Seaman boys basketball remembers its Class 5A sub-state loss to Valley Center at home last season and the Vikings don’t want that to happen again this year.
Seaman senior KaeVon Bonner is a returning two-time All-Shawnee County Top 10 pick. [File photo/TSN]
“I’m already envisioning that scenario and trying to coach towards that when we get into late February, early March that we’re making the right decisions and not just trying something and hoping it turns out in our favor,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "I really enjoyed last season, but I did not enjoy the way we finished.''
Cox will be in year 15 at the helm of the Vikings' program and wants to see how this senior group will respond when the lights are turned on, especially watching their growth the last couple of years.
The Vikings went 13-8 in 2024-2025 and 9-12 in 2023-2024 after winning the state championship in 2022-2023 with an 18-7 record.
“We’ve got really good team chemistry, they like each other, they support each other, they’re there for each other and that makes our job a lot easier,'' Cox said. "I don’t have to worry about a lot of distractions because they’re good students and come from good families.
“We want an environment where they (players) want to be there and they’re not dreading practice, they’re not scared about what’s going to happen, how much we’re going to have to run. We want to have a good time and try to improve and limit our mistakes and help us be successful on game night.”
Cox mentioned that the Vikings have the potential to be a high scoring team this season, but last year they were easy to score on and they have to tighten that aspect up to have more chances.
“The mistake I made as a coach is thinking we need to help them on offense so that we kind of set aside our defensive drills and when I look back to our really good defensive teams in the past, it’s because we put the time in,'' Cox said.
"Unfortunately, this year with tryouts and our first game on Dec. 2, we don’t have time to do a lot, so we’re going to throw it at them and hopefully as we get to Christmas break and all of those practices and then in mid-season tournament time, we can continually be better defensively.''
Cox said Landon Wiltz, Griffin Zuniga, Matthew McConnaughey and Cameron Brian are players whoe will contribute this season along with senior KaeVon Bonner, who has been a key factor for the Vikings since his freshman year.
In Class 5A, you’ve grown accustomed to the Seaman Lady Vikings basketball program being at the top for the last several seasons.
Senior Maddie Gragg is a three-time All-Shawnee County Top 10 selection for Seaman. [File photo/TSN]
The Vikings went 23-2 and won the state championship in 2024 and posted a 24-1 record and finished as the state runnerup last season. Seaman also made the state tournament in 2023, losing in the first round.
Coach Matt Tinsley enters his ninth year at Seaman and 20th overall as a coach. Tinsley put it simply that this season is just as important as the last couple of years.
“We still have Vikes on our jersey,” Tinsley said. “My expectations are not going to change. I understand why some coaches say it’s a rebuilding year. I don’t take it that way because I feel that if you have to say you’re rebuilding, you’re saying that you’ve been knocked down. I think our tradition and culture speaks for itself and I’m never going to use a rebuilding year because you’re just giving yourself an excuse.
“If you wear our jersey, you’re going to play with pride and play the right way. That’s what I’m excited about is seeing the growth in this team. We have some girls that are hungry and they feel like they have something to prove and I love those challenges as a coach too.”
The likes of Anna Becker, Taylin and Jaida Stallbaumer, Ava Esser, the list goes on of great talent to come from the Viking program. How does Tinsley try to fill those shoes to continue that dominance of great players?
“We got to get these kids to understand what their role is going to be on this team and how they can contribute,” he said. “Every kid out here is going to have a chance to show what they can do to help the team. Every day is an evaluation. My college coach always said that every day is a chance to earn your playing time to excel in your role.
"Whereas last year we could give it to Anna, ‘Hey go make a play’, this year, they’re going to have to rely on each other to make sure that we’re getting shots that we want to shoot, understanding our alignment and assignments and understanding time and score.''
Senior Maddie Gragg, whose only lost five games in her high school career, and junior Cara Beaton said they have to lead by example, encourage and push the pace to show the younger players how it’s done to develop good habits.
“We want to keep that legacy going and I think the standards are the same as last year if not higher and you can tell with the practices we’re still practicing the same just with different players,” said Gragg, a three-time All-Shawnee County Top 10 pick.
“Keep the same intensity as last year, just better attitudes and encouragement,” Beaton said.
Tinsley said he knows with the personnel he has there will be some tweaks made throughout the season and he knows that takes time and he will be patient with the girls on that. He said if they bring the effort and attitude every day to practice and games, they’ll be just fine.
In addition to Gragg, who averaged 13.3 points with 39 3-pointers, Beaton is another player Tinsley has high hopes for running the point guard position after being on the state championship and runnerup teams. Sophomore Lydia Dreher was another name Tinsley mentioned as a solid post player for the Vikes.
“We would like to see some separation in practice, but right now there's a lot of girls that I think can play but we won’t know until game night on how they’re going to respond,'' Tinsley said. "Definitely, our junior class is going to have to take that next step.''
Tinsley said the Vikings' approach this season will be different compared to last year where they had five players that could score 10 points or more a game. He said he will tell the team what they can do versus what they can’t do because that will build their confidence.
“We’re going to be a team that nobody is going to want to play come the end of the season. I feel really good about this team and we’re going to surprise some people,” Tinsley said.
Hayden football's 13-member senior class has already made school history by leading the Wildcats to a third straight Class 3A state championship game.
Hayden's seniors celebrate the Wildcats' Class 3A sub-state championship after last Friday's 46-0 win over Santa Fe Trail. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
At 6 p.m. on Friday in Hutchinson, the Wildcat upperclassmen will be out to add an exclamation point to that success with the school's fourth state championship after back-to-back runnerup finishes.
