Preps notebook: Free State baseball secures 9-2 win; FSHS softball rolls to 15-0 victory

TOPEKA, Kan. – Behind a big third inning, Free State’s baseball team secured a 9-2 victory over Topeka Hayden during the first day of the River City Baseball Festival on Thursday at Hoglund Ballpark.

After Hayden evened the score up at 2-2 in the top of the third, the Firebirds (6-7) responded by scoring five runs in the home half of the frame. It was an inning that started with a leadoff walk by Calvin Urish and a base knock by Joey Wood.

With the bases loaded later in the inning, Harrison Juhl broke the tie with a RBI groundout. The rest of Free State’s damage was done with two outs. Grant Gregory managed to draw a base-loaded walk.

Matt Gabriel put a ball in play, and reached via a fielding error. It was a sequence that allowed three players to score. The Firebirds were in complete control after that. Juhl led the offense with two RBIs and a double. Ben Stallard also recorded a double.

Michael Uhler got the start, and tossed a complete game for FSHS. He gave up two unearned runs on eight hits. Uhler struck out three batters and walked none, while firing a strike on 53 of his 79 pitches in the win.

Free State will face Belton at 3:45 p.m. Friday.

HAY 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 — 2 8 1

FSHS 1 1 5 0 2 0 X — 9 3 2

FSHS softball rolls to easy win

Free State’s softball team needed just four innings to notch a 15-0 victory over Shawnee Mission West on Thursday at FSHS.

The Firebirds (9-1) scored in all four innings, including an eight-run effort in the second and a four-run showing in the fourth.

Kay Lee Richardson, who recently was cleared to play, led the offensive attack with three RBIs in the win. She went 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run. It marked her first blast of the season after setting a program record with nine homers and 37 RBIs in 2019.

McKenzie Marcum also delivered a home run and was one of three FSHS players to finish with two RBIs. Grace Rothwell and Robin Todd both drove in two runs apiece. Kinsey Clopton and Sara Roszak each came through with a double.

Tatum Clopton and Richardson combined to pitch all four innings for the Firebirds.

SMW 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 1

FSHS 2 8 1 4 — 15 13 2

Lawrence’s doubles teams go undefeated

In its home quadrangular on Thursday, both of Lawrence High’s doubles teams posted 3-0 records to highlight a strong day.

Drew Dean and Cuyler Dunn, the No. 1 doubles tandem for LHS, came away with three convincing wins in as many matches. They earned a 8-0 win over Gardner-Edgerton’s top doubles team in the first round and a 8-1 victory of Junction City’s top pair in the third round.

Dean and Dunn, who have had a strong season so far this spring, also recorded a 8-3 win over Olathe South.

Lawrence’s No. 2 doubles tandem of Ryan Hardie and Ayden Ammann secured wins over Gardner-Edgerton (8-6), Olathe South (8-2) and Junction City (8-0) during their unbeaten afternoon.

After splitting the first two rounds, LHS earned a 4-0 win over Junction City to end the meet. Diego Klish earned a 8-2 (2) win in No. 1 singles, while Sam Lopez tallied a 8-2 victory in No. 2 singles.

LHS will be back in action at a home meet at 1 p.m. Friday.

LHS tennis results

Round 1: Lawrence 2, Gardner Edgerton 2

No. 1 singles: Diego Klish, 8-1 loss

No. 2 singles: Sam Lopez, 8-1 loss

No. 1 doubles: Drew Dean/Cuyler Dunn, 8-0 win

No. 2 doubles: Ryan Hardie/Ayden Ammann, 8-6 win

Round 2: Lawrence 2, Olathe South 2

1S: Klish, 8-1 loss

2S: Lopez, 8-3 loss

1D: Dean/Dunn, 8-3 win

2D: Hardie/Ammann, 8-2 win

Round 3: Lawrence 4, Junction City 0

1S: Klish, 8-2 (2) win

2S: Lopez, 8-2 win

1D: Dean/Dunn, 8-1 win

2D: Hardie/Ammann, 8-0 win

Free State tennis earns 6-3 win

Free State’s boys tennis team grabbed a 6-3 win in its home dual against Olathe East on Thursday.

