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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Shawnee Heights' bowling team celebrated its Senior Day with a sweep of all four championships in Wednesday's five-school competition at Gage Bowl.

Senior Chevy Stallbaumer captured the boys individual title in Wednesday's five-school Shawnee Heights meet at Gage Bowl with a 688 series as the T-Birds also won the team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Senior Chevy Stallbaumer, who rolled a perfect 300 game last week, followed that up with a 688 three-game series on Wednesday to take boys individual honors by 40 pins as the T-Birds took the team title by 145 pins (2,545-2,400) over United Kansas Conference foe Basehor-Linwood.

Shawnee Heights sophomore Emma Wederski reacts to a strike during her final-game 257 Wednesday at Gage Bowl. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TopSports.news]

It was also a big day for Shawnee Heights sophomore Emma Wederski, who took top honors in the girls division with a 587 series as the T-Birds took the team championship by 113 pins (2,245-2,132) over Basehor-Linwood.

Stallbaumer's 688 series topped the 676 series he recorded in last Thursday's meet in Lawrence when he rolled his 300, with the T-Bird standout on target from the outset on Wednesday, bowling a 222 in his opening game before following that up with a 209 and finishing with his best game of the day, a 257.

"I felt great today,'' Stallbaumer said. "Everything kind of clicked. I missed a spare my first frame, but I kind of just shrugged it off my shoulder. There's nothing you can do. When you miss a spare you miss a spare and you get back up and you keep on pushing.''

Stallbaumer said his perfect game has just served as motivation for the remainder of the 2026 season.

"It definitely motivated me a lot,'' Stallbaumer said of his 300 game. "That's just going to keep me motivated throughout the whole season.''

Stallbaumer wasn't on the top six when Heights won the Class 5A state title in 2024 but played a major role last season as the T-Birds advanced to state and he feels like the team can contend to be among the state's elite again this season. 

"I feel like we can definitely progress as a team and just see how this season plays out,'' he said. "I feel like we can (contend). There's no doubt in my mind we can.''

Heights' Kaden Evans finished third individually in Wednesday's meet with a 621 series (203-214-204) while Evan Jones also topped the 600 mark with a 611, including a high game of 231.

Wederski began her day with games of 168 and 162 before catching fire in the third game with eight straight strikes out of the gate on the way to a 257.

Wederski said her team and a big crowd at Gage kept her going. 

"My team was hyping me up, along with the crowd and that really helped, and I was pretty proud of myself,'' Wederski said. "No one gets to see what we do in practices. We hype each other up during practices and having a crowd adds to the joy of it.

"Today was packed. I think this was the most packed we've seen it this season so far.''

And now Wederski just wants to build off Wednesday's success as the season goes along.  

"This is my first season on varsity, so it's a whatever happens happens kind of thing and I'm just taking one meet, one day at a time,'' she said.

Shawnee Heights put three bowlers in the girls top five, with Addison VanMetre finishing third with a 577, just one pin out of second and 10 pins behind Wederski, while Reese Bell placed fourth with a 547.

Bell had a high game of 228 while VanMetre had three games between 184 and 204.

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS INVITATIONAL

At Gage Bowl

Girls

Team scores

Shawnee Heights 2,245, Basehor-Linwood 2,132, Lawrence Free State 1,903, Leavenworth 1,752, Lawrence 1,751. 

Individual results

1. Emma Wederski, Shawnee Heights, 587; 2. Elly Findley, Basehor-Linwood, 587; 3. Addison VanMetre, Shawnee Heights, 577; 4. Reese Bell, Shawnee Heights, 547; 5. Kayleigh Ussery, Basehor-Linwood, 525.

Other Shawnee Heights -- Lauryn Valdivia 510, Tatum Simpson 484, Bailey Liby 434. 

Boys

Team scores

Shawnee Heights 2,545, Basehor-Linwood 2,400, Lawrence 2,386, Lawrence Free State 2,304, Leavenworth 2,196.

