MANHATTAN, Kan. – Former Kansas State wide receiver/kick returner Byron Pringle made the next step in his football career as he signed an undrafted rookie free agent contact with the Kansas City Chiefs, the organization announced Saturday.

Pringle joins cornerback D.J. Reed, who extended K-State’s Big 12-leading NFL Draft streak to 25 years after being selected in the fifth round by the San Francisco 49ers, and kicker Matthew McCrane, who agreed to terms with the Arizona Cardinals earlier in the week.

A former community-college player, Pringle is the first Wildcat to sign with the Chiefs since offensive lineman Tavon Rooks went to camp with the organization prior to the 2015 season, while he is the first wide receiver to do so since Kevin Lockett was drafted in 1997 and played four seasons in Kansas City.

Pringle, a native of Tampa, Florida, was a two-time All-Big 12 kick returner, while he was on the Paul Hornung Award watch list as the most versatile player in the nation during his senior season. He amassed over 2,000 all-purpose yards as both a wide receiver and kick returner, while he finished second in school history in career yards per reception (19.64) and sixth in both career kickoff-return average (27.6) and yards (1,076). He became one of 30 players in school history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards but just the seventh former community-college players to accomplish the feat.

A standout at Butler Community College prior to coming to K-State, Pringle finished third nationally and tops in the Big 12 with 24.13 yards per reception during his senior campaign. He averaged at least 25 yards per catch in five games, including in an upset victory at No. 10 Oklahoma State when he hauled in four catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns. His contest against the Cowboys also featured an 89-yard touchdown on a kickoff return as he became the first player in Big 12 history with three receiving touchdowns and a kickoff-return score in the same game.

– k-statesports.com –

RYAN LACKEY
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State has signed a two-game, home-and-home scheduling agreement in men’s basketball with BIG EAST foe Marquette, the two athletics departments announced today (May 3).

The two schools will open the series in Milwaukee at the brand-new Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center on Saturday, December 1, 2018 before finishing at Bramlage Coliseum on a date to be determined in December 2019. It marks the first time the schools have played since a 78-57 Wildcat win at Kemper Arena in Kansas City on Jan. 3, 1988, while it is the first home-and-home series since the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons.

“We’re excited about playing this home-and-home series with a team of Marquette’s caliber the next two seasons,” said head coach Bruce Weber. “Obviously, it will be another challenging game for us, especially on the road, as they return nearly their entire team from one that almost made the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT. But it will great to bring them back home to Bramlage Coliseum in 2019.”

The schools have a long history with the 2018 meeting serving as the 11^th meeting in a series that dates back to 1953. K-State owns a 7-3 advantage in the series, including four consecutive wins (1984, 1986, 1987 and 1988), while Marquette has won three of five all-time games played at home. This will be the first meeting in Milwaukee since an 85-84 win by the Wildcats at MECCA Arena on Jan. 7, 1987.

The schools also share unique parallels as K-State hired future Hall of Fame head coach Fred “Tex” Winter in 1953 after a two-year stint at Marquette (1951-53), including leading the then-Warriors to the 1952 National Catholic League Championship. The Golden Eagles defeated the Wildcats, 67-66, in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals en route to winning the 1977 NCAA Championship under famed head coach Al McGuire.

The game at the new 17,500-seat Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center in December will be a homecoming for seventh-year head coach Bruce Weber, who is a native of Milwaukee and is a 1978 graduate of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This will be Weber’s first-ever meeting with Marquette as a head coach.

Both teams are coming off 20-win seasons and postseason appearances in 2017-18. K-State (25-12) earned its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and eighth in 12 seasons where the Wildcats defeated Creighton, UMBC and Kentucky to advance to its 12^th Elite Eight and cap a 25-win season. Marquette (21-14) collected a 20-win season for the second time in the last three seasons under head coach Steve Wojciechowski and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT, where the squad lost to eventual champion Penn State. The Golden Eagles finished in a sixth-place tie with Butler in the BIG EAST standings with a 9-9 mark.

