Seaman Vikings

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Coming off a runnerup team finish in Class 5A a year ago, Seaman put itself in position for another run at the tiltle Friday as senior singles star Emma Sweeney and the senior doubles team Camryn Lux and Camryn Lux advanced to Saturday's state semifinals at the Andover District Tennis Complex.

Seaman senior tennis star Emma Sweeney improved to 30-0 on Friday while advancing to the Class 5A singles semifinals for the third straight season. [File photo/TSN]

Sweeney, the No. 1 seed, rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel's Juli Judkins in the quarterfinals to advance to Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinal against Andover sophomore Audrina Gjosa. 

Seaman seniors Cadence Speer and Camryn Lux improved to 30-4 Friday while advancing to Saturday's Class 5A doubles semifinals. [File photo/TSN] 

Lux and Speer, the No. 3 doubles seed, advanced to the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-0 quarterfinal win over Blue Valley Southwest seniors Anwita Golem and Ashley Grant and will now face Andover senior Rylie Nance and junior Kinsley Scholl, the No. 2 seed, in the semifinals. Lux and Speer are 30-4 on the season.

Seaman sophomore doubles players Brenna Prokop and Kallie Zurmely advanced to Saturday's consolation rounds and have assured themselves of state medals.

Rural's Katzer and Owen advance to Class 6A doubles semis

Washburn Rural's senior doubles team of Julia Katzer and Halle Owen advanced to Saturday's Class 6A state semifinals with a 6-0, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Shawnee Mission Northwest's Erin O'Neal and Nia Nightingale. 

Washburn Rural senior doubles players Julia Katzer and Halle Owen, now 30-4, advanced to Saturday's Class 6A semifinals with a pair of Friday wins. [File photo/TSN]

Katzer and Owen the No. 5 state seed, will now face top seed Chadana Vijaykumar and Siena Timperley of Blue Valley West in Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinal.

Now 30-4 on the season, Katzer and Owen have assured themselves of a top-four state finish.

Rural freshman Karmyn Faul advanced to Saturday's place matches and has assured herself of her first state medal.

Cair Paravel's Poole back in Class 3A-1A semifinals

Cair Paravel Latin senior singles standout Madilyn Poole, the No. 2 Class 3A-1A seed, advanced to the state semifinals for the second straight season after finishing third at state as a junior.

Cair Paravel senior Madilyn Poole improved to 23-1 with a pair of wins Friday in the Class 3A-1A state tournament, advancing to her second straight semifinal. [File photo/TSN]

Poole, now 23-1, is back in the semis after a pair of wins at the Kossover Tennis Center, including a 6-0, 6-1 quarterfinal win over Russell junior Anna-Marie Marsell.

Poole will now face sophomore Mila Simic of Hoisington in Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinal at Kossover.

Silver Lake junior Evelynn Thompson lost in the singles quarterfinals but advanced to Saturday's place matches. 

Hayden trio advances to Class 4A place matches

Hayden's junior doubles team of Hailey Caryl and Sophia Wichman and sophomore singles player Lana Hull had their Class 4A championship hopes dashed with quarterfinal losses Friday at Kossover Tennis Center, but the three players advanced to Saturday's place matches and have assured themselves of state medals..

The first round of state competition will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Already a three-time Class 5A state singles medalist, including a runnerup finish a year ago, Seaman senior star Emma Sweeney will be looking to close out her outstanding prep career with a state title in Friday and Saturday's state tournament at the Andover District Tennis Complex.

Seaman senior tennis star Emma Sweeney enters this weekend's Class 5A state tournament at Andover as the No. 1 singles seed with a perfect 28-0 record. [File photo/TSN]

Sweeney has put together a banner 28-0 campaign so far with a sweep of city, United Kansas Conference and 5A regional titles for the second straight season and earned the No. 1 seed for this weekend's state event.

"Obviously I'm nervous, but I'm just trying to switch my focus onto the right things and just focusing on the things I control, my ground strokes, my intensity, my footwork, my attitude and just go out there and give it my all,'' Sweeney said.

Sweeney said it seems like only yesterday that she was getting ready for her first state meet.

"It literally flies by every single year and with it being my last year with my teammates I just want to have fun and just leave it all out there,'' she said.  

As a team Seaman is coming off its fifth straight United Kansas Conference title as well as a regional team championships and will be aiming for a third straight 5A team trophy after finishing third in 2024 and second a year ago.

Seaman seniors Cadence Speer and Camryn Lux won a Class 5A regional doubles title last Saturday for the team-champion Vikings. [File photo/TSN] 

Three-time regional champ Sweeney and the regional championship doubles team of seniors Camryn Lux and Cadence Speer led the way last Saturday at Kossover as the Vikings topped St. James Academy for the regional crown.

Seaman also got third-place finishes from junior Lilli Wiens in singles and from sophomores Brenna Prokop and Kallie Zurmely in doubles.

Lux and Speer are 28-4 on the season and the No. 3 seed for state while Prokop and Zurmely are 22-7 and seeded seventh. Wiens is the No. 15 singles seed with a 22-12 record.

Not only will Seaman's three seniors be closing out their prep careers this weekend, but it will also be the final tournament for Viking coach Jamie Robinson, who is retiring from coaching after a highly-successful run at the school.

"He's been great,'' Sweeney said. "He just works with every single girl and what they need specifically as a player and he also just knows how to coach you and how to adjust for each girl.

"He just has really helped us grow and help us love the sport.''

Topeka West will be represented at state by the senior doubles team of Mariana Bernard and Kailyn Bidwell, who are 12-16 on the season and the No. 19 state seed after qualifying with a sixth-place regional finish.

The 5A state tournament will start at 9 a.m. Friday and continue on Saturday with a 9 a.m. start.

Class 6A at Wichita Riverside Tennis Complex

Washburn Rural enters Friday and Saturday's state meet at Wichita with a ton of momentum after sweeping city, Centennial League and Class 6A regional team championships.

Washburn Rural senior doubles players Julia Katzer and Halle Owen enter the state tournament with a 28-4 record after sweeping city, Centenial League and regional titles. [File photo/TSN]

Junior Blue seniors Julia Katzer and Halle Owen won Friday's regional doubles title after winning city and league titles and are 28-4 on the season, earning the No. 5 state seed.

Rural's doubles team of junior Annie Henderson and freshman Kinley Ladd (22-6) finished second to teammates Katzer and Owen at regionals and are the No. 7 doubles seed while sophomore singles player Bridget Hoopes (17-10) was the singles runnerup at regionals and is the No. 9 state seed.

Freshman Karmyn Faul (27-6) posted a third-place singles finish in the regional meet and is seeded 15th for state.

The first round of state competition will begin at 9 a.m. both Friday and Saturday.

Class 4A at Kossover Tennis Center

Hayden finished third in Class 4A last season after winning the state championship in 2024 and the Wildcats are coming off a regional team title Saturday at Chanute while qualifying their entire team for state at the Kossover Tennis Center.

Hayden juniors Sophia Wichman and Hailey Caryl are coming off a Class 4A regional doubles title for the team-champion Wildcats. [File photo/TSN]

Wildcat juniors Hailey Caryl and Sophia Wichman won the regional doubles championship and will take an 17-4 record into the state meet as the fourth seed.

Hayden sophomore Lana Hull, 20-4, is the No. 7 singles seed while sophomore Ava Scheer (5-4) is the No. 20 singles seed and the doubles team of senior Kaelyn Gerdel and sophomore Elliott Gould (14-10) is the 21st seed for this weekend's tournament.

Hull was the regional runnerup while Scheer finished fifth in singles and Gerdel and Gould placed fifth in doubles.  

The first round of state competition will begin at 8:50 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Eight-time Class 6A state volleyball champion Washburn Rural got off to a very uncharacteristic 4-11 start to the 2026 season.

Washburn Rural volleyball celebrates a point during Thursday's Senior Night sweep over St. James Academy and Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural senior Samantha McIntosh (17) celebrates a service ace with her teammates Thursday at Rural. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

But as postseason looms in the very near future, Kevin Bordewick's Junior Blues are looking more than more like the team Rural fans have been accustomed to seeing.

Washburn Rural has won 13 of its last 15 matches to improve to 17-13 on the season after Thursday's Senior Night sweep over 5A No. 2-ranked St. James Academy and city rival Seaman.

"I feel like we're finally actually playing as a team now,'' said Molly Schuler, one of four Rural seniors recognized on Senior Night. "And it's really nice because I feel like a lot of people doubted us in the beginning of the season, but I think we're definitely coming together now.''

The Junior Blues opened Thursday with a 25-21, 25-20 win over St. James, avenging an earlier loss to the Thunder, before taking a 25-22, 25-19 win over Seaman in the final match of the night.

"I think the last two or three weeks we've made a lot of good strides,'' said Bordewick, who ranks No. 2 in Kansas for career victories. "We played last night in Kansas City and I don't think we played well at all, but then we turned around and I thought we were a lot sharper today, and probably especially against St. James.

"I thought we were really focused and zeroed in and I think when we do that and put pressure on other teams we sometimes are surprised and I tell them, 'I'm not surprised at what you guys can do.' And we've still got a ceiling that we've got to get to, but I do think we've improved a lot.''

Washburn Rural got things off to a quick start against St. James, opening up 5-1 and 9-3 leads and never trailed the remainder of the first set although the Thunder cut their deficit to 15-14.

Back-to-back service aces from sophomore Brynn Anderson put Rural at match point with a 24-16 lead and the Junior Blues survived a late 5-0 St. James rally to end the set on a Schuler kill.

The Junior Blues fell behind 5-2 in the seccond set and still trailed 14-11 before reeling off five straight points to go in front 16-14.

Rural eventually went up 21-18 on a kill from freshman Kyndall Cochran and 23-20 on a kill from junior Hadley Kilgore before closing out the five-point win.

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

THURSDAY'S GAME

(Kickoff at 7 p.m.)

MANHATTAN (4-2, 2-0 Centennial) vs. TOPEKA HIGH (1-5, 0-2 Centennial)

At Hummer Sports Park

Manhattan has won four straight games since an 0-2 start to the season while Topeka High is fighting a five-game losing streak. The Indians are coming off a 51-6 Centennial League win over Emporia while Topeka High dropped a 41-12 league decision to Junction City. Manhattan junior quarterback Mclain Aslin has completed 30 of 56 passes for 362 yards and six touchdowns and carried the ball 81 times for 576 yards and seven TDs. Senior Joseph Mortensen has carried the ball 32 times for 343 yards and six TDs.

FRIDAY'S GAMES

(Allkickoffs at 7 p.m.)

Jadyn Baum, Washburn Rural

JUNCTION CITY (2-4, 2-1 Centennial) at WASHBURN RURAL (3-3, 2-0 Centennial )

Junction City is coming off a 41-12 Centennial League victory over Topeka High last Friday while Washburn Rural dropped a 14-7 decision at Millard West, Neb. Senior Jadyn Baum is one of the state's premier running backs for the Junior Blues.

Nas Williams-Brown, Topeka West

BASEHOR-LINWOOD (4-2, 4-2 UKC) vs. TOPEKA WEST (1-5, 1-5 UKC)

At Hummer Sports Park

Basehor-Linwood posted a 42-20 United Kansas Conference decision over Lansing while Topeka West dropped a 57-0 UKC decision to Spring Hill. Junior Nas Williams-Brown is a top player for the Chargers.

DE SOTO (6-0, 6-0 UKC) at SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (1-5, 1-5 UKC)

Shawnee Heights, which is in the midst of a five-game losing streak, dropped a 59-28 United Kansas Conference decision to undefeated Spring Hill last Friday while De Soto remained unbeaten with a 45-6 UKC win over Turner. Shawnee Heights senior quarterback Kolby Kutscher has completed 82 of 142 passes for 1,269 yards and 14 touchdowns while sophomore Fletcher Terrell has caught 35 passes for 757 yards and 11 touchdowns. T-Bird senior Trone Purvis has carried the ball 107 times for 562 yards and eight touchdowns.

CHASE COUNTY (4-2, 2-1 8-Man I District 3) vs. CAIR PARAVEL LATIN (4-2, 2-1 8-Man I District 3)

At Seaman

Cair Paravel is coming off a tough 54-50 district road loss at Lyndon while Chase County blanked district foe Northern Heights, 46-0. Cair Paravel senior Cole Haubold has carried the ball 53 times for 596 yards and 14 touchdowns and leads the Lions with 58 tackles (39 solo) with 11 tackles for loss. Junior quarterback Chase Hastert has completed 25 of 49 passes for 512 yards and nine touchdowns and carried the ball 46 times for 411 yards and four TDs.

Jairus Todwong, Hayden

HAYDEN (2-4, 2-0 3A District 3) at SANTA FE TRAIL (4-2, 1-1 3A District 3)

Hayden posted its second straight Class 3A District 3 win last Friday, a 42-13 romp past Perry-Lecompton, while Santa Fe Trail is coming off a 48-6 district loss to Baldwin. Sophomore Jairus Todwong leads Hayden with 494 yards and four touchdowns on 55 carries while senior Mason Becker has carried the ball 32 times for 279 yards and four rushing TDs. Junior quarterback Ryker Tetuan has completed 49 of 100 passes for 435 yards and senior Logan Power has caught 24 passes for 258 yards.

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

It took 24 hours to get it done, but the Topeka High soccer team completed a 3-0 win over Seaman Wednesday afternoon at Hummer Sports Park, setting themselves up for a potentially historic finish to the season.

With storms rolling into Topeka Tuesday afternoon, the Trojans’ game with Seaman was moved up in hopes of getting it in before the rains fell.

Sophomore Emyr Vargas (11) scored Topeka High's first goal in a 3-0 soccer win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Topeka High sophomore Emyr Vargas spotted the home team a goal just 46 seconds into the contest. A few minutes later, Trojan senior John Martinez added a second goal.

But with the Trojans holding a 2-0 lead, the field was cleared due to lightning strikes. While the teams were in the locker rooms, the sky unleased a deluge, leaving huge puddles on the field. Lightning continued to strike and the game was postponed.

The teams returned Wednesday, picking the game up with 14:00 remaining in the first half. The score remained 2-0 until Topeka High senior Brandon Gomez-Hernandez added an insurance goal on a penalty kick with 7:54 left.

“The first thing we dealt with was that the weather was a heck of a lot different. I think it was 90 degrees when we started the game yesterday,” Topeka High coach Derek Snook said about getting the teams back together after a 24-hour interval. “Today’s cooler weather had them a little hyped, but these guys are just ready to play. Their mindset is, 'It doesn’t matter, let’s just go play. Let’s see if we can’t get better.’ So that’s easy for these guys.”

Junior foreign exchange student Laurenz Fieldler (6) was credited with a pair of assists in Topeka High's 3-0 win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Junior Laurenz Fieldler, a foreign exchange student from Dresden, Germany, recorded both assists on Tuesday prior to the interruption. He said when he committed to coming to the U.S. he didn’t know where he would go to school or if that school would have a soccer program. He said the team accepted him and made him feel welcome.

“It’s pretty different from playing in Germany because (my teammates) have a different style of play,'' Fieldler said. "I think this is more fun than in my hometown.”

Topeka High is currently riding an eight-game win streak. The Trojans improved to 10-3 on the season and sit tied for third in the Class 6A West regional. Though the game against Seaman was not against a 6A opponent, nor did it count in the Centennial League standings, the school felt a sense of urgency to get the game completed.

“It’s a city game. These kids all know each other and it means a lot to them,” Snook said. “It might help us in the seeding process which comes up in the next couple of weeks, so we thought we needed to get it in because we’ve got some bangers coming up here the next three games.”

The Trojans travel to Blue Valley West Thursday, then finish the season with games against Washburn Rural and Topeka West.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Duke Graf

DUKE GRAF, Washburn Rural

A junior cross country standout, Graf captured the boys individual title in Saturday's city championship at Shawnee Heights, leading Washburn Rural to the team crown. Graf, who placed third in the city meet as a sophomore, clocked a winning five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 42.6 seconds as the Junior Blues won the team championship by a 17-59 margin over Seaman.

Alyson Hinck

ALYSON HINCK, Washburn Rural

Hinck, a sophomore cross country standout, earned her first city girls individual title in Saturday's city meet at Shawnee Heights while leading the Junior Blues to the team championship. After finishing as the individual runnerup as a freshman, Hinck clocked a winning five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 32.7 seconds as Washburn Rural won the team title by a 17-40 margin over runnerup Seaman.

Julia Katzer 

JULIA KATZER, Washburn Rural

Katzer, a senior tennis star, teamed with Halle Owen to win Centennial League and Class 6A regional doubles championships and cap a sweep of city, league and regional titles while leading the Junior Blues to a sweep of the team titles in the three meets. Katzer and Owen defeated teammates Annie Henderson and Kinley Ladd 6-0, 6-0 in the league meet and 6-1, 6-2 at regionals.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural experienced plenty of ups and downs in Monday's Class 6A girls golf sub-state at Lake Shawnee, but in the end Hayden Beck's Junior Blues achieved their main objective, earning a team berth for next week's state tournament.

Washburn Rural girls golf posted a third-place team finish in Monday's Class 6A sub-state tournament to earn a team berth for next week's state tournament. [Washburn Rural golf]

Rural, which carded a team score of 390, put all of six of its players in the top half of the field en route to earning a third-place team finish behind Olathe South and Lawrence Free State, which tied for the top spot with 371 team scores.

Brynley Scott paced Washburn Rural with a ninth-place individual finish in Monday's Class 6A sub-state at Lake Shawnee. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Reese Elliott earned a 10th-place finish for Washburn Rural in Monday's Class 6A sub-state tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Brynley Scott shot a 95 to finish ninth individually while Reese Elliott was 10th with a 96, Kailyn Petersen tied for 11th with a 97, Emery Hall and LynnLee Mullins tied for 15th with a 102 and Liz Halstead tied for 18th with a 107.

"That's the goal at the start of every season,'' Beck said of earning the team berth for state. "You've got to get there to be able to progress past the first day and make day two and do the things we want to do as a team.

"So it wasn't necessarily our best stuff by no means today, but we've put together a squad that will fight for each other and be able to claw and scratch their way through to that next round that we've got to play.''

Now it's on to state, which will be held at Mayetta's Firekeeper Golf Course, just about 20 minutes north of Topeka, next Monday and Tuesday. 

CLASS 6A GIRLS GOLF SUB-STATE

At Lake Shawnee 

Team scores

Olathe South 371, Free State 371, Washburn Rural 390, Wichita East 450, Derby 469, Junction City 503.

