Each year the MSC Sports Radio Network recaps and celebrates the top 10 local sports moments of the year. The next group in our 2023 highlights with these fantastic memories. 

# 7 - Axtell Boys and Washington County Girls Win State Track Titles

The Axtell boys and the Washington County girls both won state championships in Class 1A of the 2023 Kansas State Track & Field Championships in May.

Axtell junior Grady Buessing won first place in the 800 Meter Run (2:06.64) and the 1600 Meter Run (4:32.16). The Boys 4x800 Meter Relay team also took home the gold medal with a time of 8:23.17. Their final event of the night, the Boys 4x400 Meter Relay, the Eagles finished fourth place to clinch the championship. 

The Washington County girls were led by first place finishes from sophomore McKenzie Baker in the 100 Meter Hurdles (15.42) and sophomore Addy Goeckel in the 300 Meter Hurdles (46.2). Junior Kiersten Tholstrup placed runner-up in the 400 Meter Dash with a time of 1:00.35 as well.

Other area individual top placers at 2023 State Track - Perry-Lecompton senior Kael Gorski placed first in the 100 Meter Hurdles. 

Centralia senior Reagan Becker won her second straight gold medal in the 1A high jump while also claiming a third place finish in the long jump. 

Jefferson County North junior Isaac Kane won first place in the 400 Meter Dash. He also placed fourth in the high jump.

Hanover sophomore Anna Jueneman had a very good meet which includes a first-place finish in the 400 Meter Dash, second place in the 200 and fourth place in the 100 Meter Dash.

Silver medal finishes for Holton's Darcee Ashcraft in the 4A shot put, Nemaha Central's Connor Deters in Class 3A in both discus and shot put along with Cali Honeyman in the 100 meter hurdles. 

Kanyon Olberding of Jackson Heights finished her stellar career with second place finishes in both the long jump and triple jump. 

#6 - Riverside Girls Basketball

Having just one winning season in school history and coming off a 10-12 campaign, the Riverside girls shocked the state and posted a spectacular 22-4 season after not only qualifying for state for the first time ever, but then mounting a pair of comebacks and upsets to reach the state championship game in Class 2A at Manhattan. 

The Lady Cyclones under first-year Coach Craig Burnes beat every Big 7 League team at least once and won their midseason tournament at McLouth before topping Valley Heights and then using an 11-0 fourth quarter run to beat Jackson Heights and reach the state tourney for the first time. 

Thats where the magic continued as Riverside won their opening round game against Wichita Independent with an 18-3 fourth quarter comback, and then rallied from an 18-point second half deficit to knock off number one seed Pittsburg Colgan in overtime to reach the championship. Riverside used an 18-4 fourth period against Colgan, who was undefeated and had won every game by double digits all season. 

Despite an 11-2 early lead against Berean Academy, the Riverside girls would run out of gas playing their third game in three days and fall in the championship to Berean Academy.  Junior star Taylor Weishaar was named the Class 2A Player of the Year after scoring 59 points total in the three state contests. The Cyclones had only one senior on the team that came off the bench.

#5 - McLouth Softball Wins First State Title

The McLouth softball team captured the school's first ever State Championship in any sport. The Bulldogs earned the number one ranking about halfway through the regular season and never looked back. They outscored their opponents in 26 games this season 321-11 and it will simply go down as one of the most dominant seasons across the board in state history.

McLouth capped off a perfect season with a 3-0 win over St. Marys in the Class 2-1A Championship game in Pratt. The Bulldogs (26-0) beat Hillsboro in the first round 9-2 and defeated Ell-Saline 10-0 in five innings in the semifinals. 

Corissa Bandel was stellar once again for the Bulldogs pitching a complete game, one hit shutout in the title game with 13 strikeouts. She pitched five innings and had 12 strikeouts in the first round over Hillsboro. She scored three runs and tallied three hits in the semifinal win over Ell-Saline and added the biggest hit in the title game which was a two-RBI single in the second. 

The semifinal win over Ell-Saline might go down as the Dani Lee legacy game. The sophomore went 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles and four RBI's. Lee also struck out seven inside the circle and allowed just one hit in the fifth inning to the Cardinals. Against Hillsboro on Thursday, Dani had three hits including a home run and four RBI's. 

Corissa ended the season inside the circle with a 14-0 record surrendering just five earned runs in 74 innings pitched with 169 strikeouts. Dani finished the season inside the circle with a 12-0 record giving up just one earned run all season in 51 innings pitched with 118 strikeouts.  

McLouth had only two seniors with Corissa Bandel and Jillian Holwick.