How family tied together the four Wichita-area high school basketball state champion teams

With the Kansas high school state basketball tournaments producing four different Wichita-area state champions, a common theme emerged linking all four together: family.

Below are the stories of each area team that won a state title and how family played a role in a special season.

Family watches legendary Moundridge coach win one more title in retirement year

Vance Unrau couldn’t have written a better script for his 36th and final season as the Moundridge boys basketball coach, as the Wildcats won the Class 2A state championship with a 66-46 win over Wichita Independent.

It was a poetic ending for one of the best careers in Kansas high school basketball coaching history, as Unrau won his sixth state title — tied for the third-most by any coach in state history — and the first title since 1997.

“It’s like one of those 30 for 30 instant classics mixed with a Hallmark movie mixed with a ‘happily ever after’ story,” Unrau said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of the feels. It’s been overwhelming.”

What made the sixth title so special, besides it coming in his send-off season, was that all three of his children are now grown and made a memory that will last the family a lifetime at Bramlage Coliseum on K-State’s campus in Manhattan last weekend.

His wife, Candy, and their three children, Ty, Trey and Tara, have been on Vance’s mind a lot lately. His basketball career has been rewarding beyond belief. He’s won championships, experienced heartbreak and felt just about every emotion in between in nearly four decades in Moundridge.

But the 64-year-old now has three grandchildren and one more on the way this spring, which put his life’s priorities in check. In the end, he knew he needed to walk away from the game that he has loved so dearly over the years to spend more time with his family, who all live in the Wichita area.

“My family sacrificed so much during basketball season, but coaching has also become a year-round thing these days,” Unrau said. “It dictates when you can go on vacation and it dictates daily and weekly schedules. And even when you’re on break, sometimes you’re still thinking about your team and personnel issues and wondering if you’re running the right offense. You’re preoccupied all the time and that’s not how it should be.

“I’m healthy, I’m happy and I wanted to retire with a heart full of gratitude for what the game of basketball has given to me personally.”

That passion and coach’s eye for the game of basketball was passed down to his three children. His oldest son, Ty, who is the head coach of the Valley Center boys basketball team, said he and his siblings were “living and dying” with every possession in the state championship game.

While his father’s basketball schedule may have taken away a family vacation or two over the years, Ty said he wouldn’t trade his upbringing for anything. As he has progressed as a coach himself, he has gained more and more appreciation for the role model he had growing up.

“The thing that always sticks out to me is that he has always strived to do things the right way, even when it’s really hard to do the right thing,” Ty Unrau said. “He was always someone I could lean on for advice in my own program and that’s what greatness is in a coach. When you know the right thing to do and it’s really hard to do that right thing, he almost always did it throughout those 36 years.”

There were also several family tie-ins on this year’s Moundridge team that tied them to the historic 4-peat championship run from 1990-93. Logan Churchill is the nephew of Brian (1990) and Jacy Holloway (1993), Landon Kaufman is the son of Steve Kaufman (1991) and Barrett Moddelmog is the son of Courtney Moddelmog (1992).

But this year’s Wildcats team actually reminded Unrau more of the 1997 team that won state.

“I’m old enough to be some of these guys’ grandpa,” Unrau said. “I told the boys that I’ve been doing this a long time and we have the pieces to make a run. I know what it takes to get there. If we play our cards right, we can do it. They started believing.”

Kaufman was the senior point guard who made the offense go, averaging 12.7 points and 9.2 assists, while Churchill is a 6-7 senior wing who averaged 14.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. Moddelmog, just a sophomore, was the team’s leading scorer at 15.8 points, while fellow sophomore Henry Hecox did a little bit of everything for the Wildcats.

Unrau was so convinced of the potential of those four players that he drove them to Manhattan last spring so they could watch the state tournament in person to serve as experience and motivation for next year.

This season the coach also printed out a picture of the state championship banner hanging in the Moundridge gymnasium and wrote “2023” in sharpie next to the school’s other titles. Every day the players had a visual for where they wanted to end.