Four of those wins came in singles play for the Firebirds, including a 8-4 victory by Britton Snyder in No. 1 singles. George Thornton recorded a 8-1 win, while Ben Melvin earned a 8-4 victory. Jared Loos tallied a 8-4 win in No. 6 singles.

Melvin and Thornton also teamed up to claim a 8-6 victory in No. 1 doubles. Snyder and Loos secured a 8-1 win in No. 3 doubles.

Free State will compete in the Sunflower League tournament on Thursday.

Freshman golfer finishes in fourth place

Free State’s Jack Randall continues to have a remarkable rookie season, finishing fourth as an individual at the Seaman Invitational on Wednesday at Village Greens Golf Course.

Randall shot a 75 on the day, while Blue Valley junior Eoin McLaughlin won the event with a 69. Randall was the only FSHS player to finish inside the top-10. FSHS senior Jackson McMillan carded a 84 to end up in a tie for 19th place.

Lawrence High freshman Gunnar Wayenberg also finished in a tie for 19th place as an individual with his round of 84. No other LHS player shot lower than 91 or placed in the top-45 spots on the individual leaderboard.

Free State took fifth as a team with a total score of 330, while Lawrence placed 11th with a mark of 373. Blue Valley won the 12-team event by shooting 303 on the day.

Both teams will be in action at the Topeka Country Club on Monday.

Seaman Invitational

Wednesday at Village Greens

Team scores: 1. Blue Valley 303; 2. Blue Valley NW 317; 3. Seaman 326; 4. Shawnee Heights 327; 5. Free State 330; 6. Washburn Rural 331; 7. Manhattan 333; 8. Rockhurst 339; 9. Emporia 343; 10. Lawrence 373; 11. Leavenworth 435; 12. SM North 445.

FSHS results: 4. Jack Randall 75; T19. Jackson McMillan 84; T25. Reece Gray 85; 33. Nate Pilakowski 86; 37. Cameron Packard 87; T56. Dawson Pfannenstiel 97.

LHS results: T19. Gunnar Wayenberg 84; T46. Dallas Ostronic 91; T52. Austin Pennybaker 95; 61. Macade Lewis 103; 64. Evan Liakos 107; 66. Mike Williams 111.

Veritas baseball suffers 8-0 loss

The Veritas baseball team gave up seven runs in the sixth in its eventual 8-0 road loss to Maur Hill Prep-Mound Academy on Thursday.

Veritas only managed four hits as a team, which were recorded by Brett Brownlee, Elisha Ferrell, Draven Webb and Ameer Dowdell. Brownlee, who got the start, was charged with two earned runs on one hit over five innings of action.

The Eagles are now 3-4 on the year.

Veritas will travel to Wichita HomeSchool at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Ben Shryock wins 800-meter run

On the first day of the Barrier Breakers, Free State junior Ben Shryock was responsible for the lone event victory by a local athlete. He won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:59.79 on Thursday at Free State.

Shryock also secured a runner-up finish in the 3,200-meter run with a mark of 9:25.18. Only boys competed on the first day of the two-day event, with the girls slated to be in action on Friday at FSHS.

FSHS senior Brock Cordova claimed third in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:30.22.

Lawrence High’s Avion Nelson secured seventh in both the long jump competition and triple jump competition. He posted a leap of 20-3 in the former, while recording a mark of 41-8.50 in the latter.

Lawrence’s Ben King also finished fifth in javelin with a throw of 155-5, while Noah Smith of LHS placed sixth in shot put with a toss of 43-10.

Friday’s meet will begin at 3 p.m.

Barrier Breakers

Thursday at FSHS

LHS/FSHS results

Boys shot put: 6. Noah Smith, LHS, 43-10; 7. Tyler Gourley, FS, 43.350; 12. Luke Wheeler-Halsted, FS, 42-2.50.

Boys discus: 8. Luke Wheeler-Halsted, FS, 127-9; 19. Harrison Kirkwood, LHS, 111-3.

