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Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University baseball opens its home schedule with three games Friday through Sunday at the Steve Anson Classic against the University of Sioux Falls and Metropolitan State Denver, starting at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Washburn's home stadium was named Steve Anson Stadium last season and this weekend's event is the first tournament named in the honor of the Ichabods' longtime head coach, who passed away in 2014.

"We've spent a long time trying to get this put together,'' said Washburn coach Harley Douglas, who was an assistant under Anson. "It wasn't going to work out very well to have a tournament where you're playing at a field that wasn't named after him.

"But now that you have a setup where it's named after him and it's there, we got it put together pretty quick. And in the future I want it to be a premier tournament that you're going to see awesome baseball the while entire time, just like coach always wanted to have and he always tried to bring in the right teams to do that. It's huge for us.''

The Ichabods begin the tournament against Sioux Falls at 2 p.m. on Friday before facing No. 23-ranked MSU Denver at 1 p.m. on Saturday and finishing off the tournament against Sioux Falls again at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Emporia State will also take part in this weekend's tournament.

There is no gate fee for games.

Washburn began the season 1-3 on the year after playing four road games in South Florida. The Ichabods finished the trip with a 6-0 loss to to Barry on Monday.

Douglas said he saw some good things in the Ichabods' Florida performance while also seeing plenty of things that need work.

"I thought this last weekend would be kind of a testament of our identity, kind of where we were going to be, what we were going to be like,'' Douglas said. "I thought we did a good job of coming out and competing and if you look at it, every game was tight and where it needed to be besides the last one when we didn't hit well.

"I think we had some good stuff come out of it.''

The Ichabods are coming off a fourth straight winning season in 2025, going 28-25 overall and 18-18 inside the MIAA. Washburn finished seveth in the regular season and won two games in the MIAA Tournament before falling in the semifinal round.

The Ichabods were picked to finish fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll for a second straight year.

Washburn is scoring 7.5 runs per game on the year while opponents are scoring 9.0 runs per game.

At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .209 with a .394 on base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage. Washburn has tallied three home runs with 31 total walks, including a program-record 17 against Palm Beach Atlantic.

The WU pitching staff has a 7.99 earned run average with 30 strikeouts across 32.2 innings. The Ichabods have allowed 50 hits and issued 16 walks.

Washburn has a .966 fielding percentage as a team with five errors and has not turned a double play.

On the basepaths the Ichabods have gone 3-6 in stolen base attempts while opponents have gone 5-7.

Washburn returned 19 players from the 2025 roster.

Trenton Barry and Jarrett Herrmann have the highest hitting streak entering the weekend at two games while Levi Risenhoover had the longest hitting streak of the year at three games and he leads the team with two home runs and six RBI.

Owen Laessig, Ian Luce and Chase Littrell have all reached base in all four games this season.

Right-handed hitters are hitting more than .100 points worse than left-handed hitters when facing the Ichabods.

Washburn is outscoring opponents 21-14 over the final two innings of games.

Seaman product Maclane Finley has pitched a team-high 6.0 innings in his one start. He has a 1.50 ERA with a pair of strikeouts and a 1.33 WHIP. He is 10th in the MIAA in ERA.

Kai Bennett has made one appearance this year, throwing 5.0 innings. He has allowed just one run for a 1.80 ERA and has three strikeouts with a WHIP of just .80. He is third in the MIAA in hits allowed per nine innings while ranking seventh in the conference in WHIP.

Seaman product Gavin Wilhelm is 1-0 on the year, throwing a scoreless inning in his only appearance with a strikeout.

Doulas enters his 12th season at the helm of the Washburn baseball program in 2025.

In 11 full seasons, Douglas carries an all-time record of 285-245 with seven appearances in the MIAA Tournament and led the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2022.

Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Brenda Holaday's 8-2 Washburn softball team will compete this weekend in Tahlequah, Okla. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn, which went 4-1 last weekend in the Alvy Early Memorial Classic in Arkansas, will face Oklahoma Baptist, East Central, Harding, Southwestern Oklahoma State and Southeastern Oklahoma State this weekend.

