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Hayden girls basketball will look different, embracing new challenge
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Dating back to 2023, Hayden has made it to the state tournament three straight seasons.
The Wildcats got knocked out in the first round in 2023. In 2024, Hayden finished 21-5 and posted a third-place finish. Last year, Hayden finished third again with a 22-3 record.
Hailey Schmidtlein is set to start her sophomore season for Hayden after earning first-team All-Shawnee County recognition last season. [File photo/TSN]
Coach Carvel Reynoldson enters year number seven with Hayden and said the year before he arrived took over, the Wildcats only won six games.
Despite suffering heavy graduation losses from last season's third-place state finishing team, Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson has high hopes for his Wildcats this winter. [File photo/TSN]
There were many ups and downs at that time and Reynoldson feels like winning the Centennial League last year proves the Wildcats have turned the corner. With the team losing Millie Ramsey, Brylee Meier and Norma Greco, Reynoldson's heard that people believe Hayden will take a step back, but he doesn’t think so.
“The heart and tenacity the girls are showing me are giving me hope,” Reynoldson said. “We have a senior class that has played all four years and knows the standards and they enforce them. A lot of times, I don’t have to because they do.
"They’re an athletic group, we’re a lot faster than we were last year, we’re tenacious, but replacing what we lost is going to be difficult from a scoring standpoint. Everybody knows that, but I love the tenacity we play with.”
Something else that sticks out is that the experience the girls have gained being at the state tournament the last couple of years, but also watching the seniors before them hold the team accountable.
A couple of players Reynoldson will rely on heavily will be senior Kaydence Watts and sophomore Hailey Schmidtlien, who was a first-team All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League pick as a freshman while being named the county and league newcomer of the yer.
Schmidtlien said one thing you’ll see from this group is the heart they’ll show, even though for some of her teammates, basketball may not be their number one sport.
“I think it’s been so much fun so far, I think these girls have learned a lot and you can tell. Our scrimmage day one looks nothing like it does now,” Schmidtlien said.
Hayden boys basketball pushing for deeper run as new season begins
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
From the first day of practice after Dwayne Anthony was hired as Hayden's boys basketball coach prior to last season, the enthusiasm and attention to detail was stressed immediately.
In year two, that’s no different. The intensity is higher and giving less than 100 percent is not acceptable.
Dwayne Anthony won't have his complete Hayden team together until after next Friday's state championship football game, but he has high hopes for the 2025-2026 campaign. [File photo/TSN]
“I live by a thing called push -- praying for some good success to happen,'' Anthony said. "That’s my own personal message but I try to live out that every day. We just need to show up as the best version of ourselves.
"If we’re not winning, then we’re improving and that’s the standard. We’re not coming in here being defeated, giving lackluster effort, but always winning and improving hopefully.”
Coming off a 13-9 record last season, Anthony knows he’ll have to retool his roster a little bit, but it’s simple in trying to replicate last year's success.
“Fundmentals, making sure we’re in shape and then the mentality in some of the things I believe that young men need to be taught at this age, helping them go about certain challenges, the ways to deal with ups and downs, being prepared mentality as much as being ready physically and sound fundamentals,” Anthony said.
He said building those relationships and trust right away is so key in the early going because that will empower the players to do more.
“The buy-in from my guys last year was tremendous and the buy-in that I seem to have so far and some of the energy already. I appreciate the trust that they’ve shown me so far,” Anthony said.
Topeka West boys basketball focusing on player-led program, more dominance in new season
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
The 2024-2025 campaign ended at 14-8 and a first-round appearance in the State Tournament for Topeka West boys basketball last year under then first-year head coach Christian Ulsaker.
That was the Chargers' first trip back to the big dance since 2022 after they were the runnerups in Class 5A in 2021.
Topeka West senior Malakyah Duncan was a second-team All-Shawnee County pick last season for the 14-8 Chargers. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Keimani Paul is a top returner for Topeka West, receiving Second 10 All-Shawnee County honors last season. [File photo/TSN]
Ulsaker is appreciative of what legendary coach Rick Bloomquist brought to the USD 501 community and the tradition of having all his players ready for any situation, and Ulsaker said it’s his job to uphold that.
“My saying this year is the standard is the standard, this is what we want it to be and where it’s going to stay and we got to continue to do that,” Ulsaker said.
The Chargers will have three starters back from last year's team but the goal is to develop the collective with what the Chargers have and Ulsaker is confident this group can do that.
“I’m ready to see some of those now upperclassmen fill those voids that might be missing from last year,” Ulsaker said.
“My goal this year is a player-led team. I want a group that’s going to stick together through thick and thin, deal with adversity really well and be able to do that together. They won’t need a rah rah speech from the coach at halftime, they’ll be able to do it themselves.”
Ulsaker said West wants to continue to be a top team in 5A like area schools Shawnee Heights, Highland Park, Seaman, etc. and the United Kansas Conference helps with that and there’s never any Tuesday or Friday nights off.
Some things you’ll see with the Chargers are athleticism, high basketball IQ and that the players are in the gym constantly.
Ulsaker said they’ve seen a lot of different scenarios which he said is hard to coach if they’ve never seen it but they have.
“I genuinely think this team loves each other,'' Ulsaker said. "That’s a huge thing for a team to have success is to see their teammates have success. It doesn’t have to be about ‘me’, they want them to have success and be happy for their teammates because they’re almost like brothers,” Ulsaker said.
Guys who can help with that are MalakyahDuncan, Keimani Paul and Jayveon Traylor to name a few.
“Our chemistry is through the roof and I’ve been playing with them for a while now and it’s been great,” Traylor said.
“Our quickness and our size (are plusses). Our size will be nice this year.”
Ulsaker will show his intensity and emotion in practices and games and that feeds into the team
“I’m able to coach them that way because they know I truly love them,” Ulsaker said. “They understand that they can come into my office and call me whenever they need and I’ll be there for them.
"You can’t have a relationship where you can constructively criticize a player if they don’t think you love them. These kids are allowing me to coach them hard because they know off the court I’ll do whatever I can for them.”
