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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Not everything went Washburn Rural's way in Thursday's city boys tennis tournament, but advancing to the finals in all four divisions was enough to give the Junior Blues a second straight city team championship at Kossover Tennis Center.
Washburn Rural dropped tight decisions in both the No. 1 singles and doubles championship matches, but the Junior Blues swept both No. 2 titles on the way to a 32-23 margin over runnerup Seaman while Topeka High was a point behind the Vikings in third place.
Greyson Jones won the city championship in No. 2 singles, helping Washburn Rural win its second straight city team title Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Ben Tryhus and Kieffer O'Connor won a city title in No. 2 doubles for team champion Washburn Rural Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rural got a title from Greyson Jones in No. 2 singles and from Ben Tryhus and Kieffer O'Connor in No. 2 doubles while while Keegan Knudtson was the No. 1 singles runnerup and Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham finished second in No. 1 doubles.
"We're a young team, we're still piecing together who's fitting with who and what arrangements work best for the team as opposed to the individual and we've come a long way since the first practice,'' said Michelle Rose, who is in her first season as Rural's coach.
"They're excited, I'm excited for them. I think we've got great opportunities ahead of us and it's going to be fun. We have incredible talent in boys tennis in Topeka.''
Individually, Thursday was a big day for Topeka High junior Tres Lassiter in singles and the Cair Paravel doubles team of juniors Eric Buchenau and Drew Fay.
Topeka High junior Tres Lassiter won the city title in No. 1 singles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Lassiter, in his first season of high school tennis, won the city championship in No. 1 singles with a 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker), 6-4 win over Washburn Rural's Knudtson.
"This was one of my goals to win city,'' Lassiter said. "This was a big goal. I'm enjoying my high school season. I have a winning record right now and that's all I wanted this season, was just to have a winning record.
"Every day when I'm at practice my coach (Duane Pomeroy) and my teammates are getting me better and that gives me confidence for these up and coming meets that I'm about to do.''
Cair Paravel's Drew Fay (left) and Eric Buchenau won the city championship in No. 1 doubles Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Cair Paravel's Fay and Buchenau, a foreign exchange student from Germany, captured the No. 1 doubles title with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) win over Washburn Rural's Deutscher and Willingham.
Fay had finished second in the city meet and fourth in Class 3A-1A in singles as a sophomore before making the decision to switch to doubles this spring.
"I want to play college tennis and you need to be able to play doubles to play college tennis,'' Fay said. "I wanted to get that experience and I also thought it would be fun and it's been a lot of fun.''
Fay and Buchenau are now 20-1 on the season after Thursday's hard-fought win over Deutscher and Willingham.
"We just wanted to stay level, play hard and whatever happened would happen,'' Fay said. "We didn't want to go out there and play scared and if we didn't play scared we would have been happy with the result. This was our best match of the year, so it gives us a lot of confidence.''
Seaman finished second as a team on the strength of three top-three finishes.
Ethan Winter placed third in No. 1 singles while Camden Dutton was the runnerup in No. 2 singles and the Vikings also finished second in No. 2 doubles.
CITY BOYS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Tadd Armstrong
TADD ARMSTRONG, Washburn Rural
A senior golf standout, Armstrong captured the individual championship in last Monday's city golf tournament at Topeka Country Club, posting a 27-hole score of 118 and winning his first city title in a playoff over Hayden's James Kuta as Washburn Rural won the team crown by a single stroke (489-490) over the Wildcats.
Eric Buchenau
ERIC BUCHENAU, Cair Paravel Latin
A junior foreign exchange student from Germany, Buchenau teamed with fellow Cair Paravel junior Drew Fay to win the No. 1 doubles title in last Thursday's city tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. Buchenau and Fay registered a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) win over Washburn Rural's Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham in the city title match, improving to 20-1 on the season.
Drew Fay
DREW FAY, Cair Paravel Latin
Fay, a junior, teamed with fellow Cair Paravel junior Eric Buchenau to win the city title in No. 1 doubles title in last Thursday's city tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center. Fay and Buchenau won the city championship with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4 tiebreaker) win over Washburn Rural's Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham in the city title match.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Washburn Rural girls soccer coach Brian Hensyel knows that to be the best his Junior Blues, a perennial state contender, are going to have to prove they can beat the best if they're going to win their first state title after a string of near-misses.
