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Cair Paravel, Hayden doubles teams advance to state semifinals
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Cair Paravel Latin juniors Eric Buchenau and Drew Fay had to sweat out a few anxious moments in their Class 3A-1A quarterfinal doubles match Friday at Kossover Tennis Center, but the Lion standouts got the job done, advancing to Saturday's 9 a.m. state semifinal.
Cair Paravel Latin's Drew Fay (left) and Eric Buchenau advanced to the Class 3A-1A doubles semifinals Friday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Buchenau and Fay, the No. 3 seed, went 2-0 on the day, including a 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal win over Central Plains' Paxton Dody and Peyton Dody to improve to 28-1 on the season and will face No. 2 seeds William Farha and Vihaan Ganganola of Wichita Collegiate in the semis.
After a 6-0, 6-0 romp in their first match of the day, Fay and Buchenau jumped in front 5-2 in the second set of the quarterfinals before Dody and Dody cut their deficit to 5-4.
Central Plains seemed to have some momentum at that point, but the Lions were able to hold serve and close out the win.
"It was definitely frustrating,'' said Buchenau about the close second set, "but even if you play bad you have to find a way to win and we did that.''
Fay agreed.
"It definitely wasn't how we wanted it to go and we struggled for sure, but we were just scrapping out every point and got the win,'' Fay said.
"We hopefully got the bad bullets out today so we can just play our game tomorrow.''
Cair Paravel freshman singles player Cole Fay advanced to Saturday's Class 3A-1A medal matches with a 3-1 day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Cair Paravel freshman singles player Cole Fay also advanced to Saturday's medal matches, going 3-1 on the day.
Cole Fay moved on to Saturday with an 8-5 win over Phillipsburg senior Nathan Fischer and can still finish as high as fifth place.
Hayden seniors Chase Blaser (left) and Evan George will compete in a Class 4A doubles semifinal Saturday in Winfield. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden's Blaser and George in 4A semis
Hayden regional doubles champions Chase Blaser and Evan George won both of their Class 4A doubles matches Friday in Winfield to advance to Saturday's 9 a.m. semifinals.
The fourth-seeded Wildcat seniors, now 25-6, advanced to the semifinals with a hard-earned 3-6, 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker), 6-3 win over McPherson.
Blaser and George will face No. 1 seed Asher Deutschendorf and Braiden Liechty of Hesston in the semifinals.
Manhattan edges Washburn Rural to snap Junior Blues' four-year Centennial League title streak
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural swimming coach Bob Burdick would have loved it if his Junior Blues could have stretched their Centennial League winning streak to five straight titles Thursday.
But even though Rural fell just short of that goal with a narrow 465-441 loss to Manhattan, Burdick still walked out of Capitol Federal Natatorium proud of what his team did accomplish in its final tuneup for next weeked's Class 6A state meet.
Washburn Rural junior Audrey Appuhn won four gold medals in Thursday's Centennial League swimming and diving championships for the runnerup Junior Blues. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Genevieve Miranda captured four gold medals Thursday in her final Centennial League meet at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Audrey Appuhn and senior Genevieve Miranda both earned four gold medals -- two individual events, two relays -- on the day for the Junior Blues, who posted top-three finishes in nine of 12 events.
"We had a great meet,'' Burdick said. "We had gone four years in keeping the league title and that's the longest we've ever done it at Washburn Rural, which is great. Manhattan had waited five for this and congratutations to them.
"We've had a good year, we rebuilt the team this year and we've got it to where we want it to be. It wasn't quite strong enough to beat Manhattan. I projected it to be about a 12-point difference and it was 24 and I think our girls should be proud of themselves. Second at league is awesome.''
Appuhn won the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 55.60 seconds) and the 100 breastroke (1:06.95) and Miranda took the 50 freestyle (25.43) and the 100 butterfly (1:01.66) to account for Washburn Rural's four individual league titles.
Appuhn and Miranda also teamed with Sophie Heinen and Ava Von Lintel to win the 200 medley (2:02.16) and 400 free (4:02.90) relays.
Rural's Rhiannon Good finished second in one-meter diving (436.70) while Heinen was the runnerup in the 500 freestyle (6:19.61).
Topeka High junior Hara Del Castillo was a double Centennial League champion Thursday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka High junior Hara Del Castillo was also a double individual champion, winning the 200 individual medley (2:25.04) and the 100 backstroke (1:06.01) and High junior Caroline Toland finished second in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.90).
Hayden's Esa Herrera, Lilly Charvat, Kaelyn Gerdel and Kaylee Gregg finished second in the 200 medley relay (2:07.79) and the 200 free relay (1:54.28).
The Class 6A and 5A-1A state meets will be contested May 22-24 at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE SWIMMING/DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Hayden baseball caps perfect regular season with 5-1, 14-1 sweep over Washburn Rural
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Any doubt the Hayden baseball team would finish the regular season undefeated was removed in decisive fashion Thursday. The reigning Class 3A state champions cruised to a sweep of the Junior Blues at Washburn Rural, winning 5-1 and 14-1.
Hayden senior Cooper Grace twirled a complete-game one-hitter in Thursday's 5-1 Game 1 win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
While running the table on the regular season and collecting a Centennial League title are not insignificant, Hayden coach Bill Arnold made sure the focus was on the future.
“We haven’t even talked about being undefeated, and all of us could care less,” Arnold said. “The undefeated part comes from going 1-0. We’ve got a very mature group in the dugout here and they buy into it. They understand there’s bigger things on the mountain we’re trying to get to.”
The headliner of the matchup was Hayden pitcher Cooper Grace, a University of Nebraska commit. Grace dominated in the first game of the doubleheader, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning. He surrendered a walk in the fifth, but – with a 3-0 lead – still had the no-hitter intact.
Grace wavered a bit in the bottom of the sixth. After striking out the first two batters, he surrendered back-to-back walks and a couple of wild pitches that allowed the runners to advance. Grace then lost the no-hit bid on a slow dribbler the Wildcats’ shortstop was unable to field in time for a play on the batter.
Grace regained his stride in the bottom of the seventh, ringing up all three Junior Blues batters.
“I was just focused on getting one out after another. I wasn’t even thinking about the no-hitter,” said Grace, who said he has thrown no-hitters in the past, but prefers to keep track of wins rather than personal achievements. “It was a complete team effort. (The Junior Blues) are a good team, so we’re happy to get the win.”
Hayden junior Connor Hanika gave up just two hits and an unearned run in four innings in the Wildcats' 15-1 Game 2 win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
As dominant as Grace was in the first game, fellow Hayden pitcher Connor Hanika was equally effective in the second game. The junior gave up just two hits and permitted just one unearned run over four innings. With the offense racking up 14 runs in the nightcap, Arnold lifted Hanika for senior Jett Wahlmeier to finish off the final inning.
“I’m really pleased,” Arnold said of the pitchers. “We didn’t even get to (Liam) Annand tonight. We’ve got four quality starters. I like what each one of them can bring to the plate.”
