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Washburn men's basketball coach Brett Ballard talks to campers at the end of Wednesday's morning session at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Kansas freshman guard Bobby Pettiford signs an autograph for a camper at Wednesday's Washburn Basketball Camp at Lee Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
All 10 Shawnee County high schools have nominted multiple senior athletes for the 16th annual Topeka Shawnee County High School Sports Awards, which will be presented on June 30 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel's Maner Conference Center Sunflower Ballroom.
TopSports.news, in conjunction with Envista Credit Union and A-1 Lock and Key, will present awards to top female and male athletes in the fall, winter and spring seasons, as well as overall female and male athletes of the year and the most inspirational female and male. A complete of nominees is listed below.
Topeka High's Zoe Caryl (right), who helped lead the Trojans to the Class 6A state softball title, is a nominee for the 2021 Topeka Shawnee County High School Sports Awards, which will be presented on June 30. [File photo/TSN]
Rossville's Alex Sherer, who captured the Class 3A-1A state singles tennis title, is a nominee for the 2021Topeka Shawnee County Sports Awards. [File photo/TSN]
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Washburn Rural state track champion Marquel Russell (middle) with his parents, Shanna Bigler, and Jason Russell, who adopted Marquel when he was 3 years old. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
On May 27 in Wichita, recent Washburn Rural graduate Marquel Russell put on a show for the Cessna Stadium crowd, posting an impressive 14.79-second win in the 110-meter hurdles to capture a coveted Class 6A state championship.
It was a huge moment, not only for Russell and his family but for the Washburn Rural and special needs communities as a whole, with the 10 hurdles Russell sailed over that day the latest among the hundreds if not thousands of hurdles he has faced and cleared since the day he was born.
"We got Marquel when he was three and he had been through the foster care system and had a lot of significant trauma,'' said Shanna Bigler, Russell's adopted mother. "He was also born with agenesis of corpus callosum, which means that the right and left hemispheres of his brain don't connect. So everything that comes in, all the processing that comes into his brain has to do both sides and it takes more work for him to process and understand things. Marquel didn't talk until he was three and he's really come through a lot. He's at about a third-grade reading level, but people just wouldn't guess that's how he is.
"We took him for another brain scan at KU a couple of years ago and they said, 'Honestly, we don't know how he's able to do the things he's able to do, but we're not going to put any athletic restrictions on him. Let him be as great as he can be and wants to be.' We were really excited about that because prior to that they had been really concerned about him hitting his head and creating more issues, so we were really proud that not only was he able to play general education athletics, but he surpassed his own expectations.''
Russell's state championship marked his third state medal in the 110-meter hurdles in as many tries, following a second-place finish as a freshman and a fourth-place finish as a sophomore.
"It felt great,'' Russell said of the state title. "I still can't believe I did that.''
"It was a miracle,'' said Jason Russell, Marquel's adopted father. "The chief of neurology told us, 'This kid shouldn't even be able to walk.' It's just amazing.''
Bigler agreed.
"Everybody that was with us for state, we were all standing up there crying because he wasn't supposed to be able to do this.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Generally speaking, football linemen are very rarely in the spotlight.
That will change on Monday, June 21, when Shawnee Heights hosts the "Battle of the Bigs'' lineman challenge (5:30 p.m. start).
Shawnee Heights football coach Jason Swift said that the event "is a great way for linemen to build unity and compete in a non-contact competitive setting.''
Prizes and plaques will be given to the top five individuals and top five-man team.
Participating athetes will take part in nine measured events:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University senior golf star Andrew Beckler has been named the 2021 Division II Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year.
Beckler, a Washburn Rural graduate, was announced as the player of the year Sunday morning during The Memorial Tournament at Dublin, Ohio.
Washburn senior golf standout Andrew Beckler has been named the winner of the Division II Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year Award. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Beckler capped off his collegiate career by earning the highest individual honor in college golf, which was announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
The award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate golfer across Divisions I, II and III, plus the NAIA and NJCAA, is one of college golf's most esteemed honors.
Andrew Beckler
Prior to Beckler, Washburn had never had a finalist for the Nicklaus Award, nor had there ever been a golfer from the MIAA or NCAA Division II Central Region to win it.
The award was first given out to only Division I golfers from 1988-2002 until Divisions II and III were added in 2003. Many notable golfers have won the award, including Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and Justin Thomas.
"If you look at the records of these recipients, each one put together dominating seasons and are very deserving of this honor," Jack Nicklaus said.
The 2021 MIAA Player of the Year turned in a record season for the Ichabods this spring as he claimed five individual titles in 10 competitions and placed in the top-three at the other five events. He lost to just seven total golfers the entire season.
At the NCAA Golf National Championships, he recorded the highest individual finish in program history as he tied for second place out of 84 total golfers.
Beckler, a former Class 6A individual and team champion for Washburn Rural, finished his career with Washburn's best scoring average with a 72.00 in 67 rounds played and he holds the best season scoring average (70.4).
Beckler joined the team in 2018 after beginning his college career at Kansas State and was named to the all-MIAA team twice and received the conference Men's Golf Athlete of the Week award three times this season.
Off the course, Beckler also excelled in the classroom as he earned a place on the MIAA Academic Roll three times and was an MIAA Scholar Athlete twice.
2021 JACK NICKLAUS AWARD WINNERS
Division I -- John Pak, Florida State.
Division II -- Andrew Beckler, Washburn.
Division III -- James Mishoe, Guilford.
NAIA -- Ruan Pretorius, Point.
NJCAA -- Ben Partridge, Hutchinson Community College.