Washburn Rural soccer celebrates Saturday's 3-1 win over previously unbeaten St. James Academy. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
And Rural took a big step in that direction Saturday when it completed a big three-game week with a 3-1 win over previously unbeaten St. James Academy at McElroy Field.
The Junior Blues, now 10-2, opened their busy week with a 4-0 win over city rival Shawnee Heights before knocking off 10-time state champion Blue Valley West for the first time ever in a 2-0 road decision and capping the week by handing the Thunder its first loss after 12 straight victories.
"We said at the beginning of the year we were going to challenge the girls with the toughest schedule we could find and this week in particular, playing two teams back to back we wanted to try to create what the last week of the season will look like because you have to win a semifinal and then you have to play somebody great in the final,'' Hensyel said.
"So we had Blue Valley West, a team we hadn't beat before, and St. James, who hadn't lost a game. That's about as tough as we can make it.''
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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
Runs came in bunches for the Topeka High softball team on Friday evening, as the Trojans swept city rival Topeka West by 10-4 and 12-2 scores in a doubleheader at Hummer Sports Park.
London Backman turned in a big day at the plate as Topeka High softball swept city rival Topeka West 10-4 and 12-2 Friday at Hummer Sports Park. [File photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
After a scoreless first inning in Game 1, the Trojans got on the board first in the top of the second, with Campbell Dawson’s leadoff single resulting in a sacrifice fly to center field by Taimane Isaia.
West answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning after Callie Jones came around to score on a Trojan error after opening the inning with a walk and a stolen base.
The Chargers took their first lead of the evening in the bottom of the third inning.
After the first two batters went down on strikes, catcher Addaline Hall kept the inning alive with a double to left field. Jones gave the Chargers their second consecutive extra-base hit in the form of a triple to right field, scoring Hall and giving the hosts a 2-1 lead.
T-High found its first big inning of the day in the top of the fourth, pushing across four runs to take a lead it would not relinquish.
The Trojans’ London Backman hit a hard line drive that hit directly off the left leg of Charger starting pitcher Ahlexis TenEyck, scoring pinch runner Masyn Chard.
Despite staying in the game, TenEyck was not rewarded for her toughness, as two more runs came around to score on an error and a fourth crossed the plate on an RBI single by Dawson, putting the Trojans up 5-2 entering the bottom of the fourth.
West cut the deficit to two in their half of the fourth with an RBI single to left field by Breonnah Keeling. T-High tacked on two more runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and a groundout, and added three more in the sixth, courtesy of RBI singles by Backman and Madilyn Poole.
The Chargers scored one final run in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 10-4, but couldn’t mount a late rally.
The Trojans rattled off 13 hits in the contest, with Backman tallying four hits in five at-bats with two runs driven in.
Poole and Adrianna Adame also drove in two runs each for T-High.
Campbell Dawson went the distance for the pitching win in Topeka High's 10-4 first-game win over city rival Topeka West Friday at Hummer Sports Park. [File photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Dawson went the distance in the circle for the Trojans, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out eight batters.
Hall went 3 for 4 to lead the Chargers in the loss, while Keeling drove in a pair of runs.
In Game 2, the Trojans opened with an offensive onslaught, putting up 10 runs in the top of the first inning.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman junior track star Ryin Miller continues to carve out her place among Kansas' all-time greats and took a major step in that journey in the Bob Camien/Claudia Welch Relays.
Seaman junior Ryin Miller set meet records in the 1,600 and 800 Friday at Seaman while running the second-fastest time in Kansas history in both events. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Viking four-sport athlete captured three gold medals in Friday's 30-school meet while setting meet records in the 1,600 and 800-meter runs and climbing to the No. 2 spot on Kansas' all-time list in both events.
Miller said she does pay attention to where she ranks all-time as she continues to re-adjust her goals.
