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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball got the early-season monkey off its back with Tuesday's 22-point road romp at William Jewell.
Now the Ichabods will be looking to continue that upswing when they face off with Truman State on Friday at 11 a.m. in Kirksville, Mo. to wrap up their beginning of the season six-game road trip.
Washburn is 1-4 on the year after getting its first win with Tuesday's 80-58 road victory over William Jewell while Truman State will enter the morning matchup at 2-2 after falling 70-64 on the road to Winona State last time out.
Ichabod newcomer Payton Sterk scored a Washburn career-high 25 points Tuesday night as the Ichabods picked up their first victory, 80-58 at William Jewell. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics
"We just had to get that monkey off our back a little bit,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "I've said a lot that I really believe in this team and every team has got to run their own race. Our season started a little slower than we wanted it to, but we're continuing to get better and grow.''
Sophomore Madelyn Amekporfor, who had a seven points and a career-high 10 rebounds against William Jewell, agreed with her coach.
"Our last four games before the last one we knew we were getting better and better each game,'' Amekporfor. "We just knew it was our defense. We couldn't allow teams to score points in the 70s and 80s and we knew our defense was going to win that game. Our goal was to keep them under 60 points and be above 65 and that's exactly what we did and we came out on top.''
The matchup with former MIAA foe Truman State will be the 53rd in the series history.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn offensively with a 17.2 scoring average while also shooting a team and MIAA-high 67.9 percent from the field grabbing a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game. Nationally, Nwidadah is 10th in field goal percentage, shooting over 50.0 percent in every game this season.
Junior Payton Sterk is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game while starting all five contests and playing a team-high 30.8 minutes per game. She is shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and a team-high 34.6 percent from 3-point range while dishing out 3.4 assists, most on the squad.
Gabi Giovannetti is averaging 12.6 points while shooting 43.1 percent from the floor and 100.0 percent at the free throw line. The junior has started all five games and leads the team with 10 made 3-pointers including, seven in the last three games.
Amekporfor, an Andover Central product, is scoring 8.0 points a game on 46.7 percent shooting while starting in all five games.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Editor's note: TopSports.news will post letter of intent signing updates as they are received. Email any signing information and signing day pictures to Rick Peterson at
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Shawnee Heights baseball star Deacon Pomeroy and Highland Park basketball star Ja'Corey Robinson have signed NCAA Division I letters of intent.
Shawnee Heights senior Deacon Pomeroy, surrounded by T-Bird coaches, signs his ceremonial baseball letter of intent with Oklahoma State Wednesday at Heights. [Submitted photo]
Highland Park senior Ja'Corey Robinson, with Scots coach Mike Williams, signed to play basketball at Austin Peay on Wednesday at Highland Park. [Submitted photo]
Pomeroy signed with Oklahoma State on Monday while Robinson signed with Austin Peay Wednesday.
A three-time All-Shawnee County first-team selection, Pomeroy was named the United Kansas Conference and Kansas Asssociation of Baseball Coaches Class 5A player of the year last season after helping lead Shawnee Heights
Robinson, a 6-foot-4 junior, was named the boys basketball player of the year in Shawnee County and the Meadowlark Conference after leading 23-2 Highland Park to a second straight third-place state finish in 5A last season.
Robinson registered three straight double-doubles in the state tournament, scoring a total of 61 points and grabbing 35 rebounds. Robinson was a Second 10 all-county selection as a sophomore.
Four Rural standouts sign college letters
Four Washburn Rural standouts signed letters of intent on Thursday morning, including three with hometown Washburn University.
Layla Collins, Washburn Rural
Kate Hinck, Washburn Rural
Destiny Higgs, Washburn Rural
Zahra Friess, Washburn Rural
Layla Collins signed with Washburn University to play volleyball while Kate Hinck and Destiny Higgs to play soccer for the Junior Blues.
Zahra Friess signed with the Air Force Academy to play soccer.
Collins was named the Centennial League volleyball player of the year and was named to the All-Shawnee County first team while Hinck has received all-league, all-county and All-State honors in multiple sports and Higgs and Friess have received multiple soccer honors.
Other signing pictures:
Former Washburn Rural standouts Max and Sam Bettis have signed letters of intent to play baseball at Kansas State. [Submitted photo]
Perry-Lecompton standout Eli Dean has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Washburn University. [Submitted photo]
Shawnee Mission North's Cash Messenger has signed to play baseball at Washburn University. [Submitted photo]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural, which captured its 30th straight Centennial League boys championship (outright or shared) and finished third in the Class 6A state tournament, leads the 2024 Topeka All-City boys soccer team with four first-team picks.
Ryder Nikkel, Washburn Rural
Brandon Hamiton (14), Washburn Rural
Liam Morrison (4), Washburn Rural
Dylan Willingham, Washburn Rural
The Junior Blues are represented on the 16-member first team, selected by city coaches, by senior Ryder Nikkel (defense) and juniors Brandon Hamilton (defense), Liam Morrison (defense) and Dylan Willingham (midfield).
Valentin Del Real (3), Topeka West
Diego Gonzalez-Talavera, Topeka West
Jafet Rodriguez, Topeka West
Topeka West is represented on the All-City team by freshman Valentin Del Real (midfield), sophomore Diego Gonzalez-Talavera (forward) and senior Jafet Rodriguez (defense) while Charger coach Josh Kutter was named the 2024 city coach of the year after being named co-coach of the year in 2023.