Individual results

1. Alna Lam, Wichita Southeast, 75; 2. Claire Cummins, Free State, 79; 3. Caroline Parks, Olathe South, 85; 4. Grace Lam, Wichita East, 87; 5. Reese McNeil, Olathe South, 89; 6. Tola Jankowski, Free State, 90; 7. (tie) Raelynn Doshier, Derby, and Laurel Stancil, Free State, 94; 9. Brynley Scott, Washburn Rural, 95; 10. Reese Elliott, Washburn Rural, 96.  

Other Washburn Rural -- 11. (tie) Kailyn Petersen, 97; 15. (tie) Emery Hall and LynnLee Mullins, 102; 18. (tie) Liz Halstead, 107. 

Individual state qualifiers --Alina Lam, Wichita Southeast, 75; Grace Lam, Wichita East, 87; Raelynn Doshier, Derby, 94; Angela Palacios, Wichita East, 106; Karrington Shane, Wichita East, 107.

Seaman senior Chloe Schmidtlein placed third in Monday's Class 5A golf regional at Lake Shawnee to qualify for state as an individual. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Vikes' Schmidtlein leads trio of city 5A state qualifiers

Seaman senior Chloe Schmidtlein followed up her city and United Kansas Conference individual titles with a third-place finish in Monday's Class 5A state sub-state tournament at Lake Shawnee.

Schmidtlein carded an 88 to finish third behind Emily Taylor (78) of team champion De Soto and Aubery Ziolo (82) of third-place team qualifier Basehor-Linwood and was the top individual qualifier for next Monday and Tuesday's 5A state tournament at Hesston Golf Course.

Shawnee Heights Lauryn Valdivia earned an individual Class 5A state berth with a 10th-place individual finish in Monday's sub-state tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman's Kaitlynn Frye earned a Class 5A state berth with an 11th-place tie in Monday's regional tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Schmidtlein was joined as an individual qualifier by Shawnee Heights' Lauryn Valdivia, who placed 10th with a 97 and Seaman's Kaitlynn Frye, who tied for 11th with a 99.

De Soto won the team title by a 387-391 margin over Hays, with Basehor-Linwood third at 395.

Seaman finished fifth at 411 while Shawnee Heights placed sixth at 446.

CLASS 5A GIRLS GOLF SUB-STATE

At Lake Shawnee 

Team scores

 De Soto 387, Hays 391, Basehor-Linwood 395, Emporia 407, Seaman 411, Shawnee Heights 446.

Individual results

1. Emily Taylor, De Soto, 78; 2. Aubrey Ziolo, Basehor-Linwood, 82; 3. Chloe Schmidtlein, Seaman, 88; 4. Taylen Koch, Emporia, 89; 5. (tie) Mckenzie Laster, De Soto, and Claire Fitzgerald, Basehor-Linwood, 91; 7. Kinley Pfannenstel, Hays, 93; 8. (tie) Giana Schumacher, Hays, and Brooklyn Koerner, Hays, 95; 10. Lauryn Valdivia, Shawnee Heights, 97.

Other Seaman -- 11. (tie) Kaitlynn Frye, 99; 19. (tie) Lauren Glasgow and Leah Crawford, 112;  24. (tie) Penelope Kruesi, 118; 27. (tie) Cara Beaton, 123.

Other Shawnee Heights -- 16. Avary Domme, 107; 24. (tie) Elsie Willmann, 118; 29. (tie) Ashlyn Mattox, 124.  

Individual state qualifiers -- Chloe Schmidtlein, Seaman, 88; Taylen Koch, Emporia, 89; Lauryn Valdivia, Shawnee Heights, 97; Kaitlynn Frye, Seaman, 99; Kelsey Shull, Emporia, 103; Kynlee Maxfield, Emporia, 103.    

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Seaman's girls tennis team followed up its fifth straight United Kansas Conference championship with another dominating performance in Saturday's Class 5A regional tournament at Kossover Tennis Center, sweeping the singles, doubles and team titles while qualifying its entire team for state.

Seaman girls tennis poses for a team picture after winning a Class 5A regional Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center and qualifying its entire team for state. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Undefeated Viking senior star Emma Sweeney earned the regional singles crown  and seniors Camryn Lux and Cadence Speer took the doubles title while junior Lilly Wiens finished third in singles and sophomores Brenna Prokop and Kallie Zurmely placed third in doubles as Seaman won the team championship by a 24-19 margin over St. James Academy.

"A great day,'' Seaman coach Jamie Robinson said. "I'm very pleased. Today was close. We knew St. James was going to be very good in doubles and our work was cut out for us and we got the win, a close win, and then we got the close win over them for third place as well, so that was fun and pretty exciting.

"I was proud of the work ethic by the girls throughout the whole tournament.''

Seaman senior singles star Emma Sweeney improved to 28-0 on the season en route to a Class 5A regional title Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Seaman seniors Cadence Speer and Camryn Lux won a Class 5A regional doubles title on Saturday for the team-champion Vikings. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Sweeney, the 5A runnerup as a junior, improved to 28-0 this fall with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Piper's Ann McPherson in the singles final while Lux and Speer (28-4) took a 6-2, 7-5 win over St. James' Avery Neuer and Grace Davis in the doubles title match.

Wiens (22-12) bounced back from a semifinal loss to Sweeney to take a 6-0, 6-2 win over St. James' Kiersten Koenings in the third-place singles match while Prokop and Zurmely (22-7) finished third in doubles with a 7-6, 4-1 (retired) win over St. James' Molly McGinnis and Leah Twellman.

Topeka West seniors Kailyn Bidwell (left) and Mariana Bernard qualified for the Class 5A state tournament with a sixth-place regional doubles finish. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Topeka West's senior doubles team of Mariana Bernard and Kailyn Bidwell earned a state berth with a sixth-place regional finish.

Basehor-Linwood's Helen Habjan and Aliya Von Donge took a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) win over Bernard and Bidwell in the fifth-place match.

The 5A state tournament will be contested at Andover Friday and Saturday.

CLASS 5A GIRLS TENNIS REGIONAL

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Rossville, last season's Class 1A state runnerup, opened Distict 2 play Friday night with a 49-0 home romp past Wabaunsee.

Junior quarterback Landen Lewis ran for four touchdowns and threw for a TD as the Bulldawgs improved to 4-2 on the season.

Lewis ran for 17, 2, 9 and 9-yard TDs and hit Cale Horak for a 23-yard score while Cael Horgan opened Rossville's scoring with  for a 1-yard TD and Gavin Sumner scored the final TD on a 1-yard plunge.

Austin Dohrman kicked five extra points and the Bulldawgs got a 2-point conversion on a pass from Cole Graves to Michael Cooney.

Rossville led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 28-0 at the half before adding 21 points in the second half to complete the shutout.

The Bulldawgs will travel to Mission Valley on Friday to face the 1-5 Vikings, who are coming off a 48-6 district loss to St. Marys

Eagles remain unbeaten with 89-0 district rout

Silver Lake continued its dominant 2026 season Friday night, improved to 6-0 Friday with a 89-0 home Class 2A District 3 rout over Maranatha Academy.

The Eagles will travel to Holton Friday night for a Big East League game.

Holton is 1-5 after a 43-0 loss to Nemaha Central.

Lions drop 54-50 district thriller to Tigers

Cair Paravel Latin gave host Lyndon a battle down to the wire Friday, falling 54-50 in an Eight-Man I District 3 game.

The Lions, now 4-2, will host Chase County in a district matchup Friday at Seaman.

Chase County is coming off a 46-0 district victory over Northern Heights.

Vikings stretch winning streak to four games

Seaman posted its fourth straight United Kansas Conference victory Friday night, rolling to a 55-0 road rout over Leavenworth.

The Vikings, 4-2 overall and in the UKC, will face a tough test Friday, going on the road to face 6-0 Spring Hill.

The Broncos are coming off of a 57-0 win over Topeka West.

Scots get back on track with 26-6 road win

Highland Park picked up its second victory of the season Friday night, posting a 26-6 Meadowlark Conference win at Kansas City-Harmon.

Now 2-4 on the year, Highland Park will be back at Hummer Sports Park on Saturday to host KC-Schlagle in a 12 p.m. Meadowlark game.

The Stallions are 2-4 on the season after a 30-26 loss to Atchison. 

T-Birds fall 59-28 at Piper

Shawnee Heights fell to 1-5 overall and in the United Kansas Conference Friday night, dropping a 59-28 decision at Piper.

The T-Birds will be back at home Friday, hosting 6-0 De Soto in a conference matchup.

The Wildcats are coming off a 45-6 UKC win over Turner.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural's cross country team turned in a dominating performance in Saturday's city championships at Shawnee Heights, sweeping the top three individual places in both the girls and boys events while rolling to the team titles.

Sophomore Alyson Hinck (right) captured her first city girls cross country title for team-champion Washburn Rural on Saturday at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural junior Duke Graf reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the city boys cross country title Saturday at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"I'm happy with it for sure,'' Rural coach Matt Swedlund said. "City is a good start to championship racing. You kind of get in the mindset and this is when you start talking about trophies and wanting to be our best in October, so this is a nice start to that process.''

Rural sophomore Alyson Hinck won the girls title in a five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 32.7 seconds while junior Duke Graf took control early in the boys race on the way to a win in 16:42.6.

Rural sophomore Morgan Munson (19:35.8) and junior Reese Beardslee (19:47.3) finished second and third behind Hinck in the girls race, while freshman Kenadee Booher (21:14.7) was fifth and freshman Avery Kennedy (21:32.3) sixth to round out the Junior Blues' top five as Rural captured the team title by a 17-40 margin over Seaman.

Hinck earned her first city individual girls title after finishing second as a freshman. She ran with the top four runners for much of the race before pulling away down the stretch to win by 3.1 seconds over teammate Munson.

"I just wanted to stick with the people in front and not to go out too hard,'' said Hinck, also a state medalist in the 800 meters in track as a freshman. "I definitely locate where I need to start to kick.''

Hinck said a highlight of the day was Rural's one-two-three finish.

"That's so much fun,'' she said. "I'm so happy to run with my teammates and finish with them. It was a blast.''

Juniors Jaxson Adams (16:57.2) and Clayton Fink (17:05.8) posted second and third-place finishes behind Graf for the Junior Blues in the boys race while sophomore Julius Wood-Nichols (17:15.4) finished fifth and senior Bennett Wells (17:19.5) sixth to complete the top five scoring runners for Washburn Rural, which won the title by a 17-59 margin over Seaman.

Graf, who had finished third in the city meet as a sophomore before helping Rural win the Class 6A title, took the lead early in Saturday's race and ended up winning by nearly 15 seconds.

"I kind of had the mentality of either come with me or don't,'' Graf said of his strategy. "It seemed to work pretty well. I went out pretty hard the first mile and got a good gap and kind of just held.

"I fell off a little bit towards the end, but overall, first place, I'm pretty happy with it.'' 

Seaman's girls got a fourth-place individual finish from senior Brynn Spencer (20:07.8) while senior Kinley Robinson (21:46.9) placed seventh, freshman Brinley Cochran (21:57.2) eighth, freshman Morgan Ranson (22:22.6) 10th and senior Hannah Wempe (22:59.5) 11th.

Freshman Charlotte Richards (23:12.1) led third-place Shawnee Heights with a 12th-place finish while junior Emily Womack (23:14.2) paced fourth-place Topeka High with a 13th-place finish. 

Sophomore Trindon Jones (17:10.7) paced the runnerup Seaman boys with a fourth-place finish while sophomore Weston Kennedy (17:23.6) finished seventh.

Hayden junior Nick Newkirk (17:43.3) finished 10th. 

Washburn Rural, Topeka High and Hayden will compete in the Centennial League meet next Saturday at Kanza Park while Seaman, Shawnee Heights and Topeka West will run in the United Kansas Conference meet at De Soto on Thursday and Highland Park will compete in the Meadowlark Conference meet at Atchison on Thursday.  

CITY CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

FRIDAY'S GAMES

(Allkickoffs at 7 p.m.)

Mason Becker, Hayden

PERRY-LECOMPTON (3-2, 1-1 3A District 3) at HAYDEN (1-4, 1-0 3A District 3)

Hayden picked up its first win of the season last Friday, opening Class 3A District 3 play with a 32-21 home win over Baldwin. Perry-Lecompton picked up a district win by forfeit over KC-Bishop Ward last Friday. Hayden senior Mason Becker scored 19 of the Wildcats 31 points against Baldwin and has rushed for 171 yards and three touchdowns on 27 attempts on the season. Sophomore Jairus Todwong leads the Wildcats with 493 yards and four touchdowns on 54 carries. Junior quarterback Ryker Tetuan, who missed the Baldwin game with an injury, has completed 42 of 91 pass attempts for 376 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Landon Power has 18 catches for 174 yards.

Nas Williams-Brown, Topeka West

SPRING HILL (5-0, 5-0 UKC) at TOPEKA WEST (1-4, 1-4 UKC)

Topeka West dropped a 50-8 United Kansas Conference road decision at Leavenworth last Friday and faces another tough test this week against undefeated Spring Hill. Spring Hill stayed unbeaten last Friday with a 76-35 UKC win over Shawnee Heights. West junior Nas Williams-Brown has established himself as one of the top offensive threats in the conference. 

WABAUNSEE (2-3, 0-0 1A District 2) at ROSSVILLE (3-2, 0-0 1A District 2)

Rossville is coming off a big 47-20 Big East League win at Royal Valley last Friday and opens Class 1A District 2 play this week. Bulldawg junior Landen Lewis had a hand in six touchdowns against Royal Valley, running for four TDs and passing for a pair of scores. Lewis has completed 65 of 93 passes on the season for 831 yards and nine touchdowns and has carried the ball 84 times for 572 yards and 12 TDs. Cael Horgan has 21 catches for 296 yards and a TD while Cale Horak has 13 catches for 255 yards and three TDs and Dalen Dick has 17 catches for 177 yards and two TDs. Wabaunsee is coming off an 18-14 loss to Jackson Heights.

CAIR PARAVEL (4-1, 1-0 8-Man I District 3) at LYNDON (2-2, 1-0 8-Man I District 3)

Cair Paravel Latin is off to a quick start in its return to the Eight-Man ranks, improving to 4-1 on the season and 1-0 in Eight-Man I District 3 with last week's 54-6 romp past Pleasanton. Lyndon is coming off a 56-14 rout over Northern Heights. Cair Paravel senior Cole Haubold has rushed for 453 yards and 11 touchdowns on 38 attempts while junior quarterback Chase Hastert has completed 18 of 32 passes for 353 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 318 yards and four TDs on 36 attempts. Haubold has been in on 42 tackles (25 solo) with eight tackles for loss.

JoJo Kingcannon, Highland Park

HIGHLAND PARK (1-4, 1-2 Meadowlark) at KC-HARMON (3-2, 1-1 Meadowlark)

Highland Park returns to Meadowlark Conference play Friday night and will be looking to bounce back after dropping a 52-0 non-league decision to Blue Valley Southwest last week. The Scots are led by senior quarterback JoJo Kingcannon, who has been forced to shoulder must of the offensive load after the loss of Shawnee County Top 22 running back G'Honi Montgomery in the second game of the season.

Cale Ketter, Seaman

SEAMAN (3-2, 3-2 UKC) at LEAVENWORTH (3-2, 3-2 UKC)

Seaman stretched its winning streak to three games last Friday with a 62-0 home United Kansas Conference romp past KC-Turner. Leavenworth is also coming off a win, taking a 50-8 UKC decision over Topeka West. Seaman senior quarterback Cale Ketter has completed 94 of 146 passes for 1,546 yards and 18 touchdowns while senior Coy Barta has 34 receptions for 747 yards and seven TDs. Junior Quentin Moravec has carried the ball 68 times for 521 yards and five TDs. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Senior star Emma Sweeney and the Seaman girls tennis team have bigger goals ahead.

Seaman girls tennis poses for a team picture after winning its fifth straight UKC team title Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Submitted photo]

But the Vikings got what they hope is a strong postseason run off to a banner start Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center, with Sweeney earning her third straight United Kansas Conference singles championship while Seaman earned its fifth straight conference team title in as many tries.

Seaman senior Emma Sweeney won her third straight UKC singles title Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center, losing just one game in five matches on the day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman's Cadence Speer (left) and Camryn Lux won the doubles championship Tuesday as the Vikings won their fifth straight UKC team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Sweeney dropped just one game in five matches on the day, capped by an 8-0 win over Piper's Ann McPherson in the final while the Vikings' teams of Cadence Speer and Camryn Lux and Brenna Prokop and Kallie Zurmely finished one-two in doubles and Seaman got a third-place singles finish from Lilly Wiens en route to winning the team title by a 95-81 margin over Spring Hill.

"It's one of those goals that we're always trying to get, along with city and regionals and then, obviously, this year state after getting second last year,'' Sweeney said. "Every year we've been in the league we've won it, so we just want to keep the winning streak going.''

Seaman coach Jamie Robinson agreed.

"We look at it as a tremendous acomplishment,'' Robinson said. "We wanted to defend the title and we knew Spring Hill could be a threat, especially in doubles, and our doubles came through big time and we also got a third-place finish in singles, so that was fun.

"Wow, it was just a great day and this is a big lifting point going into regionals.''   

Sweeney, a three-time Class 5A state medalist and last year's singles runnerup, entered Tuesday's UKC meet as the clearcut singles favorite and said she just wanted to keep building momenum heading into regional and state competition.

"I just wanted to play really loose and have confidence going into regionals,'' Sweeney said. "I just wanted to play my game and not let anything get in my head and just stay loose mentally and physically.''

Shawnee Heights finished fifth as a team Tuesday while Topeka West placed eighth.

Seaman, Heights and West will all compete in Saturday's regional meet at Kossover (9 a.m. start), with competitors vying for berths in next week's 5A state meet at Andover.

UKC tennis competitors and coaches showed their support for Becky Kazmaier, wife of Basehor-Linwood coach Ryan Kazmaier, in her cancer fight with identical T-Shirts prior to the start of Tuesday's conference meet at Kossover Tennis Center. [Submitted photo]  

UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE GIRLS TENNIS

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Jadyn Baum

JADYN BAUM, Washburn Rural

A senior running back, Baum carried the ball 22 times for 183 yards and all three of Washburn Rural's touchdowns in Friday's 24-8 home Centennial League victory over Emporia. Baum scored touchdowns on runs of 20, 5 and 40 yards as the Junior Blues improved to 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in the league.

Mason Becker 

MASON BECKER, Hayden

Becker, a senior, scored 19 of Hayden's 31 points in Friday's 31-21 home Class 3A District 3 victory over Baldwin as the Wildcats picked up their first win of the season. Becker scored on runs of 58 and 11 yards and kicked a 30-yard field goal and four extra points. 

