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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
WICHITA - On Day 1 of the KSHSAA State Track Meet at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium, several local boys competed in preliminary races in an attempt to qualify for the finals on Saturday. There were also some field event finals on Friday.
Qualifiers for Saturday’s Finals
Senior Ben Roeder of Cair Paravel qualified fifth in the Class 2A 400 meters with a time of 50.40 seconds.
Senior Evan Scheid of Silver Lake qualified second in the 3A 200 meters in a time of 22.32 seconds.
Silver Lake’s 4x100-meter relay team (Brandon Rupp, Evan Scheid, Joel Miller and Trent Rollenhagen) qualified fourth in 43.46 seconds.
Seaman senior Bryce Cochran qualified fifth in the 5A 400 meters in a time of 49.04 seconds.
Shawnee Heights senior Liam Benz qualified seventh in the 400 meters with a time of 49.86 seconds.
Washburn Rural senior Braylon Badger qualified fifth in the 300 meter hurdles in a time of 40.40 seconds.
Washburn Rural junior Liam Morrison qualified second in the 110 meter hurdles in a time of 14.64 seconds. He also qualified third in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 40.05 seconds.
Washburn Rural senior Isaiah Terry qualified fourth in the 400 meters in a time of 49.32 seconds.
Washburn Rural junior Draden Chooncharoen competes in the Class 6A 4x400 relay prelims Friday night in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural’s 4x400 meter relay team (Matthew Houser, Liam Morrison, Draden Choonchareon, Isaiah Terry) qualified second with a time of 3:22.61.
Medalists from Friday’s Finals
Seaman senior Peyton Holmes finished sixth in the Class 5A long jump Friday in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman senior Peyton Holmes finished sixth in the 5A long jump with a distance of 22 feet, 1 inch.
Topeka West senior Adrian Lehman finished fifth in Friday's Class 5A 3,200 meters at Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka West senior Adrian Lehman finished fifth in the 6A 3,200 meters with a time of 9:18.60.
Washburn Rural junior Brooks Kehoe finished fifth in Friday's Class 6A 3,200 meters at Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Brooks Kehoe finished fifth in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:20.97.
The remaining events will be contested beginning Saturday morning at 8:30 with the preliminaries for the 100 meters for girls and boys.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- Seaman junior Ryin Miller was content to let her friendly rival, Salina Central senior star Katelyn Rupe, set the early face in Friday night's Class 5A girls 3,200 meters at Cessna Stadium.
And although there were times in the race where Miller thought she might be letting Rupe too far ahead, the Seaman star relied on her 57-second quarter mile speed when it counted the most, overtaking Rupe on the final lap, winning her first 3,200 title in 10 minutes, 19.53 seconds while three-time 3,200 champ Rupe was second in 10:22.11.
Seaman junior Ryin Miller crosses the finish line in the Class 5A 3,200 meters Friday night at Cessna Stadium. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] b]in cV
Ryin Miller and Salina Central's Katelyn Rupe exchange a hug after Friday night's Class 5A 3,200 race in Wichita. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I didn't really want to lead too much,'' Miller said. "That takes a lot out of you when you lead, so I didn't really want to do that. I figured Katelyn would want to get out and push the pace just because she knows she's super fit and I know she's super fit so I thought her race strategy going into it would be to just be to try to run it out of me. And, honestly, I really thought she was going to do that.
"Going into the first mile she looked really strong and I was already struggling, so I was a little bit worried especially just knowing what a competitor Katelyn is and how much she really brings it at the state meet so I was just, 'Hang on, just hang on,' and trying to be positive about it, just like, 'You've got this, it's only four more laps.' ''
Miller began to gradually cut into Rupe's lead over the second mile and made her big move on the final lap, passing Rupe with about 200 meters remaining.
"(The gap) just kept getting smaller and smaller and I was, 'Ok, one lap, just give it everything you've got and see what happens,' and luckily it came out in my favor.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman and Shawnee Heights softball and Heights' baseball team all gave themselves a chance to advance to Friday's Class 5A state tournament semifinals on the Wichita State campus.
But at the end of the day all three city powers had suffered heartbreaking one-run losses, including a 17-inning setback for the Viking softball team, and all were eliminated from state competition.
Seaman opened the 5A softball tournament and dropped a 3-2 decision to top seed and undefeated Maize South in the 3 hour, 35-minute marathon which set a record for the longest game (for innings) in Wilkins Stadium history while Shawnee Heights suffered a 3-2 walkoff loss to St. Thomas Aquinas in the final softball game of the day and T-Bird baseball dropped a 7-6 decision to Hays.
Seaman senior Kaelyn O'Rourke celebrates an out against Maize South in Thursday's Class 5A state softball tournament. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
Seaman, which finished its season at 20-9, was locked in a scoreless deadlock with 29-0 Maize South through five innings before the Vikings took a 1-0 lead on an RBI double from junior Aubrey Warren.