Jaime Alvarado, Topeka High
Antonio Aguirre, Topeka High
Billy Lutz, Topeka High
Topeka High also put three players on the All-City team, with first-team repeat pick Jaime Alvarado (forward) joined by senior Antonio Aguirre (midfield) and junior Billy Lutz (goalkeeper).
Camden Granado (6), Shawnee Heights
Mason Haas, Shawnee Heights
Dalton Smith, Seaman
Logan Townsend, Seaman
Shawnee Heights is represented on the All-City team by junior Camden Granado (forward) and sophomore Mason Haas (midfield) while Seaman is represented by senior Dalton Smith (defense) and senior Logan Townsend (midfield).
Cooper Grace (18), Hayden
Hayden senior Cooper Grace (defense) earned All-City first-team honors for the second straight season while Highland Park junior Neri Diaz (midfield) rounds out the first team.
Aguirre, Granado, Lutz, Rodriguez, Nikkel and Willingham all moved up to the first team after receiving honorable mention in 2023.
Willingham was named the Centennial League player of the year this fall while Rural's Hamilton, Morrison and Nikkel and High's Alvarado, Aguirre and Lutz and Hayden's Grace were also first-team picks.
Seaman's Smith and Townsend, Topeka West's Del Real, Gonzalez-Talavera and Rodriguez and Shawnee Heights' Granado and Haas were all named All-United Kansas Conference first team and Highland Park's Diaz made the All-Meadowlark Conference first team.
2024 TOPEKA ALL-CITY SOCCER
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No matter what happens this week, Washburn University has put together a highly-successful 2024 volleyball season, hitting the 20-win mark on the year while topping last season's win total by three victories and earning a No. 25 national ranking.
No. 25-ranked Washburn volleyball will open its MIAA Tournament bid on Thursday night against Northwest Missouri in St. Joseph, Mo. [File photo/TSN]
But Ichabod coach Chris Herron knows there's work to do in the MIAA Tournament if Washburn is going to extend its season.
The fourth-seeded Ichabods (20-6 overall, 11-5 in the MIAA) will face No. 5 seed Northwest Missouri (15-11, 9-7) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in a tournament quarterfinal inside the St. Joseph, Mo. Civic Arena, with Washburn looking to enhance its chances for an NCAA Tournament berth.
Washburn volleyball remained No. 6 in the final NCAA Central Regional Rankings released Wednesday. WU is 19-5 inside the region that is led by St. Cloud State in the top spot with a 24-2 overall record and a 20-1 in-region mark. Nebraska-Kearney is second in the region, followed by Concordia-St. Paul, Missouri Western and Central Oklahoma. Behind the Ichabods are Southwest Minnesota State, Wayne State, Northern State and Emporia State.
Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis. The bracket will be revealed on Monday at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
While the clear path to a NCAA berth would be an MIAA championship, Washburn can help itself the further it advances in the conference tourney.
With a win Thursday Washburn will advance to a 7:30 p.m. semifinal match on Friday to face the winner of the quarterfinal beween top seed Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State. The championship match is set for 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The Ichabods split regular-season matches with the Bearcats, with WU dropping a 3-2 road decision and sweeping Northwest in Lee Arena.
"If we play like we've been playing it will be a great game,'' Herron said. "And if not, we're going to come home early because they're good.''
Herron said he feels like WU needs a win over Northwest to give itself an opportunity to make the NCAA field.
"We have to win at least this first match for us to have a chance,'' Herron said. "And if we can win two, I think we're in. I'd probably say for sure, so winning is important.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University athletic director Loren Ferre had nothing but kind words to say about long-time Ichabods football coach Craig Schurig's contributions to the university in a Wednesday meeting with local media members.
But Ferre said WU believed it a time for a change after announcing Monday afternoon that Schurig would not return in 2025.
Washburn athletic director Loren Ferre said the university will move as quickly as possible to get a new football coach in place after Monday's firing of veteran Ichabod coach Craig Schurig. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We made the decision on Monday that we needed to make a change in the head coaching position,'' Ferre said. "I just think it was a decision we made that was best for the program at this time. Obviously the last two years we haven't been successful (in) win-loss record. This past year we had a lot of close losses, but still the name of the game is winning and we just felt we needed to make a change to improve that record.''
Schurig wrapped up his 23rd year at the school and 22nd football season as Washburn's head coach last Saturday with a 35-28 road win over Northeastern State, finishing a 3-8 season which included five one-possession losses, including four losses by three or fewer points and two one-point defeats. The Ichabods posted a 2-9 record in 2023 after a 7-4 mark in 2022 and a trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2021 (9-3).
Schurig is the all-time winningest coach in program history with a record of 142-109 (.566) and went 122-91 (.603) against MIAA opponents and won the MIAA regular-season championship outright in 2005. Also that year the program recorded its first 10-win season.
"Craig over the years has just been great for the community and for Washburn,'' Ferre said. "When he came here we didn't have near the facilities we have now. He came here on a promise that we would get this built and we would get things done, like the renovations to the football stadium, the weight room, the locker room, a variety of things and he just believed that we would do those things and we got them accomplished and he was a big part of that and has had a big impact on this program and in the community.''
