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TopSports.news
Returning to the Wamego Country Club course Saturday where he won the Class 4A cross country title in 2020, Hayden star Tanner Newkirk was just as impressive.
In fact, the Wildcat senior was even better than he was in his state-winning run.
Newkirk clocked a winning 5-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 47.50 seconds on Saturday to top a field of 114 competitors in the Wamego Invitational while paring nearly six seconds off the 15:53.32 time that he recorded in the 4A state meet last fall.
Tanner Newkirk
Newkirk won Saturday by 14 seconds over Buhler senior star Tanner Lindahl.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Seaman girls cross country coach Rick Brading didn't enter the 2021 season with a pack mentality in mind for his team, but it seems to be working that way, and paying early dividends for the Vikings.
Junior Bethany Druse, a returning Class 5A state placer, led the pack with a second-place individual finish on Saturday at the Kanza Park course and her teammates followed close behind, with Seaman putting all its top five in the first 12 places en route to winning the team championship in Topeka West's Joe Schrag Invitational by a 30-41 margin over Blue Valley.
Junior Bethany Druse finished second to help Seaman win the girls team title in Saturday's Joe Schrag Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Druse clocked a five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 45.51 seconds to finish as the runnerup to Blue Valley senior Tori Wingrove (18:33.32) while Seaman freshman Anna Becker finished fourth (20:23.48), senior Emma Schultz sixth (20:40.20), freshman Joslynn Grace seventh (20:42.11) and freshman Stella Appelhanz 12th (21:22.19).
"We're not trying to be a pack, it just happens that way,'' Brading said. "We just have some talented kids.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
If Topeka West goes on to have a breakout 2021 football season, the Chargers will no doubt remember Friday night's 36-32 Centennial League road win at Emporia as the impetus.
After trailing 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, Topeka West rallied to take a 14-10 halftime lead and a 28-16 advantage through three quarters before surviving Emporia's late-game rally to even its record at 1-1.
Tyrell Reed
Malachi Berg
Juniors Malachi Berg and Tyrell Reed both had big games for the Chargers, who bounced back from a 45-6 season-opening loss to Washburn Rural.
Berg accumulated more than 350 yards of total offense, throwing for one touchdown and running for a second TD, while Reed topped the 100-yard rushing mark and ran for three TDs, including a 55-yard run that proved to be the difference in the game.
The Chargers survived a huge passing game from Emporia quarterback Cam Geitz, who threw for all four of the 0-2 Spartans' touchdowns.
ROSSVILLE 56, ROCK CREEK 14 -- The defending Class 2A state champs rolled to their second win of '21, jumping out to 31-7 halftime cushion and putting the 0-2 Mustangs away with a 25-point third quarter.
Bulldawg senior quarterback Torrey Horak ran for a 16-yard touchdown and threw for a 49-yard TD to junior Kade Perine and a 30-yard TD to senior Corey Catron.
Torrey Horak
Corey Catron
Catron also scored on a 2-yard run while senior Kaden Brown had a 44-yard pick six for the Bulldawgs and scored on a 6-yard run.
The Bulldawgs also achieved a rare feat at the high school level, with junior Pedro Arantes kicking four field goals, connecting from 27, 27, 25 and 28 yards. Arantes also kicked four extra points to finish the night with 16 points.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Even though he fought back late in the season to advance to the Class 5A state meet for the second straight year, Kory Sutton was never himself in the 2020 cross country season.
But the Shawnee Heights junior standout is healthy this fall and the results are proof of that.
"I had an issue with the growth plate in my hip and it put me out for about a year before I was back to full strength and ready to run,'' Sutton said Saturday after taking the boys individual title in the Topeka West Joe Schrag Invitational at the Kanza Park Course, Sutton's second win in as many races on the year.
Shawnee Heights junior Kory Sutton posted his second straight individual win of the year in Saturday's Joe Schrag Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sutton made progress in the spring track season and now feels like he's 100 percent.
"I never was 100 percent (in cross country) and I was just getting back into it right before track season,'' Sutton said. "But I feel great now.''
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
In the previous three meetings between Topeka High and Washburn Rural, the Trojans won all three games and outscored Rural, 164-73.
Before Friday the last time the two collided was in 2019, with Topeka High defeating the Junior Blues, 42-28.
Friday was a different a story from years past, however, as Rural thwacked the Trojans, 42-13.
Washburn Rural’s special teams set the tone early that carried them to success for the entire four quarters.
Senior Austin Fager forced three blocked punts on the night, sigh two of his blocked punts resulting in Rural touchdowns and the other block going for a safety.
“We realized the center had his head down the whole time, so we had to shoot the left gap since they were blocking heavier on the right side,'' Fager said. "It was wide open the whole time.”
Austin Fager
The defense played a crucial part in the decisive victory for Washburn Rural, with just two of the Junior Blues' touchdowns coming on offense
Coach Steve Buhler said he was “proud of the staff and the defense for having an excellent week of practice.” “Coach Smith and the defensive coaches did a really good job prepping the defense. There wasn’t anything new from Topeka that we didn’t see on tape. What benefited us was that our guys were playing really hard and really fast all night long.”
Washburn Rural and Topeka High go through the handshake line after Friday's 42-13 Rural win at Bowen-Glaze Stadium. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Blues running back Ma’kenttis Adams broke off a 31-yard rushing touchdown at the 4:26 mark of the second quarter to give Rural its first offensive touchdown, putting the Junior Blues up, 22-7. Rural's other offensive touchdown came on a dart from Aiden Boleski to Adrian Tibbetts for a 13-yard touchdown at the furthest left corner of the end zone.
