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Created: 01 May 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

It's been a challenging but very successful last few days for Washburn Rural's boys tennis team.

Washburn Rural's boys tennis team poses for a picture after winning Wednesday's city team championship at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The eventful stretch began with last Thursday's city meet being postponed by inclement weather and continued in Monday's Centennial League meet, which Brad Johnston's Junior Blues won despite playing without top singles players Dylan Dodge and Keegan Knudtson, who were out of state on a school-related trip.

City schools also had to deal with weather uncertainty again on Wednesday, with teams initially reporting to Plan B indoor venue Genesis before the weather conditions vastly improved and the city championships were able to go on as planned at Kossover Tennis Center.

And once city competitors got back to Kossover and were treated to near-perfect conditions, Washburn Rural did the rest, sweeping all four individual titles on the way to a perfect team score and a 36-26 win over 2023 city champ Topeka West.

"The boys obviously kept their heads and stayed level-headed and finished the job,'' Johnston said. "I feel like we're at the top of our game right now and I feel like they're going to keep performing at a high level.

"Obviously you just never know, but I'm proud of where they're at and proud of where they're working towards.''

Dodge, a senior, and sophomore Knudtson swept the No. 1 and No. 2 singles championships while senior Lawsen Lobatos and sophomore Dylan Willingham prevailed in No. 1 doubles and sophomores Brayden Kohls and Cale Duetscher completed the sweep with the title in No. 2 doubles.

 Washburn Rural senior Lawsen Lobatos makes a return during Wednesday's city meet at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Sophomore Dylan Willingham helped Washburn Rural post a perfect team score in Wednesday's city boys tennis championships at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The match of the day was the No. 1 doubles final, with Lobatos and Willingham avenging an earlier tiebreaker loss to Topeka West returning Class 5A medalists Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew, with the Rural duo taking a hard-earned 8-6 victory.

"You never want to lose to your city rivals, so losing in their invitational of course it gives us motivation to practice and try harder and go and play other, better guys afterwards to just prepare for it and then to come back and win is pretty nice,'' Lobatos said. "Winning and sweeping city as a team is great motivation and great momentum going into regionals.''

"It doesn't get any better,'' Willingham said. "Winning now is perfect because we have all the momentum going to regionals. I lost to them last year and I lost to them this year. I was tired of losing and I was so glad we got the win today.'' 

Washburn Rural senior Dylan Dodge won the city No. 1 singles championship on Wednesday after winning the No. 2 doubles title as a junior. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Dodge, who won a city title in No. 2 doubles as a junior, made it two city titles in a row with Wednesday's 8-4 win over Cair Paravel Latin sophomore Drew Fay.

"That was one of the things on the top of my list of goals,'' Dodge said. "To win city is a big achievement I feel like, especially in Topeka, because tennis has a very rich tradition here.

"This is a big confidence boost for regionals and hopefully I can carry this into regionals and state.''

Knudtson added the No. 2 singles crown with an 8-6 win over Topeka West's Mark Cianciarulo while Kohls and Duetscher took an 8-5 win over Seaman's Noah Andrews and Austin Bramlett in the No. 2 doubles final.

Hayden and Cair Paravel will begin two days of 3A-1A regional competition on Thursday in Marysville while the remaining six city teams will compete on Friday.

Rural and Topeka High will compete in a 6A meet in Junction City while Highland Park, Seaman, Shawnee Heights and Topeka West will compete in a 5A meet at Emporia.

The top six regional finishers in singles and doubles will qualify for state tournaments on May 10-11.

The 6A state tournament will be played in Wichita, 5A in Andover and 3A-1A in Prairie Village.

CITY BOYS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Created: 01 May 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Senior Jaycee Ginter has earned first-team honors for the fourth straight year, leading five members of the the Washburn Ichabod softball team to receive All-MIAA recognition.

Washburn senior Jaycee Ginter has received first-team All-MIAA honors for the fourth straight season. [File photo/TSN]

Ginter earned first-team All-MIAA honors as a pitcher/utility player after leading the Ichabods with a .401 regular-season batting average while collecting a team-high 55 hits, five home runs, 26 walks and 38 runs batted in.

Ginter, a former three-time Class 5A state champion at Shawnee Heights is fifth in the MIAA in batting average, second in on-base percentage, 10th in RBI and eighth in walks.

As a pitcher this season, she enters the MIAA Tournament with a 16-7 overall record with a 2.22 earned run average in 20 starts,  striking out 152 batters and holding opponents to a .221 batting average. She is 10th in the MIAA in earned run average, ninth in opposing batting average, second in strikeouts and sixth in wins.

Ginter was also a first-team All-MIAA choice at pitcher/utility as a junior, sophomore and freshman, becoming the first Ichabod in program history to earn first-team All-MIAA honors all four years.

Senior Marrit Mead was a second-team All-MIAA selection at third base and was a Gold Glove Award winner. Sadie Walker was a second-team selection at pitcher while Alexis Tanguma received honorable mention at second base and Madi Moore was the recipient of the Gold Glove Award at catcher.