Boys javelin: 5. Ben King, LHS, 155-5; 10. Jude Harris, LHS, 139-7; 11. Alec Wilson, FS, 137-6.

Boys high jump: 8. Ntense Obono, LHS, 5-8; 13. Colin Sandefur, LHS, 5-6.

Boys pole vault: 5. Cooper Stone, FS, 10-6; 7. Zachary Razak, LHS, 10-0.

Boys long jump: 7. Avion Nelson, LHS, 20-3; 8. Ntense Obono, LHS, 19-10; 10. Emmett Jones, FS, 19-9.50.

Boys triple jump: 7. Avion Nelson, LHS, 41-8.50; 10. Jerred Willits, FS, 40-8.50.

Boys 110 hurdles: 7. Cole Wenger, FS, 16.27; 15. Yoav Gillath, FS, 17.57; 17. Trevor Sidabuter, FS, 18.50.

Boys 100-meter dash: 13. Jackson Barnett, FS, 11.50; 15. Logan Schwab, FS, 11.54.

Boys 3,200-meter run: 2. Ben Shryock, FS, 9:25.18; 19. Carson Marsh, FS, 10:34.71.

Boys 4×100-meter relay: 10. Free State (Logan Schwab, Emmett Jones, Anthony Barberena, Jackson Barnett), 45.65; 11. Lawrence (Zeric Avery, Jaylon Didde, Colin Sandefur, Avion Nelson), 45.84.

Boys 800-meter run: 1. Ben Shryock, FS, 1:59.79.

Boys 300-meter run: 9. Yoav Gillath, FS, 44.36; 14. Cole Wenger, FS, 45.13; 19. Trevor Sidabutar, FS, 45.97.

Boys 200-meter run: 16. Anthony Barberena, FS, 23.89; 18. Colin Sandefur, LHS, 23.95.

Boys 1,600-meter run: 3. Brock Cordova, FS, 4:30.22; 9. Jack Keathley-Helms, FS, 4:35.04; 10. Ethan Sharp, FS, 4:35.84; 12. Christopher Stone, FS, 4:36.99.

Boys 4×400-meter relay: 8. Free State (Michael Romito, Jack Keathley-Helms, Emmett Jones, Jackson Barnett), 3:36.62; 9. Lawrence (Zeric Avery, Jaylon Didde, Colin Sandefur, Kyle Watson), 3:39.85.

LHS girls swim wins Free State’s final home meet

In Free State’s final home meet of the season, Lawrence High and FSHS combined to record 10 of the 12 event victories. The Lions won the triangular with a team score of 252, while the Firebirds finished runner-up with a mark of 239.

FSHS won the 200-yard medley relay to begin the meet, as Lolly Hindmann, Mina Khosh, Liza Engelbrecht and Silvia Liu posted a time of 1:57.29.

LHS won the other two relay races on the day. Madi Heckman, Ali Jones, Lillian Derby and Aubrey Fischer finished first in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:46.39. Heckman, Jones, Abi Jones and Carmen Braden won the 400 freestyle relay with a mark of 3:51.81.

Hindmann won a pair of individual races for the Firebirds. She won the 200 IM with a time of 2:20.74, and took home the crown in the 100 backstroke with a mark of 1:00.83. Engelbrecht was victorious in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:01.16.

LHS picked up four individual victories. Fischer finished first in the 50 freestyle (25.08), Heckman won the 100 freestyle (56.40) and Mara Manolescu took the top spot in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.86). Emily Brandt won the diving competition for LHS with a score of 195.40.

FSHS honored seniors Alayna Baker, Clare Benton, Rudy Benton, Kate Bartle, Tori Crockett and Nethni Weerasekara during the final home meet.

Free State triangular

Thursday at FSHS

Team scores: 1. Lawrence 252; 2. Free State 239; 3. Washburn Rural 153.

200-yard medley relay: 1. Free State (Lolly Hindmann, Mina Khosh, Liza Engelbrecht, Silvia Liu), 1:57.29; 2. Lawrence (Iris Sherron, Mara Manolescu, Aubrey Fischer, Carmen Braden), 1:58.13.

