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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural softball opened the Joy Marie Galliart era with a pair of hard-earned wins over Centennial League foe Topeka High Friday at Hummer Sports Park.
The Junior Blues broke a 4-4 tie with four runs in their last at bat to take an 8-4 first-game win and earned the sweep with an 11-7 win in the nightcap.
Washburn Rural has been to the Class 6A championship game the past two seasons, finishing as the state runnerup both years, while Topeka High won 6A titles in 2021 and 2022.
Seaman softball rolls to UKC sweep over Topeka West
Seaman's softball team opened its 2024 season in impressive fashion Friday at Seaman, taking a pair of wins over United Kansas Conference foe Topeka West.
The Vikings took an 18-3 first-game win over the Chargers and followed that up with a 17-1 second-game victory.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Class 5A state champion Shawnee Heights put freshmen Trey Donath and Evan Jones on the 2024 All-City boys bowling team while 5A third-place 5A finisher Seaman and Washburn Rural also put two bowlers on the six-member team, selected by city coaches.
Donath finished eighth and Jones ninth in the state tournament as the T-Birds won the state title by a 3,547-3,519 margin over Kansas City-Turner at Wichita's Bowlero-Northrock.
Seaman senior state medalist Riley Parkhurst and junior Alex Prescott made the All-City first team after helping the Vikings earn their third-place team finish in 5A, while Washburn Rural is represented by senior Logan Glinka and sophomore Cody Spangler.
Spangler finished sixth individually in his first 6A state tournament while city champion Glinka is the lone first-team All-City repeater after helping lead the Junior Blues to the 6A team championship in 2023.
All-City capsules:
TREY DONATH, Shawnee Heights -- A freshman, Donath helped lead Shawnee Heights to its first-ever boys Class 5A team bowling championship by a 3,547-3,519 margin over United Kansas Conference foe Kansas City-Turner. Donath finished eighth individually with a 667 three-game series. Donath finished 13th in regional competition with a 569 series to help the T-Birds qualify for state with a second-place team finish and he shot a 617 series in the UKC meet and a 614 in the city tournament.
LOGAN GLINKA, Washburn Rural -- A junior, Glinka earned All-City first-team honors for the second straight season after winning the city title with a 729 series (279 game) and finishing second in the Centennial League for the team-champion Junior Blues with a 653. As a sophomore Glinka posted a seventh-place finish in the Class 6A state tournament, helping the Junior Blues win the team championship.
EVAN JONES, Shawnee Heights -- Jones, a freshman, helped Shawnee Heights win the first boys Class 5A state team bowling title in school history, with the T-Birds winning by a 3,547-3, 519 margin over United Kansas Conference rival Kansas City-Turner. Jones finished ninth in 5A with a 665 three-game series. Jones placed third in the city meet with a 666 series and fifth in the UKC with a 666.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The 2024 girls All-City bowling team is a mix between some of the city's most experienced high school bowlers and two promising newcomers.
The All-City team, selected by city coaches, includes senior first-team repeaters Claire Ireland of Washburn Rural, Cheyenne Turkin of Seaman and Brenna Rutschmann and Megan Wood of Topeka West, while the six-member team is rounded out by Seaman freshman Paige Snyder and Washburn Rural freshman Megan Glinka.
Ireland, Turkin, Rutschmann and Wood all earned state individual medals during their high school careers and Snyder medaled in her first state meet as four of the six first-team picks earned state medals in the 2024 state meet.
Ireland and Glinka helped Washburn Rural finish second as a team in the Class 6A state tournament while Snyder and Turkin helped Seaman post a third-place finish in 5A.
All-City capsules:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman, which has made a state-record 19 straight state tournament appearances, opened its 2024 campaign with a doubleheader sweep over United Kansas Conference opponent Topeka West Friday on a cold day at Hummer Sports Park.
The Vikings ended both games early by run rule, taking a 17-0 win in a three-inning first game and a 14-0 five-inning decision in the nightcap.
Seaman senior Kaiden Griffin drew the first-game start for the Vikings and went the distance to pick up the pitching win.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Two girls soccer teams with high expectations for the season battled each other, and the elements, to a 0-0 double-overtime tie in their opening games Friday at the Sunflower Soccer Complex.
Hayden and Cair Paravel were both hampered by a 20-30 mile per hour wind from the north that didn’t provide any decisive impact on the game other than to produce a lot of goose bumps and cramps. In the end, both coaches found enough positives to be happy with the result.
“The conditions were kind of tough on offense,” said Hayden coach Klaus Kreutzer. “The wind makes it more difficult, but we did some things to make it difficult for ourselves. I thought we looked good defensively. We just didn’t take enough shots on goal. We looked for layups instead of taking a jump shot.”
Cair Paravel started the game with the wind at its back but produced just one shot on goal in the first half. The Lions nearly knocked home a couple of shots in in the second overtime, but Hayden held on to preserve the tie.
“It seemed like we played better against the wind than we did with it for whatever reason. We took a couple of good shots at the end of the game and were like, ‘Where were those in the first half,’ ” said Cair Paravel coach Doug Woolery. “But I feel like we got lucky, too, because they had some missed opportunities.
“For our first game, I was very pleased with our play. It’s hard to play in the wind. I felt like Klaus did a good job of preparing his team to defend against us.”