LEAVENWORTH (5-1, 5-1 UKC) vs. TOPEKA WEST (1-5, 1-5 UKC)
At Hummer Sports Park
Topeka West picked up its first win of 2025 last Friday, rallying for a 42-27 United Kansas Conference victory at Kansas City-Turner, while Leavenworth posted its fifth straight win, a 27-14 UKC decision over De Soto.
Dayne Johnson, Silver Lake
OSAGE CITY(6-0, 2-0 Class 2A District 3) at SILVER LAKE (4-2, 2-0 Class 2A District 3)
Osage City and Silver Lake will square off in a game that is likely to decide the Class 2A District 3 championship. Osage City remained unbeaten last week with a 49-14 district win over St. Marys while Silver Lake ran its winning streak to four straight games with a 42-8 district win over Riley County.
John Hoytal, Washburn Rural [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
WASHBURN RURAL (5-1, 2-0 Centennial League) at JUNCTION CITY (4-2, 2-0 Centennial League)
Washburn Rural will put its three-game winning streak on the line in a game that will give the winner a leg up in the Centennial League race. Washburn Rural is coming off a 38-0 league road win at Emporia while Junction City took a 44-6 league win over Topeka High.
TOPEKA HIGH (3-3, 1-2 Centennial League) at MANHATTAN (4-2, 1-1 Centennial League)
Topeka High is coming off a 44-6 Centennial League loss to Junction City while Manhattan dropped a 40-13 non-league decision to Wichita Northwest last week. The Indians will be looking to keep their Centennial League title hopes alive while the Trojans will be trying to snap a two-game league losing streak.
AJ Gallegos, Shawnee Heights
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (2-4, 2-3 UKC) at LANSING (2-4, 2-3 UKC)
Shawnee Heights posted its biggest win of the season last Friday, riding an outsanding defensive effort to a 20-3 United Kansas Conference road win at city rival Seaman, while Lansing dropped a 44-13 UKC decision to Piper.
BONNER SPRINGS -- Wyandotte County Park provided the backdrop for the 2025 United Kansas Conference cross country meet Thursday. The Seaman girls and boys teams were the top local finishers, with the girls finishing fifth and the boys coming in second while the day was also highlighted by the return of senior star Ryin Miller.
Seaman junior Brynn Spencer was the individual runnerup in Thursday's UKC cross country meet. [File photo/TSN]
In the girls race, Seaman junior Brynn Spencer finished in second place with a time of 19:46.90, behind conference champion Elizabeth Arenas of Piper.
“I was very proud of how I ran today, despite running alone most of the race,'' Spencer said. "I knew there were lots of rolling hills on the course, so my goal was to push up the hills and use the downhills to get some energy back.”
Seaman senior Ryin Miller returned from injury to place third in Thursday's UKC meet in Kansas City, Kan. [File photo/TSN]
Miller, the 2024 Class 5A runnerup and a five-time state champ in track, finished third in the race in a time of 20:36, which was her first race of the season due to an injury. Miller talked about dealing with the prolonged injury and the opportunity to race Thursday.
“This season has been very challenging and the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face as an athlete,'' she said. "There are so many highs and lows in sports, but because of the lows we grow, learn and truly are stronger because of it. I’ve been extremely fortunate with injury in playing four sports.
"Today was great to toe the line and give it all for my team considering that I’ve had zero running-related training. I still have lots of work to do to finish getting totally healthy and increasing my mileage and fitness again.”
Spencer and Miller were both recognzied as first-team All-UKC with their respective finishes.
Seaman senior Brody Anderson won his second straight UKC individual cross country title Thursday. [File photo/TSN]
In the boys race, Seaman senior Brody Anderson won his fifth race of the season in a time of 15:38.30.
“The race went great today and I’m excited to get back-to-back conference individual titles,'' Anderson said. "Coach (Luke) Wiens and I had a plan to get out and do enough to win while feeling great. The course ran well, not my favorite, but I can’t choose where I run and have to adapt to each situation I’m put in.”
With the season coming down to the final two weeks, Anderson talked about the regional race next weekend.
“I feel great going into regionals and trust my fitness and the training of Coach Wiens to put myself in a great spot against a stacked regional,” he said.
With the victory, Anderson was named first team All-UKC while junior teammate Conner Bloom finished 11th in 17:18.50, garnering second-team All-UKC honors.
No. 2 nationally ranked Washburn University volleyball is on an unquestioned hot streak ... and just keeps getting hotter.
The Ichabods stretched their win streak to six straight sweeps, covering 18 straight sets, Thursday night at Whiting Fieldhouse with Washburn taking a 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 MIAA victory over No. 24 Central Missouri.
No. 2-ranked Washburn volleyball celebrates a kill from senior Austin Broadie (23) in Thursday's 3-0 MIAA sweep over No. 24 Central Missouri. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn, which posted its second straight win over a ranked opponent, improved to 18-1 overall and 7-1 in the MIAA while Central Missouri fell to 14-4, 6-2.
"Really solid,'' Washburn coach Chris Herron said of the Ichabods' performance. "But that's a really good (UCM) team. I have to be honest with you, in all my scouts this year so far, that team worried me more than anybody, just because their middles are good, their outsides are good, their (libero) is good and their setter has gotten so much better.''