Seaman senior Anna Mclaughlin scores against Maize South in the sixth inning of the Class 5A state softball tournament.
Maize South answered with a run in the bottom of the inning and the score remained 1-1 until the top of the 16th when Seaman went up 2-1 when senior pinch-runner Phoebe Brodine scampered home after singles from senior Raegan McConnell and sophomore Lauren Glasgow.
The Mavericks answered again in the bottom of the 16th when senior Sophie Stockam knocked in the tying run with a run-scoring flyball.
Maize South, which was playing Seaman in the first round for the second straight season (also a 3-2 South win), pushed across the winning run when junior Kinley Davis singled, stole second and third and scored when the ball got away from Seaman after the throw to third.
Seaman coach Daniel Ruda said that in a game like Thursday's there were plays throughout the 17 innings that could have been difference-makers.
"One bounce here, one bounce there and it's a different game,'' Ruda said. "That's what I told the girls. I'm so proud of them, how hard they played. There were some great plays that we made on defense to stop some of their rallies and it seemed like every time they had runners on we locked in and we made the play. Just one ball got away from us and that was the difference today.''
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By KYLE MANTHE
TopSports.news
It took nine innings to get on the board but Silver Lake softball kept its season alive with a 2-0 win over No. 2- seeded Trinity Academy in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A State Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Topeka.
Silver Lake softball celebrates its 2-0 nine-inning win over No. 2 seed Trinity in the Class 3A state tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
“Trinity had a heck of a defense. That’s been the first team to be able to take that kind of pressure this year against us,” said Silver Lake coach Nick Hamilton. “I just knew our girls, not only can they play small ball but we can big ball and eventually we got those hits.”
Those hits for the Eagles came off the bats of sophomore Savanah Wende and junior Kailyn Hanni in the ninth inning. The late-game offense was coupled with a shutout two-hit effort from senior pitcher Kendra Cook in the circle to punch a ticket to the final day of the season.
Silver Lake senior pitcher Kendra Cook twirled a nine-inning two-hitter in Thursday's 2-0 win over Trinity. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
“That’s just Kendra in a nutshell. She’s just worked so hard having confidence because there’s not a lot that’s going to shake her,” Hamilton said. “I told her before she started no regrets so there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to leave it on the field.”
Cook breezed through the opening of the game with four strikeouts in the first two innings. The first baserunner of the game reached in the third on a walk, the second Knight to reach came on the first hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth.
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By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
The Washburn Rural softball team surrendered what appeared to be a commanding lead in the opening round of the Class 6A State Tournament Thursday.
Instead of panicking, they built another one in the final inning to advance to the semifinals with a 9-6 win at Arrocha Ball Park.
Washburn Rural softball celebrates Thursday's 9-6 Class 6A state tournament win over No. 3 seed Garden City. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural softball coach Joy Marie Galliart celebrates Thursday's 9-6 Class 6A state tournament win over No. 3 seed Garden City with her Junior Blues. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural led 6-0 in the middle of the fourth inning, with starting pitcher Madi Davison cruising. As the sixth seed in the field, the Junior Blues looked on their way to upsetting third-seeded Garden City.
But the Buffaloes stormed back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and three more in the sixth to tie the game.
The Junior Blues were watching their dreams of the school’s fourth state title evaporate. But they had one more rally left in them.
“(Garden City) threw a shot at us a couple of innings after we had a big lead, and you could sense the momentum shifting a little bit,” Washburn Rural coach Joy Marie Galliart said. “I told my kids going into the seventh inning that (Garden City) had all the momentum. I said, ‘You need to take it right back.’ ”
Having not scored for two frames, the Junior Blues found themselves in a 6-6 tie in the seventh inning.
Washburn Rural got two runners on base to lead off the top of the seventh. Next up was sophomore Olivia Koch, who had come on to pitch the previous inning to stem the Garden City rally. Having done her job on the mound, Koch laced a double to drive in the go-ahead run. Addalyn Boleski followed Koch with a two-run single, putting the Junior Blues back in front by three runs.
“I told our kids, that was a true testament – an example of resilience and of teamwork and of not panicking,” Galliart said. “Offensively, we didn’t go into coast mode. We had runners on almost every inning, but we just didn’t produce for a couple of innings in a row when we had runners in scoring position. I knew we can’t just score in one or two innings and expect to win a seven-inning game. You have to keep scoring inning after inning.”
Freshman second baseman Addalyn Boleski pulled off an unassisted double play in Washburn Rural's 9-6 Class 6A state tournament win over No. 3 seed Garden City. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Sophomore Olivia Koch starred in the pitching circle and at the plate in Washburn Rural's 9-6 Class 6A state tournament win over No. 3 seed Garden City. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Koch held off the Buffaloes in the final inning, capitalizing on an unassisted double play by second baseman Boleski.
Koch rapped a triple and a double and Boleski drove in four runs on three singles to lead the Junior Blues.
