SLATE: Kansas State falls to West Virginia in home finale

As reported earlier this morning by our esteemed Double Ought, the K-State women led wire to... almost wire, getting nipped in the end by Texas at the 2019 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

With just two events remaining, the Wildcat women still held a 2.5 point lead over the Longhorns after a 1-2-3 punch in the 200m. But the Wildcats, who had nobody in the field for the 5km race, lost the lead when Texas claimed nine points in the event, and when Texas won the 4x400 relay to close the festivities it was all over. Texas outpointed the good guys 172-156.5 to stop the Wildcats from threepeating.

As disappointing as that result may have been, it was still a great outcome given that the spring season had been somewhat underwhelming compared to previous years. For the men, it was also a successful effort; they finished in fourth place after hanging around in second for most of the weekend. It’s only the fourth time in the Big 12 era that the men finished in the top four.

In other track news, Joe Stephenson of the Northwest Herald offers a local report on Marian Central Catholic senior Regan Dineen, who won the high jump and long jump as well as running on the winning 4x400m relay team in an Illinois Class 2A sectional meet on Wednesday. Last weekend, Dineen committed to K-State, where she’s being targeted for the heptathlon (as you’d expect from someone proficient in multiple jumps and running).

Baseball

Turn out the lights at Tointon. K-State took a 4-3 lead into the top of the eighth against 20th-ranked West Virginia (31-18, 13-11) yesterday, and gave up four runs which they couldn’t get back. The 7-4 loss leaves the Wildcats (25-28, 8-13) needing a sweep of Kansas in Lawrence next weekend to finish at .500, and scotches any chance of a level record in conference play.

Because K-State took the season series from Texas, all they absolutely have to do to qualify for the Big 12 tournament is win one game against the Jayhawks combined with one Texas loss, or win two games and just not worry about the Longhorns at all. But a sweep could put K-State as high as fifth place in the conference, should Texas take two from Oklahoma and TCU fall on their faces against Texas Tech.

Football

At Saturday’s NASCAR event at the Kansas Speedway, the Capital-Journal’s Rick Peterson collared Chris Kleiman and got his take on a few subjects including the new role Mike McCoy has in the program now that he can no longer play.

Golf

Today’s Sports Extra sees Corbin McGuire examining the trio of Wildcats competing in the Athens Regional of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Golf Tournament. While they aren’t competing as a team, Jeremy Gandon, Jacob Eklund, and Roland Massimino will each be trying to earn a trip to the NCAA finals as individual golfers. While only one can possibly advance, the teammates are out to prove that the team got shafted.

Other

You may recall that Jerry Kill is now the athletic director at Southern Illinois. Andrew Lind of sportslogos.net reports on the new Salukis logo Kill commissioned, which by Kill’s own admission owes a great deal to the Powercat. It’s pretty sharp.