Landen Lewis 

LANDEN LEWIS, Rossville

A junior quarterback, Lewis had a hand in six touchdowns in Rossville's 47-20 Big East League road victory at Royal Valley. Lewis scored on runs of 1, 5, 35 and 20 yards and also threw for 17 and 57-yard TDs as the Bulldawgs improved to 3-2 on the season.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Individual champion Brynn Spencer led Seaman to the team title in Saturday's Seaman Invitational at Shawnee North Community Center.

Spencer, a senior, clocked a winning five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 44.37 seconds to win by more than 39 seconds while the Vikings also got a third-place finish from senior Kinley Robinson (20:39.91) and a fifth from freshman Morgan Ranson (20:47.86) en route to the team title by a 38-45 margin over Piper.

Senior Brynn Spencer captured the girls individual title to lead Seaman to the team championship in Saturday's Seaman Invitational cross country meet at Shawnee North. [File photo/TSN]

Freshman Brinley Cochran finished 15th (21:44.01) and senior Hannah Wempe 20th (22:33.86) to round out Seaman's top five scoring runners.

A split team from Washburn Rural finished fifth with 130 points while Topeka High finished sixth (167) and Shawnee Heights seventh (174).

Sophomore Clara Dillon paced Rural with an 18th-place finish (21:54.28) while junior Emma Womack placed 25th (23:11.43) to lead Topeka High and freshman Claudia Memmet finished 33rd (23:41.07) to lead Shawnee Heights.

Blue Valley Northwest won the boys team title with 23 points while Seaman's boys finished fourth as a team with 94 points as sophomore Trindon Jones led the Vikings with a ninth-place finish in 16:57.52.

A split team for Washburn Rural finished fifth (99 points), with freshman Mariner Svaty placing 16th (17:34.44) and junior Gauge Dial finishing 18th (17:37.42).

Shawnee Heights finished seventh as a team (199 points) and Topeka High eighth (213) while Topeka West had four individual runners.

Senior Andrew Schulte led Shawnee Heights with a 22nd-place finish (17:47.53) while Topeka High junior Oliver Snethen placed a team-high 28th (18:01.35) for the Trojans and senior Ezra Phelps led Topeka West with a 35th-place finish (18:11.02).

The city championships will be contested next Saturday at Shawnee Heights (9 a.m. start).

SEAMAN INVITATIONAL

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Junior quarterback Landen Lewis ran for four touchdowns and threw for a pair of scores in Friday's 47-20 non-league road romp past Royal Valley.

Landen Lewis, Rossville

Lewis ran for 1, 5, 35 and 20-yard TDs and hit Dalen Dick for a 17-yard score and Cale Horak for a 57-yard TD.

The 3-2 Bulldawgs also got 16-yard touchdown pass from Cole Graves to Kelton Lacock while Julian Goj kicked five extra points.

The Rossville defense limited Royal Valley (3-2) to six points until the Panthers scored 14 points over the final 3:42 of the game.

Rossville led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and scored 27 points in the second quarter to take a commanding 34-0 halftime advantage.

The Bulldawgs led 40-6 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Eagles remain unbeaten with 77-6 district rout

Silver Lake improved to 5-0 Friday with a 77-6 home Class 2A District 3 win over 0-5 West Franklin.

The Eagles put the game away with a 42-point first quarter and tacked on 23 points in the second quarter to take a 65-0 halftime lead.

After a scoreless third quarter Silver Lake scored its final 12 points in the final period while West Franklin scored its only points.

Silver Lake will travel to Maranatha Academy next Friday to face a Maranatha team that is coming off a 64-0 loss to Osage City.

Lions improve to 4-1 with 54-6 district romp

Cair Paravel Latin improved to 4-1 on the season Friday night with a 54-6 Eight-Man I District 3 win over Pleasanton at Veritas Christian School in Lawrence.

The Lions will travel to Lyndon next Friday for a district matchup with the 2-2 Tigers. Lyndon is coming off a 56-14 district victory over Northern Heights.

Vikings stretch winning streak to three games

Seaman posted its third straight United Kansas Conference victory Friday night, taking a 62-0 home decision over Turner in a game that was halted early after a serious injury.

The Vikings improved to 3-2 overall and in the UKC, while Turner fell to 0-5.

Seaman will travel to Leavenworth next Friday to face the 3-2 Pioneers, who are coming off of a 50-8 win over Topeka West. 

T-Birds fall to unbeaten Broncos

Spring Hill improved to 5-0 on the season with a 76-35 United Kansas Conference victory at Shawnee Heights Friday night.

Spring Hill led 29-7 at the end of the opening quarter and took a 49-19 advantage to the locker room at halftime.

The scorefest continued in the second half, with the Broncos outscoring the T-Birds by a 27-16 margin.

The 1-4 T-Birds will travel to Piper next Friday, with the Pirates coming off a 24-8 UKC loss to Basehor-Linwood.

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

(Allkickoffs at 7 p.m.)

FRIDAY'S GAMES

Jadyn Baum, Washburn Rural (26) 

EMPORIA (2-2, 0-1 Centennial) at WASHBURN RURAL (2-2, 1-0 Centennial)

Washburn Rural opened Centennial League play with a 34-7 win over city rival Topeka High at Hummer Sports Park last Friday while Emporia dropped a 32-6 Centennial League game against Junction City. Washburn Rural senior star running back Jadyn Baum carried the ball 34 times for 180 yards and three touchdowns against the Trojans. Emporia sophomore quarterback Cael Claibourn has completed eight of 18 passes for 234 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 289 yards and five TDs on 26 attempts. Spartan senior Ben Collins has 414 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 75 attempts.

Jairus Todwong, Hayden

BALDWIN (3-1, 1-0 3A District 3) at HAYDEN (0-4, 0-0 3A District 3)

Hayden, which has advanced to the Class 3A state championship game three straight seasons, will open Class 3A District 3 competition Friday night. The Wildcats are coming off a 49-28 loss to St. Mary's South Side, Mo. last Friday while Baldwin opened district play with a 28-0 shutout victory over Perry-Lecompton. Hayden sophomore Jairus Todwong carried the ball 18 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns against St. Mary's while senior Logan Power had seven catches for 88 yards. Bulldawg senior quarterback Bryis Alford has completed 28 of 48 passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns and carried the ball 40 times for 345 yards and eight TDs.

Cale Ketter, Seaman

TURNER (0-4, 0-4) at SEAMAN (2-2, 2-2)

Seaman has won two straight games since an 0-2 start, including a 41-17 United Kansas Conference victory over Lansing last Friday, while Turner is still looking for its first win of the season after a 56-7 non-league loss to Leavenworth. Seaman senior quarterback Cale Ketter has completed 80 of 130 passes for 1,322 yards and 12 touchdowns while senior Coy Barta has caught 30 passes for 685 yards and five TDs. Junior running back Quentin Moravec has carried the ball 59 times for 418 yards and four TDs. Bryson Fehr has 50 tackles for the Vikings (30 solo), with six tackles for loss.

BV SOUTHWEST (0-4) vs. HIGHLAND PARK (1-3)

At Hummer Sports Park

Highland Park dropped a 12-6 Meadowlark Conference nailbiter on the road to Kansas City-Sumner Academy last Friday while Blue Valley Southwest remained winless with a 41-28 loss to traditional state power Bishop Miege. Senior JoJo Kingcannon has been the go-to guy for Highland Park, which lost senior star G'Honi Montgomery to a season-ending injury in the second game of the season. Blue Valley Southwest junior quarterback Michael Dunn has completed 64 of 129 passes for 824 yards.

Trone Purvis, Shawnee Heights 

SPRING HILL (4-0, 4-0 UKC) at SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (1-3, 1-3 UKC)

Shawnee Heights will be looking to bounce back from a 58-40 United Kansas Conference road loss to Topeka West while Spring Hill remained unbeaten with a 24-0 conference win over Basehor-Linwood. T-Bird senior quarterback Kolby Kutscher has completed 46 of 85 passes for 760 yards and eight touchdowns while sophomore Fletcher Terrell has caught 17 passes for 366 yards and six TDs. Senior Trone Purvis has carried the ball 74 times for 413 yards and five touchdowns. 

CAIR PARAVEL LATIN (3-1, 0-0 8-Man-I District 3) vs. PLEASANTON (2-2, 1-0 8-Man-I District 3)

At Veritas Christian, Lawrence

Cair Paravel surpassed is 2025 win total with a 54-8 romp past Rural Vista last Friday and will host Pleasanton in a Eight-Man Division I District 3 contest at Veritas Christian School in Lawrence. Pleasanton is coming off a 38-36 win over Northern Heights. Cair Paravel senior Cole Haubold has carried the ball 21 times for 331 yards and seven touchdowns while leading the Lions with 32 tackles (20 solo) and seven tackles for loss. Junior quarterback Chase Hastert has completed seven of 18 passes for 215 yards and four TDs and has 234 rushing yards and four TDs on 24 carries. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Seaman freshman volleyball standout Kamryn Carlson and Topeka West junior football star Nas Williams-Brown have been selected as the Brandon Aldridge State Farm Insurance Agency Rising Stars of the Week.

The Brandon Aldridge Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the 2026-2027 school year.

Here's a brief look at last week's accomplishments of Carlson and Williams-Brown.

Kamryn Carlson, Seaman 

KAMRYN CARLSON, Seaman

A 6-foot-1 outside/rightside hitter, Carlson has already established herself as one of the city's top players in just a few matches of her high school career.

Carlson helped lead young Vikings, who have just one senior on their varsity roster, to a fourth-place finish in Saturday's Seaman Invitational, which included multiple state-ranked teams.

Carlson was named to the All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the tournament.

Nas Williams-Brown, Topeka West 

NAS WILLIAMS-BROWN, Topeka West

The running back turned in a monster game last Thursday night, rushing for 317 yards and five touchdowns on 18 carries, powering Topeka West to a 58-40 United Kansas Conference win over Shawnee Heights.

A returning All-United Kansas Conference selection, Williams-Brown scored on runs of 2, 7, 50, 62 and 94 yards and also caught five passes for 39 yards against the T-Birds.

Williams led the Chargers to their first win over Shawnee Heights since 2005.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Seaman tennis star Emma Sweeney continued her outstanding senior season Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center, claiming the No. 1 singles championship in the 11-school Topeka West Invitational.

Senior Emma Sweeney won the No. 1 singles title in Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational, leading the Vikings to a second-place team finish. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The two-time city champion, who took an 8-1 win over Junction City's Hannah Micheel in Tuesday's championship match, led the Vikings to a second-place team finish behind Blue Valley West (53-51).

Seaman's Cadence Speer (left) and Camryn Lux posted a runnerup finish in No. 1 doubles in Tuesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman's Lilli Wiens finished second in No. 2 singles in Tuesday's 11-school Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

In addition to Sweeney's title, Seaman got second-place finishes from Lilli Wiens in No. 1 singles, Camryn Lux and Cadence Speer in No. 1 doubles and Prokop and Kallie Zurmely in No. 2 doubles.

Wiens dropped an 8-2 decision to Blue Valley West's Angie Wang in the No. 2 singles final while BV West took an 8-2 win over Lux and Speer in the No. 1 doubles final and took an 8-5 win over Prokop and Zurmely in the No. 1 doubles title match. 

A split team from Washburn Rural finished seventh as a team while Shawnee Heights finished ninth and Topeka West 11th.

The Centennial League tournament will be held at Kossover on Monday while the United Kansas Conference meet will be contested on Tuesday at Kossover. 

TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL GIRLS TENNIS

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Julia Katzer

JULIA KATZER, Washburn Rural

A senior, Katzer teamed with Halle Owen to win a second straight city tennis championship in No. 1 doubles last Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, leading the Junior Blues to the team title by a 32-28 margin over Seaman. Katzer and Owen earned the championship with an 8-3 win over Hayden juniors Hailey Caryl and Sophia Wichman in the final.

Halle Owen

HALLE OWEN, Washburn Rural

Owen, a senior, teamed with Julia Katzer to win a second straight city tennis championship in No. 1 doubles last Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, leading Washburn Rural to the team title by a 32-28 margin over Seaman. Owen and Katzer earned the championship with an 8-3 win over Hayden juniors Hailey Caryl and Sophia Wichman in the final.

 Chloe Schmidtlein

CHLOE SCHMIDTLEIN, Seaman

Schmidtlein, a senior, captured her first individual championship in last Monday's city girls golf tournament at Cypress Ridge, shooting a 78 to take medalist honors by a whopping nine strokes. Schmidtlein is a returning Class 5A state medalist, tying for 19th as a junior. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After losing three of its previous four games, Seaman soccer bounced back Monday with a 2-0 non-league road win over rival Hayden.

Junior Oscar Serrano (16) scored Seaman's first goal in Monday's 2-0 non-league soccer shutout at Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The Vikings scored a goal in each half on Monday en route to improving to 4-5 on the season while Hayden fell to 0-8.

"We've been a little up and down and just had a lot of tough opponents we've been up against,'' Seaman coach Ty Hurla said. "We've dealt with some injuries and it's just been one of those years that we've dealt with that, so it's just been an up and down roller-coaster season for us.''

Seaman came up empty on some early scoring opportunities, but got the only goal it would need at the 14:59 mark of the opening half when junior Oscar Serrano found the back of the net off an assist from junior David Budge.

Budge then scored a big insurance goal with 9:41 remaining in the game to account for the final margin.

Sophomore Brady Jowers picked up the shutout in goal for the Vikings.

"They know players over on that side so it's one of those games they definitely want to be up for and come out and compete,'' Hurla said.

And Hurla was pleased overall with his Vikings' performance.

"Any time you can get a shutout and two goals in the game, we'll take that any time we can get it,'' he said. "It's definitely a different playing surface (grass) for us, but we're alright with that.'' 

Both Seaman and Hayden will be back in action Tuesday, with the Vikings hosting Leavenworth in a United Kansas Conference contest while Hayden will be on the road at Ottawa for a non-league tilt.

SEAMAN 2, HAYDEN 0

Seaman (4-5) 1 1 -- 2

Hayden (0-8)  0 0 -- 0

Seaman -- Goals: Oscar Serrano, David Budge. Assist: David Budge. Shutout: Brady Jowers.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

A week after posting a nine-stroke victory in the city tournament Seaman senior Chloe Schmidtlein added the United Kansas Conference individual title by two strokes Monday at Painted Hills Golf Course in Kansas City, Kan.

Seaman senior Chloe Schmidtlein shot a 79 to win the UKC individual title by two strokes. [File photo/TSN]

Schmidtlein carded a 79 while De Soto's Mckenzie Laster and Basehor-Linwood's Aubrey Ziolo tied for second with 81s.

The Vikings finished second as a team, with Spring Hill ending Seaman's UKC championship reign by a 367-378 margin.

Seaman also got a tie for eighth from Kaitlynn Frye with a 91 while Penelope Kruesi (99) and Cara Beaton (109) rounded out the Vikings' top four.

Shawnee Heights finished sixth as a team, led by Lauryn Valdivia' tie for eighth (91).   

UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE GIRLS GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

At Painted Hills 

Team scores

Spring Hill 367, Seaman 378, Basehor-Linwood 387, De Soto 387, Piper 399, Shawnee Heights 413, Turner 578.

Individual results

1. Chloe Schmidtlein, Seaman, 79; 2. (tie) Mckenzie Laster, De Soto, and Aubrey Ziolo, Basehor-Linwood, 81; 4. (tie) Claire Fitzgerald, Basehor-Linwood, and Emily Taylor, De Soto, 84; 6. Lydia Herthel, Spring Hill, 85; 7. Kinsley Miller, Spring Hill, 90; 8. (tie) Kaitlyn Frye, Seaman; Addison Nichols, Spring Hill, and Lauryn Valdivia, Shawnee Heights, 91.

Other Seaman -- Penelope Kruesi 99, Cara Beaton 109, Lauren Glasgow 115, Leah Crawford 125.

Other Shawnee Heights -- Elsie Willmann 101, Avery Domme 101, Ashlyn Mattox 120. 

Senior Kailyn Petersen finished second in Monday's Centennial League tournament to lead Washburn Rural to a runnerup team finish. [File photo/TSN]

Petersen, Junior Blues post runnerup Centennial League finishes

Washburn Rural finished second as a team to defending Class 6A state champion Manhattan in Monday's Centennial League tournament at Stagg Hills in Manhattan while Junior Blues senior Kailyn Petersen was the individual runnerup.

Individual champion Maddie Myers shot a sizzling 69 to take medalist honors by 12 strokes over Petersen (81) while the Indians won the team title by a 346-362 margin over the Junior Blues.

Rural's Reese Elliott finished fifth individually (89) while Liz Halstead finished ninth (95) and Emery Hall and LynnLee Mullins tied for 10th (97). 

Senior Brooke Johnson paced Hayden with a third-place individual finish (85) as the Wildcats finished third as a team. 

CENTENNIAL LEAGUE GIRLS GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

At Stagg Hill 

Team scores

Manhattan 346, Washburn Rural 362, Hayden 387, Emporia 418, Junction City 458.

Individual results

1. Maddie Myers, Manhattan, 69; 2. Kailyn Petersen, Washburn Rural, 81; 3. Brooke Johnson, Hayden, 85; 4. Taylen Koch, Emporia, 87; 5. Reese Elliott, Washburn Rural, 89; 6. Lilly Nelson, Manhattan, 91; 7. (tie) Gabby Fehr, Manhattan, and Addy Crouch, Manhattan, 93; 9. Liz Halstead, Washburn Rural, 95; 10. (tie) Emery Hall, Washburn Rural; LynnLee Mullins, Washburn Rural, and Emily Hartung, Manhattan, 97.

Other Washburn Rural -- Brynley Scott 99.

Other Hayden -- Avery Becker 100, Morgan Johnson 101, Emma Matthews 101, Esa Herarra 104, Maura Tolin 106.

Topeka High -- Braylin Selk 139, Riley McMillian 148.

Host Eagles win title in invitational

Silver Lake posted an 11-stroke team win in Monday's Silver Lake Invitational at Cypress Ridge, winning by a 384-395 margin over Holton.

 The Eagles' Zara Nilsson shot an 85 to finish a stroke behind medalist Addison Fechter of Jefferson West while Silver Lake's Avenley Head finished third with an 89.

Rossville finished fifth as a team but the Bulldawgs got a sixth-place finish from Elley Sanders (97), an eighth from Maya Donovan (99) and a tie for 10th from Gloria Stebbins (102).

SILVER LAKE INVITATIONAL GIRLS GOLF 

At Cypress Ridge

Team scores

Silver Lake 384, Holton 395, Jefferson West 401, Osage City 403, Rossville 413, Silver Lake 'B' 469.

