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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
JACKSON ESQUIBEL, Shawnee Heights
A junior, Esquibel placed sixth in the 3,200 meters (9 minutes, 36.78 seconds) in the Class 5A state meet last season and earned TopSports.news All-Shawnee County recognition. Esquibel finished eighth individually in the 5A state cross country meet last fall and opened his 2023 track season with a win in the 3,200 at Free State.
JORDAN GARVIN, Shawnee Heights
Shawnee Heights senior Jordan Garvin ranks as one of Class 5A's top returning hurdlers ater posting a fourth-place finish in the 5A 300-meter hurdles (40.68) in the 2022 state meet. A TSN All-Shawnee County selection, Garvin clocked a best time of 40.10 seconds in the 300s as a junior.
AARON MERRITT, Seaman
Mettitt earned TSN All-Shawnee County recognition last spring as a sophomore hurdler. Merritt had a personal-best time of 15.07 last season in the 110-meter high hurdles. Merritt opened his season last Thursday in the Topeka West Invitational with a first-place finish in the 110s.
SEAN MILLER, Seaman
Miller, a senior, was a Class 5A state medalist last season, finishing eighth in the shot put with a throw of 46-1.50 at state. Miller received TSN All-Shawnee County honorable mention as a junior. Miller opened his senior season with a second-place finish in the shot put and a fourth in the discus in last Thursday's Topeka West Invitational.
Hayden senior Jake Muller was the Class 4A state runnerup in the 300-meter hurdles last spring after winning the state title as a sophomore. [File photo/TSN]
JAKE MULLER, Hayden
A four-sport athlete for the Wildcats, Muller was the runner-up in the Class 4A 300-meter hurdles (39.21) as a junior, finished seventh in the 110 high hurdles (15.43) and was part of the Wildcats' third-place 4 x 400 relay team. Muller was the 4A state champion in the 300 hurdles as a sophomore, earning All-Shawnee County honors.
Topeka West senior Lenny Njoroge placed fourth in the Class 5A 3,200 meters last season and is a three-time state medalist in cross country. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
LENNY NJOROGE, Topeka West
A senior, Njoroge took fourth in the Class 5A 3,200-meter run (9:33.36) in the 2022 state track meet and is a three-time 5A state medalist in cross country, including a career-best fourth-place finish last fall. Njoroge, who will run cross country and track at Kansas, is an All-Shawnee County pick in both track and cross country ane opened his 2023 season with wins in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters in last Thursday's Topeka West Invitational.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
MADELINE CARTER, Washburn Rural
Carter, a senior, finished eighth in the Class 6A 3,200-meter run in the 2022 state track meet after earning three state medals (one individual, two relays) in '21. Carter, a multi-time TopSports.news All-Shawnee County pick in track and cross country, earned three 6A state medals in cross country, including an 11th-place finish last fall to help the Junior Blues finish third as a team. Carter has commited to Kansas.
Seaman senior Bethany Druse is the defending Class 5A state champion in the 800 meters. [File photo/TSN]
BETHANY DRUSE, Seaman
Druse, a senior, is the reigning Class 5A 800 meters champion and earned three Class 5A state medals in the 2022 meet, including a seventh-place finish in the 4x800 relay and an eighth in the 4x400 relay. Druse was a three-time 5A state medalist in cross country and is a mult-time TSN All-Shawnee County selection in both track and cross country. Druse, who will run collegiately at Kansas, has a best of 2:15.19 in the 800.
Washburn Rural sophomore Payton Fink ranked No. 1 in Shawnee County in the 3,200 meters as a freshman and placed fifth in Class 6A last fall in cross country. [File photo/TSN]
PAYTON FINK, Washburn Rural
Fink, a sophomore distance runner, earned TSN All-Shawnee County honors as a freshman and placed fifth in the Class 6A cross country meet last fall to lead Washburn Rural to a third-place team finish. Fink ranked No. 1 in Shawnee County in the 3,200 meters last season with a best of 11:37.61.
AMELIA FOSTER, Rossville
Foster, a senior, has earned state medals in Class 3A in back-to-back state meets, including a seventh-place finish in 2022 in the 800 meters. Foster is a two-time All-Shawnee County selection in track.
NATALIE HILLEBERT, Hayden
A junior, Hillebert placed third in the Class 4A 400-meter dash in the 2022 state track meet. Hillebert also picked up a state medal in the 4 x 400 relay as part of the Wildcats' eighth-place finish. Hillebert earned All-Shawnee County recognition as a freshman and sophomore.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Wednesday was only Shawnee Heights' second baseball game of the 2023 season.