In the end, these Wildcats won in a very similar manner to the Wildcats that came before them. His philosophy seemed to work pretty well for Unrau in 36 years.

“All of my mentors growing up really emphasized defense and we always tried to be disciplined and fundamentally sound,” Unrau said. “But I always loved the offensive end of the floor. This particular group had probably the most firepower offensively I’ve had in the last 20 years I’ve coached. We had shooters. We had guys who could get to the basket. We had kids who moved well without the basketball. We had all of the pieces we needed.”

Andover father-son duo bring home school’s first boys state title

When Martin Shetlar used to be the freshman boys basketball coach at Andover, his 7-year-old son, Eli, would tail him to practices and work on his shooting on side baskets when his father was coaching.

For years, this was the routine: the scrawny coach’s son showing up to every practice and falling more and more in love with the game every time.

Even though that scrawny kid grew up to become a 6-foot-6 sharpshooter committed to play Division 1 basketball at Indiana State and lead Andover to the first state championship in school history, the coach still remembers his son as that gym rat who showed up day after day to want to be around his father and share his love for the sport.

When Martin stepped up to wrap a state championship medal around his son’s neck this past weekend after the Trojans won the Class 5A championship, those memories were in both of their minds.

“I was just trying not to break down in tears,” Martin Shetlar said. “I didn’t want to sit out there and cry in front of everybody. But to have that opportunity to put the medal around his neck, I know how hard he’s worked to become the player he is and I’m so proud of him. That was a pretty cool moment.”

“I gave him a hug and it was just crazy,” Eli Shetlar said. “It was like, ‘We did it.’ It was an amazing feeling.”

Eli was the team’s leading scorer this season, but it took far more than a one-man show for Andover to win its first state basketball title through a gauntlet that featured wins over Maize South, previously-unbeaten Highland Park and City League co-champions Kapaun Mt. Carmel in the finals.

Senior B.J. Redic left no doubt who the best defender in the state tournament was, as his defense spurred the Trojans to all three victories at White Auditorium in Emporia. His steal and game-winning free throw to complete an improbable comeback in the semifinals and hand Highland Park its first loss of the season and he scored a team-high 16 points in the 54-46 win over Kapaun in the championship game.

“B.J. was pretty amazing all three games at state,” Martin Shetlar said. “He just kind of took it upon himself to get the job done on the defensive end and he made a ton of big plays down the stretch of games for us.”

Transfer Blake Rucker gave Andover yet another dangerous scorer this season, while senior Chris Harris proved to be a matchup problem for opponents. Sophomore Josh Kim seems to be a budding star and Devon McFarthing delivered valuable bench minutes all season for the Trojans.

After losing two games in December, the team came together and won 21 straight games to claim the state championship with a 23-2 record.

“I don’t think I could have written it better for how it all worked out,” Martin Shetlar said. “I’ve watched these guys grow up and coached a lot of them all the way through since they were little. It’s been fun watching them get better as the years have gone on and it’s hard to put into words what this means.”

After the coronavirus pandemic halted Andover’s run to a championship in 2020, the 2023 seniors felt like they won this title for that team and for their coach.

“It’s been an honor to play for my dad because I’ve grown up with this program,” Eli Shetlar said. “I’ve seen all of the guys who have gone through here. I still remember coming to all of the practices when my dad was the freshman coach. This is something I dreamed about as a kid and for it to all come true, it’s just a surreal moment.”

Berean Academy girls basketball mother-daughter win 2A state title

Avery Wiebe was 2 years old when her mother, Kristin, coached the Berean Academy girls basketball team to its first state championship in school history in 2008.

It gave the coach a kick to hear how astonished players were from that title team who came back to watch another Berean run to a title some 15 years later.

“No one can believe the little toddler has grown up and is now playing for me,” Kristin Wiebe said.

Avery Wiebe is a true coach’s kid, committed to defense, passing and doing all of the little things needed to help win basketball games.