Individual results

1. Addison Fechter, Jefferson West, 84; 2. Zara Nilsson, Silver Lake, 85; 3. Avenley Head, Silver Lake, 89; 4. Bree Barrow, Holton, 91; 5. Brynlee Harmon, Osage City, 93; 6. Elley Sanders, Rossville, 97; 7. Alyssa Stich, Holton, 98; 8. Maya Donovan, Rossville, 99; 9. Adalie Alley, Holton, 101; 10. (tie) Gloria Stebbins, Rossville, and Sawyer Serna, Osage City, 102.

Other Silver Lake -- Ashley Hanna 105, Savanah Wende 105, Morgan Ackerly 110, Ali Gerber 116, Alissa Thomas 116, Addy Just 117, Addison Beyer 117, Ciara Hall 119.

Other Rossville -- Joan Pottorf 115, Reese Olejnik 118. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Silver Lake, Shawnee County's lone undefeated football team, improved to 4-0 with Friday's 61-14 road win at Oskaloosa.

Kipton Kruger, Silver Lake

Eagle sophomore quarterback Kipton Kruger completed 14 of 22 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns while junior Dominic Monhollon carried the ball five times for 48 yards and two TDs and senior Jett Ross caught five passes for 83 yards.

The Eagles jumped out to a 20-0 first-quarter lead and tacked on 27 points in the second quarter to take a 47-0 halftime cushion.

Silver Lake boosted its lead to 61-0 in the third quarter before Oskaloosa scored all of its 14 points in the fourth stanza.

The Eagles will host 0-4 West Franklin on Friday.

Cale Ketter, Seaman

Vikings post second straight rout

After an 0-2 start to the season, Seaman is back at .500 after a 41-17 United Kansas Conference road win at Lansing.

The Vikings have outscored their past two opponents by an 103-24 margin.

Seaman senior quarterback Cale Ketter completed 20 of 32 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns while senior Coy Barta seven passes for 142 yards and a touchdown and senior Josh Brown had five catches for 78 yards and a TD.

Junior Quentin Moravec carried the ball 12 times for 90 yards and a score while senior Grady Piper had 13 carries for 33 yards and three TDs.

Seaman led 13-3 at the end of the first quarter and led 20-3 at the half before outscoring the 1-3 Lions by a 21-14 margin in the second half.

Seaman will be back at home Friday, hosting UKC foe Turner (0-4) in the Vikings' Homecoming Contest.  

 Landen Lewis, Rossville

Dawgs roll to 43-7 win over Reno County

Junior quarterback Landen Lewis threw for three touchdowns and ran for a TD Friday night as Rossville improved to 2-2 with a 43-7 home win over Reno County Home School.

Lewis connected with Cale Horak for 30 and 53-yard touchdown passes and hit Kelton Lacock for an 8-yard TD while also running for a 6-yard score.

The Bulldawgs also got two TDs from Cael Horgan, who ran for 59 and 1-yard scores.

Julian Goj kicked five extra points while Michael Cooney added a 2-point conversion.

Rossville jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and scored 22 points in the second quarter to open up a 36-0 halftime time advantage before scoring its final TD in the third quarter.

The Bulldawgs will travel to 3-1 Royal Valley on Friday.

Lions improve to 3-1 with 54-6 rout

Cair Paravel Latin surpassed its 2025 victory total on Friday, improving to 3-1 with a 54-6 romp past Rural Vista at Seaman.

Back in the Eight-Man ranks after two seasons in 11-man football, the Lions are off and running this fall.

Cair Paravel will host 2-2 Pleasanton on Friday at Veritas Christian School in Lawrence.

Highland Park drops tight game at KC-Sumner

Highland Park came up on the short end of a low-scoring Meadowlark Conference game Friday night, with Kansas City-Sumner Academy taking a 12-6 home win.

Highland Park fell to 1-3 and 1-2 in the conference while the Sabres improved to 3-1.

The Scots will host 0-4 Blue Valley Southwest Friday at Hummer Sports Park.

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

The Hayden Wildcats outlasted a field full of ranked teams to win the Seaman Invitational volleyball tournament on Saturday, besting Lansing in the championship match.

Hayden's volleyball team poses for a team picture after winning Saturday's Seaman Invitational. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]

Hayden volleyball celebrates its Seaman Invitational championship Saturday. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]

Although the Wildcats fell to Class 4A rival Bishop Miege in pool play, they got by Seaman 25-22, 25-23 in their semifinal match. The Wildcats then took down the fifth-ranked team in Class 5A, Lansing, 25-20, 25-22 to take home the trophy.

“I’m so proud of them. Overall, they played so awesome,” said Hayden coach Corrinne McGreevy.” “This team plays so hard. They always have grit. Whenever they get faced with adversity, they stick together.”

The adversity McGreevy alluded to was the defeat at the hands of Bishop Miege, 25-17, 22-25, 25-13.

“They’re a fantastic team,” McGreevy said of the Stags. “It’s always a really good match between us. We competed well against them, especially in that second game. In the third game, I think we got a little bit in our own way, and sometimes that happens.

“I told the girls (after the loss to Miege) that you just gotta shake it. And they did. We take second, we come over here and win it. With sports, that’s the beauty of it.”

Mallory Tanking (11), Hayden's lone senior, helped lead the Wildcats to the championship in Saturday's Seaman Invitational. [Photo by Brent Maycock/TSN]

“This is so fun! I love playing with these girls,” Hayden’s lone senior, Mallory Tanking, said of winning the tournament. “We love each other and we play for each other, no matter what.”

The tournament featured Bishop Miege and Hayden, Class 4A’s first- and second-ranked teams; Garden City, the fifth-ranked team in 6A; and Bishop Carroll and Lansing, 5A’s fourth- and fifth-ranked teams.

“This tournament is awesome,” McGreevy said. “There are so many really, really good teams here and its really good volleyball all day. It just helps us prepare for sub-state and then hopefully on to state.”

Tanking is one of several Wildcats who return from the 2025 4A state runners-up. She said the Seaman Invitational proved the team has a high ceiling once again.

“I feel like this was really good experience for the postseason,” Tanking said. “This told us we can compete with anyone and we can come back from anything.”

Seaman surprised the field by emerging from its pool on top of Garden City, Lansing and Kansas City’s Maranatha Christian Academy. The Vikings lost a three-set fight with Maranatha but emerged ahead of the other 2-1 teams.

After falling to Hayden in the semifinal battle, Seaman lost to Bishop Miege, 25-18, 25-14 in the third-place match.

Seaman junior Lydia Dreher (left) sets the ball in Saturday's Seaman Invitational while freshman teammate Kamryn Carlson (13), an all-tournament pick, stands by. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]

“I feel like we really battled today, and I think we made a lot of strides in the right direction,” said Seaman coach Tatiana Dowling. “Obviously, there is still plenty to work on, but that’s exactly where you want to be in this part of the season: battling, starting to put some things together, and understanding what you need to work on so that you can get better for future games.

“We battled some of the best teams in the state out there, and we’ve got two freshmen, three sophomores and a senior on the floor at one time. This should tell them that they can play with anybody.”

Junior Hailey Schmidtlein (right) was named to the Seaman Invitational all-tournament team after helping lead the Wildcats to the tournament championship. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]

Hayden and Seaman each placed a player on the All-Tournament Team. Representing Hayden was junior Hailey Schmidtlein. For Seaman, freshman Kamryn Carlson won tournament honors.

SEAMAN INVITATIONAL

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After a two-year absence, Washburn Rural re-claimed the Topeka city girls tennis team championship Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center.

Washburn Rural poses for a team picture after winning the city girls tennis championship by a 32-28 margin over Seaman Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Two-time city No. 1 doubles champs Julia Katzer and Halle Owen led the way as the Junior Blues won three of four divisions on the way to a 32-28 victory over 2025 champion Seaman while 2024 champ Hayden finished third with 24 points.

Washburn Rural seniors Halle Owen (left) and Julia Katzer won their second straight city title in No. 1 doubles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Katzer and Owen, both seniors, earned their repeat city title with an 8-3 win over Hayden juniors Hailey Caryl and Sophia Wichman and said their biggest thrill of the day was helping the Junior Blues win the team championship.

"We didn't win as a team last year, so I just really wanted to come through with that win so we could help the team out,'' Katzer said.

"It was a goal going in,'' Owen said of the team title. "I know we have a lot of strong players and we have a lot of strong underclassmen coming up, so I think that with a lot of the hard work that we've put in it's been good and it's paying off to win as a team.''

Washburn Rural also got city titles in No. 2 singles from Karmyn Faul and in No. 2 doubles from Annie Henderson and Kinley Ladd.

Faul topped Cair Paravel Latin's Mia Poole 8-6 in the No. 2 singles final while Henderson and Ladd took an 8-4 win over Seaman in the No. 2 doubles title match.

"The girls stayed patient, they remembered to play their game and stayed focused, and when you have a lead keep that gas pedal down and don't let up because these girls at these other schools are relentless and they're not going to stop,'' Washburn Rural coach Michelle Rose said.

Seaman senior Emma Sweeney won her second straight city title in No. 1 singles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center, remaining undefeated on the season. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Undefeated Seaman senior star Emma Sweeney won her second straight No. 1 singles championship to pace the runnerup Vikings, taking an 8-0 win over Cair Paravel's Madelyn Poole in the final.

Sweeney, the Class 5A singles runnerup as a junior, lost just one game on the day after receiving a first-round bye, improving to 13-0 on the season.

"I think I've been playing pretty loose so far and that's always the goal, just to play better each day,'' Sweeney said. "I think I can always do better and work harder but so far I think I've been putting my all into each match and not taking anyone easy and just playing loose. That's the whole point.

"We've been working really hard as a team and we talk every single day about how we're going to put it all out there this year. Getting second in singles and as a team last year it was a big hurt, but we're coming back and we're all just ready to leave it out there.''

TOPEKA CITY GIRLS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

(Allkickoffs at 7 p.m.)

THURSDAY'S GAME

Fletcher Terrell, Shawnee Heights [File photo/TSN]

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (1-2, 1-2) vs. TOPEKA WEST (0-3, 0-3)

At Hummer Sports Park

Shawnee Heights is coming off a 62-7 United Kansas Conference road loss at Seaman last Friday while Topeka West dropped a 42-14 UKC decision at Lansing. Shawnee Heights senior quarterback Kolby Kutscher has completed 39 of 68 passes for 673 yards and six touchdowns while sophomore Fletcher Terrell has caught 15 passes for 537 yards and five TDs. Senior Trone Purvis has carried the ball 45 times for 229 yards and two TDs. Junior Malachi Lee leads the T-Birds with 27 tackles (20 solo). Topeka West junior quarterback Josiah Wilkie has completed 33 of 63 passes for 372 yards and two TDs. Junior Nas Williams-Brown has rushed for 269 yards and two TDs on 25 carries while senior Micah Emerson has 11 catches for 197 yards and three TDs. Sophomore Payson Skelton leads the Chargers with 22 tackles.

FRIDAY'S GAMES

Jadyn Baum, Washburn Rural [Photo by Doug Walker/TSN]

TOPEKA HIGH (1-2, 0-0) vs. WASHBURN RURAL (1-2, 0-0)

At Hummer Sports Park

The Trojans and Junior Blues will square off Friday in the Centennial League opener for both schools. Both the Trojans and Junior Blues will be looking to bounce back from losses, with Topeka High dropping a 46-19 road decision at Wichita Southeast and Washburn Rural falling at home to undefeated Wichita Bishop Carroll, 34-23. The Junior Blues were within five points in the fourth quarter despite losing both of their senior quarterbacks, Gavin Vantuyl and Gabriel Taylor,  to injuries. Rural star senior running back Jadyn Baum finished the night with 208 rushing yards and 74 and 70-yard TDs on 23 carries. Senior Courtney Sanders is a top player for Topeka High.

ST. MARY'S SOUTH SIDE, Mo. (2-2) at HAYDEN (0-3)

After three straight games on the road, Hayden wil play its home-opener against its second straight out-of-state opponent. At halftime Hayden will officially re-name its stadium Tom Stringer Family Stadium in honor of the Wildcats' legendary football coach, who passed away in 2025. Hayden is coming off a 57-12 loss at Missouri power St. Pius X, 4-0 on the season. South Side, located in St. Louis, is coming off a 42-7 loss to undefeated Jackson, Mo. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural's girls tennis team continued its hot start to the 2026 season on Tuesday at Kossover Tennis Center, sweeping the singles and doubles titles in its seven-school invitational tournament.

Washburn Rural girls tennis poses for a team picture after a strong performance in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center. [Submitted photo] 

Michelle Rose's Junior Blues swept the singles and doubles championships for Rural's White team on Tuesday in their final tuneup for Thursday's city tournament, finishing second to Maize by a 63-56 margin.

Washburn Rural's Karmyn Faul won the singles title in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center, earning the championship in a tiebreaker. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural seniors Julia Katzer (left) and Halle Owen won the doubles title for the host Junior Blues in Tuesday's Washburn Rural Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Rural's Karmyn Faul captured the singles championship with an 8-7 (7-5 tiebreaker) victory over Maize's Brooke Youngers in the final while the Junior Blues went one-two in doubles, with Julia Katzer and Halle Owen taking an 8-2 win over teammates Annie Henderson and Kinley Ladd, who competed for Rural's Blue team.

"I'm 100 percent pleased,'' Rural coach Michelle Rose said of the Junior Blues' start to the season. "We are very deep. We are blessed to have three very, very talented freshmen joining us, which has really just added more depth and drive for our juniors and seniors to keep up and hold their spot. We're going to be solid for the next three or four years.

"We have three awesome seniors and they're doing a great job of showing leadership and I just want them to really go out on a positive note and play their best tennis. If that's a win that's great, but the more important thing is for them to walk off the court proud.''

Lily Wiens finished third in singles Tuesday, leading Seaman to a third-place team finish in the Washburn Rural Invitational at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Seaman posted third and fourth-place finishes in singles, with Lily Wiens taking an 8-6 win over teammate Kaylyn Hiebsch in the third-place match, while the Vikings also got a fourth-place doubles finish from McKenna Shipp and Elizabeth Pfeifer. 

Shawnee Heights also competed in Tuesday's tournament, finishing seventh as a team.

Rural, Seaman and Shawnee Heights will all be back at Kossover on Thursday for the annual city tournament, with the Vikings entering the event as the defending champion.

Seaman earned its first city title since 2015 in the 2025 meet by a 32-28 margin over Washburn Rural.

WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS TENNIS INVITATIONAL

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

There were times in Tuesday night's Topeka West United Kansas Conference volleyball triangular when Seaman looked like one of the best teams in Class 5A.

Seaman volleyball celebrates Tuesday's victory over city and UKC rival Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Of course, there were also times when Tatiana Dowling's Vikings looked like an extremely young team that only has one senior, Acey Thompson, on their roster.

But after dropping a tough three-set nailbiter to Spring Hill, which took a 25-23, 21-25, 25-23 victory, Seaman bounced back to sweep Topeka West, 25-11, 25-22.

And while the Vikings continue to fight inconsistency at times, Dowling continues to see steady progress and is excited about the future.

"We talk a lot about trying to be consistent and control what we can control and limit our errors, and you saw us go a little up and down with that tonight,'' Dowling said. "Our girls work really hard, they have really great attitudes, they're extremely coachable and they're great kids and they can play at a really high level.

"So as soon as it all clicks at the same time consistently, they will be unstoppable.''

Seaman freshman standout Kamryn Carlson (13) delivers a kill against Spring Hill in Tuesday's UKC volleyball triangular at Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman led for much of the first set against Spring Hill, including a kill from 6-foot-1 freshman standout Kamryn Carlson to go up 4-1 early on.

The Vikings went on to take a 19-15 advantage before the Broncos ran off five straight points to go in front, 20-19.

There were ties at 20, 21 and 23 before Spring Hill scored the final two points of the set.

Seaman built a 14-8 advantage in the second set but Spring Hill came back to forge a tie at 19 before the Vikings forced a third set with a 6-2 edge to close out the four-point win as Carlson continued to dominate things at the net.

Spring Hill never trailed in the third set after opening 7-2, 9-3 and 20-12 leads but the Vikings fought back to get as close as 24-23 before the Broncos scored the match-winning point.

Seaman sophomore Alivia Dowty sets the ball during Tuesday's UKC volleyball triangular at Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

After a somewhat slow start in the first set against West, Seaman took control in the middle portion of the set and closed out the 25-11 win with a 9-2 finishing spurt.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Monday's city high school girls golf championship at Cypress Ridge was marked by something old and something new.

Washburn Rural poses for a team picture after posting a 29-stroke victory in Monday's city girls golf tournament at Cypress Ridge. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

After a one-year absence, Washburn Rural regained its traditional place atop the city ladder, capturing its 12th city team championship in the 14-year history of the event by 29 strokes over Hayden as Hayden Beck won his first city title as the Junior Blues' head coach.

But Monday also saw Seaman senior Chloe Schmidtlein win her first city individual title by nine strokes with a 78 after finishing seventh in 2025.

Seaman senior Chloe Schmidtlein shot a 78 Monday to win her first city individual title by nine strokes at Cypress Ridge. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural rode its balance to the team crown, with the Junior Blues putting all of its top four players in the top eight individually.

Washburn Rural senior Kailyn Petersen shot an 87 to tie for second place in Monday's city girls golf tournament at Cypress Ridge. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Washburn Rural sophomore Reese Elliott tied for second in Monday's city golf tournament with an 87. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Senior Kailyn Petersen and sophomore Reese Elliott tied for second behind Schmidtlein with 87s while Brynley Scott and LynnLee Mullins shot 95s to tie for seventh place.

"I think that we're getting where we need to be, and I think it's a testament to the work they've put in,'' Beck said. "We've been inside because it's been a rough year with the weather. All teams are dealing with it, but our girls have shown up every practice that we've had to move inside and they've got a lot of good work in.

"We've been pounding the short game and I'm starting to see a little bit of a difference from where we were at the start of the year to where we are now, so it's awesome to see us be able to put four scores together and kind of be where we're supposed to be.''

Schmidtlein, who helped Seaman win the city team title as a junior, used a red-hot start to her decisive individual victory, shooting under par over her front nine and holding a comfortable lead for the remainder of her round despite cooling off a bit.

Schmidtlein said that winning the city title was a goal entering Monday's tournament. 

"I talked to my dad about it before the round and I was like, 'It would be really cool to go win city today, I think I could do it,' '' Schmidtlein said.

"But I didn't get too focused on it because if I set a goal and focus too much on it then I sometimes just go completely downhill.''

And now that she did win the city title, Schmidtlein is hoping to ride that momentum into the United Kansas Conference, regional and state meets.

"I feel like I can go perform well,'' she said.

Brooke Johnson tied for second with an 87 to lead Hayden to a runnerup team finish in Monday's city golf tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Brooke Johnson tied for second with an 87 for team runnerup Hayden while Morgan Johnson finished sixth with a 92 and Emma Matthews placed 10th with a 103.

