MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State will host Georgia as part of the fifth annual Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Bramlage Coliseum, the two conferences announced Thursday.

 

The matchup will mark the third meeting in the past four seasons for the two schools, but the first in the Challenge event. The teams split a home-and-home series during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with the Bulldogs earning a 50-46 win at Bramlage Coliseum on December 31, 2014 and the Wildcats getting a last-second shot from then freshman Dean Wade to post a 68-66 victory at Stegeman Coliseum on December 4, 2015.

 

The game will be one of 10 contested between the two leagues for the fifth consecutive season with ESPN providing coverage of all games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. All the contests will occur on January 27 with start times and complete television information to be released later.

 

The Big 12, which collected its most non-conference wins (116) in five seasons in 2016-17 on a .784 winning percentage, has won three of the four Challenge series, posting a 25-15 (.625) record. The leagues split their 10 Challenge games last season. Overall, the Big 12 is 53-35 (.602) in its last four challenge series (vs. Pac-10 and SEC) dating back to 2007.

 

The Big 12 has been No. 1 in RPI in four of the last seven seasons, including second-best league in 2016-17.

 

“The Challenge series has been a huge success for both leagues and we are looking forward to another solid matchup in 2018 with Georgia,” said head coach Bruce Weber. “We are obviously familiar with them having played each other in 2014 and 2015 and we know what kind of Coach Mark Fox is, so it will be another big-time challenge for our guys. (Yante) Maten will be one of the top big men in the country next season after withdrawing from the draft and they return a number of talented younger guards in (Juwan) Parker, (Jordan) Harris and (William) Jackson.”

 

Overall, K-State is 161-149 all-time against teams from the SEC, which includes a 2-2 mark in the Big 12/SEC Challenge series with wins over Ole Miss at home in 2013 (61-58) and 2016 (69-64) and losses at Tennessee in 2014 (64-65) and 2017 (58-70). The Wildcats have met at least one SEC opponent in each of the last nine seasons.

 

The contest will also serve as another homecoming for ninth-year Georgia head coach Mark Fox, who is a native of Garden City, Kansas, and a former assistant coach at K-State from 1994-2000. During his six-year stint on the coaching staff of head coach Tom Asbury, Fox helped the Wildcats post an 85-88 overall record with three postseason appearances, including a trip to the 1996 NCAA Tournament. Fox’s wife, Cindy, also spent time in the K-State Athletics Department, serving five years as Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing and Senior Woman Administrator.

 

Fox, who also served as head coach at Nevada (2004-09), has posted a 268-161 (.625) record in his head coaching career, including a 145-118 (.551) at Georgia. He has led the school to four consecutive postseason appearances.

 

The Bulldogs are set to return 11 players, including 10 with starting experience, from a team that posted a 19-15 overall record and advanced to the NIT in 2016-17. The team, which knocked off Texas last season in the Challenge series, returns one of the country’s top big men in senior forward Yante Maten. A two-time All-SEC pick, Maten averaged 18.2 points on 51.9 percent shooting with 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game as a junior. Other notable returners include senior guardJuwan Parker (9.3 ppg., 5.3 rpg.), junior forward Derek Ogbeide (7.1 ppg., 7.6 rpg.), sophomore guard Jordan Harris (4.7 rpg.), junior forward Mike Edwards (4.4 ppg., 3.6 rpg.) and junior guard William Jackson II (4.1 ppg.).

 

The Wildcats will return nine lettermen, including three players – Barry Brown, Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade – who started all 35 games for a Wildcat squad that won 21 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Brown and Stokes are the team’s top returning scorers with identical 11.7 points per game averages, while Stokes was the team leader in 3-point field goals (64), assists (4.1 apg.) and minutes (33.3 mpg.) in 2016-17. Brown set a single-season school record for steals with 82, while Wade averaged 9.3 points on nearly 50 percent shooting and is the team’s top returner in both rebounding (4.5 rpg.) and blocked shots (0.7 bpg.).

 

In addition to its returning lettermen, K-State will welcome five newcomers (juniors Makol Mawien and Amaad Wainright and freshmen Mike McGuirl, Nigel Shadd and Levi Stockard III) as well as redshirt freshmen Cartier Diarra and James Love III, who both missed the 2016-17 season due to injury.

 

A full non-conference slate, as well as 2017-18 season ticket plan details, will be released in the coming weeks.

