SLATE: Women’s Golf sets School Record

Our smattering of K-State sports news today starts with the women’s golf team, who shot an impressive 11-under par 277 in the first round of the Bruzzy challenge yesterday at Lantana Golf Club in Argyle Texas, breaking the previous school record for a single round by three strokes. Sophomore Reid Isaac paced the Wildcats in the first round with a 6-under par 66, the third best 18-hole score ever posted by a K-State Women’s linkster. The squad was 9-over in the afternoon session and sits seventh in the field going into today’s final round.

The baseball team goes out of conference this week with games against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Missouri Tigers. Nebraska (13-9) will play K-State in Manhattan at 6 p.m. tonight, and the ‘Cats will travel to Columbia to play Missouri (18-10-1) tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Though Bruce Weber’s current squad fills all of the available scholarship slots, he continues searching for an influx of talent for next year. The latest target is Maize senior Caleb Grill. Grill, a 6-3 guard, was granted a release from South Dakota State after a coaching change. He is drawing interest from numerous larger schools, including K-State, Iowa State, Creighton, Wisconsin, Illinois and Northwestern. He visited Manhattan on Monday and is scheduled to be in Ames today. Perhaps also of note: he originally chose South Dakota State over Texas Tech, among others. K-State has also extended an offer to 6-5 shooting guard Asanti Price and has contacted a number of potential graduate transfers. Who should we expect to transfer out of K-State?

We often talk about the frustrating politics of college sports on this site, but for one K-State athlete, real politics—or at least functionary knuckle-headedness—appears to be interfering with his ability to compete for his nation. High jumper Tejaswin Shankar is the Indian national record holder and cleared 2.28 meters at the Big 12 championships, higher than the 2.25 mark required by the Asian Federation to automatically qualify for the Asian championship meet.

Shankar did not travel to compete in the Federation Cup in India, a qualifying event, because he would have had to miss exams to do so, and the Federation appears to be pouting about the perceived snub. No athlete cleared the qualifying mark at the event. When that occurs, a provision in Athletic Federation of India guidelines permits the federation to select “the best athlete in that event if there are chances/probability of winning a medal.” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla refused to select Shakar, petulantly predicting he would not have won a medal at the Asian Championship, anyway. Shankar responded, “[I]f this is what [Sumariwalla] believes then I’m sorry to say but he has no right to judge if I am good or no.” We can only guess at the underlying cause of the dispute, but it is odd indeed that the AFI would summarily refuse to enter its best athlete in the competition. A well-worn cliche comes to mind about cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s own face.

Four members of the K-State volleyball team were named to the Collegiate National Team — Anaheim roster on Monday. Teana Adams-Kaonohi, Brynn Carlson, Anna Dixon and Gloria Mutiri were selected to the 28-team roster, which will train June 23-29 in Anaheim in what is considered a second tryout for U.S. Women’s National Team rosters for the CNT World University Games.

On Sunday more than 100 athletes participated in K-State’s annual Special Olympics clinic. K-State athletes who assisted in the event seem to have enjoyed it as much as the Special Olympians.

If you have ever wondered where your Ahearn Fund donations go, this article will tell you. Highly condensed version: The dollars are used to enhance the college experience for K-State student athletes by paying for tuition, fees, books, room and board, and tutoring.

Finally, Pete Francis from KSNT interviewed Dalton Risner about the upcoming NFL draft. Risner discussed the work ethic he acquired through his farming roots in Colorado, as well as the microscope potential draftees are placed under as the draft approaches. Article with video, for those who would rather hear it straight from the big man himself.