In addition to Schmidtlein's individual victory, third-place Seaman got a fifth-place finish from Kaitlynn Frye, who carded 90.

Shawnee Heights' Lauryn Valdivia earned an individual medal with a ninth-place finish for the T-Birds, shooting a 97.   

Baldwin won the championship in the Topeka West Invitational, held in conjunction with the city tournament, by a 32-stroke margin over Washburn Rural (332-364) as Peyton Wright shot a 73 to post a five-stroke individual win for the Bulldawgs. 

TOPEKA CITY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Defending Class 6A boys state cross country champion Washburn Rural is off and running again, including a team title in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic at Rural.

Junior Clayton Fink (510) posted a fifth-place individual finish to lead Washburn Rural to the boys team title in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural sophomore Alyson Hinck turned in a fourth-place girls individual finish in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic as Rural finished third as a team. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The Junior Blues put three runners in the top nine spots on the way to a decisive 50-77 victory over Blue Valley Northwest while Rural's girls also turned in a banner day, with three runners placing in the top eight individually en route to a third-place team finish behind Shawnee Mission East and Mill Valley.

"Both the boys and girls teams ran great,'' Rural coach Matt Swedlund said. "It's always fun to host and show off our beautiful home course.''

Saturday's meet is named in honor of former longtime Washburn Rural coach Scott Shufelberger, who Swedlund ran for in high school.

Junior Clayton Fink paced Rural's boys in Saturday's meet with a fifth-place individual finish among 99 runners in a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 29.50 seconds.

Junior Duke Graf (511) placed seventh in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic for the team-champion Washburn Rural boys. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Rural, which captured the 2025 6A team championship by a single point, also got a seventh-place finish from Duke Graf (16:48.40) and a ninth-place showing from junior Jaxson Adams (16:53.30) while sophomore Julius Wood-Nichols placed 13th (17:04.90) and senior Cohen Thiessen 16th (17:13.90) to round out the Junior Blues' top five.

"The boys ran solid and are progressing nicely,'' Swedlund said.

Seaman finished ninth as a team with 186 points, led by sophomore Trindon Jones, who placed 14th (17:09.00).

Shawnee Heights got a 29th-place finish from sophomore Miles Hadley (17:40.40) on the way to an 11th-place team finish while Topeka West finished 12th as a team, getting a team-high 66th-place finish from senior Ezra Phelps (18:40.10).

Washburn Rural junior Reese Beardslee (547) finished sixth in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]  

Sophomore Alyson Hinck led Washburn Rural's girls with a fourth-place individual finish among 85 competitors in 19:26.40 while junior Reese Beardslee was two spots back in sixth place (19:31.20) and sophomore Morgan Munson finished eighth (19:41.80).

Sophomore Quinn Nolte finished 29th (21:05.10) and freshman Kenadee Booher 34th (21:21.30) to round out Rural's scoring runners as Rural finished with 81 points to finish third behind SM East (58) and Mill Valley (68).

Seaman senior Brynn Spencer (496) finished ninth in Saturday's Shufelberger Top City Classic. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Seaman senior Brynn Spencer, a returning 5A state medalist, placed ninth (19:43.00) for the seventh-place Vikings. 

SHUFELBERGER TOP CITY CLASSIC

GIRLS

Team scores

Shawnee Mission East 58, Mill Valley 68, Washburn Rural 81, Olathe North 101, Olathe West 105, Gardner-Edgerton 177, Seaman 185, Olathe South 197, Blue Valley Northwest 206, Junction City 225.

Individual results

1. Charlotte Hardy, SM East, 18:11.80; 2. Audrey Howard, Mill Valley, 18:22.10; 3. Lyla Speicher, SM East, 18:52.20; 4. Alyson Hinck, Washburn Rural, 19:26.40; 5. Hailey Hanna, Mill Valley, 19:30.20; 6. Reese Beardslee, Washburn Rural, 19:31.20; 7. Molly DeGregorio, Olathe West, 19:34.90; 8. Morgan Munson, Washburn Rural, 19:41.80; 9. Brynn Spencer, sr., Seaman, 19:43.00; 10. Karsyn Hitchcock, Olathe North, 19:43.60.

Other Washburn Rural -- 29. Quinn Nolte, 21:05.10; 34. Kenadee Booher, 21:21.30; 47. Avery Kennedy, 22:35.20; 69. Clara Dillon, 23:38.30;  

Other Seaman -- 33. Morgan Ranson, 21:18.90; 40. Kinley Robinson, 21:56.10; 48. Brinley Cochran, 22:39.90; 64. Hannah Wempe, 23:27.30; 78. Jaydin Frickey, Seaman, 24:44.70; 80. Avery Villines, 25:07.20.

Shawnee Heights -- 79. Claudia Memmet, 24:51.40; 84. Hazel Rondash, 25:51.20; 85. Piper Geil, 28:05.60.

BOYS

Team scores

Washburn Rural 50, Blue Valley Northwest 77, Shawnee Mission East 84, Mill Valley 113, Olathe West 156, Gardner-Edgerton 158, Olathe South 163, Shawnee Mission West 172, Seaman 186, Junction City 214, Shawnee Heights 302, Topeka West 338.

Individual results

1. Jacob D'souza, Blue Valley Northwest, 15:35.20; 2. Graham Anderson,  Mill Valley, 15:58.20; 3. Kallan Horveath, SM West, 16:14.60; 4. Anthony Testa, Junction City, 16:15.90; 5. Clayton Fink, Washburn Rural, 16:29.50; 6. George Clifford, SM East, 16:30.30; 7. Duke Graf, Washburn Rural, 16:48.40; 8. Andrew Kennedy, Blue Valley Northwest, 16:51.40; 9. Jaxson Adams, Washburn Rural, 16:53.30; 10. Asher Yager, Mill Valley, 16:54.50.

Other Washburn Rural -- 13. Julius Wood-Nichols, 17:04.90; 16. Cohen Thiessen, 17:13.90; 24. Bennett Wells, 17:33.50 

Seaman -- 14. Trindon Jones, 17:09.00; 31. Conner Bloom, 17:41.50; 41. Emmanuel Armstead, 17:53.70; 57. Maddox Moore,  18:15.80; 62. Tate Oliva, 18:33.10; 74. Camden Dutton, 19:06.30; 78. Cody Miller, 19:10.80; 82. Nick Horton, 19:24.80; 97. Weston Kennedy, 21:14.00.

Shawnee Heights -- 29. Miles Hadley, 17:40.40; 67. Andrew Schulte, 18:41.50; 83. Deyton Coufal, 19:29.00; 95. Carter Vincent, 20:49.30; 99. Marcus Folger, 21:19.20.

Hayden -- 32. Nick Newkirk, 17:42.50. 

Topeka West -- 66. Ezra Phelps, 18:40.10; 85. Westin Soto, 19:31.80; 89. Cameron Parrett, 19:43.20; 91. Rhys Green, 19:49.00; 94. Elijah Hernandez, 20:30.40; 98. Mason Gore, 21:15.70. 

Gerber, Kraus pace Eagles at Hiawatha

Silver Lake senior girls standout Alessandra Gerber placed eighth individually among 64 runners in Thursday's Hiawatha Invitational, leading the Eagles to a sixth-place team finish.

Gerber clocked a five-kilometer time of 22:25.89 while Silver Lake also got a top-20 finish from freshman JessiLyn Mohler (23:59.35).

Silver Lake junior Cason Kraus placed 10th individually in the boys race (19:32.70), leading the Eagles to a runnerup team finish behind Nemaha Central (29-85).

The Eagles also got a 16th-place finish from senior Lane Ray (20:03.52) and a 19th-place showing from freshman Dayton Uhl (20:08.36).

Dawg trio posts top-20 finishes at Wabaunsee meet

Rossville seniors Payton Shaddux and Madelyn Wonnell and freshman Raiden Pollock posted top-20 individual finishes in Saturday's Jason McKinney Memorial meet, hosted by Wabaunsee.

Shaddux (25:08.79) placed 12th and Wonnell 14th (25:21.90) in the girls race while Pollock (21:40.92) finished 17th in the boys race as Rossville finished fifth as a team.

Trojans' Davis top 10 at Baldwin

Topeka High junior Easton Davis placed ninth among 66 runners in Saturday's Baldwin Invitational.

Davis clocked a time of 17:56.53 to lead the Trojans to a sixth-place team finish.

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

In a matchup brimming with emotion, the Seaman Vikings avenged last year’s United Kansas Conference loss at rival Shawnee Heights by blasting the visiting T-Birds 62-7 Friday.

Seaman senior Cale Ketter threw for 393 yards and three touchdowns in the Vikings' 62-7 win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The Vikings struck on long runs and deep passes to run up the score and trigger a running clock in the fourth period.

Seaman senior quarterback Cale Ketter threw for 393 yards, 238 of which went to senior receiver Coy Barta.

Senior Coy Barta (left) celebrates a Seaman touchdown with Quentin Moravec (5) in Friday's 62-7 Viking win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The victory was Seaman’s first on the season, and it carried extra weight.

“This means a lot. Last year was a bitter taste in our mouth,” said Ketter, alluding to social media messaging between the two fan bases. “It means a lot to come out here and put up 62 points.

“This is a boost of confidence because now we can move forward. We have five games left and I think we can go win all five.”

In addition to its long scoring plays, Seaman blocked two Shawnee Heights punts, setting up short fields. The Vikings also picked off T-Bird quarterback Kolby Kutscher once in the first half. Kutscher struck for several long passes in the half, but the Shawnee Heights offense never approached the red zone.

The lone highlight of the first half for Shawnee Heights came on the final play of the half when senior safety Brody Daniels stepped in front of a Ketter pass at the T-Birds’ 15-yard line and took it the other way for a 85-yard touchdown return as the clock hit 0:00. But even with Daniels’ heroics, Shawnee Heights trailed 34-7 at the break.

The second half was even more lopsided. The Vikings scored three more touchdowns in the third period and the reserves tacked on a final touchdown as the clock quickly evaporated.

Ketter threw several long passes to Barta, but also dished the ball to seniors Josh Brown and Jack Becker and one long scoring toss to senior Peyton Glaze.

“I’m blessed to have great receivers. I love all of them,” Ketter said. “I’ve been throwing to them forever, pretty much. So, we have great chemistry together.”

Junior Quentin Moravec rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns in Friday's 62-7 Seaman win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The Vikings’ offense consisted of more than just Ketter throws, however. Junior Quentin Moravec carried 13 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Grady Piper added three touchdowns and 57 yards on 11 carries.

The Vikings, coming off tough losses to De Soto and Basehor-Linwood, were eager to get in the win column.

“It feels phenomenal,” said Viking coach Jared Swafford. “I’m so proud of these guys. They came to work this week. They grinded like crazy.

“We’ve got to keep building. We can’t be content with where we’re at. We’ve got to make sure that we continue to move forward, realize that we have a lot in front of us, a lot of season left, and if we keep improving, I think we can be pretty scary.”

Shawnee Heights, meanwhile, took another step back after winning the season opener against Turner. The T-Birds lost an overtime heartbreaker last Friday to Leavenworth and now sit 1-2 on the year.

SEAMAN 62, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 7

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

(Allkickoffs at 7 p.m.)

FRIDAY'S GAMES

Kolby Kutscher, Shawnee Heights

Cale Ketter, Seaman

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (1-1, 1-1 UKC) at SEAMAN (0-2, 0-2 UKC)

Shawnee Heights is coming off a heartbreaking 37-29 overtime United Kansas Conference loss to Leavenworth while Seaman dropped a 55-20 UKC decision to Basehor-Linwood, the 2025 Class 5A runnerup. Shawnee Heights senior quarterback Kolby Kutscher has completed 27 of 43 passes for 533 yards and six touchdowns, while sophomore Fletcher Terrell has 11 catches for 284 yards and five TDs. Senior Trone Purvis has carried the ball 27 times for 177 yards and two TDs while freshman Zayis Barksdale has rushed for 151 yards and two TDs on 11 carries. Seaman senior quarterback Cale Ketter has completed 42 of 73 passes for 665 yards and seven touchdowns while senior Coy Barta has 15 catches for 306 yards and two TDs. Viking junior Quentin Moravec has carried the ball 33 times for 187 yards and a TD. 

JoJo Kingcannon, Highland Park

ATCHISON (1-1, 1-0 Meadowlark) vs. HIGHLAND PARK (0-2, 0-1 Meadowlark)

At Hummer Sports Park

Highland Park dropped a 56-0 Meadowlark Conference decision to KC-Washington last Friday while Atchison is coming off a 34-24 conference win over KC-Wyandotte. Highland Park, which won the Meadowlark championship in 2025, is looking for its first win this fall after dropping a 33-6 non-league decision to USD 501 rival Topeka High in its season opener. Scot senior quarterback JoJo Kingcannon has rushed for 157 yards on 35 carries and has completed 7 of 21 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown.

 Jadyn Baum, Washburn Rural

BISHOP CARROLL (2-0) at WASHBURN RURAL (1-1)

Washburn Rural picked up a 21-7 non-league home win over Olathe South last Friday while Wichita Bishop Carroll improved to 2-0 with a 49-16 win over Wichita Southeast. Senior Amir Jones set up Rural's first touchdown against Olathe South when he picked off a pass and returned it to the 2-yard-line and the Junior Blues also scored a defensive touchdown when senior Tyler Tangye recovered a fumble in the end zone. Senior running back Jadyn Baum finished with 124 rushing yards and 2 and 32-yard TDs on 22 attempts to pace Rural's offense. Carroll senior quarterback Jonah Mull has completed 18 of 22 passes for 186 yards and a TD and rushed for 142 yards and four TDs on 19 attempts while senior Cooper Herrman has 24 carries for 180 yards and a TD.

Kipton Kruger, Silver Lake

JEFFERSON COUNTY WEST (2-0, 1-0 Big East) at SILVER LAKE (2-0, 2-0 Big East)

Silver Lake improved to 2-0 with a 42-27 Big East League win over Rossville in the annual War on 24 while Jeff West stayed unbeaten with a 27-0 non-league shutout over Centralia. Silver Lake sophomore quarterback Kipton Kruger has completed 33 of 53 passes for 372 yards and four touchdowns while junior running back Dominic Monhollon has carried the ball 36 times for 281 yards and five TDs. Tiger sophomore quarterback Brixton Schwinn has completed 25 of 38 passes for 421 yards and six TDs while senior Brody Schwinn has nine receptions for 204 yards and three TDs.

Landen Lewis, Rossville 

RILEY COUNTY (1-1, 1-1 Big East) at ROSSVILLE (1-1, 1-1 Big East)

Rossville is coming off a 42-27 road Big East League loss to rival Silver Lake last Friday while Riley County picked up its first victory, a 21-0 league decision over St. Marys. Rossville junior quarterback Landen Lewis has completed 30 of 43 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 301 yards and six TDs on 40 carries. Senior Cael Horgan has caught 12 passes for 162 yards and a TD. Riley County senior quarterback Kadrick Woodard has rushed for 273 yards and three TDs on 42 attempts.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Topeka High's boys cross country team edged USD 501 rival Topeka West in a tiebreaker to win West's Joe Schrag Invitational Saturday at Kanza Park.

Both the Trojans and Chargers finished the meet with 65 team points, but Topeka High took the title by virtue of a higher finish by its sixth runner (28-36).

Junior Easton Davis paced High with a fifth-place individual finish in a five-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 42.17 seconds while the Trojans also got an eighth-place showing from junior Oliver Snethen (18:58.41), a 16th from junior Amir Eljammel (20:16.07), a 17th from Nicholas McDonald (20:18.76) and a 19th from senior William Toland (20:51.08).

Topeka West was led by senior Ezra Phelps' ninth-place finish (19:02.67), while sophomore Cameron Parrett finished 11th (19:24.98), sophomore Maks Rodriguez 13th (19:48.40), junior Rhys Green 14th (20:01.18) and sophomore Elijah Hernandez 18th (20:43.80).

Shawnee Heights sophomore Miles Hadley finished second individually in 18:12.62 to lead the T-Birds to a fourth-place team finish.

Heights also got a seventh-place finish from Andrew Schulte (18:51.28), and a 12th from junior Deyton Coufal (19:46.78).

Shawnee Heights' girls finished second as a team behind Lansing (25-55) as sophomore Hazel Rondash paced the T-Birds with a 10th-place finish (25:31.35).

Heights freshman Claudia Memmet finished 11th (26:00.89), sophomore Kendall Lewis 12th (26:17.09) and freshman Charlotte Richards 15th (26:34.07).

Topeka High junior Emma Womack was the top city girls finisher in eighth place (24:53.37) while High senior Victoria Reynaga was 13th (26:19.32).

Rural, Seaman compete in loaded Olathe Twilight 

Washburn Rural competed in the meet's premier Blue division in Saturday's Olathe Twilight at the Olathe District Activities Center, with junior Clayton Fink and sophomore Alyson Hinck pacing the Junior Blues.

Alyson Hinck, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN]

Fink finished 17th among 167 runners in 16:02.21 in the boys race while Hinck placed 28th among 173 competitors in the girls race (19:15.80).

Rural junior Duke Graf added a 22nd-place finish (16:13.70) and junior Jaxson Adams a 36th-place showing (16:26.70) in the boys race.

Junior Reese Beardslee finished 34th for the Rural girls (19:28.40) while sophomore Morgan Munson placed 43rd (19:53.00).

Seaman senior Brynn Spencer finished 37th in 19:31.40).

Seaman's boys competed in the Red division, with sophomore Trindon Jones placing eighth individually out of 124 runners (16:45.20), sophomore Weston Kennedy 14th (17:11.20), senior Conner Bloom 27th (17:32.60), junior Maddox Moore 45th (17:55.90) and sophomore Tate Oliva 48th (17:57.90).

Ali Gerber, Silver Lake [Submitted photo/Silver Lake cross country]

Gerber paces Eagles at Wamego

Silver Lake senior Ali Gerber finished 18th among 142 runners in the Class 3A-1A division of the Wamego Invitational in a time of 22:18.37 as the Eagles finished ninth among 18 teams.

Eagle freshman JessiLyn Mohler placed 36th (23:55.57) while Rossville senior Madilyn Wonnell finished 40th (24:18.26).

Junior Cason Kraus placed 25th among 185 runners in the 3A-1A boys race (19:33.11) while senior Lane Ray was 30th (19:41.71) as the Eagles finished seventh as a team among 17 schools.

Hayden junior Nick Newkirk competed in the 4A boys division, turning in a 22nd-place finish among 233 runners in 18:02.14.

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

Seaman hosted United Kansas Conference foe Basehor-Linwood in its home opener Friday night, and after keeping the game close throughout most of the first half, the Bobcats pulled away in the second half for a dominant 55-20 victory.