After dropping a 34-7 decision to Cheney in awful conditions in the 2023 title game, Hayden dropped a 36-19 decision to Andale a year ago before running off 12 straight wins this fall to earn a rematch with the Indians, also 12-0.
"A lot of these guys, they saw action as a sophomore and that's invaluable I think when you look at the grand scheme of things,'' said Hayden coach Bill Arnold, who has led the Wildcats to a state crown in 2008 and five runnerup finishes. "State championships are a little bit different and they've kept themselves focused and they haven't been afraid to climb the mountain again.
"It's not easy losing two in a row, but nobody has even talked about losing it. We just knew that our goal was to get back there and win a state championship.''
And although Arnold knows the Wildcats face another tough test against an Andale team that has won five of six state titles since 2019, the Hayden coach also knows he'll get a maximum effort from his team.
"A hundred percent,'' Arnold said. "They get it. From the senior standpoint, leadership-wise they've been right on cue all year long and, honestly, starting all the way back in January. They know what the expectations are and they've been good leaders on and off the field.
"They've got a great program down there (in Andale) and I think we've got a good program, too. I am more concerned about us than I am about Andale in terms of just our assignments and the technique involved in our assignments. And if we do all those things correctly, at the end of the day, win, lose or draw, you can live with yourself.''
Hayden's put itself in position to win the 2024 title when the Wildcats took a 19-12 lead to the locker room at halftime.
But Andale took control in the second half en route to the 17-point win.
"We lost a little bit of momentum right before half because we didn't get in the end zone,'' Arnold said. "Then we had a ridiculous penalty that allowed them to make us start inside our 20 and the playbook gets a little smaller down there. We had to punt and they came out and scored.
"We turned the ball over immediately and I think through part of that, was we did get tired. They were rotating a few more guys on that line than what we could, but part of that's also your mentality state. When things are going good you've got your adrenalin and your momentum going through, but when we had a couple of mishaps there right off the bat coming out of halftime, the ship was sailing the wrong direction.''
Washburn University women's basketball will hit the floor Friday and Saturday in San Antonio, Texas, competing in the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti notched her first collegiate double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in last Saturday's 66-44 Washburn win over MSU Denver. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The 3-1 Ichabods will face St. Mary's at 6 p.m. on Friday and Texas A&M-Kingsville at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Bill Greehey Arena.
St. Mary's enters the week with a 3-0 record while Texas A&M University-Kingsville enters the tournament 0-2 on the year.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah is averaging a team-high 13.8 points and 7.0 rebounds for Washburn in just 21.0 minutes per game on the season. Nwidadah has started every game and is shooting 63.9 percent from the floor.
Senior Payton Sterk is also scoring in double figures for the Ichabods at 11.8 points per game and has hit seven 3-pointers.
Junior Britany Kogbara has provided a spark off the bench for the Ichabods, averaging 10.8 points and 4.3 points a game while shooting 64.5 percent from the field.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti is averaging 10.0 points and 5.3 rebounds with a team-high eight triples after recording her first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in last Saturday's 66-44 win over Metropolitan State of Denver.
Sterk finished with 14 points while Kogbara had 12 points and five rebounds in Saturday's win.
Allie Garcia leads St. Mary's with an 11.7 scoring average while Christin Callens averages 10.3 points and Raynne averages a team-high 10 rebounds.
Justine Aguilar leads Texas A&M-Kingsville with a 9.5 scoring average.
Washburn will begin MIAA play next Thursday, hosting Nebraska-Kearney in a 5:30 p.m. contest in Lee Arena.
Hayden, the No. 1 Class 3A East seed, advanced to its third straight state championship game with a 46-0 home semifinal rout over No. 2 East seed Santa Fe Trail last Friday while No. 1 West seed Andale rolled to a 41-7 win over No. 2 seed Rock Creek.
The semifinal romps set up a second straight title game showdown between the two 12-0 state powers.
Hayden's closest game of the season was a 43-29 state quarterfinal win over Jefferson West while Andale's closest game of the year was last week's 34-point win over Rock Creek.
Andale scored a season-high 104 points in its season opener against El Dorado and the Indians have posted four shutouts while Hayden scored a season-high 70 points in a 70-7 playoff win over Columbus and has recorded five shutouts and limited opponents to seven or fewer points in 10 games.
Connor Hanika, Hayden
Kade Mitchell, Hayden
Hayden senior quarterback Connor Hanika has completed 100 of 164 passes for 1,659 yards and 23 touchdowns with three interceptions while senior Kade Mitchell has rushed for 941 yards on 89 carries, caught 21 passes for 463 yards and has scored 21 total TDs. Mitchell did not play last week against Santa Fe Trail due to an injury, but is expected to play Friday.
Xander Blasing, Hayden
Jackson McGivern, Hayden
Jude Krentz, Hayden
Wildcat senior Jackson McGivern has carried the ball 70 times for 457 yards and 11 touchdowns while recording 79 tackles (50 solo) on defense with seven tackles for loss.
Senior Jude Krentz leads Hayden with 112 tackles (58 solo) and six tackles for loss while rushing for 399 yards on 66 attempts. Senior Xander Blasing has 84 stops (62 solo) and nine tackles for loss and has caught 24 passes for 296 yards while senior Makhi Kidd has caught 28 passes for 314 yards.
Junior Mason Becker has carried the ball 32 times for 438 yards, caught nine passes for 292 yards and is perfect on extra-point kicks on the year. Junior Logan Power leads the Wildcats with five pass interceptions.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti notched her first collegiate double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in last Saturday's 66-44 Washburn win over MSU Denver. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