 

Big 12 / SEC Challenge Presented by Sonic

Baylor at Florida

Tennessee at Iowa State

Texas A&M at Kansas

Georgia at Kansas State

Oklahoma at Alabama

Oklahoma State at Arkansas

TCU at Vanderbilt

Ole Miss at Texas

Texas Tech at South Carolina

Kentucky at West Virginia

 

– www.k-statesports.com —

 

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

AUSTIN, Texas – With the 2017 outdoor season coming to a close, the Kansas State men and women’s track and field teams make their way to Mike A. Myers Stadium for the NCAA West Preliminary, the first of two meets in the NCAA Outdoor Championship, on May 25-27.

Representing one of over 120 Division I programs located west of the Mississippi River, K-State will have 30 athletes in action over the span of the three-day competition, which welcomes the top-48 competitors in each event before sending the top 12 athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championship in Eugene, Oregon, on June 7-10. The K-State women have 18 individual entries and two relay squads set to compete, while the men have 10 representatives competing.

“We have a fairly large group, a number of which will be competing for the first time at this meet,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto said about the NCAA West Preliminary meet. “It will be fun to watch them compete. If we do what we have been doing all year, we should have a significant group represent K-State at the finals in Eugene in a couple of weeks.”

Fresh off the program’s third Big 12 Outdoor Championship, the 12^th-ranked women’s side looks to send a large contingent to the final meet as six Wildcats are currently inside the top-12 needed to advance to the final round. Shadae Lawrence headlines the group as the sophomore currently holds the top spot in the West region in the discus throw with her record-setting Big 12 Championship toss of 62.59m/205-04.

Lawrence’s twin sister Shardia Lawrence enters with the second-best mark in triple jump after posting her season-best leap of 13.79m/45-03 (3.4) to finish runner-up at the Big 12 Championship. Freshman Wurrie Njadoe enters the West Preliminary meet with the third-farthest long jump mark after a leap of 6.55m/21-06 (2.0) saw her take second at the Big 12 Championship, while Janee’ Kassanavoid’s school-record toss of 66.97m/219-09 at the Texas Invitational in mid-April is also good for the third seed in this weekend’s meet.

Sophomore Ranae McKenzie looks to return to the NCAA Championship for the second-straight season as she currently holds the 11^th-fastest 400-meter hurdles time (57.98) in the West, while freshman Helene Ingvaldsen will look to make her first trip to Eugene as she is currently 11^th in the West in the hammer throw (61.94m/203-02).

On the men’s side, juniors Terrell Smith (200-meter dash) and Christoff Bryan (high jump) are the only two Wildcat men in the top-12 entering the meet. Smith boasts a season-best time of 20.44 (4.0) to enter with the 11^th seed, while Bryan is the 11^th-seeded high jumper in the meet with a season best mark of 2.18m/7-01.75.

A handful of men sit on the cusp of qualification, including Brett Neelly, whose Big 12-winning toss of 18.81m/61-08.50 is currently good for the No. 14 seed. K-State’s three men’s hammer throwers are also on the brink of qualification asMitch Dixon (65.42m/214-07) is currently 14^th, Kyle Smith (64.74m/212-05) is 15^th and Brady Grunder (64.55m/211-09) is 16^th entering competition.

Newcomer Nina Schultz is the only Wildcat currently qualified for June’s NCAA Championship meet as the heptathlon is not held in the preliminary round. Schultz’s score of 6,021 points, which she scored at the Jim Click Combined Events in early April, is the fourth-best point total in program history and currently the fourth-best mark in Division I heading into the national meet.

Thursday’s action is slated to begin at 11 a.m., with the women’s hammer throw, while the women’s discus throw and men’s pole vault kicks off Saturday’s competition beginning at noon. Sunday’s action will begin at 3:00 p.m., with the men’s triple jump.

Tickets for the NCAA West Preliminary meet will be available on an all-meet and single-session basis and can purchased here. Fans who cannot travel to Austin can watch a free live stream, which can be found here, while live results for all three days of competition will be provided by PT Timing and can be accessed here.

More information on the meet, including ticket information, heat sheets and full schedule, can be found on Texas’ NCAA West Preliminary home page, which can be found here.

For the latest on K-State track and field follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter or Kansas State Track & Field/Cross Country on Facebook.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the first time ever, incoming Kansas State freshmen will have the opportunity to purchase a four-year student athletic pass and lock in the current price, K-State Athletics officials announced Wednesday.

Beginning June 1, incoming freshmen can purchase the four-year pass for $885 and lock in their pass for the duration of their time at K-State (four years only), a price that saves $295 in the final year to essentially give them their ICAT pass for free as a senior. Four-year athletic pass purchasers will receive an ICAT Combo pass for their freshman through senior years at K-State. This is the only option for incoming freshmen to receive an ICAT pass and it is not refundable at any time.

