Brown is back; Weber extended

Basketball

For a slow news time of year, there was plenty of news yesterday. As reported by AMS yesterday, Barry Brown Jr. is coming back for his senior season. With Brown, Dean Wade, Kamau Stokes, and Xavier Sneed all back for the 2018-19 season, the Wildcats will feature one of the Big 12’s most experienced squad.

This news came almost simultaneously with the other big piece of basketball news for Kansas State. Head coach Bruce Weber now has a four year contract extension. The new contract extension was expected anyway, but also perhaps more acceptable to fans and boosters after an Elite Eight run. If you’re so inclined, the contract is available HERE.

Track

Three more Wildcats joined Mitch Dixon and Jess St. John as qualifiers for the NCAA Outdoor Track Championships.

Yesterday evening at the West Preliminaries in Sacramento, Shadae Lawrence punched her ticket to Eugene with an NCAA-leading throw of 62.10m in her first attempt in the women’s discus. Lawrence, the defending national champion in the event, had been struggling with form but seems to have found it just in time for the NCAAs.

Meanwhile, Ranae McKenzie qualified for the NCAA Championships with a blazing 57.44 run in the 400m hurdles last night. This will be her third trip to Eugene, where she earned second-team All-America honors last year.

The final qualifier of the night was Morgan Wedekind in the 3000m steeplechase. She ran her best race ever to extend her career as a Wildcat into the NCAA Championships. A final burst of speed over the last leg of the race allowed Wedekind to finish with a time of 9:56.26, a new personal best as well as the second-fastest time in school history.

The West Prelims continue today with the women’s hammer throw.