SLATE: Track bounces back at the Arkansas Qualifiers

Before we get started we’d like to note that, as he himself mentioned, yesterday’s power rankings and Slate mark the end of Tim Everson’s all-too-brief tenure here at BotC as he moves on to take over as sports editor at the Junction City Daily Union. We’re always justifiably proud when one of our staffers leaves for a full-time job in the sports media world, and this one makes us smile even more as it marks the second time a BotC staffer has taken over at the DU (the first being Derek Moeller-Smith, of course). Our fondest wishes to Tim, who’ll always be a part of our family here.

Now, on to good stuff!

Track and Field

After a short-handed effort at the Jayhawk Classic saw Kansas State bumbling into a last-place finish on both sides of the scorecard, the squads more than made up for it this weekend at the Arkansas Qualifier in Fayetteville. Despite some of their best athletes completely skipping events for which they’d already qualified for the NCAA preliminaries — including all the high jumpers, likely costing both squads a bunch of points — the women took second place and the men tied the Jayhawks for third.

It was an eight-team field, so that actually means something.

K-State athletes won eight events, and had an additional five podium finishes (including a pair of 1-2 finishes in the women’s throwing events). The two big stories were Kyle Gale setting a school record in winning the men’s 400m and Anigbata Grace Chinonyelum breaking the meet record — and posting the fifth-best result in the NCAA this year — in the women’s triple jump. Other winners were Taylor Latimer (women’s shot), Shaelyn Ward (women’s weight throw), Colin Echols (men’s weight throw), Taishia Pryce (women’s long jump), Alex Ferguson (women’s 800m), and Jaybe Shufelberger (women’s 3k).

This weekend, the team will be down in Lubbock for the Texas Tech Shootout.

Basketbleh

Tomorrow, the women host Baylor at 1:00, which will be bad and terrible. It may even be more bad and terrible than today’s game, as the men host Texas Tech at 3:01. Both games are consigned to ESPN+.

In good basketball news — we know, right? — Ayoka Lee has been named a semifinalist for the Lisa Leslie Award.

Tennis

Tomorrow at noon K-State’s tennis team, hoping to bounce back from a 7-0 whitewashing by Arkansas in the season opener last week — will visit #24 Arizona State.

Football

Finally, at the Mercury Ryan Black has a short piece on how K-State landed Manhattan’s Damian Ilalio.

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