WU's Dalaney Anderson is second in the nation in runs batted in with 17 while Makenzie Sais leads the nation in stolen bases with 19 and she is ranked third in stolen bases per game at 1.90. Sais stole four bases against William Jewell.

As a team the Ichabods are fifth in the nation in stolen bases with 29 and sixth in total runs with 76. Washburn is also seventh in RBI with 68, 10th in doubles with 17, 11th in hits with 94 and 15th in fielding percentage at .980.

A dominant five-run sixth inning propelled Washburn to a 7–5 comeback victory over Truman State on Sunday morning in its final game at the Alvy Early Memorial Classic.

Trailing 5–2 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Washburn's offense erupted.

Erin Boles opened the surge with an RBI single, plating Ashley Gaughan to make it 5–3. Two batters later, Anderson delivered a three-run home run to left field that put the Ichabods ahead, 6–5.

The inning continued with a double from Seaman product Aspen Burgardt, followed by an RBI single from Madi Moore to account for the final margin.

In addition to Anderson's three RBI on her go-ahead home run, Boles, Shawnee Heights product Taylor Brees, Moore and Maddie McGee each contributed an RBI as Washburn totaled 10 hits.

A freshman, Brees had an RBI double in the fourth inning as part of a two-hit performance.

Jenna Sprague was outsanding in relief in the pitching circle to pick up her first win of the season.

Entering in the fourth inning, Sprague tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits.

Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After playing seven of their previous nine games on the road, Washburn University women's basketball returns home to Lee Arena Thursday as the Ichabods host Arkansas-Fort Smith in a 5:30 p.m. MIAA contest.

Senior star Yibari Nwidadah and the 15-7 Washburn women will be back in Lee Arena to host Arkansas-Fort Smith Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn is 15-7 overall and 8-5 in the MIAA after a 64-58 Saturday loss at Central Missouri State while Arkansas-Fort Smith is 4-18 overall and 3-10 in the MIAA after falling 73-68 at home to No. 8-ranked Fort Hays State.

"We're just happy to be home again,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "And this team certainly has our attention and our respect.

"They're much better than their record says. You look at their wins, they beat Drury, they beat Missouri Southern. They almost beat Hays and they beat Kearney, so they're pretty good.''

Ichabod senior star Yibari Nwidadah said the key for Washburn is to be prepared to get back on track Thursday after last Saturday's loss.

"Obviously we know we need to get better and we started on Monday preparing ourselves for another tough game,'' Nwidadah said. "Obviously, in this conference everyone can play with anyone and we know that the way we prepare in the beginning of the week will put us in the best position we can be for Thursday and Saturday.''

Nwidadah averages team-highs of 12.1 points 7.6 rebounds for Washburn while also shooting 55.5 percent from the floor. She has cracked double figures in 13 games with five double-doubles and ranks second in the MIAA in offensive rebounds per game and eighth among conference players in rebounds per game.

With 286 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah ranks third in program history and is fifth in overall rebounds with 783 career boards. Her career field goal percentage of .575 is the third best in program history and she ranks 13th among all Ichabods with 1,247 career points.

Nwidadah is also 11th in program history with 69 career blocked shots.

With the end of her college career on the horizon, Nwidadah said she wants to make sure she ends things with a bang.

"Obviously, it's getting closer and closer each day, but I just want to embrace every moment because I don't want to look back and be like, 'Oh man, I wish I could have done this or could have done that,' '' she said. "I just want to make sure I enjoy the time I have left.''

Senior Payton Sterk averages 11.2 points for the Ichabods and has connected on a team-high 33 3-pointers and has scored 14-plus points in nine games this season. Sterk ranks 13th in the MIAA in 3-pointers.

Sterk's career free throw percentage of 86.3 percent is the best for any Ichabod.

Details: Created: 11 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

With its 22-game winning streak now in the rearview mirror after last Saturday's 74-72 loss at Central Missouri, all of Washburn University's attention is on the future, beginning with the No. 3-ranked Ichabods 7:30 p.m. Thursday matchup with No. 25-ranked Arkansas-Fort Smith in Lee Arena.