Seaman junior Quentin Moravec rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown in Friday's 55-20 UKC loss to Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]

Basehor-Linwood, ranked No. 5 this week in the Class 5A KFBCA poll, received the opening kickoff and scored a touchdown on an eight-play drive as senior running back Peter Rodriguez bulldozed his way into the end zone on a 13 yard run, giving the Bobcats a 7-0 lead.

Seaman’s first possession was promising as the Vikings were able to move the ball down the field.

Junior running back Quentin Moravec broke loose on a 54-yard run, taking the ball inside the 5-yard-line, but there was a penalty on the play for a block in the back. The drive stalled and eventually the Vikings turned the ball over on downs, giving the Bobcats the ball near midfield.

Basehor-Linwood took advantage of the good field position and senior place kicker Colin Zimbleman kicked a 26-yard field goal to give the Bobcats a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Vikings continued to drive the ball down the field on the Bobcats and finally were able to put points on the board as Moravec scored on a 37-yard run down the sideline, cutting the Basehor lead to 10-7.

However, Basehor-Linwood responded with a five minute drive that culminated in the second touchdown of the night for Rodriguez, giving the Bobcats a 17-7 lead.

Seaman had a time consuming drive of its own and was able to get inside the Bobcat 10-yard-line with under 15 seconds left in the first half.

On the ensuing first-down play, senior quarterback Cale Ketter attempted a pass to the end zone, but Bobcat senior Lex Stanion stepped in front of the pass, intercepted it and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the half.

Zimbleman’s extra point was good and Basehor-Linwood took a commanding 24-7 lead into halftime.

The second half began with Seaman scoring a touchdown in the first 90 seconds on a 51-yard pass from Ketter to fellow senior wide receiver Josh Brown. Junior place kicker Oscar Serrano made the extra point, cutting the Bobcat lead to 24-14.

Basehor-Linwood continued to move the ball with relative ease, but the drive stalled and the Bobcats had to settle for another field goal. Zimbleman connected on a 38-yard field goal, making the score 27-14.

Following an interception by Ketter, the Bobcats scored another touchdown, as Rodriguez punched it in from a yard out, extending the lead to 34-14.

Rodriguez capped off his tremendous night with his fourth touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter, giving the Bobcats a 41-14 lead. The Bobcat running back, who started due to an injury to original starter Gavin Mitchell, finished the night with 35 carries for 262 yards.

Seaman concluded their scoring on a weaving, 45-yard touchdown catch by senior wide receiver Jack Becker from Ketter, making the score 41-20 with eight minutes remaining in the game.

Basehor-Linwood finished the scoring with a touchdown run from junior running back Thomas Schubert and a 91-yard interception return by junior defensive back Clay Weber, giving the Bobcats the 55-20 victory.

Seaman (0-2, 0-2) was led by Moravec with 112 yards rushing and a touchdown while Ketter threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

The Vikings will host Shawnee Heights (1-1, 1-1), who were defeated by Leavenworth 37-29 in overtime, next Friday at 7:00.

BASEHOR-LINWOOD 55, SEAMAN 20

Basehor-Linwood (2-0, 2-0) 10 14 10 21 - 55

Seaman (0-2, 0-2)                   0 7 7 6 - 20

Basehor-Linwood -- Rodriguez 13 run (Zimbleman kick)

Basehor-Linwood -- Zimbleman 26 yard FG

Seaman -- Moravec 37 run (Zimbleman kick)

Basehor-Linwood -- Rodriguez 2 run (Zimbleman kick)

Basehor-Linwood -- Stanion 100 interception return (Zimbleman kick)

Seaman -- Brown 51 pass from Ketter (Serrano kick)

Basehor-Linwood -- Zimbelman 38 yard FG

Basehor-Linwood -- Rodriguez 1 run (Zimbleman kick)

Basehor-Linwood -- Rodriguez 3 run (Zimbleman kick)

Seaman -- Becker 45 pass from Ketter (kick failed)

Basehor-Linwood -- Schubert 1 run (Zimbleman kick)

Basehor-Linwood -- Seber 91 interception return (Zimbleman kick)

Individual statistics

Rushing -- Basehor-Linwood: Rodriguez 35-262, Schubert 7-31, Parr 2-20, Richmond 5-15, Forshey 2-0. Seaman: Moravec 17-112, Piper 6-49, Ketter 1-12.

Passing -- Basehor-Linwood: Forshey 5-9-0, 39 yards; Richmond 2-3-0, 36. Seaman: Ketter 15-29-4, 206.

Receiving -- Basehor-Linwood: Duckworth 2-37, Parr 3-34, Essary 2-4. Seaman: Becker 5-79, Brown 3-75, Barta 4-39, Stallbaumer 1-16, Moravec 2-(minus)-3.

Punting -- Seaman: Cheney 2-44.5, Dunback 1-65.0.

Cair Paravel improves to 2-0 with 60-14 romp

Cair Paravel Latin improved to 2-0 Friday night with a 60-14 victory over 0-2 Stanton County at Yager Stadium, with the Lions equaling their win total from last season.

The Lions have now out-scored their opposition 106-14 over their first two games while giving new head coach Randall Bond wins in his first two games.

Cair Paravel will travel to Troy next Friday.

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

(Allkickoffs at 7 p.m.)

THURSDAY'S GAME

Courtney Sanders, Topeka High [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

DODGE CITY (1-0) vs. TOPEKA HIGH (1-0)

At Hummer Sports Park

Senior Courtney Sanders scored three touchdowns to lead Topeka High to a 33-6 season-opening victory over USD 501 rival Highland Park last Thursday. Sanders scored his first touchdown on an 18-yard past from senior quarterback Asher Filbeck, scored on a 40-yard run and returned a punt 94 yards for a touchdown to give the Trojans their 26-0 halftime advantage. Filbeck, making his first career start at quarterback, finished the night with a game-high 128 rushing yards on just seven attempts while his lone pass completion went for the TD to Sanders. Dodge City opened its season with a 42-20 win over Wichita West. The Red Demons are coached by former Seaman coach Glenn O'Neil.

FRIDAY'S GAMES

ROSSVILLE (1-0, 1-0 BIG EAST) at SILVER LAKE (1-0, 1-0 Big East)

Rossville opened its season with a 35-14 home Big East League win over Perry-Lecompton while Silver Lake shut out St. Marys 27-0 in a league game at St. Marys. Junior Landen Lewis, who was making his first start at quarterback for the Bulldawgs, carried the ball 21 times for 167 yards and all five Rossville touchdowns while also completing 13 of 17 passes for 159 yards. Junior Cale Horak led the Bulldawgs with seven tackles. Silver Lake sophomore quarterback Kipton Kruger completed 14 of 29 passes for 165 yards and a TD while junior Dom Monhollon carried the ball 10 times for 118 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 67 yards and a TD. Senior Myles Fisher led the Eagles with 17 tackles.

JoJo Kingcannon, Highland Park [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

KC-WASHINGTON (1-0, 1-0 Meadowlark) vs. HIGHLAND PARK (0-1, 0-0 Meadowlark)

At Hummer Sports Park

Highland Park is coming off a 33-6 non-league loss to USD 501 rival Topeka High last Thursday while Knsas City-Washington rolled to a 48-0 Meadowlark Conference victory over KC-Schlagle. Highland Park scored its lone touchdown on a 27-yard touchdown pass from senior JoJo Kingcannon to senior G'Honi Montgomery. Kingcannon rushed for 64 yards on 12 carries and he passed for 62 yards and the TD. Washington opened up a 38-0 halftime advantage over the Stallions and cruised the rest of the way. Wildcat junior quarterback Benito Morrell completed 12 of 24 passes for 232 yards and four touchdowns while senior Alvin Riley rushed for 103 yards and a TD on eight carries. Highland Park will be beginning defense of its Meadowlark Conference championship.

OLATHE SOUTH (0-1) at WASHBURN RURAL (0-1)

Washburn Rural will be playing its home opener at Bowen-Glaze Stadium Friday night after dropping a 58-13 road decision to 2025 Class 4A state champion Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel, which is moving back up to 5A this fall. Olathe South will also be looking for its first victory after the Falcons dropped a 27-0 Sunflower League decision to Olathe Northwest in its opener. 

Cale Ketter, Seaman [File photo/TSN]

BASEHOR-LINWOOD (1-0, 1-0 UKC) at SEAMAN (0-1, 0-1 UKC) 

Seaman dropped a 48-34 United Kansas Conference road decision at De Soto last Friday while Basehor-Linwood took a 59-35 UKC win over Leavenworth. Seaman senior quarterback Cale Ketter completed 27 of 43 passes for 456 yards and five touchdowns while Coy Barta caught 11 passes for 267 yards and two TDs, Josh Brown had five catches for 57 yards and two TDs and Jack Becker had five grabs for 56 yards and a TD. Seniors Bryson Fehr and Bishup Liggett were in on 13 tackles for the Vikings. Basehor-Linwood junior quarterback Dane Forshey completed 7 of 7 passes for 141 yards and four touchdwns against Leavenworth while junior Gavin Mitchell carried the ball seven times for 143 yards and a touchdown. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Defending Class 6A boys state champion Washburn Rural opened its 2026 cross country season with the team title in Saturday's Manhattan Invitational at Warner Park.

The Junior Blues edged host Manhattan by a 56-67 margin for the team title, while Lawrence finished third in the 11-school meet with 91 points.

Junior Duke Graf paced Washburn Rural with a second-place individual finish behind senior champion Anthony Testa of Junction City, clocking a five-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 01.2 seconds. Testa won in 16:51.9.

Sophomore Julius Wood-Nichols posted an eighth-place finish in the field of 81 runners for the Junior Blues in 17:21.1 while Rural got a 12th-place showing from junior Jaxson Adams (17:34.1), a 13th from junior Clayton Fink (17:36.3) and a 22nd from senior Cohen Thiessen (18:07.2) to round out the Junior Blues' top five.

Hayden junior Nick Newkirk placed 20th in 18:00.3 while junior Oliver Snethen paced Topeka High with a 27th-place finish (18:24.5) and senior Ezra Phelps led Topeka West with a 38th-place showing (18:50.8).

Washburn Rural's girls finished second as a team to Manhattan by a 28-54 margin, with Free State third with 63 points.

Manhattan senior Gabrielle Converse (19:03.3) and sophomore Zara Koehn (19:48.3) posted a one-two finish for the Indians in the field of 49 runners while Washburn Rural sophomore Alyson Hinck finished fourth in 20:18.6.

Rural junior Reese Beardslee finished sixth (20:26.5) while sophomore Morgan Munson placed ninth (20:48.4) to earn individual medals. 

Seaman senior Brynn Spencer finished fourth in the season-opening Bobcat Invitational at Wyandotte County Park. [File photo/TSN]     

Nine Vikings earn medals in season-opener

Seaman's boys posted a second-place team finish in Thursday's season-opening Bobcat Invitational at Wyandotte County Park, edging meet host and United Kansas Conference rival Basehor-Linwood by a single point (70-71) while Blue Valley Southwest won the team title with 32 points.

Sophomore Trindon Jones paced six Seaman individual medalists with an eighth-place finish, posting a five-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 36.78 seconds.

The Vikings also got a 10th-place finish from sophomore Weston Kennedy (17:54.78), a 12th from senior Conner Bloom (18:00.36), a 19th from junior Emmanuel Armstead (18:20.22), a 21st from sophomore Tate Oliva (18:26.12) and a 25th-place showing from junior Maddox Moore (18:43.10).

Shawnee Heights' boys finished ninth in the team standings as sophomore Miles Hadley earned an individual medal with an 11th-place finish (17:59.40).

Seaman girls finished tied for third with Eudora with 79 points, finishing fourth on a tiebreaker.

Blue Valley Southwest won the team title with 18 points while Piper was second, just three points ahead of Eudora and Seaman.                         

Senior Brynn Spencer, a returning Class 5A state medalist, paced Seaman with a fourth-place individual finish (20:47.09) while freshmen Brinley Cochran and Morgan Ransom also earned individual medals.

Cochran finished 12th (22:07.17) and Ransom placed 18th (22:34.81).

Silver Lake senior Ali Gerber opened her 2026 season with a third-place finish in Saturday's Silver Lake Invitational at Kanza Park. [Submitted photo]

Gerber third in Silver Lake Invitational

Silver Lake senior Ali Gerber posted a third-place individual finish in Saturday's Silver Lake Invitational at Kanza Park, leading the Eagle girls to a second-place team finish.

Gerber clocked a five-kilometer time of 22 minutes, 55.01 seconds to finish third behind Osage City freshmen Elizabeth Vehige (20:52.47) and Eliana Lowery (22:38.87). 

Osage City won the team title by a 51-84 margin over Silver Lake.

The Eagles also got a 14th-place finish from freshman Jessilyn Mohler (24:24.29), a 23rd from sophomore Pearl Eisenbarth (26:09.59), a 26th from sophomore Adrianna Gerber (27:53.54) and a 31st from sophomore Lena Jahr (28:29.15). 

Rossville seniors post top-seven finishes

Rossville seniors Payton Shaddox and Madilyn Wonnell finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in Thursday's Mission Valley Invitational girls cross country meet at Mission Valley.

Shaddox was sixth in a five-kilometer time of 25 minutes, 52.76 seconds while Wonnell was right behind in seventh place in 25:53.17.

Sophomore Keegan Pollock paced the Rossville boys with a 34th-place finish in 25:42.31.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Junior Landen Lewis, who made his first career start at quarterback, scored all five Rossville touchdowns Friday night as the Bulldawgs rallied from two early deficits to take a 35-14 home Big East League victory over Perry-Lecompton.

Junior Landen Lewis scored all five of his team's touchdowns in his first start as Rossville's quarterback Friday night, leading the Bulldawgs to a 35-14 win over Perry-Lecompton. [File photo/TSN]

The Kaws took first-half leads of 7-0 and 14-7, but the Bulldawgs, the Class 1A state runnerup a year ago, finished with 28 straight points to take control.

Rossville used 11, 3 and 6-yard Lewis touchdown runs to take a 21-14 halftime advantage before the Bulldawg QB scored from 22 and 8 yards in the third quarter to give the hosts their final 21-point margin.

Julian Goj went 5 of 5 on extra points for the Bulldawgs.

Next up for Rossville is the storied War on 24 rivaly with Silver Lake, with the Eagles hosting this year's game next Friday.

Hayden drops 22-19 nailbiter to Cardinals

Hayden traveled to Eudora Friday for a rematch of last year’s season-opener and the Cardinals were able to turn the tables from last season’s 28-6 Wildcat victory and earn a come-from-behind 22-19 win.

Eudora, ranked No. 4 in the Class 4A KFBCA preseason poll, took the opening kickoff right down the field and scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run by senior running back Grayson Moody. Following the extra point by senior kicker Caden Dunback, the Cardinals led 7-0.

Hayden, No. 2 in the 3A KFBCA poll, responded with 4-yard run by senior running back Mason Becker, who added the extra point to even the score at 7-7 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats dominated the second quarter both offensively and defensively.

Hayden took its first lead of the game on a 14-yard pass from junior quarterback Ryker Tetuan to senior wide receiver Logan Power with 5:07 left in the half (kick failed).

The Wildcat defense stepped up on the next drive as sophomore linebacker Jairus Todwong stripped the ball from Eudora senior wide receiver Preston White and returned the fumble 70 yards for a touchdown (kick failed) and Hayden took a 19-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.

While the first half saw Hayden score 19 straight points, the second half was just the opposite as Eudora’s offense and defense made the necessary adjustments.

After the Cardinals forced a punt on Hayden’s first possession, they drove down the field and scored a TD on a 7-yard run by junior running back Keelyn Duncan. Dunback’s extra point cut the Wildcat lead to 19-14 with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Over the next 10 minutes of game time, both teams were able to move the ball offensively, but neither could score.

With about nine minutes remaining in the game, Eudora began a drive that led to their second touchdown of the second half when Moody scored his second touchdown of the evening on a 2-yard run. Duncan ran in the 2-point conversion, giving Eudora its 22-19 lead with 4:37 left.

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

When Highland Park football coach Jermaine Monroe was approached with the possibility of renewing the Scots' rivalry with fellow USD 501 school Topeka High this season it was one of the easiest decisions he'll ever make.

"There were four different schools that were possibilities and when it was presented to me at the time and I saw the first name was Topeka High, I said, 'It's got to be that,' '' Monroe said. "I don't even remember who the other three schools were, but it's something that we always have to play each other.

"I do believe the leagues that we're in are fit for us, but we have to always play each other.''

Topeka High coach Jason Filbeck is also excited for the renewal of the rivalry, which will open the 2026 season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hummer Sports Park.

"I'm not from here, but I know what it means,'' Filbeck said. "Everywhere I've been there's been a crosstown rival and I think the kids are very excited to play them. Some of them are their friends from middle school because of the way Topeka is built, so the kids are pumped up.''

Highland Park returns a strong nucleus of players from last year's team that went 5-1 on the field, with G'Honi Montgomery and JoJo Kingcannon headlining a 19-member senior class

The Scots return 10 three-year starters and two four-year starters.

G'Honi Montgomery returns for his senior season at Highland Park after earning All-Shawnee County Top 22 honors last season. [File photo/TSN]

A 5-foot-10, 180-pound running back, Montgomery earned All-Shawnee County and All-Meadowlark Conference first-team honors last fall.

Montgomery carried the ball 69 times for 704 yards (10.2 yards per carry) as a junior, caught 10 passes for 128 yards and scored 12 total touchdowns while compiling 1,268 all-purpose yards.

Senior JoJo Kingcannon will take over as Highland Park's starting quarterback this fall after starring in a variety of roles as a junior. [File photo/TSN]

Kingcannon, a 6-foot, 190-pound quarterback/defensive back, played receiver, running back and quarterback as a junior, scoring from all three positions, and will be the Scots' starting quarterback this fall.

Kingcannon received All-Shawnee County honorable mention for the Scots in 2025, catching 10 passes for 338 yards and rushing for 408 yards on 32 attempts.

Seniors Tayseaun Rouser, Tavion Johnson and Shawnee Heights transfer Zyhir Foster will be counted on to anchor Highland Park's offensive line while Jaiden Smith, Ka'Sioun Drew and Lorenzo Sullivan-Sowell are top receivers.

Defensively, senior Rayshon Pollard is a four-year starter in the defensive backfield and is joined by veterans Drew, Montgomery and Kingcannon.

A three-time all-league honoree, Pollard was in on 22 tackles last season with three sacks and two interceptions.

Topeka High's Courtney Sanders, a senior wide receiver, was a second-team All-Centennial League selection for the second straight season and received All-Shawnee County honorable mention last fall for the Trojans. 