But depending on how the rest of the T-Birds' season plays out, Heights coach Ryan Schmidt and his team may look back and realize just how big Wednesday's 7-6 non-league win over Bishop Miege was from a confidence and postseason seeding standpoint.
Shawnee Heights junior Carter Ulrich went 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles and five runs batted in as the T-Birds rallied for a 7-6 non-league win over Bishop Miege Wednesday at the Bettis Family Sports Complex. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights junior Johann Villa pitched six innings of solid relief to pick up the win in Wednesday's 7-6 comeback win over Bishop Miege. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights, which improved to 2-0, spotted Miege a 4-0 advantage in the top of the first and a 6-1 lead in the top of the third, but the T-Birds rode an outstanding relief effort from junior piitcher Johann Villa and clutch hitting from junior Carter Ulrich to a big comeback win at the Bettis Family Sports Complex.
"It couldn't be more of a team win, with the guys each doing their role,'' Schmidt said. "We just kept grinding through things and each guy was stepping up and picking each other up.''
Shawnee Heights only led once on the night, but that lead came on a two-run double from Ulrich in the bottom of the sixth and Villa shut the door on the Stags in the top of the seventh to close out the win.
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
There are a lot of parts of sports that can be controlled, one that cannot be controlled is who you play, for good or bad. For Shawnee Heights soccer it was the latter as the T-Birds opened the season with a 10-0 loss to Class 5A powerhouse Blue Valley Southwest.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Lailah Benz (2) tries to find operating room in Tuesday's 10-0 season-opening loss to Blue Valley Southwest. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Emily Loy (35) races after a loose ball in Tuesday's 10-0 season-opening loss to Blue Valley Southwest. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"It's just a hard first game to start the season, but we know where we’re at, we’ve got a measuring stick to know where we can go from here,” said Shawnee Heights coach Kellen Griffin. “I’ve got a lot of great leaders from the seniors and the captains and even some of the juniors and sophomores that were on the team on varsity last year so I don’t think it’s going to affect us in (a bad) way.”
The Thunderbirds bring 11 seniors into the season from a team that went 13-5-0 last season as well as sophomores Lailah Benz and Isabell Van Fleet who were both first-team All-United Kansas Conference selections in 2022.
However, they were unable to generate a shot on goal against the strong Timerwolves defense, something Griffin is confident will change going forward.
“The good thing is they’ve got a base style of play from where we were at last year, but now it’s something we can build on more because we don’t have to review everything,” Griffin said. “So we got a starting point already and we can kind of build upon that and adjust as we go forward throughout the season.”
Jumping right into the deep end of the schedule did allow for immediate observation for Griffin, and reinforced year-long goals and strategies that aren’t accomplished in match number one.
“I learned where some of our girls are at in terms of development from last year to this year,” Griffin said. “We are going to have measuring sticks in terms of where our team is at compared to some of the other opponents we face and we just need to make sure we are building the entire season so that way we are playing the best soccer at the end of the season.”
- Details
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Due to success in other sports, it took awhile for Washburn Rural's girls soccer team to get its entire team together, which was absolutely fine with Junior Blue coach Brian Hensyel.
Washburn Rural senior Mackinly Rohn puts Rural's second goal in the net after rebounding her penalty kick attempt in Tuesday's 3-0 season-opening win over De Soto. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
Senior Mackinly Rohn is congratulated by her Washburn Rural teammates after scoring a goal in Rural's 3-0 win over De Soto. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
And getting a late start to preseason preparations wasn't a problem in Tuesday's season-opener, with Rural posting a 3-0 non-league win over De Soto at McElroy Field.
Washburn Rural senior Addi Broxterman and sophomores Delaney Hill and Ashley Schwarz joined Rural soccer's team on the run after helping the Junior Blues win the Class 6A-5A state wrestling championship while senior Brooklyn DeLeye and sophomore Kate Hinck got a late start after helping Rural finish second in the 6A state basketball tournament.
Senior goalkeeper Hailey Beck also missed preseason due to an injury but all six players turned in quality minutes in Tuesday's win, with Broxterman scoring Rural's first goal of the season while Hill and DeLeye were credited with assists and Beck combined for a shutout in goal.
"The spring sports season is always unique because unlike the fall it overlaps with the successes of the other seasons,'' Hensyel said. "And spring break was last week and some people are here and some aren't, so the first three weeks you're always trying to accomplish as much as you can but you know you're probably not going to be completely ready to play.
"Even though we have a lot to work on getting them all yesterday for the first time, for each of them to come out tonight and beat a good De Soto team was really a positive. It's always kind of a mess at the beginning but we're a work in progress.''
