Tennis sweeps Iowa State; BatCats lose

We’re entering that part of the Kansas State sports calendar we’re all just a bit wary of. Other than baseball and some unfinished non-revenue sports business, there’s not much action for the Purple faithful these days.

Still, onwards and upwards.

Football

The football team has selected its player representatives for the 2018 season. They include offensive lineman Dalton Risner and quarterbacks Alex Delton and Skylar Thompson. Risner, a three-year starter, is also a team captain (Tim Bisel, Topeka Capital-Journal).

Other player reps include Alex Barnes, Kendall Adams, Denzel Goolsby, Colby Moore, Dalton Schoen, Zach Reuter, Kyle Ball, Reggie Walker, Trey Dishon, Adam Holtorf, Dalton Harman, and David Tullis. These players were chosen by their teammates for this honor, and are expected to “exhibit a true and total commitment to the principles of their program and be strong enough to hold themselves and their teammates responsible and accountable to those principles.” That’s a quote from Bill Snyder, in case there was any doubt.

Remember, the annual Purple-White scrimmage is on April 21 at The Bill. Tickets are still available and can be purchased for $5 from Kansas State’s ticket office.

Baseball

Oklahoma State pitcher Carson Teel chose the best day to throw a terrific complete game. He only gave up one run and held Kansas State scoreless for eight innings. Meanwhile, Cowboys’ batter Jon Littell had a three-run homer in the final inning to open up a huge lead over the BatCats and seal the series with 6-1 win.

This is Kansas State’s fourth straight loss this season. In this game, Teel gave the purple batters fits, spreading them out and making it impossible to get easy hits. On the mound, although the BatCats’ starter Kasey Ford pitched six innings and played reasonably well, he was let down by the apparent lack of offensive fire power.

The series concludes today at Tointon Family Stadium at 1 PM.

Tennis

Despite a few setbacks here and there, the tennis squad has gone from strength to strength this season. Following a 4-1 win over West Virginia, the 35th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats swept Iowa State 4-0 yesterday in Urbandale, Iowa, picking their first Big 12 doubles point of the season in the process.

The team has now own nine of the last 12 matches and, at 14-5 overall, has its highest win total in a season since 2010. The team is 62-35 this spring in singles, with 42 wins coming in straight sets.

Up next, the Wildcats return to Kansas to take on Wichita State followed by a homestand against the 16th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks

Track and Field

The track team did well at the Jim Click Shootout last weekend, with the women coming out on top and the men acquitting themselves well in a packed field in Arizona. For at least three Kansas State athletes though, this week’s action features a different level of competition.

Heptathlete Nina Schultz (Canada), shot put expert Jess St. John (Antigua and Barbuda), and high jumper Tejaswin “TJ” Shankar (India) are all competing at the Commonwealth Games in Australia this week. They’re joined by former K-Staters long jumper Ifeanyi Otuonye (Turks and Caicos) and high jumper Alyx Treasure (Canada) at the Games.

Shankar was in action last night and made it to 2.21m to qualify for the finals on Wednesday. St. John will compete on Thursday in the women’s shot put qualifying rounds, while Schultz—who has the top heptathlon score of 2018 already—will also begin competition on Thursday with the 100H and finish up on Friday with the 800m race.

Although neither Shankar nor Schultz appear to be favorites to medal, coach Cliff Rovelto who is in Australia working with these athletes in a private capacity thinks both are likely to earn podium finishes.

Treasure will be seen in the women’s high jump finals on Saturday. Otuonye, who also competed in the Commonwealth Games back in 2014 while at Kansas State, will participate in both long jump and the 4x400 relay.