JeremiahJones2026ESU2 1 Washburn junior Jeremiah Jones (22) leads the nation in steals entering Thursday night's home MIAA contest with Arkansas-Fort Smith. [File photo/TSN]

"Coach (Brett Ballard) didn't say we needed that (loss), but he said it was good for us as a team and takes the pressure off of us to where we can go out and play free now and not worry about losing and just play hard,'' Ichabod junior Jeremiah Jones said.

"I think that was needed. Obviously the MIAA is very hard and very physical and any team can beat you on any night, so now we just don't want to let one loss become two or let two become three. Coach has really been harping on that and we know that Fort Smith is going to be really tough.''

Ballard said that trying to go undefeated was never something that the Ichabods talked about and said his team just wants to keep improving with postseason rapidly approaching.

"I never really took two thoughts about a team going undefeated,'' Ballard said. "We play the seventh hardest schedule in the country and playing in this league I don't give any thought to that. You just try to win the next one's that in front of you for sure.

"Our focus is just getting better and just trying to go win the next one. The most positive thing for me is we've just had more edge in our practices the last couple of days. I think the guys are hungry to get back on track.''

Washburn is 22-1 and 12-1 in the MIAA while Arkansas-Fort Smith is 18-4 and 9-4 in the MIAA after topping Fort Hays State at home last Saturday, 87-77.

Thursday's game is the only regular-season meeting between the Ichabods and the Lions this season.

The Ichabods have the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the MIAA at 88.0 points per game while defensively the Ichabods have the No. 2-ranked scoring defense in the conference, allowing 63.0 points a game.

The Lions are averaging 83.6 points and allowing 69.8 points, ranking fourth on both MIAA stat charts.

Washburn has already recorded its 32nd 20-win season in program history and sixth under Ballard in his ninth season on the Ichabod bench.

The Ichabods are second in NCAA Division II in scoring margin at plus 25.0 and are ranked second in field goal percentage at 51.7 percent and second in rebound margin plus 10.9.

Jones leads the nation in total steals with 73 and is ranked third in steals per game at 3.32 per contest. Jones now has 75 steals this season, seven off the Ichabod single-season record of 82 set by Will McNeill in 2012-13. Jones needs two steals to break the junior class record of 76 set in 2012.

Washburn sophomore Dillon Claussen is ninth in the nation in field goal percentage at 63.2 percent while junior Jack Bachelor ranks 22nd nationally in assist to turnover ratio at 2.61 to 1.

Details: Created: 10 February 2026

By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

Topeka West, winners of three of its last four games, hosted the Lansing Lions in a United Kansas Conference matchup Tuesday night, looking to keep its momentum going.

Senior Teairra Gonzales led a balanced attack with 14 points in Topeka West's 52-16 home UKC win over Lansing Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]

And the Chargers achieved that goal in dominant fashion, rolling to a 52-16 victory.

“We have been playing some good basketball here lately,” said West coach Angie Ketterman.

The Chargers got off to a strong start as senior Patience Allen opened the scoring with two free throws for the early lead.

Lansing answered with a 3-pointer to briefly go ahead, but Allen quickly responded with a personal 6-0 run to give West a 9-5 advantage.

Teairra Gonzales then added five quick points to push the lead to 15-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Allen scored eight of her 13 points in the opening frame.

“I was getting open looks, and coach had been telling me that I need to be more aggressive and if I am open to take the shot,” Allen said.

Lansing struck first in the second quarter, but the Chargers responded with a 15-5 run.

Gonzales led the charge, scoring seven of her game-high 14 points in the quarter.

“Coach kept telling us to get off to a big start and go from there, get open looks and be aggressive,” Gonzales said.

Topeka West took a commanding 30-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Allen and Gonzales continued their strong play in the third quarter, helping spark a 6-0 run before Lansing finally broke through to make it 36-12.

The Chargers outscored the Lions 8-3 the rest of the period to extend the lead to 44-15 heading into the fourth quarter, triggering a running clock and all but sealing the victory.

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