Senior Courtney Sanders is a top returner for Topeka High, earning second-team All-Centennial League recognition the past two seasons. [File photo/TSN]

A junior running back, Ricardo Dowd was a second-team All-Centennial League selection last season as a sophomore while also receiving All-Shawnee County honorable mention. 

Trey Lutz, a senior defensive lineman, received All-Shawnee County honorable mention for the second straight season and also received All-Centennial League honorable mention last season.

Other top returners for Topeka High include seniors Isaac Roman-Chavez, Art Jones and Devin Ponte and juniors Jones Erby and Marion Collins.

Senior Asher Filbeck, the coach's son, and sophomore Kadyn Lucas have been battling it out in preseason for the starting quarterback spot after the graduation of Zane Smith.

FRIDAY'S GAMES

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Editor's note:TopSports.news will post preview stories for all 10 Shawnee County high school football programs over the coming days, leading into the opening games of the 2026 season on Sept. 3 and 4.

                               -----------------------------------------

Seaman had some very talented football players on its 2025 roster.

The most challenging part of the season was keeping that talent on the field, with Jared Swafford's fighting a rash of injuries throughout a 3-6 campaign.

Jared Swafford's Seaman Vikings will be looking to bounce back from a injury-riddled 2025 season this fall. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"It was tough, it was strange,'' Swafford said. "I think it was new for a lot of us, and you look at the things we were still able to accomplish, I was proud of the group we had last year.

"We look Basehor down to the wire and we had a lead with seven minutes to go in that ballgame and they ended up going and playing for a state title. So you weren't that far away even though the record was not what we had worked for.''

The good news is that the Vikings return a nucleus of players that picked up valuable varsity experience and are ready to hit the ground running this fall after a productive summer.

"This was our highest attended summer and I feel like we've said that over the last handful of years and it's not just blowing smoke, it's real,'' said Swafford, who is starting his sixth year at Seaman.

"This group as far as consistency and having 100-plus guys here, it's probably the best we've ever had. It was really good and it also helps when you have 20-plus seniors.''

Seaman graduated All-Shawnee County Top 22 linebacker Cameron Brian, Top 22 tight end Noah Kobuszewski and standout running back Kaden McKinney, who missed most of the season with an injury.

But the Vikings also have several frontline returners, including All-Shawnee County Second 22 senior receivers Coy Barta and Josh Brown and senior quarterback Cale Ketter, senior honorable mention linebacker Alex Huston, junior running back Quentin Moravec and standout offensive lineman Henry Reichert, a Washburn University commit.

Senior quarterback Cale Ketter (2) and junior running back Quentin Moravec (5) are top returners for Seaman this fall. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Ketter completed 136 of 231 pass attempts for 2,013 yards and 23 touchdowns in eight games, missing the Vikings' playoff game with an emergency appendectomy.

Barta caught 38 passes for 642 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior while Brown caught 40 passes for 627 yards and eight touchdowns.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The Jones Project’s executive director, Damon Parker, a two-time state wrestling champion as an athlete and a five-time state champ as a coach, is always looking for new mountains to climb.

So after Parker and the Advisors Excel/The Jones Project team completed the equivalent of a climb to the top of Mount Everest over 36 hours last weekend in Steamboat Springs, Colo., they have already turned the page to the next big project: the launching of The Jones Project’s Leadership Academy, a free eight-week program open to students selected from each of the 10 Shawnee County high schools.

The Jones Project, named in honor of the late Josh Jones, a native Topekan who served as a vice-president at Advisors Excel before passing away in March of 2021, provides free mental health programming to secondary students, providing assistance to students who are struggling while emphasizing the importance of specific mental health interventions already in place at schools.

In its first four years The Jones Project has reached more than 115,000 students from 267 different stages. In 2023 TJP created an endowment for The Jones Family Scholarship, which has since provided scholarships to six  Kansas high school graduates who are studying to become mental health professionals.  

The 29029 climb in Steamboat, Colorado kicked off Year 5.

"It's an event where you start at the base of a mountain and you climb it to the summit and then you ride a gondola back down to the bottom and then you do that over and over and over again,'' Parker said. "This year at Steamboat we had to climb 14 times in 36 hours. If you do that then you've reached the vertical gain of Mount Everest.

"The Jones Project and Advisors Excel has had a team that's worked together on this and done it as a fundraiser every year. This is one of the two big fundraisers that keeps The Jones Project afloat. This year we've really made a push on it so that we can use this campaign to fund The Leadership Academy.''

Parker, who has coached the Rural girls to four state titles and coached the Junior Blues to the 2021 boys championship, has served as the executive director of The Jones Project since its inception after being approached by Advisors Excel co-owner Cody Foster.

"He and I had met several times and when he presented the vision he had for The Jones Project to me, I saw it as an opportunity to still work with young people but to do it on a much larger scale and to be able to help kids that were falling through the cracks.  Many of them were in a truly under-served population,'' Parker said. "And it was like, 'How do you say no to the opportunity to do something like that?' 

"I loved teaching, it was wonderful, and I'm still in education, I just have a bigger classroom now. Every year TJP has evolved and we've become more effective with what we've done. It took awhile to find out where those needs were and exactly what kids needed. It started off with just a mental health and suicide prevention talk, but now we do talks on bullying prevention, student leadership, culture building, you name it.  We’ve talked to athletic teams in the locker room before competitions, strength and conditioning programs, and summer STUCO camps.  Wherever there is a school or student organization that needs a speaker, we can help fill that gap.”  

Parker said the Leadership Academy represents another major step forward.

"If we can take a couple of students from each high school in the Shawnee County area and we can give them real, actionable leadership skills, that is going to instantly impact the organization of which they are a part.  Whether it's the basketball team, the debate team, or the marching band is inconsequential.  We’re helping them improve their building culture because now we're taking those kids and we're teaching them how to bring up those younger kids,'' Parker said.

"And when the younger kids are learning from those older kids they realize, 'This is how you do it, this is how you treat people,’ and then they carry that forward with them throughout their remaining time in high school.”

The Leadership Academy is now taking applications and will begin meeting in mid-September.  

"I'll be reaching out to basically every coaching and A.D. contact in my rolodex saying, 'Hey, we're doing this thing and it's definitely something that you want your kids to be involved in,' '' Parker said.     

"We're going to start taking applications now and then the first week in September is when we're going to announce who is accepted into the program. And then we're going to get it kicked off. We will absolutely be up and rolling with students by mid-September, so they’ll want to get in their applications as soon as possible.  This is the start of something HUGE here in Shawnee County.''

Students can use the website www.TopekaLeadershipAcademy.org to apply.

For more information email Coach Parker at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top Shawnee County football players to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches.

RYAN AUSTIN, Washburn Rural

A 6-foot-2, 170-pound senior, Austin was named the All-Centennial League first-team place-kicker last season for the 6-4 Junior Blues. Austin also received All-Shawnee County honorable mention as a junior.

Coy Barta, Seaman [File photo/TSN]

COY BARTA, Seaman

A senior wide receiver, Barta earned second-team TopSports.News All-Shawnee County and second-team All-United Kansas Conference recognition last season for the 3-6 Vikings. Barta caught 38 passes for 642 yards and 10 touchdowns as a junior.

Jadyn Baum, Washburn Rural [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

JADYN BAUM, Washburn Rural

A senior running back, Baum helped lead Washburn Rural to a 6-4 record and the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs last fall, earning TSN All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League first-team recognition after carrying the ball 139 times for 1,262 yards and 10 touchdowns while averaging 9.1 yards per attempt. Baum also won a 6A state wrestling championship at 215 pounds.

Mason Becker, Hayden [File photo/TSN]

MASON BECKER, Hayden

A first-team TSN All-Shawnee County pick, Becker, a 6-foot, 160-pound senior, was a perfect 100 percent on extra-point kicks last season, was two of two on field goals, carried the ball 32 times for 438 yards, caught 13 passes for 224 yards, had nine kickoff returns for 121 yards, scored nine touchdowns and was in on 30 tackles with five pass interceptions for the 12-1 Wildcats, the Class 3A runnerup. Becker is also a basketball and baseball standout for the Wildcats.

Josh Brown, Seaman [File photo/TSN]

JOSH BROWN, Seaman

Brown, a junior wide receiver, was a second-team All-Shawnee County selection for the 3-6 Vikings last season. Brown caught 40 passes for 627 yards and eight touchdowns over the 2025 season. 

STEVEN CANTRELL, Washburn Rural

A senior defensive end, Cantrell is a top returner for Washburn Rural after earning first-team All-Centennial League recognition as a junior for the 6-4 Junior Blues. Cantrell also received All-Shawnee County honorable mention.

CHARLIE CHANCE, Rossville

A senior offensive/defensive lineman, Chance was named the Shawnee County defensive newcomer of the year last season for the Bulldawgs, who posted an 11-2 record and finished second in Class 1A. Chance was in on 54 tackles with 14 tackles for loss and three sacks, earning second-team all-county and All-Big East honors. 

CADE DANIELSON, Washburn Rural

Danielson, a senior outside linebacker, will be counted on to be a team leader for the Junior Blues this fall after helping Washburn Rural post a 6-4 record and reach the second round of the Class 6A playoffs in 2025.

Ricardo Dowd, Topeka High [File photo/TSN]

RICARDO DOWD, Topeka High

Dowd, a junior running back, was a second-team All-Centennial League selection last season for the 3-6 Trojans as a sophomore while also receiving All-Shawnee County honorable mention. 

MYLES FISHER, Silver Lake

A senior offensive/defensive lineman, Fisher received second-team All-Shawnee County honors and All-Big East League honorable mention last season after helping Silver Lake post a 7-3 record. Fisher was in on 73 tackles for the Eagles.

Chase Hastert, Cair Paravel [Photo by Barry Benteman/Special to TSN]

CHASE HASTERT, Cair Paravel Latin

Hastert, a junior quarterback/linebacker/defensive back, is a top returner for Cair Paravel after taking over as the Lions' starting quarterback last fall. The Lions, coming off a 2-6 season, return to the Eight-Man ranks this fall after playing 11-man the past two seasons. Hastert is also a basketball and golf standout for the Lions, earning first-team All-County honors in golf.

COLE HAUBAULD, Cair Paravel Latin

Haubauld, a senior running back/linebacker, earned All-Shawnee County honorable mention as well as All-Flint Hills League recognition as an offensive guard and linebacker last season for the 2-6 Lions and is expected to play running back on offense for CPLS this fall. Cair Paravel returns to Eight-Man Division I competition this season.

CALE HORAK, Rossville

Horak, a junior, received All-Shawnee County honorable mention last season as Rossville posted an 11-2 record and finished second in Class 1A. Horak caught 15 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns as a sophomore while also registering 21 tackles (16 solo).  

CAEL HORGAN, Rossville

A senior, Horgan earned All-Shawnee County honorable mention last season as Rossville posted an 11-2 record and finished second in Class 1A. Horgan caught seven passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns as a sophomore while also registering 37 tackles (21 solo) with three interceptions.   

EVAN HUNTLEY, Hayden

A 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior fullback/inside linebacker, is a top returner on both sides of the ball for a Hayden team that posted a 12-1 record and finished second in Class 3A for the third straight season last fall.

ALEX HUSTON, Seaman

A senior linebacker, Huston received All-Shawnee County honorable mention last season for the 3-6 Vikings. Huston was in on 106 tackles as a junior, including 61 solo stops.

AMIR JONES, Washburn Rural

Jones, a senior linebacker, received All-Shawnee County honorable mention last season after helping Washburn Rural post a 6-4 record and advance to the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

Cale Ketter, Seaman [File photo/TSN[ 

CALE KETTER, Seaman

Ketter, a senior quarterback, was a second-team All-Shawnee County selection last season for the 3-6 Vikings. Ketter completed 136 of 231 pass attempts for 2,013 yards and 23 touchdowns in eight games.

JoJo Kingcannon, Highland Park [File photo/TSN]

JOJO KINGCANNON, Highland Park

A 6-foot, 190-pound senior quarterback/defensive back, Kingcannon played receiver, running back and quarterback as a junior, scoring from all three positions. Kingcannon received All-Shawnee County honorable mention for the Scots, who went 5-1 on the field, catching 10 passes for 338 yards and rushing for 408 yards on 32 attempts. Kingcannon earned second-team all-county recognition in basketball.

Kipton Kruger, Silver Lake [File photo/TSN] 

KIPTON KRUGER, Silver Lake

A 5-foot-11, 165-pound sophomore quarterback, Kruger was named the Shawnee County offensive newcomer of the year last fall after completing 178 of 252 passes for 2,158 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Eagles. Kruger was a second-team All-Shawnee County pick and received All-Big East honorable mention. Kruger is also a basketball and baseball standout for the Eagles.

By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top city boys soccer players to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches.  

CARLOS ACOSTA-MARTINEZ, Topeka High

Acosta-Martinez, a senior midfielder, is a top returner for the Trojans after earning first-team All-City and All-Centennial League recognition last season as Topeka High posted a 9-6-2 record.

ALAN ARTEAGA, Shawnee Heights

A senior goalkeeper, Arteaga was a first-team All-United Kansas Conference selection last fall for the 15-3-0 T-Birds while also receiving All-City honorable mention.

Judah Congdon, Cair Paravel Latin [Photo by Jan Pabitzky/Special to TSN]

JUDAH CONGDON, Cair Paravel Latin

A senior forward/midfielder, Congdon received All-City honorable mention last season after registering 14 goals and 24 assists for the 11-7-0 Lions, who advanced to the Class 4A-1A state quarterfinals.  

Valentin Del Real, Topeka West [File photo/TSN]

VALENTIN DEL REAL, Topeka West

Del Real, a junior midfielder, is a two-time All-City first-team honoree while also earning All-United Kansas Conference first-team recognition for the Chargers, who went 13-3-2 on the season.

BRAYAN DIAZ, Shawnee Heights

Diaz is expected to be a key contributor for the T-Birds this fall after missing the entire 2025 campaign with an injury. 

MYLES DIDDE, Washburn Rural

A senior midfielder, Didde scored the game-tying goal in last season's Class 6A state championship game before the 19-1-1 Junior Blues went on to win the state title in penalty kicks. Didde will serve as a Rural team captain this fall. 

Diego Gonzalez-Talavera, Topeka West [File photo/TSN]

DIEGO GONZALES-TALAVERA, Topeka West

A senior forward, Gonzales-Talavera is a two-time All-City and All-United Kansas Conference first-team honoree for Topeka West, which is coming off of a 13-3-2 record.

Mason Haas, Shawnee Heights [File photo/TSN]

MASON HAAS, Shawnee Heights

Haas, a senior midfielder, earned first-team All-City and All-United Kansas Conference recognition for the second straight season in 2025 for the T-Birds, 15-3-0 last season.

KALEB HOLMES, Seaman

A senior defender, Holmes is a key returner for the Vikings, 8-9-0 in 2025, after receiving All-City honorable mention as a junior.

Brodye Kocher-Munoz, Washburn Rural [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

BRODYE KOCHER-MUNOZ, Washburn Rural

Kocher-Munoz, a senior forward, helped lead Junior Blues to a 19-1-1 record and the Class 6A state championship last fall. A team captain, Kocher-Munoz was a first-team All-City and All-Centennial League honoree as a junior. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top Shawnee County boys cross country runners to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches.

Jaxson Adams

JAXSON ADAMS, Washburn Rural 

 A junior, Adams earned All-Shawnee County first-team recognition for the first time last fall after finishing fifth in the city meet, ninth in the Centennial League, 22nd in a Class 6A regional and 42nd at state as the Junior Blues captured the state team title by a point after earlier winning city and league championships and finishing second on a tiebreaker at regionals. Adams was a 6A state track qualifier in the 3,200 meters, posting a third-place regional finish.

Conner Bloom

CONNER BLOOM, Seaman

A senior, Bloom was a first-time member of the All-Shawnee County first team last fall after finishing ninth in the city meet and 11th in the United Kansas Conference meet for the runnerup Vikings. Bloom finished 24th in a Class 5A regional at Wichita and will be counted on to be a leader for the Vikings this fall. Bloom was a 5A state qualifier in track in the 4x800 relay this past spring. 

EASTON DAVIS, Topeka High 

Davis, a junior, has received All-Shawnee County honorable mention the past two seasons. Davis finished 17th in the city meet last fall and went on to earn an individual berth in the Class 6A state meet with a 14th-place regional finish.

Clayton Fink

CLAYTON FINK, Washburn Rural

A junior first-team All-Shawnee County first-team repeat pick, Fink placed fourth in the city championships and the Centennial League meet for the champion Junior Blues and finished seventh in a Class 6A regional and placed 26th in the state meet as Washburn Rural captured the team championship. Fink received all-county honorable mention this past spring in track.

Duke Graf

DUKE GRAF, Washburn Rural

Graf, a junior, earned All-Shawnee County first-team recognition for the first time after finishing third in the city meet, 14th in the Centennial League, second in Class 6A regional competition and 28th in the Class 6A state meet as the Junior Blues won the team title by a point over Blue Valley. Graf also helped Rural win city and league titles.

Henry Laubach

HENRY LAUBACH, Washburn Rural

A junior All-Shawnee County first-team repeat pick, Laubach bounced back from an injury to post a team-best 22nd-place finish in the Class 6A state meet, helping lead Washburn Rural to the state title. Laubach placed seventh in the Centennial League and 12th in a 6A regional. Laubach received all-county honorable mention in track.

Nick Newkirk

NICK NEWKIRK, Hayden

Newkirk, a junior, posted a sixth-place finish in the city meet, was 18th in the Centennial League meet and earned a individual berth in the Class 4A state meet with a 14th-place finish at regionals. A first-team All-Shawnee County pick, Newkirk capped his season with a 34th-place finish at state. 

HUNTER ROOKS, Silver Lake

Rooks, a senior, is a multi-time Class 3A state qualifier, helping the Eagles qualify as a team last fall. Rooks posted a 60th-place finish in the state meet to pace Silver Lake.

Related Stories and Videos

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top Shawnee County girls cross country runners to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches.

Reese Beardslee, Washburn Rural

REESE BEARDSLEE, Washburn Rural  

Beardslee, a junior, earned her first All-Shawnee County first-team honor last fall after placing fifth individually in the city meet for the team-champion Junior Blues. Beardslee also placed 11th in the Centennial League, 17th in Class 6A regional competition and 50th at state. 

CLARA DILLON, Washburn Rural

A sophomore, Dillon was a first-team All-Shawnee County pick in 2025 after posting an eighth-place finish in the city meet for the team-champion Junior Blues and finishing 18th in the Centennial League meet, 21st in Class 6A regional competition and 62nd in the state meet.

