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Dalton Risner once swore, while at Mile High Stadium, that he’d be back there as a Denver Bronco.
He wasn’t lying.
Early Friday night, after missing the call in the first round, Risner had his lifelong dream fulfilled when the Broncos selected him with the ninth pick of the second round, 41st overall, of the 2019 NFL Draft.
The pick places Risner as the tenth-highest draft selection in K-State history, and the highest-drafted offensive lineman ever for the school, surpassing 1998 draftee Todd Weiner (selected 47th overall by the Seahawks). He’s also the highest-drafted Wildcat to have primarily played for Bill Snyder since Terence Newman, selected 5th by Dallas back in 2003.
- The Broncos welcome Risner on his first day
- Kyle Berry at SB Nation’s Mile High Report explains exactly why Denver took Risner, and in a poll under the article 57% of Broncos fans think he’ll start immediately
- Berry isn’t the only MHR contributor high on Risner. Ian St. Clair highlights the man Risner is off the field in a separate piece.
Risner, however, was not the only Wildcat feeling the dream this weekend. Duke Shelley also got the call, taken at 205 by the Chicago Bears with the 32nd pick of the sixth round.
- Writing for the Bears website, Larry Mayer describes the front office’s thinking on Shelley. (Ryan Pace really likes him.)
- Our SB Nation pals at Windy City Gridiron have thoughts too, obviously. Robert Zeglinsky grades the pick as a B, and highlights Shelley’s seeming eagerness to adapt to the slot corner.
There’s not a lot of news to share yet regarding the third Wildcat to find an NFL team this weekend. The Tennessee Titans snatched up the disappointed Alex Barnes, who went undrafted, almost immediately as a free-agent signee.
Baseball
After dropping the series opener Friday night against the Sooners by an 8-4 score, the BatCats rebounded yesterday at Tointon for a 5-2 win, paced by Cameron Thompson’s 4-4 day which included a home run. K-State (21-23, 6-8) will conclude matters with the Dirt Burglars (29-15, 7-7) this afternoon at 1:00 on ESPN3.
Track and Field
K-State brought home two golds from the National Relay Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. this weekend. On Friday, Ashley Petr took first in the women’s discus, while Shardia Lawrence won the women’s triple jump on Saturday. Taisha Pryce was second in the women’s long jump, while three relay teams also grabbed silver: the women’s sprint medley, the men’s 4x1500m, and the women’s 4x800m.
Finishing third were Lavaun Stephenson in the women’s 400m hurdles, Clare Gibson in the women’s high jump, and the women’s 4x100m shuttle hurdle relay. And although she only finished sixth, Ranae McKenzie posted the second-best time ever by a Wildcat in the women’s 200m.
Next up: back home for the Ward Haylett Invitational next weekend.
Golf
The men had a rough time of it during the first round of the Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship Saturday morning. But in the afternoon at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., the Cats turned it around in a huge way to finish the day at 13-over par and sat in eighth place as this morning opened.
The first round was a nightmare, as K-State lumbered to a 15-over 295 and were mired in last place. But a 2-under second round helped a great deal, pushing the Cats out of the cellar.
Jeremy Gandon led the way, shooting an even-par 140 over the first day.
It gets even better. Today, the Cats are 6-under — four shots better than any other team so far today — and have moved up to seventh at 7-over. The bad news is they’re in the clubhouse, and are probably going to finish in the bottom half even if some teams still on the course completely collapse. Gandon was 1-under today, and Roland Massimino was 3-under to join him at 1-under overall, tied for seventh at this writing. Jacob Eklund was 2-under today, which improved him to 5-over and a tie for 24th.