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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Perhaps the biggest hurdle Chris Ridley faced in writing his third book was getting longtime Washburn Rural Hall of Fame boys and girls tennis coach Kevin Hedberg to agree to the project.
Kevin Hedberg, during his induction into the Kansas Tennis Coaches Assocation Hall of Fame in 2023, is the subject of 'Coaching Legacy of Champions,' which will be released in the coming weeks. [File photo/TSN]
Hedberg, who retired in 2022 after 43 years in education and coaching, wasn't keen on the idea of talking about himself, but Ridley, who previously released books on legendary prep football coaches Merle Venable of Baldwin and Rural's Ron Bowen, was eventually able to sell his close friend on the book by hitting Hedberg in his soft spot -- his former players.
"I knew it was going to be a hurdle, because we met, about whether the book could be written,'' said Ridley, Washburn Rural's former athletic director who helped bring Hedberg to the school in 1991. "He wasn't sure that it was something that we ought to do.
"But I said, 'Well, think about the way Bowen felt, that it gave an awful lot of attention to an awful lot of kids that played.' That's what convinced Kevin was all the different kids that could be mentioned and their stories and their seasons. That's what he likes I think.''
Ridley is currently accepting orders for 'Coaching Legacy of Champions,' with the target date for release early next month.
"It should go to print here pretty quickly, we're hoping for the first of August,'' Ridley said. "It shouldn't take too long to get it printed. That's usually the fastest part of it.''
Hedberg, a former standout at Topeka High and South Florida and a member of the Topeka Tennis Association and Kansas Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame, said the book gave him an opportunity to re-live his 82 seasons (girls and boys combined) as a high school coach, beginning his career with an 11-year stint at Seaman before 32 years at Rural.
"I said no initially and then Chris came back at me with the team aspect,'' said Hedberg, who coached five state championship teams at Rural. "It was wonderful and looking back you just realize all the unique personalities that made up tennis teams. All teams have that, but in tennis you've got six people and they're in a van and you're learning all kinds of things. We had a van rule that whatever was said in the van never left the van. And most of the time they held to that.
"Those dynamics were so much fun. I got to have some really terrific players and then there were all the kids that got their start playing tennis. It's just fun to re-live it and that part was really fun.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A national golfer of the year, a pair of baseball All-Americans, two of Shawnee County's all-time wrestling greats, an individual and state team-champion swimmer and multiple athletes who competed in NCAA Championships are included in the second group of men's picks in TopSports.news' Shawnee County All-Time Top 100 project.
TSN's second group of 10 Top 100 honorees (No. 81 through 90) includes former NCAA Division II golfer of the year Andrew Beckler, a Washburn Rural product, as well as former wrestling greats Tagen Lambotte of Rossville and Bishop Murray of Washburn Rural, who combined for seven individual state titles, baseball All-Americans Chris Carlson of Seaman and Shane Wright of Hayden and former Seaman star Zeke Metz, who helped lead the Vikings to the city's first swimming state team championship.
Picks No. 81 through 90 also include former NCAA track and field qualifier Mikey Hoffer of Shawnee Heights, former Highland Park basketball star Lamont Austin, who won high school and national junior college titles and played in the NCAA basketball championships, and multi-sport stars and Division I standouts Rapheal Posey of Highland Park and Duane Zlatnik of Rossville.
TSN SHAWNEE COUNTY ALL-TIME TOP 100 MEN’S ATHLETES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Darting Basketball Academy wrapped up its fifth 3 on 3 Summer League this week at Shawnee Heights, drawing the biggest numbers in the history of the event and culminating with the crowning of Most Valuable Players in seven divisions.
On Monday night Owen Pearson received the MVP award in the 8-9-year-old boys division, while Beau Moser was the 10-11 boys winner and Hudson Heim took home MVP honors in the 12-13 boys division.
Morgan Ranson was the 9-11 girls MVP and Aniyah Perkins received the MVP award in the girls 12-13 division.
DBA 3 on 3 Summer League 12-13-year-old girls most valuable player Aniyah Perkins (left), 9-11 girls MVP Morgan Ranson (second from left) and 8-9 boys MVP Owen Pearson (right) pose with Kerry Darting for a picture after receiving their awards Monday night at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hudson Heim (left), the 12-13-year-old boys DBA 3 on 3 Summer League MVP, and 10-11 MVP Beau Moser (right) pose for a picture with Kerry Darting after receiving their awards Monday night at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The high school division finished up on Wednesday, with KK Emmot repeating as the girls most valuable player and Jai'Marion Cook receiving the boys MVP award.
Boys high school division MVP Jai'Marion Cook (left) and girls MVP KK Emmot (right) pose for a picture with Kerry Darting Wednesday night after the conclusion of the DBA 3 on 3 Summer League. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seven of Shawnee County's most accomplished athletes in swimming and wrestling are among the second group of 10 women's honorees in TopSports.news' Shawnee County All-Time Top 100 project.
Picks 81-90, which also includes three local volleyball greats, features five former swimmers who were multi-time state champions, including Hayden's Kristin Strecker, who went on to swim at Nebraska, and Washburn Rural alums Haley Molden and Sammie Schurig, who went on to become standouts at Kansas, as well as former Hayden stars Kristen Carlson and Katie Merriam.
Washburn Rural's Dajia Anderson and Addison Broxterman, who helped Rural establish itself as the state's most dominant girls wrestling program, also earned Top 100 berths along with former county volleyball stars Sandy Werner of Washburn Rural, Seaman's Breanna Lewis and Silver Lake's Alyssa Schultejans.
Both Werner and Schultejans played at Kansas State while Lewis earned All-America honors at Washburn University and is a member of the WU Hall of Fame.
TSN SHAWNEE COUNTY ALL-TIME TOP 100 WOMEN’S ATHLETES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
When high school football practice for the 2024 season begins across the state on August 19, linemen will go back to laboring in relative obscurity.
But Tuesday's Battle of the Bigs lineman challenge at Shawnee Heights, an annual event since 2017, was all about the men in the trenches.
"This is one of our largest ones,'' Shawnee Heights coach Jason Swift said. "And you've got to credit schools like Highland Park and Topeka West who have definitely brought numbers, and then we've got schools from surrounding areas and a couple of Kansas City schools.''
Approximately 90 linemen representing nine city and area high schools took part in the Battle of the Bigs, competing in a variety of drills/activities while vying for individual and team prizes.
"We do this to kind of celebrate the linemen,'' Swift said. "They don't get to do a lot of glorified stuff in the summer so this is an opportunity for them to compete and build some unity together and have fun.
Participating athletes took part in nine measured events:
