TOPEKA, Kan. – Last week was good for former city high school standouts at the junior college level.
Larry White became a national champion. Jake Patterson became an All-American.
White, who starred in both basketball and football at Topeka High, helped lead Coffeyville Community College to the NJCAA Division I national championship in Hutchinson on Saturday. The Red Ravens defeated Cowley County 108-99 in the championship game for the program’s first-ever national title.
White sealed the victory with a game-ending dunk, capping a night where he scored 11 points and added 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.
Patterson, a Shawnee Heights graduate, became the fourth T-Bird alum to earn All-American wrestling honors at the collegiate level. Wrestling for Cowley County at the NJCAA national championships, Patterson finished eighth at 157 pounds to earn his All-American status.
He joins Tanner Gardner, Aspen Kmiec and Nick Meck as T-Bird college All-Americans.
TOPEKANS TAKE BOWLING TITLES
Topekans Ethan Burns and Logan Glinka each won their age divisions at the Pepsi Youth Championships, held Sunday at Gage Bowl.
Burns won the boys U18 division with a 3,542 grand total, posting a Sunday total of 2,122. He finished 135 pins ahead of Wichita’s Brandon Bonta, who was the Class 6A state champion this year.
Glinka was the boys U15 winner with a 3,211 grand total, winning by 38 pins over Braydon Bastin. Glinka had a 1,789 Sunday total but held on after taking a 175 pin lead into the day.
Burns earned an invitation to the Junior Golf Tournament to be held in July in Indianapolis.
Topekan Makenzie Millard was runner-up in the girls’ U18 division, finishing with a 3,240 grand total to finish 53 pins behind Wichita’s Dakota Lennen (3,293). Hannah Casto was fifth with a 2,956.
In the U15 division, Topekan Megan Wood was third with a 2,761 grand total, well behind winner Savannah Hsu of Wichita, who finished at 3,125.
