SLATE: Awards, New Players, and an Olympian

Let’s get right to it, shall we?

On Monday, here at BotC, Drew dropped in with a look at how the most recent NFL Draft affected Kansas State and Chris Klieman. Sure, Wyatt Hubert was the only Wildcat taken, but two early picks of North Dakota State players, including QB Trey Lance at #3 overall (to the 49ers), is something that Klieman and his staff can hang their hat on. After all, Klieman recruited those players to NDSU, so he’s clearly got an eye for talent. Also, the zero picks last year and the one pick this year underscore just how talent-depleted the roster was when Klieman arrived in Manhattan.

Also on Monday, K-State soccer head coach Mike Dibbini announced the addition of two more transfers for this year. Jesse Loren and Roo Yarnell-Williams come to K-State from Colorado (the university in Boulder), and both are California natives, a place Dibbini has done well in on the recruiting trail. Loren comes in as a three-year letter winner for the Buffaloes, and has seen action in 47 career matches with 22 starts. Yarnell-Williams is a two-year letter winner for the Buffs, playing in 25 matches with 11 starts. Yarnell-Williams already has a game-winning goal against Big 12 competition, scoring the winning goal in Colorado’s game against Baylor in 2019.

Yesterday, the Big 12 conference announced the all-conference teams for women’s tennis, and sophomore Karine-Marion Job and junior Maria Linares both made the cut for the All-Big 12 Second Team. Job picked up her nod for both singles and doubles play, while Linares was the other half of the doubles tandem with Job. Job held the Wildcats No. 1 singles spot all season, and Job/Linares spent most of the season in the No. 1 doubles spot for K-State. This is Job’s first honor for competition, while Linares achieved Second Team honors for singles in 2018, while also taking home Freshman of the Year honors that year.

Yesterday’s Sports Extra was about K-State’s most decorated Olympian, western Kansas native Thane Baker. Baker, who won a silver medal in the 200m in Helsinki in 1952, and a gold (4x100m), silver (100m), and bronze (200m) in Melbourne in 1956, didn’t even come to K-State to run track, but coach Ward Haylett talked him in to joining the team and the rest, as they say, is history. Oh, and he managed to win four Olympic medals and meet or set records in the sprints with a piece of steel in his left knee. And yes, that is him wearing #54 in today’s headline picture. Baker plans to be on hand for the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championship which begins later this week in Manhattan.