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The 2024 All-Shawnee County girls cross country team: Front row, from left -- Stella Appelhanz, Seaman; Kinley Robinson, Seaman; Ryin Miller, Seaman; Brynn Spencer, Seaman; Sofia Harper, Hayden; Elliot Wrench, Hayden. Back row, from left -- coach Matt Swedlund, Washburn Rural; Emily Graf, Washburn Rural; Rylee Ismert, Washburn Rural; Kenzie Maddox, Washburn Rural; Payton Fink, Washburn Rural; Brooklyn Nolte, Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A whopping nine first-team repeat selections and seven state medalists headline the 2024 All-Shawnee County girls cross country team.
Leading the way are top-five individual state finishers Ryin Miller of Seaman and Rylee Ismert and Payton Fink of Washburn Rural, with Miller, a junior, the Class 5A runnerup and seniors Ismert and Fink finishing third and fifth in 6A.
Hayden senior Elliot Wrench posted a sixth-place finish in 4A while junior Emily Graf placed 14th in 6A and Seaman senior Stella Appelhanz and sophomore Brynn Spencer finished 17th and 18th in 5A.
Miller, Ismert, Fink, Wrench, Graf, Appelhanz and Spencer are all first-team All-Shawnee County repeat picks along with Washburn Rural senior Brooklyn Nolte and Hayden sophomore Sofia Harper.
Earning first-team all-county honors for the first time are Washburn Rural junior Kenzie Maddox and Seaman sophomore Kinley Robinson.
Washburn Rural coach Matt Swedlund was named the girls Shawnee County coach of the year after his Junior Blues swept city, Centennial League and Class 6A regional team titles and tied for the 6A team championship, finishing second to five-time champion Olathe West on a tiebreaker.
All-Shawnee County girls capsules:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University volleyball finished off its home regular-season schedule with a Lee Arena sweep over Fort Hays State Saturday on Senior Day.
Washburn volleyball celebrates an assist during Saturday's Senior Day sweep over Fort Hays State. [Photo By Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Ichabods will close out their regular season on the road, beginning with Central Oklahoma at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Cair Paravel product Taryn Pridgett (18) was honored Saturday at Lee Arena as part of Washburn volleyball's Senior Day festivities. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Former Seaman standout Maddie Steiner (17) was one of five Washburn seniors recognized Saturday on Senior Day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Before Saturday's match Washburn honored seniors Emma Williams, Jalyn Stevenson, Maddie Steiner, Taryn Pridgett and Austin Broadie.
After the celebration the Ichabods (19-5 overall, 10-4 MIAA) got to work with 25-13, 25-15 and 25-17 set victories over the Tigers (12-11, 4-10).
The first four points of the match all went to the home squad as Stevenson and Bella Limback combined for a block for the fourth point.
Back-to-back kills by Alex Dvorak pushed the lead to 9-2 in favor of Washburn. The lead grew to double digits as part of a 5-0 run to make it 21-10. Both sides traded blows down the stretch as the Ichabods eased into a 12-point victory.
A 6-1 run capped off by a kill from Emery Keebaugh gave Washburn an 8-3 lead in the second set.
Fort Hays State hung within four points until a kill by Stevenson began another 6-1 stretch to help WU go up 18-9. The Ichabod offense hit .364 as a team with 14 kills in the set as they took a commanding 2-0 lead with a 25-15 win.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball fell 63-51 in the final game of the Central Region Crossover on Saturday afternoon to host St. Cloud State.
Washburn junior Payton Sterk led all scorers with 14 points in Saturday's 63-51 loss to St. Cloud State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will return to play next week at the Quincy Classic against McKendree at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15.
A 3-pointer 20 seconds into the game by Brooke Gomez put Washburn (0-2) up early.
The next five points came from the Huskies (2-0) as the Ichabods were held off the scoreboard until the 5:51 mark when Yibari Nwidadah broke free for a layup.
Eight first-quarter turnovers prevented Washburn from getting in rhythm. Still, the Ichabods trailed just 15-11 after 10 minutes.
Scoring came quickly for both sides to begin the second quarter. Five straight Ichabod points came from Gabi Giovannetti to pull within a point at the 8:13 mark. St. Cloud State was able to push the lead back up to six but back-to-back buckets by Nwidadah brought it back down to a two-point game. The Ichabods shot 6-13 (46.15 percent) in the quarter to keep the deficit at two points going into halftime, 28-26.
Coming out of the break a layup by Payton Sterk made it 33-31 with 5:27 left in the third quarter.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural bounced back from a 3-0 semifinal loss to Class 6A state champion Shawnee Mission East with a 3-1 win over Shawnee Mission West in Saturday's third-place game at Wichita's Stryker Sports Complex.
Washburn Rural junior Dylan Willingham (19) had a goal and two assists in Saturday's 3-1 win over Shawnee Mission West in the Class 6A third-place game at Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]
Rural capped a 15-3-3 season with Saturday's win while SM West finished the year 15-4-2.
Junior Dylan Willingham had a goal and two assists for the Junior Blues while Washburn Rural also got goals from sophomore Myles Didde and sophomore Brodye Kocher-Munoz.
Shawnee Mission East won the 6A state title with a 1-0 win over Dodge City, with the Lancers handing the Red Demons their only loss in a 20-1-0 campaign. SM East finished its season 19-1-1.
East got its lone goal in the championship game on a shot from Brady Neuman with 6:41 left in the first half.
No. 10-ranked Ichabod men's basketball knocks off defending national champion Minnesota State, 85-68
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 10-ranked Washburn University men's basketball closed the first half on a 16-7 run en route to an 11-point lead at the halftime break and led by as many as 20 in the second half while improving to 2-0 on the season with an 85-68 win over defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Minnesota State on Saturday in Municipal Auditorium.
Washburn newcomer Jacob Hanna scored 17 points in Saturday's 85-68 win over defending national champion Minnesota State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn will open its home slate Tuesday with a non-conference game against Ottawa in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods picked up their first win over a No. 1-ranked opponent since March 6, 2021, when they topped Northwest Missouri in the MIAA Championship game.
WU led by nine at the break after shooting 49 percent in the half on 16 of 33 from the field while holding the Mavericks to 9 of 30 for a 30 percent clip, including 2 of 13 from 3-point range.
Washburn scored the first four points of the second half to go up 40-27.
After trading 3-pointers, MSU trailed by 11 at 50-39, but an 8-0 spurt put the Ichabods up 19.
The Mavericks pulled within 11 with 3:31 remaining but Washburn outscored Minnesota State 8-2 down the stretch for the 17-point win.