And when Berean capped a 25-1 season with a dominant 49-31 victory over Riverside to capture the Class 2A state championship at Bramlage Coliseum on K-State’s campus in Manhattan last Saturday, Avery Wiebe celebrated like a true coach’s kid.

While her teammates reveled in the best season in school history at center court, Avery immediately found her mother to wrap her in a championship hug that the two will remember forever.

“I’ll always remember everybody celebrating and then the first person I turn and look at is Avery and she’s got her arms opened wide and she’s running at me,” Kristin Wiebe said. “Everybody on the team is thrilled about what’s going on, but she was thinking of me. It’s not always easy to have your mom be your coach, but that hug right there on the court is definitely the moment that sticks out in my mind.”

When Kristin Wiebe won the first title, she was in just her third season of coaching. She was young and inexperienced and felt the pressure of capitalizing on a roster she felt like should win state. When the Warriors did win the 2A title with a 24-1 record, she felt more relief than anything.

Fifteen years later, Wiebe is more comfortable as a coach. She’s developed a system that works, a culture built around defense and has experience to fall back on. She said this year felt more like a joy ride.

“This group really bought into the culture and serving each other and making the person next to them a better person and a better player,” Wiebe said. “We don’t really do anything fancy. We just have girls who get in the gym and work and enjoy being together. I think that’s a huge part of their secret to success.”

Berean had a potent scoring duo in guard Lillie Veer and forward Tayton Smith, who are both seniors committed to play for Tabor next season. Veer scored a game-high 19 points in the championship game, while Smith finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

Fellow seniors Alexa Timken, Kelsey Koontz and Lindsey Edgren fulfilled their roles this season, as did Flora Morgan (defensive stopper), Leah Mullins (post) and Taylor Balzer (energy).

“It was definitely a lot of fun winning another one,” Wiebe said. “But there’s nothing like winning a championship with your daughter.”

First-year Hesston native leads hometown boys team to a 3-peat championship

While there was no family tie-in for Hesston boys basketball coach Garrett Roth, it sure felt like it delivering a third straight state championship to his hometown.

Roth, a 2016 Hesston graduate and just 25 years old, was coaching C team middle-school basketball just a few years ago. This past weekend, he was helping the Swathers defy the odds by winning a third straight Class 3A title.

“It’s been an incredible couple of weeks for sure,” Roth said. “I know I’m young and I’ve got a lot of coaching ahead of me, but I got really lucky with this group. I walked into a really good situation and these kids bought in and they peaked at the right time. Winning was definitely a surreal moment.”

Hesston graduated a stellar senior class that helped win back-to-back titles last season, then longtime coach Greg Raleigh retired. That left a lot of questions about the Swathers entering this season.

After losing the first game of the season, Roth helped lead Hesston to 25 straight victories, culminating with a 50-44 win over Marysville in the Class 3A state championship game at Hutchinson Sports Arena.

It was a dream come true for the Hesston native.

“When you grow up here, you fully understand how much this town loves basketball,” Roth said. “It has always been my goal to someday coach the high school team and bring back a championship to our awesome community. My motto this entire season has been, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ And there wasn’t really anything to fix throughout the season because we had really good senior leadership from a bunch of guys who have been waiting their turn.”

Jake Proctor was a standout scorer on last year’s title team and returned with valuable experience, as did Micah Dahlsten, who made the game-winning layup in the semifinal win over Southeast of Saline. But the rest of the seniors — Lane McGill, Eric Schmidt, Isaac Sanchez, Colton Diller and Tyler Rewerts — were hungry to win on their own merit together this season.

The senior class finished with a 73-3 record in its final three years in high school, but this year’s 25-1 campaign obviously meant the most because they proved they could win on their own.

“These seniors knew they had a really good shot at being right back in the same position and I can truly say that this group just cares about winning,” Roth said. “There weren’t any issues this year on or off the court. Everything was about winning. They just did everything they needed to do to make sure we were state champions by mid March.”