The Ichabods will be in action on Thursday at the MIAA Tournament, facing Northwest Missouri at 1:30 p.m. in Edmond, Okla.
 
Mead enters the MIAA Tournament with a .301 batting average, stealing a team-high 24 bases. Mead is second on the team with 46 hits and leads the team with 41 runs scored and tied for the lead with 11 doubles.

Mead has been a four-time All-MIAA selection, earning second-team honors as a junior and first-team All-MIAA honors as a sophomore and freshman. Mead has been the MIAA's Gold Glove selection at third base the last three seasons.
 
Walker was a second-team All-MIAA pick in the circle, leading the Ichabods with a 1.45 earned run average while going 20-7 in the circle with 16 complete games and six shutouts. Walker added three saves and struck out 148 batters.

Walker's 20 wins leads the MIAA as does her 159 innings pitched. She is also ranked third in strikeouts and fifth in saves.
 
Tanguma has hit .376 with 41 hits, seven doubles and 21 RBI. During MIAA play she batted .400 with 32 hits driving in 16 in 25 games. Her five sac flies is tied for second in the MIAA.
 
Moore was one of two freshmen named to the MIAA's Gold Glove team. In 218 chances, Moore had no errors and threw out seven of 17 would-be base stealers.

Emporia State senior Alexis Dial has earned first-team All-MIAA softball honors as an outfielder. [Photo courtesy of Emporia State Athletics]

Emporia State senior Alexis Dial, a former Shawnee Heights standout, earned a berth on the All-MIAA first team as an outfielder. 
 

Dial is batting .432 on the season with a .781 slugging percentage, 20 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, 38 runs and 60 RBI with 15 stolen bases.

She leads the MIAA and ranks ninth nationally in doubles while ranking third in the MIAA and 21st in the nation in RBI.

She is second in the conference in slugging percentage, and total bases, third in batting average, fourth in hits and triples, fifth in on- base percentage and eighth in home runs.

2024 MIAA Softball Postseason Awards

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Created: 30 April 2024

By Todd Fertig

TopSports.news

A historic win for the Silver Lake softball team could not have been more anti-climactic. Or inconclusive. Or weird.

The afternoon started with the announcement that a doubleheader at Hayden would be played on the Eagles’ home field due to field conditions at Hayden.

Throwing off the Eagles’ pregame routine didn’t affect their bats, however. They reeled off six runs before the visiting “home team” could come to bat.

With the Eagles leading 12-1 after four innings, and storm clouds rapidly blotting the sky, the umpires huddled with coaches and school administrators.

Lightning in the area presaged tornado warnings across northeast Kansas. The umpires determined to rule the game complete with just four innings in the books. The scorekeeper was told to mark zeros in the fifth frame to make the game official.

“They control what they can control,” Silver Lake coach Nick Hamilton said about his players. “They show up and play ball. They were ready to do that. They handled (the changes) well and they came out hot in the first inning.”

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Created: 30 April 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Two years, two United Kansas Conference titles for Topeka West tennis.

The Chargers, who won the 2023 UKC crown in their first year in the league on the way to the Class 5A championship, swept the singles and doubles titles in Tuesday's meet at Kossover Tennis Center on the way to a title repeat by a 65-61 margin over Piper.

"Today was a little bit tighter of a tournament than last year was,'' Topeka West coach Kurt Davids said. "Hats off to Piper, their first year of having a program and placing second in league and pushing us right to the end.''

Topeka West tennis poses for a team picture after winning its second straight United Kansas Conference team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Topeka West seniors Caden McGee (left) and James Maag both reached the 100-win miletone in Tuesday's UKC tennis meet. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Topeka West's senior trio of doubles players Caden McGee and Caleb Weybrew and singles player James Maag keyed the Chargers' title run, with McGee and Weybrew taking an 8-1 win over Piper in the doubles final while Maag took an 8-0 win over Piper's John Vogel.

Both McGee and Weybrew and Maag entered Tuesday's tournament as favorites and came through for the Chargers.

"They kind of did was expected of them,'' Davids said of McGee, Weybrew and Maag, all returning 5A state placers.

The Chargers also got a fifth-place finish from the doubles team of seniors Alex Engel and Cori Bidwell.

"My (No.) 2 doubles, players of the day guess,'' Davids said. "They were seeded 10th coming in and they finished fifth and their only loss on the day was to the team that finished second, so they really stepped up and come through for us. Without that we wouldn't have done it.''

McGee and Maag also reached career milestones on Tuesday, with both Charger standouts reaching the 100-win mark. 

"It's a good milestone, and I didn't even know it was happening,'' Davids said. "I'm just kind of accustomed to those guys being successful and congrats to them and hopefully we'll add a few more than that.''

Seaman finished third as a team in Tuesday's meet while Shawnee Heights tied for fifth.

West, Seaman and Shawnee Heights are also scheduled to compete in the city championship at Kossover on Wednesday before competing in a 5A regional Friday at Emporia.

"I think we're picking at the right time and we're moving in the right direction,'' Davids said.

UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE TENNIS

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