State, has been on Perry-Lecompton's coaching staff since 2009 and started as a para-professional before teaching business and technology.
"I had a couple of different jobs (out of college) and realized I wanted to get into coaching and reached out to Coach (Mike) Paramore in one of the local camps that he was running and it got to the point that where he asked me if I would have interest in joining the staff maybe,'' Swafford recalled. "I said, 'Absolutely!' ''
Now Swafford is eager to take the next step in his coaching career at Seaman.
"You've got a blue-collar community and you've got a community that's fully invested in their programs, all their programs,'' Swafford said. "The facilities are great, you've got great prople in the administration and it's hard to turn down that kind of an opportunity.''
Swafford will be taking over a Seaman team that posted a 7-2 record last fall, earning the No. 1 East seed in 5A before losing to Blue Valley Southwest, 27-21.
"I'm very excited,'' Swafford said. "I'm just ready to get things going and ready to meet the kids and get in there and watch them work and build relationships.''
Swafford and his wife, Jamie, have three sons -- Chase, Cash and Jett.
O'Neil posted a 26-22 record at Seaman, including an 8-3 record in Year 1 and last fall's 7-2 campaign.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The red-hot Washburn baseball team has earned the No. 5 seed for next weekend's MIAA Championship Tournament and will put a five-game winning streak on the line at No. 4 seed Pittsburg State in a best-two-of-three quarterfinal series starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Washburn swept Northwest Missouri (20-14, 9-7) to end the regular season at 19-20 overall and 18-15 in the MIAA.
The Gorillas finished the regular season 26-13 overall and 21-12 in conference play to earn the No. 4 seed and have split four games. The Ichabods took two out of three in Pittsburg in March before falling in a single non-conference game at Falley Field on April 6.
The series will begin with Game 1 on Friday followed by Game 2 on Saturday at 3 p.m. If necessary the third game will be on Sunday, May 16 at 1 p.m.
Former Hayden standout Andrew Schmidtlein had four hits in Washburn's doubleheader sweep at Northwest Missouri Friday, including a 3-run homer and three doubles. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
This season the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals will played at the campus sites of the top-four seeded teams in a best two-out-of-three series.
The winners then advance to Warren Turner Field in Joplin, Mo. (May 20-22), where the semifinals and championship will take place in a double-elimination format.
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Washburn golf is headed to the NCAA Championship later this month after rallying for a fourth-place regional finish Saturday in Kansas City, Mo. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Andrew Beckler and sophomore Griffin Mott led the way with final-round 67s as No. 18-ranked Washburn University's golf team rallied in Saturday's final round of the NCAA Central/Midwest Regional at Shoal Creek Golf Club in Kansas City, Mo. to place fourth as a team and earn a berth in the NCAA Championship later this month.
Washburn started the day sixth as a team but rallied to earn the fourth and final Championship berth and are headed to its first NCAA Championship since the 2011-2012 season.
WU moved up four spots over the final two days of the tournament and closed out the regional tournament just two strokes behind third-place Arkansas Tech and four strokes behind second-place Indianapolis. The Ichabods shot 13 over par in the opening round, but improved to 4 over in the second round and 1 under par Saturday's third round to claw their way back.
Beckler, recently named the MIAA player of the year, finished the tournament tied for third place at 3 under par with a 54-hole title of .210 while Mott, also an All-MIAA pick, tied for sixth with an even-par 213.
Ian Trebilcock tied for 17th after a final-round 69 while Dawson Wills tied for 59th and Jackson Wexler 83rd.
Beckler is a Washburn Rural graduate and was an individual and Class 6A team champion for the Junior Blues.
The Ichabods will compete in the NCAA Championship May 17-21 at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
