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Created: 16 March 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Four city players earned spots on the All-United Kansas Conference girls basketball first team, led by senior three-time first-team pick Maddie Gragg of Seaman and Shawnee Heights junior repeat honoree KK Emmot.

Maddie Gragg, Seaman

KK Emmot, Shawnee Heights 

Pearmella Carter, Shawnee Heights

Sydney VanDyke, Topeka West

Also earning All-UKC first-team recognition were Shawnee Heights junior Pearmella Carter and Topeka West junior Sydney VanDyke. Carter was a first-team pick in her first season at Heights after previously being named the Meadowlark Conference player of the year at Highland Park while VanDyke received All-UKC honorable mention as a sophomore.

Bob Wells, Shawnee Heights

Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells was named the UKC coach of the year after leading the T-Birds to the conference championship and a fourth-place finish in Class 5A in his final season before retiring.

Shawnee Heights senior Imani McGlory was a second-team All-UKC pick.

Seaman junior Cara Beaton and Brynn Spencer received all-conference honorable mention along with Shawnee Heights junior Sami Baum and senior Reianna Vega and Topeka West junior Patience Allen.

ALL-UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE GIRLS BASKETBALL

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Created: 17 March 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Class 5A senior state champion Cianna Graves headines the TopSports.news 2026 All-Shawnee County girls wrestling team while third-place teams Heights and Washburn Rural combined for 12 spots on the first team.

Cianna Graves, Shawnee Heights [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN]

TopSports.news' All-Shawnee County team is based on overall records, postseason results and city coaches' All-City selections.

Graves, the Shawnee County wrestler of the year, is a four-time state medalist and capped her career with the state championship at 155 pounds, finishing off a 35-2 season.

Brinnley Morris, Shawnee Heights [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN]

Olive Jones, Shawnee Heights [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN]

Graves was one of three T-Bird state champions, with freshman Brinnley Morris (21-3) winning the 120-pound title title and sophomore Olive Jones (39-1) taking the 135-pound crown as Shawnee Heights earned the third-place team trophy for the second straight season.

Morris was tapped as the Shawnee County newcomer of the year.

Lacey Middleton, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN]    

Emme Blanco, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN] 

Elia Smith, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN]

Washburn Rural put a county-high seven wrestlers on the TSN All-Shawnee County first team, led by the senior Class 6A state runnerup trio of 125-pounder Lacey Middleton (39-7), 145-pounder Emme Blanco (40-4) and 170-pounder Elia Smith (35-4), who led the Junior Blues to a third-place team finish for the second straight season in 6A after Rural won back-to-back state titles in 2023 and 2024.

In addition to the three second-place finishers, Rural also put freshman 105-pounder Aliyah Tangpricha, senior 140-pounder Madi Blanco, junior 190-pounder Lily Davis and sophomore 235-pounder Emma Mehl on the first team. 

Tangpricha (30-6) and Madi Blanco (40-5) both placed third in 6A while Davis (37-12) finished sixth and Mehl (25-16) was a state qualifier.

Madi Blanco and Smith are both three-time first-team all-county honorees while Middleton and Emme Blanco are repeat picks.

Shawnee Heights also put senior 145-pounder Olivia Stevens and sophomore 110-pounder Bianca Juarez on the all-county first team.

A multi-time state medalist, Stevens (33-6) finished third at 145 pounds and Juarez (26-14) was a state qualifier. 

Shawnee Heights' Chad Parks was named the county coach of the year after the T-Birds won the United Kansas Conference championship and finished second at regionals before their third-place finish at state.

Makayla Cadet, Highland Park [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/TSN]

Highland Park senior 190-pounder Makayla Cadet (23-3) is a first-team repeat all-county honoree, posting a runnerup 5A state finish this past season after winning the state championship as a junior.

Nora Mitchell, Rossville [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]

Rounding out the all-county first team are Rossville sophomore 105-pounder Nora Mitchell and junior 145-pounder Madelyn Wonnell.

Mitchell (37-12) was the 3A-1A runnerup and and Wonnell (38-6), a two-time state medalist, finished third this past season after finishing fifth as a sophomore.

ALL-SHAWNEE COUNTY GIRLS WRESTLING

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Created: 19 March 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural three-time Class 6A state champion and four-time finalist Landen Kocher-Munoz headlines the TopSports.news 2026 All-Shawnee County boys wrestling team.

TopSports.news' All-Shawnee County team is based on overall records, postseason results and city coaches' All-City selections.

Landen Kocher-Munoz, Washburn Rural [Photo by Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports]

Kocher-Munoz was named the Shawnee County wrestler of the year after winning the 144-pound championship to wrap up a 39-4 season as Washburn Rural a third-place team finish.

Jadyn Baum, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN]

Kocher-Munoz is one of eight Washburn Rural wrestlers to earn spots on the All-Shawnee County team, including junior 215-pound state champ Jadyn Baum, who went 29-4 on the season. 

Also earning all-county first-team honors for Rural were 106-pound freshman Hayden Broxterman (36-16), 113-pound freshman Andrew Peterson (26-11), 120-pound senior Ryder Harrison (28-7), 138-pound senior Cooper Stivers (34-7), 150-pound junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz (31-8) and sophomore 285-pounder Kaiden Marshall (19-4).