"Sometimes I kind of use it as motivation,'' Miller said. "If I'm having a day where I'm like, 'Man, I just don't feel like running,' I kind of remember (the all-time list) and remember that I've been chasing that and working for that all winter, so I definitely look at that.''
Miller began her record-setting day with a dominating 24-second win in the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 41:47, eclipsing the previous meet record by more than nine seconds.
Miller moved from fourth to second on the all-time list and now trails only former Shawnee Mission West star Ali Cash, who clocked a 4:38.28 in a time that was converted from yards (4:39.98) to meters.
Later in the evening, Miller got a battle from Leavenworth's Kelsie Kudzia for much of the race in the 800 before Miller took control down the stretch to win in 2:09.28. Kudzia was second in 2:11.20, moving into the No. 9 spot all-time.
"Kelsie is one of my teammates for Hot Beat, so it's always fun to race against her,'' Miller said. "She's been getting progressively better every meet so it's been fun to see that and kind of cheer her on.
"It was definitely nice to have her kind of on my heels and push me to finally break 2:10.''
Miller topped the previous meet record, set by former Seaman star Bethany Druse in 2022, by nearly six seconds while moving from fifth to second all-time.
Miller now sits No. 2 in the 800 behind former Shawnee Heights star Trisa Nickoley, who ran a 2:06.67 in 2004.
In the final girls event of the night Miller teamed with seniors Taylie Heston, Jaida Stallbaumer and Ally Steiner to win the 4x400 relay in 4:04.86, with Miller running the anchor leg.
Other meet highlights:
• Topeka High sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton was a double individual winner Friday, sweeping the long jump and triple jump titles while setting a school record in the process.
Topeka High junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton won the long jump and triple jump Friday at Seaman while setting a school record in the long jump. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Rayton, who already held the school record in the triple jump, went 18 feet, 6 inches on Friday's final attempt to set the High long jump mark and win the event.
"It felt good,'' Rayton said. "My team motivated me to jump because I scratched both of my first two jumps, so my confidence got low, but they told me that I know how to jump and I just went out and gave it my best effort.''
Rayton only got off one jump in the triple jump before aggravating a leg injury in the 4x100 relay but won the event with an effort of 38 feet, 3.25 inches.
• Washburn Rural star senior sprinter Isaiah Terry has been locked in a battle with Hayden's Jensen Schrickel for the Shawnee County lead in the 400-meter dash this spring, with both standouts holding the top spot at different times.
Washburn Rural senior Isaiah Terry (left) won the 400-meter dash and anchored the Junior Blues' 4x400 relay to a victory Friday at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Schrickel, who competed at Shawnee Heights Friday, took a slight lead into the week, but Terry regained the lead with a winning time of 48.20 seconds Friday night at Seaman.
"I pay attention to where I am compared to everyone else,'' Terry said. "I love comp. I think I run my best when I'm going against people who run the same time as me, so I honestly hope I get to race (Schrickel) and other fast people because that's going to make me my best.''
Terry's win in the 400 was one of two big highlights on the night, with Terry teaming with Matthew Houser, Liam Morrison and Draden Chooncharoen to win the 4x400 relay in a meet-record time of 3 minutes, 20.70 seconds.
Rural, which won by more than nine seconds, broke the previous meet record, a 3:21.8 by Topeka High in 1992, by more than a second.
• Seaman's Bryce Cochran won the boys 200-meter dash in 21.87 seconds and finished third in the 400 in 49.06.
Peyton Holmes took second in the 100 dash in 10.73.
Topeka West seniors Adrian Lehman (left) and Mark Wilkie went one-two in the 1,600 Friday at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
• Topeka West's Adrian Lehman and Mark Wilkie went one-two in the 1,600 meters, with Lehman winning in 4:20.80 and Wilkie second in 4:24.81.
Wilkie also finished second in the 800 in 1:57.23 while Lehman placed third behind Washburn Rural's Brooks Kehoe (9:16.96) in the 3,200 (9:16.98).
BOB CAMIEN/CLAUDIA WELCH SEAMAN RELAYS