200 freestyle: 2. Ali Jones, LHS, 2:07.78; 3. Molly Nuckolls, FS, 2:07.80; 4. Emma Day, FS, 2:09.33; 5. Paige Unekis, LHS, 2:27.76; 8. Molly Daugherty, LHS, 2:34.01; 11. Allison Cindrell, 2:45.75.

200 IM: 1. Lolly Hindmann, FS, 2:20.74; 2. Iris Sherron, LHS, 2:31.37; 3. Nisa Kay Khosh, FS, 2:32.85; 5. Abi Jones, LHS, 2:34.08.

50 freestyle: 1. Aubrey Fischer, LHS, 25.08; 2. Madi Heckman, LHS, 26.22; 3. Saliva Liu, FS, 26.51; 5. Lillian Derby, LHS, 27.40; 6. Abbey Hossler, FS, 27.42; 7. Mina Khosh, FS, 29.30; 8. Alayna Baker, FS, 29.36; 9. Olivia Romero, FS, 29.51.

Diving: 1. Emily Brandt, LHS, 195.40; 2. Annie Shew, LHS, 176.90; 3. Tori Crockett, FS, 170.05; 4. Meara Kingery, LHS, 167.15; 5. Kate Bartle, FS, 156.00; 6. Darby Van Fleet, LHS, 155.70; 7. Peyton Fowler, LHS, 153.85; 8. Maya Huang, FS, 144.15; 9. Audrey Hoey-Kummerow, FS, 138.10; 10. Josephine Warrior, FS, 126.25; 11. Charlotte Stineman, LHS, 122.70.

100 butterfly: 1. Liza Engelbrecht, FS, 1:01.16; 2. Carmen Braden, LHS, 1:02.11; 3. Ali Jones, LHS, 1:05.36; 4. Molly Nuckolls, FS, 1:06.10; 6. Anna Marburger, LHS, 1:16.40; 8. Savannah Randall, FS, 1:38.60.

100 freestyle: 1. Madi Heckman, LHS, 56.40; 2. Silvia Liu, FS, 56.77; 4. Paige Unekis, LHS, 1:06.91; 5. Karsyn Robertson, FS, 1:07.01; 6. Rudy Benton, FS, 1:08.05; 9. Nethni Weerasekara, FS, 1:09.53; 10. Molly Daugherty, LHS, 1:09.55.

500 freestyle: 2. Aubrey Fischer, LHS, 5:46.94; 3. Nisa Kay Khosh, FS, 5:50.55; 4. Emma Day, FS, 5:51.30; 5. Savannah Randall, FS, 6:43.20; 6. Macie McDermott, LHS, 7:17.62; 9. Mya Gilbert, LHS, 7:51.75.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Lawrence (Madi Heckman, Ali Jones, Lillian Derby, Aubrey Fischer), 1:46.39; 2. Free State (Liza Engelbrecht, Mina Khosh, Molly Nuckolls, Alayna Baker), 1:51.97.

100 backstroke: 1. Lolly Hindmann, FS, 1:00.83; 2. Carmen Braden, LHS, 1:03.40; 3. Abbey Hossler, FS, 1:07.14; 4. Iris Sherron, LHS, 1:08.78; 5. Abi Jones, LHS, 1:09.10; 6. Karsyn Roberton, FS, 1:16.63; 9. Ella Williams, LHS, 1:33.45; 10. Ragan Mauldin, LHS, 1:37.76.

100 breaststroke: 1. Mara Manolescu, LHS, 1:14.86; 2. Liza Engelbrecht, FS, 1:15.93; 3. Mina Khosh, FS, 1:17.85; 5. Anna Marburger, LHS, 1:25.62; 6. Laura Teska, LHS, 1:28.11; 8. Mya Gilbert, LHS, 1:35.61; 10. Rorie Sturgeon, FS, 1:39.94.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Lawrence (Madi Heckman, Ali Jones, Abi Jones, Carmen Braden), 3:51.81; 2. Free State (Emma Day, Molly Nuckolls, Siliva Liu, Lolly Hindmann), 3:53.40.