By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The 2024-2025 sports year was full of near-misses for Shawnee County boys teams, with Hayden bowling the lone team to garner a championship in a school year that included seven top-three state trophy finishes in six sports.
But individually there was plenty to celebrate, most notably for Washburn Rural on the wrestling mat and track as seven Junior Blues combined for all six county titles
Following is a pick by pick look at the TopSports.news Top 10 county boys prep stories of '24-'25:
Washburn Rural 2025 grad Easton Broxterman won his third straight Class 6A state wrestling title in his fourth straight trip to the state finals. [File photo/TSN]
1. DOMINATING FINISH TO DOMINATING CAREER -- Washburn Rural superstar wrestler Easton Broxterman put the capper on one of the top high school careers in Shawnee County history with his third straight Class 6A state championship in his fourth straight trip to the state finals, helping lead the Junior Blues to a third-place team finish in the 6A state tournament in Overland Park. Broxterman, who will wrestle collegiately at Army, finished off a 41-2 senior season with the 145-pound state title.
Hayden captured the school's first-ever state bowling title in 2025. [File photo/TSN]
2. ROLLING TO HISTORY -- Hayden garnered the first state bowling championship in school history, winning the Class 4A-1A state event by a 3,666-3,571 margin over Mulvane as four Wildcats earned individual state medals. Trevor Christy rolled a 698 series to finish third individually while John Strickland finished fifth with a 685, Chase Blaser was seventh with a 676 and Reese Renyer placed 16th with a 636.
Washburn Rural 2025 grad Kristjan Marshall won back-to-back Class 6A state wrestling titles in '24 and '25.'[File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior to be Landen Kocher-Munoz won his second Class 6A state wrestling titles in '25.'[File photo/TSN]
3. REPEAT FEAT -- Washburn Rural wrestling stars Kristjan Marshall and Landen Kocher-Munoz captured the second Class 6A state titles of their careers as the Junior Blues finished third as a team. Marshall, a senior, won his second straight championship, winning the 157-pound crown to finish off a 37-5 season while Kocher-Munoz, a junior, won his second career championship in his third straight state final, winning at 138 pounds to finish 34-3 on the season.
Washburn Rural's Matthew Houser, Liam Morrison, Draden Chooncharoen and Isaiah Terry set the Class 6A state meet record in the 4x400 relay in the 2025 state meet. [File photo/TSN]
4. REPEAT FEAT PART II -- Washburn Rural won the Class 6A state title in the 4x400-meter relay for the second straight season in the final event of the state meet at Wichita State's Cessna Stadium as senior Matthew Houser, junior Liam Morrison, junior Draden Chooncharoen and senior Isaiah Terry set a 6A state meet record in a winning time of 3 minutes, 16.23 seconds. Morrison, Chooncharoen and Terry ran on Rural's state-champion relay in both '24 and '25 while Houser won his first state title.
5. DOUBLING THEIR PLEASURE -- In addition to helping Washburn Rural set a Class 6A state meet 4x400 relay record in the 2025 state meet, senior Isaiah Terry and junior Liam Morrison both doubled up with their first career individual state titles. Terry won the 400-meter dash in 47.92 seconds while Morrison won the 300 hurdles in 37.68 seconds. Terry and Morrison also both have a pair of state wins as part of the Junior Blues' 4x400 relay, giving them three career state golds.
6. OH SO CLOSE -- Hayden's football team, a perennial state power, advanced to the Class 3A state championship game for the second straight season before suffering its second straight title-game defeat in a 36-19 setback against Andale. The Wildcats, who earned their berth in the state final with a 35-7 semifinal win over Wellsville, finished the season with an 11-2 record.
7. OH SO CLOSE PART II -- Highland Park basketball saw its bid for a Class 5A state title end in heartbreaking fashion, with the Scots dropping a 58-55 overtime decision to Kapaun Mt. Carmel, which captured its second straight 5A title while handing Hi Park its lone loss in a 24-1 season . The Crusaders also ended Highland Park's title hopes in 2024, topping the Scots 67-64 in OT in a semifinal game.
8. OH SO CLOSE PART III -- Hayden's golf team mounted a late charge to give itself a shot at the Class 4A state championship in Newton, but fell just three strokes short of Wamego (621-624), which won its third straight title. Seniors James Kuta and Tagen Rodriguez paced the Wildcats, with Kuta finishing fourth (77-75 -- 152) and Rodriguez placing ninth (81-75 -- 156). Both Wildcats earned first-team All-State honors from the Kansas coaches association.
9. OH SO CLOSE PART IV -- Cair Paravel juniors Drew Fay and Eric Buchenau posted a school-record second-place doubles finish in the Class 3A-1A state tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center while Seaman senior track standout Peyton Holmes finished second in the 5A 100-meter dash (10.82 seconds), Seaman senior Bryce Cochran was third in the 400 (48.85), Viking junior Brody Anderson placed third in the 800 (1:55.52) and Cair Paravel senior Ben Roeder took third in the 2A 400 (49.37). The Silver Lake 4x100 relay team (Braxton Rupp, Scheid, Joel Miller and Trent Rollenhagen) finished third in 3A with a time of 42.57 seconds.
10. HARVESTING HARDWARE -- In addition to the championship and runnerup teams mentioned above, Washburn Rural earned the third-place trophy in Class 6A soccer and Silver Lake posted a third-place finish in 3A basketball.