Individual results

1. Chevy Stallbaumer, Shawnee Heights, 688; 2. Graesyn Hoss, 648; 3. Kaden Evans, Shawnee Heights, 621; 4. Liyam Southammavong, Lawrence, 617; 5. Thomas Futtrell, Lawrence Free State, 616.

Other Shawnee Heights -- Evan Jones 611, Henry Schattilly 586, Trey Donath 531, Nathan Burnett 520.

 Rural girls roll to quadrangular win

Led by individual runnerup Megan Glinka, Washburn Rural's girls took the team championship in Tuesday's Rural quadrangular at West Ridge Lanes.

Glinka, a junior, led the Junior Blues with a 637 series as Rural won the team title by a 2,194-2,068 margin over Centennial League rival Emporia, while Manhattan was third at 2,046 and Junction City fourth at 1,963.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Hayden rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to outlast host Baldwin 74-68 in double overtime Monday in the weather-delayed final round of the Baldwin Invitational to claim the tournament championship.

Hayden's boys basketball team captured the championship in the 2026 Baldwin Invitational on Monday with a 74-68 double-overtime win over Baldwin. [Submitted photo/Hayden basketball] 

The two-time Baldwin Invitational champs went 3-0 in the tournament, with Monday's thriller following a 62-39 first-round win over Wellsville and a 78-53 win over Bishop Seabury in the second round.

Junior Carter Compton led the Wildcats with 13 points in Monday's win over Baldwin while junior Mason Becker added 12 points, senior Makhi Kidd 11 and junior Everett Tourtillot 10 points as Hayden improved to 7-8 on the season while posting its fourth win over its past five games.

Hayden senior Kade Mitchell (2), junior Carter Compton (12) and junior Mason Becker (4), with Wildcat coach Dwayne Anthony, were named to the Baldwin Invitational All-Tournament Team. [Submitted photo/Hayden basketball]

Compton and Becker were named to the all-tournament team along with senior Kade Mitchell.

Hayden will return to action Wednesday, hosting Shawnee Mission West in a non-league contest. 

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Seaman senior KaeVon Bonner, one of the state's most prolific scorers, had an off night offensively -- by his lofty standards -- in Tuesday's non-league game at Washburn Rural.

Washburn senior John Hoytal (left) scored a game-high 20 points while Seaman senior Landon Wiltz (5) scored 14 points with four treys in Tuesday's 53-46 Viking win. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

But Bonner, who still led the Vikings with 15 points, got plenty of help from his friends as No. 5-ranked (Class 5A) Seaman used a big third quarter to build a nine-point advantage and held off the Junior Blues for a 53-46 win.

Bonner had a tough shooting night from the field, but hit a pair of 3s, including the game-clincher, and went 7 of 8 from the free throw line.

Viking senior Landon Wiltz hit four first-half 3-pointers and finished with 14 points while senior Griffin Zuniga also scored 14 points with a pair of 3s and senior Cameron Brian chipped in with eight points and a pair of treys.

Brian hit a big 3-pointer with 3:40 remaining after the Junior Blues had clawed within two points and Zuniga nailed a 3 to put Seaman up by a 48-42 margin with about two minutes left before Bonner connected with about 30 seconds remaining to give the 10-2 Vikings a 51-45 cushion

"There were a couple of those shots that some people behind me were like, 'No, no, yeah,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "But Cameron hit a big 3 for us and Griffin hit a big 3 and then Bonner goes to the corner in pretty much the same spot as the other two and those three shots allowed us to escape with the win.''

Tuesday's win was Seaman's second straight victory over a Class 6A school after the then-No. 2 Vikings dropped a disappointing 53-51 decision to Hutchinson in the first round of the McPherson Invitational last Thursday.

"We got a little bit too caught up in the rankings and the headlines and everybody patting you on the back telling you how good you are,'' Cox said. "I knew with the competition (Hutchinson) played that they'd been tested and we weren't going to scare them.

"We gave them too many layups and then they hit a big 3 late. We had a couple of opportunities, but we weren't ready to play and we paid the price for it, which is to (Hutch's) credit because they did what they had to do.''  

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