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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Shawnee Heights girls regular season ended in a perplexing and disappointing fashion Friday.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Reianna Vega (42) led the T-Birds with 14 points in Friday night's 55-50 UKC loss to Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Trying to retain a position near the top of the United Kansas Conference and angling for a preferable Class 5A sub-state slot, the T-Birds fell to Piper 55-50 at home.
Piper entered the contest with a 9-10 record, 6-9 in the conference. Shawnee Heights, meanwhile, was 14-5, 12-3 in the league. The T-Birds beat Piper by 14 earlier in the season.
But the records went out the window Friday night, and Piper made big plays late to pull off the upset.
“We knew this was not going to be one that you could sleepwalk through, and unfortunately between us missing easy shots and giving up offensive rebounds … we need to do better,” Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. “(The coaches) need to do a better job of getting them ready. But to score 50 and not come out with a win kind of hurts.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Shawnee Heights boys forced visiting Piper to share the United Kansas Conference title by knocking off the Pirates 68-64 Friday night at Heights.
Shawnee Heights junior Jaret Sanchez scored a game-high 22 points in the T-Birds' 68-64 UKC win over Piper Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights junior Deacon Pomeroy had 16 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 68-64 UKC win over Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Piper had a chance to own the title outright with a win, but instead the T-Birds claimed a share of their first league crown since 1993.
“This feels amazing, especially to do it at home,” said T-Bird senior Brennon Dodge. “This was the best season of my four years here. We have a great team, and it was just great to compete together every single day. And I’m so glad for the way we won it.”
The two teams finished the season not just with matching 14-2 records in the league, but also with identical 17-3 season records. The intensity of the game Friday was indicative of how evenly matched the two teams were.
The two traded leads for two and a half quarters, at which point Piper began to pull away.
With two and a half minutes remaining in the third period, the Pirates led 47-39. The crowd was frantic, the action chaotic. Players ended up on the floor several times over a particularly intense stretch that ended with Shawnee Heights’ Jaret Sanchez being fouled intentionally, then being charged with a technical foul that resulted in free throws at both ends.
That exchanged might have been the spark that turned the game around. Shawnee Heights went on a 11-2 run to take the lead. After losing the lead momentarily, the T-Birds put together a 12-0 run to go from behind by five to ahead by seven with 1:24 remaining.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
PARK CITY -- Washburn Rural boys wrestling coach Josh Hogan said he doesn't look at the team scores during the course of a tournament, not even the state tournament.
Washburn Rural sophomore 138-pounder Landen Kocher-Munoz gives the heart sign to Rural's cheering section after Friday's semifinal win in the Class 6A state tournament. [Photo by Mac Moore/KSHSAA Covered]
But Hogan didn't have to study the team scores to know his Junior Blues had a good day on Friday in the Class 6A state event at Hartman Arena. The proof was all around him.
Washburn Rural put four wrestlers in the state finals, including returning state champions Easton Broxterman and Landen Kocher-Munoz, while eight Junior Blues have already clinched state medals heading into Saturday's final day of competition.
"I don't look at the team scores,'' Hogan said. "I don't look at them at all. We've got one job and that's to get pins and not get pinned, so it doesn't matter really what's going on in the team race. Our job never changes, so I try not to cloud my mind with any of that but the boys always know where we're at.''
And Hogan was thrilled with how the Junior Blues did their job on Friday.
"I think all year the boys have proved who they are and who we are as a team,'' Hogan said. "We've been tough for a lot of years, we continue to be tough and we ought to be right there in the thick of it for years to come.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
PARK CITY -- Washburn Rural girls wrestling coach Damon Parker has been around long enough to know that his Junior Blues can't afford to take anything for granted until the final scores are announced.
Washburn Rural junior 105-pounder Molly Spader reacts after advancing to the Class 6A-5A state championship match with a semifinal pin. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural girls wrestling coach Damon Parker congratulates 105-pound junior star Molly Spader after Friday's semifinal win. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Parker, whose team has never finished lower than second at state with three state championships, does know that Rural has done what it needed to do over the first two days of the Class 6A-5A state tournament to give itself a chance to challenge for yet another championship.
State 105-pound finalist Molly Spader led the way as the defending state-champion Junior Blues advanced six wrestlers to the final day of the tournament, with all six already assuring themselves of state medals, as Rural built a 93-74 lead over Dodge City in the team race.
"We're very happy with the way that we wrestled the last couple of days,'' Parker said. "But we tell the girls, we don't celebrate until the trophy is in our hands. We have a lot of work left to do, but at the same time, we spent most of this season outside the top 10 (in the state rankings) and with the firepower that we lost from last year's squad, for us to have a decent lead going into Day 3 there's nothing to complain about there.
"Those kids are animals. They've been so much fun to watch.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
PARK CITY -- Shawnee Heights 285-pound wrestling standout Rykan Carver was one win away from earning a Class 5A state medal in the 2023 state tournament and immediately set his sights higher for his senior campaign.
Shawnee Heights senior 285-pounder Rykan Carver reacts at the end of his 4-3 semifinal victory Friday at Hartman Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior 285-pounder Rykan Carver hugs T-Bird assistant coach James Landry after his 4-3 semifinal victory. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I lost in the blood round last year,' Carver said. "It's my last year so there's no way I wanted to go home without medaling.''
Now, entering the final day of his competitive athletic career, Carver has not only reached his goal of becoming a state medalist but will have a shot on Saturday to claim high school wrestling's biggest prize -- a state championship.
Carver, who will study engineering at Kansas State next year, said his regional championship last Saturday gave him confidence that he could challenge for a title this weekend.
"I won the regional tournament and I wasn't necessarily expecting that,'' Carver said. "That gave me some more confidence that I could do it.''
