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April grinds to a close, meaning we're halfway through the desolate wilderness without real football. It also means we're in the midst of that refreshing period where there's actually football to talk about, as we rehash what happened Saturday at Sporting Park and prepare for the NFL cattle auction.
Curtis Kitchen has been busy, providing a quick summary of what we learned from the spring game and digging up some interesting K-State draft facts for you to memorize before Thursday. Finally, JT recapped K-State's first baseball series win in Waco... ever.
Kellis Robinett describes the offense's struggles on Saturday, while his colleague Blair Kerkhoff says there's still work to do under center.
The Capital-Journal was also on the job, with Ken Corbitt recapping the action and John Zetmeir shining a spotlight on Dominique Heath and his exploits in the return game.
The Associated Press also provides a recap of the game via the St Joseph News-Press, whose own reporter Cody Thorn highlights the big days for Jesse Mack and Elijah Lee.
Arne Green, via the Hutchinson News, also reported on the looming issue at quarterback, and Sean Keeler at FOX finds the quarterback situation very curious.
The Star also has a nice photo gallery from the game, and K-State Sports' own Kelly McHugh spent some time with the day's honorary captains, Clarence Scott and Larry Brown
Finally, Chris Bains, writing for Fansided's Cincinnati site Cincy on the Prowl, seems pretty mad about Cincinnati not being in the Big 12. CFB Playoff committee chairman Jeff Long's admission that the lack of a 13th game is what doomed Baylor and TCU last December isn't helping his temper one bit. This is a fire-spitting takedown of Bob Bowlsby, so don't miss it.
Kellis Robinett returns with a hard-hitting look at Bruce Weber at the crossoads.
Brandon Parker at the Washington Post got some words out of departed Wildcat and former All-Metro DC point guard Nigel Johnson on why he left and why he picked Rutgers.
Football wasn't the only spring game on Saturday. Facing Nebraska in Katie Brand's hometown of Grand Island, the Cats were swept by the Huskers, two of the three sets being blowouts. Bob Hamar of the Grand Island Independent took full advantage of having the local star taking on her former teammates, talking with Brand and Suzie Fritz for a profile piece and recapping the match.
Saturday's efforts at the Brutus Hamilton Challenge in Berkeley were pretty special. Freshman A'Keyla Mitchell shattered the school record in the women's 100m by over a tenth of a second, posting an 11.40 to win the event. Terrell Smith won the men's 200m, Sonia Gaskin took first in the women's 800m, and the women's 4x400 team claimed top marks in the relays. On the infield, K-State went 1-2 in both men's and women's high jump, with Nate Gipson and Zack Riley both cracking seven feet (Gipson winning on misses), while Alyx Treasure nipped teammate Kim Williamson for first on the women's side. Dani Winters also won the shot put. Nine other Wildcat top-three finishes added further shine to the day's events.
All that was on top of wins by Sonia Gaskin (women's 400m), Morgan Wedekind (3000m steeplechase), and Sara Savatovic (hammer) on Friday, along with another five top-three finishes. The women won the scored meet, outpointing Cal, UTEP, and Utah State; the men finished second. Currently ranked tenth in the nation, the women should make a move in the rankings later today based on this weekend; USC made a huge jump last week on the back of a huge weekend, after all.
As the track season steams toward the NCAAs, we're going to want to keep a close eye on the women's team especially; performances like this week's legitimately have K-State on the radar for a potential run at the national championship, as one key to that goal is being able to score points in nearly every event.
And you probably don't need reminding that it would be the first team title for K-State. Ever.
The men will be in Tulsa starting today, playing 72 holes in three days at the Big 12 Championship, being held at Southern Hills. They're the ninth seed.
The Big 12 Championship is over for the women, who finished in ninth place out of nine fivesomes on Sunday at Dominion Country Club in San Antonio. The event marked the end of the K-State careers of seniors Olivia Eliasson and Carly Ragains.