Four-year passes are not available on KSIS and must be purchased by calling Austin Anderson in the K-State Fan Experience and Sales office at 785-532-5379. The office is open 8 a.m., to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“K-State Student Governing Association is committed to working with K-State Athletics to provide the best fan experience in the Big 12 Conference, particularly for K-State students,” said SGA president Jack Ayres. “As part of that commitment, we are tasked to provide the best gameday experiences at the most affordable prices. The ability for students to purchase four-year student athletic passes provides a great opportunity for students to save money while showing support for our Wildcats.”

For students who choose not to purchase a four-year pass, general admission football and men’s basketball combo passes ($235) and general admission football only passes ($150) go on sale Tuesday, May 30, to incoming freshmen who have registered for June orientation and enrollment. Passes are available now for all current K-State students.

Freshmen can purchase their GA combo or GA football-only student athletic pass by logging in to their KSIS account via the steps below:

Step 1: Visit ksis.k-state.edu

Step 2: Log in with your eID and password

Step 3: Click “Self Service”

Step 4: Click “Marketplace”

Step 5: Click “Athletic Tickets”

Step 6: Select your pass option

Students may only purchase one student athletic pass. For more information, email students@kstatesports.com.

K-State kicks off the 2017 campaign on Saturday, September 2, against Central Arkansas at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, a contest that serves as the ninth-annual K-State Family Reunion. Following home game against Charlotte on September 9, the Wildcats travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to take on SEC foe Vanderbilt.

Non-student season tickets for the seven-game home slate in 2017 are on sale now through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum. Single-game ticket pre-orders are available to season-ticket holders until May 26. Public single-game tickets will go on sale beginning June 19 exclusively for Ahearn Fund members, to all fans online only on June 20 and over the phone on June 21.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Former K-State Director of Athletics Max Urick was one of six former athletics directors announced as part of the 2017 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Hall of Fame class, the organization has announced.

Urick, who served as Kansas State’s 12th director of athletics from 1993-2001, joins Mike Alden, University of Missouri; Dr. M. Dianne Murphy, Columbia University; C.M. Newton, University of Kentucky; Tim Selgo, Grand Valley State University and Randy Spetman, Florida State University, as members of this year’s class.

The honorees will receive their awards on Wednesday, June 14, at NACDA’s 52nd Annual Convention at the Learfield Directors’ Cup Luncheon, located at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Florida.

“I am grateful and very humbled by this recognition, especially because it is from my peers and colleagues dedicated to intercollegiate athletics,” Urick said. “My family has consistently been the solid anchor of my entire life, and they buoyed my spirits and kept me humble. I have had unbelievable opportunities to learn and grow, and live and work at great universities with smart, talented and dedicated young men and women, and they are the ones that have provided the ‘push and pull of progress.’ We shared a common belief that our work was essentially about the values of sport that go beyond winning and losing. I have truly been blessed to have a career that was challenging for sure, but gratifying, fulfilling and great fun.”

Urick’s dynamic leadership, sense of direction and expectation of a high level of professionalism within the department catapulted Wildcat athletics into the 21st Century and as a leader in the Big 12 Conference.

He was a key player in the development of the Big 12 Conference and its ongoing transition. In doing so, he solidified K-State’s athletic future in one of the premier athletics conferences in college sports. But, as a team player, Urick was always quick to give credit to the many people involved in success at Kansas State.

Under Urick’s guidance, the athletics department made tremendous strides toward stabilizing financial balance while continuing an exciting growth period for athletic facilities at K-State. Urick placed a high priority on gender-equity issues at K-State by implementing several plans to enhance and increase women’s opportunities at K-State. The annual operating budget doubled during Urick’s tenure, proving that the financial health of the K-State athletics department stabilized and thrived under Urick’s direction.

Urick came to K-State after spending 19 years at Iowa State, including 10 as the Cyclones’ director of athletics. He originally joined the ISU staff as assistant athletics director in 1974 and then took over as athletics director in 1983. Before his arrival at Iowa State in 1974, Urick spent 13 seasons as a collegiate football coach at several levels.

A native of Troy, Ohio, Urick was an All-America football and lacrosse player at Ohio Wesleyan University and also won a conference wrestling title prior to earning his bachelor’s degree in biological science/physical education in 1961. He received his master’s degree in physical education from The Ohio State University in 1965.