Slate: Fresh Football News in April

Yes, football buzz abounds after Bill Snyder’s first press conference of the spring, but other K-State athletes actually competed yesterday and very very early today (at least for us...thanks Australia), so we’ll start off with them.

Track & Field

Yesterday, our own Wildcat00 dropped in with two profiles of K-State track stars who are competing in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

First up was a profile of long jumper Ifeanyi Otuonye, a K-State grad competing for his native Turks and Caicos Islands. Otuonye jumped 8.03m (26’ 4.25”) to earn a spot in the finals, but failed to clear that mark earlier today and finished 9th with a long jump of 7.80m (25’ 7”).

Next up was current #HighJumpU star Tejaswin Shankar, competing for his native India. Shankar jumped 2.21m (7’ 3”) to qualify for the finals, but couldn’t top it much and finished in a tie for 6th at 2.24m (7’ 4.2”) after failing to complete the next mark of 2.27m (7’ 5.4”). 2.28m is Shankar’s personal best, but even that wouldn’t have put him on the podium, as the top three finishers all cleared 2.30m (7’ 6.6”).

Be sure and check back over the next few days for more track star profiles.

Baseball

April has not been kind to the BatCats. After a series victory over Texas to end March, the Wildcats have yet to record a win in the 4th month of the year. Last night, the Wildcats hosted the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who were also in the midst of a poor start to April. It was a back-and-forth affair, much like K-State’s Monday game against Oklahoma State, but ultimately the Huskers pulled ahead 11-9 with a 4-run 8th to secure their first victory of April, and send K-State further on in their losing streak that now sits at 5 games. The lone bright spot was the K-State offense, that saw Rainer Ausmus, Will Brennan, Brett Owen, and Dylan Watts each had two hits in the game, pushing the Wildcats to their highest hit total (12) in the last seven games.

And there is no rest for the weary, as the Cats head to Lubbock, TX this weekend to take on the No. 6 Red Raiders, who are coming off a rare loss, 6-5 at the hands of No. 25 Dallas Baptist yesterday.

Football

Finally, there’s real, new football news for us to talk about. Bill Snyder held his first press conference of the spring yesterday, and there was a lot of information (and non-information in the classic Snyder style) dropped.

There was a bit of surprise when Snyder talked about the receiver corps, as he praised Carlos Strickland, who left the team earlier this year. But Kenny Lannou (Senior Associate AD for Communications/Public Relations (FB)) and QB Alex Delton both confirmed that Strickland is off the team and that Snyder was referring to freshman WR Chabastin Taylor (Robinett, Eagle). Snyder had high praise for the man who will be taking on much of the load that Will Geary left in his wake, as Trey Dishon received high marks from Snyder (Bisel, Capitol-Journal). Dishon is a two-year starter for the Wildcats, but seems poised and ready to break out the enormous shadow of Geary.