- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Topeka West boys basketball coach Rick Bloomquist has recorded more than 500 career wins, taken two schools to state championship games and has received numerous accolades over his long career.
But for Bloomquist none of those things tops the chance to ring a bell and clutch a simple, but very meaningful, certificate.
"I've filled out certificates every year of my career and I sign them and I just go through the motions, but I get this one and I get to ring the bell and you just feel warm,'' said Bloomquist, who led Topeka West to a 21-3 record and a second-place finish in Class 5A this past season. "It's just the gratification and a different kind of high.''
That gratification has very little to do with the bell or the certificate, but is all about what Bloomquist went through to get to that point after some eight months of initial uncertainty about his health followed by eight weeks of intense treatment after being diagnosed in February with Stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma in his lymph nodes and neck.
Ringing the bell and being presented with a certificate traditionally marks the end of chemotherapy and radiation treatments at many hospitals around the world, and for the 66-year-old Bloomquist the celebration came after he tested cancer free.
- Details
Washburn Rural senior Olivia Bruno was voted Centennial League softball player of the year by league coaches after helping lead the Junior Blues to a 20-3 record and a Class 6A state tournament berth. [File photo/TSN]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Undefeated Class 6A state champion Topeka High and 6A quarterfinalist Washburn Rural combined for seven of 12 first-team berths on the All-Centennial League softball team while sweeping the league's three individual honors.
Topeka High, which went 25-0 on the season en route to league, regional and state championships, is represented on the first team by seniors Zoe Caryl and Mia Kelly, junior NiJaree Canady and sophomore Adisyn Caryl while 20-3 Rural put senior Olivia Bruno, junior Campbell Bagshaw and sophomore Emmerson Cope on the first team.
Rural' star pitcher and first baseman Bruno was selected by league coaches as the Centennial League player of the year while Topeka High's Adisyn Caryl, the Trojans' shortstop, was named the newcomer of the year and High coach Shane Miles selected as the league's coach of the year.
Topeka High sophomore shortstop Adisyn Caryl has been named the Centennial League newcomer of the year after helping lead the Trojans to the Class 6A state championship. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High softball coach Shane Miles congrates Zoe Caryl after a home run earlier this season. Miles was named the Centennial League coach of the year while Caryl was a first-team all-league pick. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Lauren Cook and junior Carly Stuke both earned all-league first-team berths for Hayden, while Seaman put senior Raigan Kramer and junior Kynlea Heydenreich on the first team and Manhattan is represented by sophomore Takara Kolterman.
Topeka High earned its first-ever Centennial League and 6A titles in 2021 while Rural advanced to the state tournament for the third straight season.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Topeka Golden Giants are scheduled to open their 2021 season with a home exhibition game at 7 p.m. Tuesday against the Centennial League All-Stars before opening their regular season on Wednesday at home againt the Kansas Cannons (7 p.m.).
The Golden Giants will play their 2021 home games at Rossville's historic Joe Campbell Stadium.
Jacob Kirmer, who played at Hayden and Benedictine College and is an assistant coach at Seaman, returns for his second season as the Golden Giants' head coach while former Giant and Holton native Justin Rieschick will serve as assistant coach.
The Golden Giants' roster is built around a nucleus of Topeka products as well as current and future Washburn University players.
Former Seaman standout Kolby Dougan, a right-handed pitcher, posted an 8-5 record this past season for Cloud County Community College, compiling an earned run average of 3.86 with 100 strikeouts in 70 innings.
Former Hayden and current Washburn University player Andrew Schmidtlein will play for the Topeka Golden Giants this summer. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Hayden product Andrew Schmidlein, a third baseman and pitcher, hit .357 in spot duty for Washburn this past season as a freshman, with two home runs and six runs batted in.
Washburn Rural graduate Shawn Marquis, an outfielder, hit .273 with 33 RBI for Barton County Community College.
The Golden Giants' 35-player roster includes 14 Topekans and seven players with Washburn ties.
TOPEKA GOLDEN GIANTS 2021 ROSTER
- Details
Topeka West junior Kadence Jeffries headlines the 2021 All-Shawnee County girls swimming team after posting a pair of dominating wins in the Class 5A-1A state meet. Jeffries in a four-time state champion and two-time first-team All-State pick. [File photo/TSN]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Four-time state champion and two-time first-team All-Stater Kadence Jeffries of Topeka West headlines the 2021 All-Shawnee County girls swimming team.
After winning the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events as a freshman and having her sophomore season canceled due to COVID-19, Jeffries turned in a dominating junior campaign, repeating her championships in the Class 5A-1A state meet after winning three gold medals in city competition and sweeping her individual events in the Centennial League meet.
Jeffries is joined on the All-City team by junior teammate Blanca Espinosa, a second-team All-State pick, while Seaman, which posted a fourth-place 5A-1A team finish at state, is represented by freshman first-team All-State twin sisters Avery and Tauren Walz and second-team junior All-Stater Gabby Grace.
Seaman freshman Avery Walz, a first-team All-Stater, placed second in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 200 individual medley in the Class 5A-1A state meet, helping lead the Vikings to a fifth-place team finish. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman freshman Tauren Walz earned state medals in four events in the Class 5A-1A state meet, earning first-team All-State honors and helping the Vikings finish fourth as a team. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore Mara Bare, a second-team All-Stater in 6A, is one of three members of Washburn Rural's city and Centennial League championship team on the All-City first team, joined by sophomore teammate Makenna Pritchard and senior city diving champion Ellie Armstrong, while Hayden is represented by seniors Olivia Kerr, Audrey Kuta and Ainslee Oliver.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
JahnAsia Anderson
JAHNASIA ANDERSON, Seaman
In her first year competing in track and field as a senior, Anderson eclipsed her previous personal-best by more than a foot and a half en route to winning the Class 5A state girls shot put championship with a throw of 37 feet, 7 inches last Thursday at Wichita State's Cessna Stadium.
NiJaree Canady
NiJAREE CANADY, Topeka High
Canady, a junior pitcher, turned in a masterful performance in the Class 6A state softball tournament, leading Topeka High to its first-ever state softball title. Canady recorded three complete-game performances, allowing just one unearned run while striking out 48 batters as the Trojans capped a perfect 25-0 season. Canady also hit the game-winning home run in a 1-0 semifinal win over Gardner-Edgerton.