But the Ichabods were definitely up to the challenge.
"Our middles both hit for a really high percentage, which opens stuff up for (Austin) Broadie and Broadie's playing at an All-American level,'' Herron said. "And our setters are smart enough to know where the gravy is on the biscuit, so I thought they did a good job as well.''
Senior Alex Dvorak, the reigning MIAA Offensive Player of the Week, also gave her team high marks for its work against the Jennies.
"I think that we've found our flow so well and being in like the middle of the season, I think we're in a great spot to just keep on rolling,'' Dvorak said.
Dvorak admitted that being ranked No. 2 and in the midst of a winning streak could bring along some pressure with it, but she said the WU team is good about just being able to concentrate on the task at hand.
"I think we're very good about always trying to get better,'' she said. "Like in practice, we're always trying to get better and we're not hesitating or slowing down, so there may be some kind of pressure on us, but with us wanting to keep growing, we're just kind of flowing with it.''
Central Missouri led 4-3 early in the opening set but Washburn's Brynne Topolski got a kill that started a 4-1 run, putting the Ichabods in front.
The Ichabods held the narrow lead until Topolski got another kill that became the first of six points for Washburn. A Corinna McMullen ace made it 19-12.
The Jennies would score five in a row later in the set to pull within three but an Ichabod offense that hit .324 in the set finished off the five-point win on another Topolski kill.
The Ichabods took control early in the second set, with a setter kill by Sydney Conner sparking a 6-2 run that put Washburn in front, 15-10.
Central Missouri stormed back, tying the set at 16 after four straight points.
With the score once again tied, this time at 19, Topolski and Keilah Rivers slashed kills and Shawnee Heights product Kali Henry served an ace. Another three-point WU run ended the set at 25-21.
The first four points of the third set belonged to Washburn, starting with a kill by Dvorak.
The Jennies hung around, eventually coming all the way back to tie the set at ten. They would go in front with a 5-1 run at 15-14.
After five ties the Ichabods created a two-point advantage with Bella Limback making a solo block to put Washburn in front at 21-19. Central Missouri tied it back up at 23 but the final two points of the match belonged to the home squad to complete the sweep.
Washburn Rural gave a sendoff to a group of seniors who don’t figure to finish their high school careers anytime soon. The group of 12 seniors dominated Seaman 9-1 in their final regular-season game at McElroy Field, but they figure to host several more games come playoff time.
Senior Dylan Willingham netted four scores and added two assists to lead the rout.
Senior Dylan Willingham had four goals and two assists in Washburn Rural's 9-1 Senior Night win over Seaman Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
“I love this group,” Willingham said. “We’ve worked really well together, and our chemistry is really tight. We are all really good friends and we all love coming out here and playing together.
“I think as a group we’re a really good team and we have got a shot this year at winning the whole thing.”
Willingham put the Junior Blues up early at 34:11 in the first half. Seaman locked down the net for the next 20 minutes, however, until Willingham scored again.
Even then, the Vikings weren’t going away. Seaman senior Kaelon Taylor broke through the Junior Blue defense to cut the Washburn Rural lead to 2-1.
But at that point, the home team poured it on, scoring three more times in the remaining eight minutes of the period. The Junior Blues came back with four goals in the first 16 minutes of the second period to induce an early exit.
Washburn Rural improved to 11-1-1 with two games remaining – at Hummer Sports Park to face Topeka High next Monday and at Blue Valley North next Thursday.
“Every time we’ve had really successful teams here, we’ve had big, strong, successful senior classes, and this one’s as good as we’ve had,” said Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel. “I told the guys before the game that one of the great parts of my job is when you have a really good senior class that make your job easy.
"They promote being good teammates. They work hard. They buy into what their coaches are telling them. Over a four-year time period, they can really develop into some really good soccer players.''
The Washburn Ichabod soccer team returns home this weekend for a pair of MIAA contests, hosting Northeastern State at 6 p.m. on Friday and Rogers State at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Leah Henke
Sam Searcey
The Ichabods, 7-2-2 overall, 4-0-1 in the MIAA, are riding a seven-game unbeaten streak into Friday's match that includes six wins and one tie and Washburn coach Davy Philips said it's important to continue building.
"Northeastern's really good,'' Phillips said. "They drew (Central Missouri) earlier in the year and they've been in the region top 10 most of it so they're going to be a really good challenge for us and then every game from here on out is really important to maximize our performance index points and RPI, so whether its Rogers on Sunday or Northeastern on Friday, both of those are equally important because it's important we max out all the points we can through every game now.
"It's a tough slate of games coming up no doubt, but one of the best things about it is I feel like we're growing every week. It feels good to see growth, but it's also important to acknowledge that we have a lot of growth still to accomplish.''
Last Friday night, freshman Leah Henke scored a four-minute hat trick -- the sixth in program history and the first since 2022 -- in a 5-1 win road win over Missouri Southern. Henke has eight goals this season, ranking second in the MIAA and tied for 17th nationally.
On Sunday sophomore Sam Searcey scored both Ichabod goals in a 2-0 shutout at Pittsburg State.
Leah Henke
Sam Searcey 