Harrison, Stivers, Brodye Kocher-Munoz, Landen Kocher-Munoz, Baum and Marshall are all first-team repeat picks.

Andrew Peterson, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN]

Ryder Harrison, Washburn Rural [File photo/TSN]

Peterson, named the Shawnee County newcomer of the year, Harrison and Stivers all advanced to 6A championship matches and posted second-place finishes while Brodye Kocher-Munoz finished third and Broxterman and Marshall fifth in 6A.

Jude Krentz, Hayden [File photo/TSN]

 Paxton Willett, Silver Lake [Photo by Rick Peterson Jr./KSHSAA Covered]

Hayden senior Jude Krentz (40-4) was the 4A runnerup at 190 pounds and is an all-county first-team repeat pick while Silver Lake senior Paxton Willett (41-11) was the 3A-1A state runnerup at 190 pounds.

 Krentz is joined on the all-county first-team by Wildcat junior 175-pounder Caleb Menke (41-5) while Silver Lake senior 120-pounder Bryce Cormier (33-10) joins Willett on the first team.

Cormier posted a third-place state finish in 3A-1A while Menke finished fourth in 4A.

Seaman put junior 150-pounder Deegan Frazier (38-12), senior 165-pounder Landen Miller (35-14) and junior 285-pounder Henry Reichart (41-14) on the All-Shawnee County first team, with Frazier and Reichart both posting third-place finishes in the 5A state tournament. 

Hayden coach Jacob Torrez was named the Shawnee County coach of the year after also being picked by his city coaching counterparts as the City Coach of the Year.

ALL-SHAWNEE COUNTY BOYS WRESTLING

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Created: 12 March 2026

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

Few people know what it feels like to win a state basketball championship. The rush, the exhilaration, the exhaustion and relief, the bond with teammates and the bittersweet end of the journey … few have actually had that experience.

When Jenny Schmidtlein watched from the crowd Saturday as her daughter Hailey received a gold medal on the Hutchinson Sports Arena floor, she had a pretty good idea what her daughter was feeling.

Hailey Schmidtlein scored 24 points in Saturday's 57-52 Hayden win over Bishop Miege in the Class 4A state championship game, joining her mom as a state basketball champion. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN] 

Jenny (Hubbell) Schmidtlein (No. 11) was a member of Hayden's 2004 Class 4A state championship team and is the mother of current Wildcat sophomore standout Hailey Schmidtlein. [KSHSAA Gallery of Champions]

The 2003-2004 Wildcats defeated Wichita Collegiate 45-37 at the Bicentennial Center in Salina to claim the Class 4A title after beating Labette County and Colby in the first and second rounds of the tournament. Wearing No. 11, Jenny Hubbell (now Schmidtlein) was a member of that team.

Having won three Class 4A titles in the 1990s, the 2004 Wildcats probably had no idea it would take 22 years to bring home another crown. The long wait finally ended Saturday when the Wildcats knocked off perennial power Bishop Miege.

Did Hailey know that her mom was on the last team to win a title for Hayden?

“Oh yeah,” the sophomore said with a laugh. “I’ve been getting a lot of texts about it already.”

As if they were clairvoyant, the first thing both mother and daughter said in separate interviews was they look forward to seeing the 2026 team memorialized in the Hayden gymnasium.

“I told Hailey the minute she was a freshman, I said, ‘You’re gonna be the next person on that sign at Hayden,' ” Jenny said after Saturday’s game. “I’m very excited that she will be the next person underneath mine.”

“It’s really cool knowing that my state title is going to go right next to my mom’s,” Hailey said.

Winning is a tradition at Hayden, and it’s a family tradition for the Schmidtleins. Hailey’s father, Scott, was member of the 2004 Hayden football team that won the 4A title.

“With both my parents being part of (the tradition) at Hayden, I’ve been raised with it,” Hailey said. “I’ve been taught to always play with heart no matter how the game is going, and I think that’s been a big part of it is that’s how her team played.”

The younger Schmidtlein led the most recent version of the Wildcats to a 19-6 regular season record, averaging 17.5 points, 7.5 points and four steals per game. Her stats took a dip in the playoffs, but she was at her best in the championship game on Saturday. She scored 24 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and recorded three assists and four blocked shots.

Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson saw it coming.

“I’m going to take credit for it because I told her before the semifinal game, I said, ‘You’re going to go off today.’ And when that game was over, I said, ‘I was off by one game. It’s happening.’ ” Reynoldson said.

Reynoldson said Schmidtlein impacted the championship game as much with her defense as she did with her offense.

She was one of several Wildcats – including senior Ella Foster and junior Alana Mitchell – who guarded Murray State commit Mary Grant, a dynamic Bishop Miege guard who lit the Wildcats up for 27 points a year ago.

Hailey was also sent into the lane to try to contain the Stags’ powerful post, Jayla McClinton, who is headed to play at Southern Illinois University.

“When you’ve got a girl like Hailey, she can guard their best player and not just guard her but make her really uncomfortable,” Reynoldson said of Schmidtlein’s work against Grant. “It doesn’t surprise me. She’s awesome. It’s not just her talent. It’s not her athleticism. It’s just the person she is. She’s so humble and does all the right things all the time. She’s a great example.”

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