Ali Gerber, Silver Lake

ALI GERBER, Silver Lake

Gerber, a senior, earned All-Shawnee County first-team honors last fall after receiving honorable mention as a sophomore. Gerber posted a sixth-place finish in Class 3A regional competition and finished 35th in the state meet. Gerber was a repeat first-team all-county pick in track this past spring after placing fourth in the 3A 400-meter dash and running on the Eagles' fifth-place 4x400 relay team.

Alyson Hinck, Washburn Rural

ALYSON HINCK, Washburn Rural

Hinck was a first-team All-Shawnee County pick last fall as a freshman after finishing second in the city meet for the team-champion Junior Blues and placing sixth in the Centennial League, eighth in Class 6A regional competition and a team-high 25th in the state meet. Hinck was also a first-team all-county pick in track, placing fifth in the 6A 800 meters.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top Shawnee County volleyball players to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season and coach recommendations, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches. 

Brynn Anderson, Washburn Rural [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

BRYNN ANDERSON, Washburn Rural

Anderson, a 5-foot-11 sophomore hitter, was a first-team TopSports.news All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League selection and named the county and league newcomer of the year last season after helping lead the Junior Blues to the Centennial League championship and a ninth straight Class 6A state tournament berth. Anderson registered 397 kills on the season along with 20 block kills, 96.3 percent serving with 29 aces and 229 digs. Anderson was also a first-team all-county pick in basketball and a state qualifier in track and field.

Nora Burdiek, Rossville [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]   

NORA BURDIEK, Rossville

A senior hitter, Burdiek is a two-time TSN All-Shawnee County first-team selection after being named the county newcomer of the year and earning second-team honors as a freshman. Burdiek has registered 1,373 total kills in her career with 936 digs. Burdiek was a first-team All-Big East selection as a junior after helping lead the Bulldawgs to a Class 2A state berth and earning All-State Tournament and All-2A first-team recognition from the Kansas Volleyball Association. Burdiek is also a basketball and softball standout, helping Rossville advance to the state tournament in both of those sports.

Campbell Dawson, Topeka High [File photo/TSN]

CAMPBELL DAWSON, Topeka High

Dawson, a senior, earned second-team All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League honors last fall in her third season as a varsity player. Dawson also earned second-team All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League recognition as a sophomore. Dawson was a first-team TSN All-Shawnee County and second-team Class 6A All-State selection this past spring in softball after helping lead the Trojans to a third-place state finish.

Karys Deiter, Silver Lake [Photo by Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered]  

KARYS DEITER, Silver Lake

Deiter, a junior hitter, helped lead the Eagles to the Class 3A state championship with a 46-1 record, including a 37-match winning streak to end the 2025 season. A first-team TSN All-Shawnee County pick and second-team 3A All-State honoree, Deiter finished the year with 313 kills, a 34.7 kill percentage, 18 blocks and 253 digs. Deiter also earned All-Shawnee County first-team honors in basketball and track and field after helping lead Silver Lake to the 3A state championship in basketball and earning a 3A state medal in track.

Kylie Hanni, Silver Lake [Photo by Jesse Bruner/Special to TSN]

KYLIE HANNI, Silver Lake

A senior setter, Hanni was named the TopSports.news Shawnee County Player of the Year last season after helping lead Silver Lake to the Class 3A state championship with a 46-1 record, including 37 straight wins to end the season. Hanni was named to the 3A All-State Tournament team and All-3A first team by the Kansas Volleyball Association and was also a first-team All-Big East League pick after registering 1,181 assists, with 45 kills, 22 blocks, a 91.7 serving percentage with 33 aces and 174 digs. Hanni also helped the Eagles win 3A state titles in basketball and softball.

ADY HENRY, Rossville

Henry, a senior libero, helped Rossville reach the Class 2A state tournament last season while earning second-team TSN All-Shawnee County and third-team All-Big East League recognition. 

HADLEY KILGORE, Washburn Rural

Kilgore is expected to be a key contributor for the Junior Blues at middle hitter this fall in her first season at the varsity level. Kilgore joins a Washburn Rural team that won the 2025 Centennial League championship and advanced to the Class 6A state tournament for the ninth straight season.

Clara Morgan, Shawnee Heights [Submitted photo]   

CLARA MORGAN, Shawnee Heights

A senior setter, Morgan was a second-team TSN All-Shawnee County selection last season while also receiving All-United Kansas Conference honorable mention. Morgan surpassed the 1,000 assist mark for her career last season.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top Shawnee County girls tennis players to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches.

Hailey Caryl, Hayden

HAILEY CARYL, Hayden

Caryl, a junior, was a two-time Class 6A doubles qualifier for Topeka High before transferring to Hayden for the 2026-2027 school year. Caryl and then-senior Ava Ritter finished third in the city tournament in No. 1 doubles, finished fourth in the Centennial League and third in 6A regional competition. Caryl and Ritter went 24-10 last season.

ANNIE HENDERSON, Washburn Rural

A junior, Henderson was an All-City honoree last fall after teaming with Alizah Alvarez-Chedzoy to win the city title in No. 2 doubles. Henderson and Alvarez-Chedzoy placed fifth in Class 6A regional competition to qualifiy for state and posted a 2-2 record in the state tournament to finish 9-2 on the season.

KAYLYN HIEBSCH, Seaman

Hiebsch, a senior, teamed with Cadence Speer to finish second in the 2025 city meet in No. 2 doubles and Hiebsch and Speer also finished third in doubles in the United Kansas Conference and fourth at regionals as the Vikings swept city, UKC and regional team titles before finishing second in Class 5A.

BRIDGET HOOPES, Washburn Rural

A sophomore, Hoopes finished third in the city tournament in No. 2 singles and qualified for the Class 6A state tournament in singles as Washburn Rural captured a 6A regional team championship.

LANA HULL, Hayden 

Hull turned in a big freshman season last fall, capped by a seventh-place singles finish in the Class 4A state tournament for the third-place Wildcats. Hull finished second in the city tournament in No. 2 singles before placing fourth in singles in the Centennial League and third in regional competition.

Julia Katzer, Washburn Rural

JULIA KATZER, Washburn Rural 

Katzer, a senior, teamed with Halle Owen to win the city title in No. 1 doubles and a Class 6A regional doubles championship. Katzer and Owen helped lead the Junior Blues to a regional team title and finished their season with a 26-6 record.

Camryn Lux, Seaman 

CAMRYN LUX, Seaman

A senior, Lux teamed with Peyton Henry to finish second in the city meet in No. 1 doubles before the duo went on to earn the United Kansas Conference doubles championship, post a third-place regional finish and place seventh in the Class 5A state tournament. Lux, who went 28-7 on the year, helped the Vikings sweep city, UKC and regional team titles before Seaman finished second as a team in the 5A state tournament.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news' list of the top Shawnee County golfers to watch in 2026, based on performances in the 2025 season, will be updated as needed after practice begins on Aug. 17 and more information is received from county coaches.

KAITLYNN FRYE, Seaman

A senior, Frye earned second-team All-Shawnee County recognition last season after tying for 27th in the Class 5A state tournament with a 36-hole score of 188 (95-93). Stuke finished third in the United Kansas Conference with an 84 as the Vikings won their fourth straight conference title and tied for eighth in the city meet as Seaman won its first city team title by 14 strokes. Frye tied for seventh at regionals.

Avenley Head, Silver Lake      

AVENLEY HEAD, Silver Lake

Head, a sophomore, was a second-team All-Shawnee County pick last fall as a freshman. Head posted a seventh-place finish in Class 3A-1A regional competition in 2025 before tying for 29th at state with a 36-hole total of 188 (99-89). 

Brooke Johnson, Hayden

BROOKE JOHNSON, Hayden

A senior, Johnson helped Hayden post a fourth-place Class 4A team finish last fall after helping the Wildcats win the 4A state title by a 15-stroke margin as a sophomore. A second-team All-Shawnee County pick the past two seasons, Johnson tied for 23rd in the state tournament last fall with a 36-hole total of 178 (89-89). 

Kailyn Petersen, Washburn Rural

KAILYN PETERSEN, Washburn Rural

Petersen, a senior, is the lone returning All-Shawnee County first-team honoree from the 2025 team after earning second-team all-county recognition as a sophomore. Petersen finished sixth in the city tournament, tied for ninth in the Centennial League and finished third in Class 6A regional competition with a 79 before placing 31st at state with a 177 36-hole total (87-90).

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The Topeka Junior Golf Association wrapped up its eight-week 2026 summer season on Tuesday at Shawnee Country Club, crowning five city champions after the season-ending two-day event.

Peyton Wright (middle) won the girls 15-17-year-old title in the Topeka Junior Golf Association City Championships Tuesday at Shawnee Country Club, while Avenley Head (left) finished second and Addison Fechter third. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]      

Easton Moulin (middle) won the 15-17 boys championship in Tuesday's Topeka Junior Golf Association City Championships at Shawnee Country Club while Leyton Eckert (left) finished second and Kaden Leonetti third. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Baldwin resident Peyton Wright won the girls 15-17-year-old championship, giving her six career junior titles, while Holton resident Easton Moulin won the boys 15-17 division, giving him four straight city championships.

Wright put together rounds of 70 and 71 to win the girls championship by 15 strokes while Moulin used rounds of 75 and 74 to post a three-shot victory.

Callen Baldwin (middle) won the 13-14 boys championship in Tuesday's Topeka Junior Golf Association City Championships at Shawnee Country Club while Arjun Rao (left) finished second and Oliver Turner third. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Nikhil Rao (middle) won the 11-12 boys championship in Tuesday's Topeka Junior Golf Association City Championships at Shawnee Country Club while Dash Knowland (left) finished second and Camden Hughes third. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

William Roe (middle) won the 9-10 boys championship in Tuesday's Topeka Junior Golf Association City Championships at Shawnee Country Club while Mason Walker (left) finished second and Jaxson McFarland third. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] 

Callen Baldwin was the 13-14 boys champ, Nikhil Rao won the 11-12 division and William Roe won the 9-10 title.

TJGA CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news 

The game of golf came a lot tougher for Washburn Rural and Washburn University product Hayden Beck on Sunday than it had on Saturday when Beck set a Lake Shawnee course record with a sizzling 62 en route to opening up a four-stroke lead in the Topeka Golf Association City Stroke Play tournament.

Former Washburn Rural and Washburn University golfer Hayden Beck rolled in a birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday at Shawnee Country Club to win his first TGA City Stroke Play championship. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

But Beck, who will take over as Washburn Rural girls head coach this fall after serving as a Junior Blue boys assistant this past spring, battled through an up and down day to get the job done at Shawnee Country Club, draining a long birdie putt on the first playoff hole to top former Santa Fe Trail standout and Washburn Ichabod Blake Buessing to earn his first city championship.

Hayden Beck reacts after sinking his tournament-winning putt in Sunday's TGA City Stroke Play tournament at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"Being a coach now and getting to help out with the team this spring, I was always telling the guys, 'You're not always going to play perfect every single time. Even on your best rounds you could do some things better,' '' Beck said.

"I look back on yesterday and maybe I missed a couple of putts and got lucky a couple of times and it all kind of evens itself out. You've just got to stick in there.'' 

Beck carded a final-round 73 while Buessing shot a 69 Sunday and rallied from his four-stroke deficit at the start of the round to briefly take a one-shot lead.

Beck battled back to regain a one-stroke lead before Buessing pulled even on hole No. 17 and both players remained even on the final hole with a 54-hole total of 209 to force sudden death.

Buessing narrowly missed a birdie putt before Beck came through with his biggest shot of the day to end the tournament.

"I would have liked to win it in regulation, but rolling in the putt on the playoff hole was pretty sweet,'' Beck said. "It was nice to finally get one there at the end when it counts the most.''

TGA City Stroke Play champion Hayden Beck (left) exchanges congratulations with runnerup Blake Buessing Sunday at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Although he came up just short of the title, Buessing was pleased with his overall performance.

"It was fun, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way,'' Buessing said. "It was back and forth all day.''

Beck said that a highlight of the tournament for him was having his high school coach, Jared Goehring, serve as his caddie. Goehring is turning over the Rural girls coaching reins to his former standout while Beck will continue to serve as a boys assistant under Goehring.

"It was awesome to have coach on the bag,'' Beck said. "That was so cool just to have him out here and do that again. It kind of took me back to high school, just having him there keeping me level-headed. That was a huge help.''

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Seaman track and field star Brody Anderson and Washburn Rural baseball star Aidan Newbery, who ended their high school careers with state championships, have been selected as TopSports.news' Shawnee County co-spring boys senior athletes of the year for the 2025-2026 season.

Brody Anderson, Seaman 

Anderson claimed the 2026 Class 5A state championship in the 800 meters in a 5A meet-record time of 1 minute, 52.08 seconds.

A former state medalist in cross country, Anderson also posted second-place 5A state finishes in the 3,200 and 1,600 meters after winning the city title in the 800 and sweeping the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 titles in the United Kansas Conference meet. 

Aidan Newbery, Washburn Rural 

Newbery, a catcher, was named the Shawnee County and Centennial League player of the year after helping lead Washburn Rural to its first state baseball championship since 1952, capped by a 4-3 win over Free State in the 6A state championship game.

Newbery was also named to the 6A All-State second team by the Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches. 

 Other spring boys athlete of the year finalists 

 Caleb Cleverdon, Cair Paravel/Topeka High

CALEB CLEVERDON | Cair Paravel/Topeka High

SPORT: Golf

Cleverdon, who competed for Topeka High in the regular season and Cair Paravel Latin in the postseason, posted a second-place individual finish in the Class 2A state tournament with a 36-hole total of 149 (73-76) after taking a four-shot individual win in the Flint Hills League tournament with a 73. A first-team All-Shawnee County pick, Cleverdon tied for third in the Centennial League (75) and tied for first in 2A regional competition (71), finishing second in a playoff.

Brody Cooper, Shawnee Heights [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN] 

BRODY COOPER | Shawnee Heights

SPORT: Baseball

A standout pitcher, Cooper helped lead Shawnee Heights to the 2026 Class 5A state championship game and a runnerup finish. A two-time United Kansas Conference first-team selection, Cooper was named the conference pitcher of the year as a senior and was also named to the All-Shawnee County first team.

 Jack Donovan, Rossville

JACK DONOVAN | Rossville

SPORT: Golf

Donovan was a first-team All-Shawnee County pick for the third straight season after earning a state medal for the fourth straight year (two in Class 3A, two in 2A) with a fifth-place finish in the 2A state event with a 36 hole score of 155 (79-76). Donovan finished third in a 2A regional with a 76 and was the Big East League individual medalist with a 71. Donovan, who tied for sixth in the 2025 state tournament, received All-Shawnee County recognition in three sports.

Drew Fay, Cair Paravel Latin 

DREW FAY | Cair Paravel Latin

SPORT: Tennis

Fay capped an outstanding four-year high school career with a city-high fifth-place finish in the 2026 Class 3A-1A state tournament. Fay was a four-year state qualifier and a three-time state medalist, with a high finish of second place in doubles in 2025. Fay captured the city championship in No. 1 singles this past spring and also won a regional title. Fay was a three-time All-City pick.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EMPORIA -- The West put together several scoring threats in Saturday's Kansas Shrine Bowl, out-gaining the East 277 yards to 218 and reaching East territory six times.

But the East defense had an answer for each and every test it faced, posting a 14-7 win in front of 6,035 fans at Welch Stadium while not allowing a West offensive score.

Washburn Rural product Brody Haas (42) celebrates a big defensive play in the East's 14-7 Shrine Bowl win Saturday in Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Former Washburn Rural star Brody Haas and Rossville product Andre Johnson both played key roles in the East's defensive effort, combining for 10 tackles (eight solo) and three pass breakups while Haas also registered a sack.

"We had a lot of good scout from the offense throughout the week and it felt like every formation was something we had already kind of seen so nothing really surprised us,'' Haas said. "We dominated the line of scrimmage and were able to cover our spaces very well, so they really couldn't do anything about it because everyone was doing their job and that's how you play good football.''

The West scored its lone touchdown when Houston Bowlin (Derby) recovered a first-quarter East fumble in the end zone while the East got touchdown passes from former Shawnee Heights star Aiden Scott and Kansas City-Washington product Savion Stone, which proved to be enough for the East to cut its deficit in the series to 30-19-2.

Former Rossville star Andre Johnson (24) registered five tackles for the East in Saturday's 14-7 Shrine Bowl victory over the West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN] 

"We were locked in the whole week,'' Johnson said. "We were ready for this West offense all week and we proved it today and made it a goose egg. It was fun.''

The East drew first blood at the 7:03 mark of the opening quarter when Scott connected with Alec Jett (St. James Academy) for a 24-yard touchdown pass (conversion failed) after Osage City product Quenten Stark picked off a pass deep in East territory and returned it 33 yards to the West 49-yard-line.

The West took its only lead of the night on Bowlin's fumble recovery in the end zone and an extra-point kick from Brody Haskell (Augusta) with 2:54 left in the opening quarter and the West reached the 4-yard-line after recovering a fumble before Hayden Heller (Mill Valley) recorded the East's second interception of the night on the third play of the second quarter to thwart the threat.

The East scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 1:13 left in the opening half on a 27-yard pass from Stone to Blake Jay (Mill Valley) after Austin Zeller (Jackson Heights) recoverd a West fumble.

Stone, who was named the East Most Valuable Player, then ran for the two-point conversion to account for what proved to be the final margin after a scoreless second half.

"During halftime our coach was saying how we were doing such a good job with if we let a bad play happen we wouldn't let two happen right in a row and we didn't stack bad plays one after the other,'' said Haas, who is headed to Benedictine.

Shawnee Heights product Aiden Scott (20) was named the East's Most Inspirational Player after Saturday's 14-7 Shrine Bowl win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Scott, who was voted the East's Most Inspirational Player, split time with Stone throughout the game, with Scott, a Washburn signee, completing 5 of 7 passes for 62 yards and Stone going 6 of 7 for 54 yards.

"The team had confidence in both of us back there in the backfield,'' Scott said. "The bond that we have definitely helps out. We helped each other and would could come to the sidelines and see what the other person sees and just go to work out there.

"We've both got talent, we both work hard, so it works out.'' 

Former Nemaha Central star Carter Hajek, who will play at Emporia State, led the East with 59 rushing yards on 13 attempts.

Salina Central product Cooper Reves was named the West MVP after rushing for a game-high 91 yards on 14 carries.

Rossville's Johnson plans to enlist in the Marines in the near future and said Saturday night's win was the perfect way to cap his football career.

"A great way to go out,'' he said. "I wanted to end it on a win. I ended on a win at the All-America Game and it's way better to go 2-0 to end my career after losing at state. It's way better.''      

EAST 14, WEST 7