K-State is expected to return 11 lettermen in 2018-19, including all six players who earned starts this past season, including All-Big 12 selections Dean Wade (16.2 ppg., 6.2 rpg.) and Barry Brown, Jr. (15.9 ppg., 3.1 rpg.). Wade and Brown were among the top scoring tandems in the country, ranking seventh and eighth, respectively, in scoring in the Big 12 and accounting for nearly 44 percent of the team’s scoring. Brown scored in double figures in a team-best 29 games, just one ahead of Wade’s 28, while the two combined for 22 20-point games.

The Wildcats also return rising juniors Xavier Sneed (11.1 ppg., 5.1 rpg.) and Makol Mawien (6.8 ppg., 3.4 rpg.) as well as point guards, senior Kamau Stokes (9.0 ppg., 3.4 apg.) and sophomore Cartier Diarra (7.1 ppg., 2.0 apg.). Sneed averaged 13.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in the Wildcats’ four-game run in the NCAA Tournament en route to earning NCAA South Regional All-Tournament honors with Brown.

The Golden Eagles are set to return 10 of 11 lettermen in 2018-19, including All-BIG EAST Second Team selection Markus Howard (20.4 ppg.), who was one of four BIG EAST players to average 20 or more points this past season, and fellow junior guard/forward Sam Hauser (14.1 ppg., 5.7 rpg.). Howard, who scored a school-record 52 points in a win over Providence in early January, posted 17 20-point games and five 30-point efforts as a sophomore. Hauser led the team in both rebounding and steals (1.0 spg.), was second in assists (2.9 apg.) and third in scoring.

The full non-conference slate, as well as 2018-19 season ticket plan details, will be released in the coming weeks.

– www.k-statesports.com —

TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

BOSTON (AP) — Mookie Betts belted three solo homers and J.D. Martinez also went deep, powering the Boston Red Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

It was the fourth three-homer game for the 25-year-old Betts, who snapped a tie with Hall of Famer Ted Williams for most three-homer games in franchise history. Betts also became the first player in major league history with four three-homer games before turning 26, according to STATS.

AL East-leading Boston won for the third time in four games after losing 7-6 in 13 innings on Tuesday night.

Cheslor Cuthbert homered for Kansas City, and Drew Butera had a two-run double. The Royals were trying for consecutive wins for just the second time this season.

Chapman Track @ Minneapolis 5/1
*The meet was cancelled after the JV Boys 1600 so many events did not occur and no team scores were posted.

Varsity Results:
Girls Results:
Taylor Briggs – 1st 1600M 5:33
McKenna Kirkpatrick – 3rd Long Jump 14’ 4”
Madison Smith – 4th 1600M 5:58.67
4×800 (Madison Smith, McKenna Kirkpatrick, Madeline Elliott, Taylor Briggs) 2nd 10:45.24

Boys Results:
Izek Jackson – 2nd 110H 16.35
Mitchell Tiller – 2nd Javelin 152’ 7”
Blake Vercher – 5th 100M 12.11
Malik Watkins – 3rd 100M 11.69

JV Results:
Girls Results:
Sophie Jones – 3rd High Jump 4’ 2”
Katie Jo McIlquham – 2nd 100M 14.9, 5th Triple Jump 28’ 3.75”
Rylie Milota – 2nd Shot Put 26’ 3”
Kimberly Remily – 1st Long Jump 14’ 7”
Ellie Simpson – 4th Shot Put 23’ 2”, 3rd Discus 69’ 11.5”
Grace Wells – 6th Long Jump 13’
Melody Winkel – 1st Shot Put 28’ 6.5”, 5th Javelin 75’, 5th Discus 66’ 10”

Boys Results:
Izek Jackson – 1st Javelin 145’ 6”
Jon Jenkins – 2nd Discus 101’ 5”
Daniel Klukas – 3rd 1600M 5:45.9
Josh Zumbrunn – 2nd High Jump 5’ 6”, 4th Triple Jump 35’ 7.5”

Coach Michelle Elliott