Derek Snook didn’t need a single game to tell him that good things might be in store for his Topeka High boys soccer team in the 2024 season.
 
All he had to do was watch what unfolded during the Trojans’ offseason.
 
“We had so many come out to summer workouts,” Snook said. “It’s been kind of hit and miss over the last several years with attendance at summer workouts. So we’re talking 30-40 kids every day at those workouts, which is pretty good for us. I thought itf we could come together and get to know one another and work together, we had a shot at doing something special this year.”
 
After going just 7-10-1 a year ago, Topeka High has nearly matched that win total through its first six matches of this season. The season began with a heartbreaking 5-4 double-overtime loss to Lawrence, but since that defeat the Trojans have reeled off five straight wins to sit 5-1 two weeks into the season.
 
High returned five starters off last year’s team that Snook felt was better than the record ended up showing. The Trojans opened Class 6A postseason play a year ago against No. 4 west seed Liberal and nearly upset the Redskins, falling in overtime.
 
That created a spark of momentum going into the offseason and during the summer, the Trojans gained a pair of transfers from Highland Park that have made an impact. In particular, the addition of Antonio Aguirre – a two-time first-team All-Meadowlark Conference selection – has been big with Aguirre one of the team’s top offensive performers this year with seven goals and five assists.
 
“I had no idea what to expect from them coming in, but they made it out to a bunch of the summer workouts and obviously these kids know each other from being in town,” Snook said of Aguirre and fellow transfer Bruno Nunez. “They’ve been a really good addition because we had to replace some of our firepower off last year’s team.”
 
Aguirre scored four goals against his former team on Sept. 9 as High rolled to a 9-1 win. He also assisted on the Trojans’ game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over Shawnee Heights on Sept. 12 with Jaime Alvarado getting the winning goal with 24 seconds left in the match.
 
Alvarado has six goals this season while fellow returning starter Ian Martinez leads the Trojans with nine goals.
 

 
The win over Heights was one of two big victories the Trojans have pulled off in their current five-match win streak. The run started with a dominating 5-1 win over Centennial League rival Hayden.
 
“That first game (with Lawrence) was a bummer,” Snook said. “When you’re up a couple of goals and can’t hold the lead. But I think the boys came out of that with confidence, saying ‘We can play with anybody.’
 
“And then coming out and playing the way we did against Hayden, which always has a good squad, our confidence level just grew. And then the Shawnee Heights win, it was one of those that as a coach you hate to be in it because your blood pressure is so high. But as a fan, you love to watch it because it was really good soccer. Getting those wins against traditionally tough teams, we see those as building blocks if we can use it that way. The effort that they play with, we’re hopeful for the rest of the season.”
 
High’s last winning season was a 9-7-2 campaign in 2021. The Trojans’ schedule the rest of the way won’t be easy. After next week’s games against Junction City (2-3) and Emporia (3-3), the only team left on the schedule without a winning record currently is Manhattan, a perennial tough league foe that is just 2-4 this season. Lansing (4-1), Eudora (5-1), Topeka West (3-1), Wichita Southeast (5-0), Seaman (3-1) and Washburn Rural (5-1) will all provide good challenges for the Trojans as they look to continue their roll.
 
“We really have a chance to work on some things and get better before we run into the meat of our schedule,” Snook said. “We’re looking forward to see what we can do next.”
 
 
OTHER BOYS SOCCER STANDOUTS

• Topeka West’s Diego Gonzalez-Talavera made the all-tournament team at the Salina South Invitational, scoring three goals in the second game of the tourney and getting three assists in three games as the Chargers went 2-1. Valentine Del Real, a freshman, added four goals and an assist.
• Bishop Ward’s Emmanuel Olvera scores his first hat trick of the season against Maranatha in the Cyclones’ 4-0 victory on Sept. 12.
• Washburn Rural’s Brandon Hamilton came away with a hat trick in the Junior Blues’ 8-0 win over Junction City that moved them to 5-1-0 on the season. It was his second hat trick of the season, also scoring three goals in a 7-0 win over Manhattan earlier in the season. Dylan Willingham had four assists in a 5-1 win over De Soto in the previous outing.
• Seaman, Lansing and Turner have started United Kansas Conference play 1-0. Lansing is 4-1 overall, while Seaman is 3-1 and Turner is 3-2.

 
GIRLS TENNIS STANDOUTS

• After winning every regular-season tournament title a year ago, Ellsworth is on that same path again this year, going three-for-three with tournament titles so far this season. The Bearcats have won tourney titles at Ellsworth, Phillipsburg and Smoky Valley and have been dominant in those titles. As a team, the Bearcat varsity have gone a combined 36-4. The JV also has won both of its tourneys and Ellsworth’s top 12 players are a combined 59-5 through five meets.

 
GIRLS GOLF STANDOUTS

• Santa Fe Trail’s Bailey Anshutz came away with the title at the Chargers’ home tournament after a scorecard playoff settled a three-way tie for first. Anshutz, Baldwin’s Peyton Wright and Ottawa’s Kathy Gillett all shot 40s for the low rounds of the day and Anshutz was named the champion on the second hole of the scorecard playoff. It was her third win of her career.
• Washburn Rural’s Reece Randall hit 14 greens in regulation on her way to shooting a career-best 76 to capture the title at the Seaman Invitational at Village Greens Golf Course. Randall won a playoff with Hayden’s Izzy Glotzbach, whose 76 also was a career-low. Rural won the team title with a 327, edging Hayden by 11 shots, as Natalie Peterson and Lauren Cox each shot 83s to tie Emporia’s Elise Eckert for third. Rural also won the team title at Tuesday’s Hayden Invitational at Shawnee Country Club with a 336. Randall shot a 78 to take second and Peterson was third with an 81.
• Wamego’s Addison Douglass fired a 3-under 70 to take the individual title at the Hayden tourney, her third tournament win of the season in four outings. Douglass also shot a 2-under 34 to win the Wamego Invitational and led the Red Raiders to the team win. Douglass has been under par in three of four tournaments this season.

 

• Shooting an 81 on her birthday on Tuesday, Silver Lake’s Taylor Zordel took the title at the Holton Invitational. She won by 10 shots over Holton’s Amanda Taylor and led the Eagles to a 369 team score that won by 22 strokes – the Eagles’ second tournament title of the season.
• Manhattan posted a 301 total to win the team title at the Salina Central Invitational by 41 strokes over Bishop Carroll. Kat Ball led five Indians in the top eight with a 71 to finish runner-up to Newton’s Naomi Koontz, who shot a 5-under 65. Maddie Myers (74) was fourth, Emily Wuggazer (77) tied for fifth and Kaitlyn Lagabed (79) and Wrenn Burton (79) tied for eighth.