TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas lawmakers are honoring the Kansas City Royals for winning their first World Series since 1985.

Royals Hall of Fame director Curt Nelson held up the silver World Series trophy on Monday to the applause of legislators in both chambers.

Both the Senate and House approved resolutions hailing the team’s five-game triumph over the New York Mets in November.

Republican Rep. Scott Schwab of Olathe spoke about reliving the joy he felt as a young boy when he watched Kansas City win the Series in 1985.

He praised the Royals for earning their title while playing “the boys’ game like grown-up boys.”

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, also congratulated the team for its accomplishment and urged his fellow senators to support the resolution in that chamber.

The first annual Sundown Salute 4-Person Scramble is scheduled Sunday, May 1 at Rolling Meadows Golf Course.

There will be a 10 a.m. shotgun start.

You can register by calling the golf course at 238-4303.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Tiffany Mitchell scored 16 of her 20 points in the first two quarters as top-seeded South Carolina opened a big lead and breezed into the Sweet 16 with 73-47 victory over Kansas State on Sunday night.

The Gamecocks (33-1) romped through their first two NCAA Tournament games, defeating Jacksonville by 36 points before routing the ninth-seeded Wildcats (19-13) on the way to their fourth round of 16 in the past five seasons. South Carolina, though, is looking for much more and showed the inside strength and defense that might help achieve their national championship goal.

Mitchell was the catalyst in the first 20 minutes, slicing through the Kansas State defense whenever she had the ball.

The Gamecocks will face Syracuse (27-7) on Friday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the next round.

Breanna Lewis had 21 points to lead the Wildcats, who had no answer once South Carolina got going.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Kansas State’s track and field team posted a strong start to its outdoor season as the Wildcats recorded three first-place finishes and numerous athletes set new personal bests as the UTSA Invitational came to a close in San Antonio on Saturday.

 

Overall, the women’s team finished in sixth place with a team score of 91 points, while the men’s team also recorded a sixth-place finish with 68 total points.

 

On the track, senior Sonia Gaskin won the women’s 400 meter dash with a time of 55.37 for her first win of the outdoor season.

 

The women’s ‘A’ relay team of Gaskin, Ranae McKenzie, Keiteyana Parksand Tia’ Gamble also recorded a first-place finish at the meet with a time of 3:42.90.

 

K-State had three women finish in the top-five of the 200 meter dash. McKenzie took third place with a time of 24.00, Gamble took fourth with a time of 24.28 and Parks finished in fifth place with a time of 24.51.

 

In the field, sophomore NaTron Gipson recorded a first-place finish in the men’s high jump with a mark of 2.05m/6-08.75 for his first victory of 2016. Fellow high jumper Rhizlane Siba finished tied for third place in the event with a jump of 1.67m/5-05.75.

 

Long jumpers Shardia Lawrence and Zanri Van der Merwe also recorded top-three finishes with marks of 5.71m/18-09.00 (5.2) and 5.65m/18-06.50 (5.0), respectively. Senior Alyssa Kelly also finished in the top-three in triple jump, finishing in second place with a leap of 12.13m/39-09.75 (5.5).

 

Thrower Brett Neelly also finished in the top five of the men’s shot put field, finishing in fourth place with a throw of 17.68m/58-00.25.

 

Over the course of the entire competition, K-State recorded a total of six first-place finishes in its first outdoor competition of 2016.

 

K-State returns to action next weekend as it competes in the Emporia State Open in Emporia, Kansas on Saturday.

 

Josh Brunner, Graduate Assistant, Athletic Communications

MESA, Ariz. (AP) – Jon Lester allowed one earned run in five innings and Jorge Soler hit a two-run home run Sunday and the Cubs beat the Royals 5-2.

Lester allowed five hits, two runs, one earned run, a walk and struck out four in front of a Cactus League record 15,523 people at Sloan Park.

Soler hit a home run to left-center off David Huff with two outs in the fifth. It closed the scoring on a four-run inning in which Royals starter Ian Kennedy didn’t record an out.

Dexter Fowler reached base three times, including a triple in the third, and scored twice for the Cubs.

Kennedy struck out the side in the fourth but allowed six hits, five runs, three earned, with two walks and five strikeouts over four-plus innings.

Royals catcher Tony Cruz had two hits and Reymond Fuentes had a double.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Wayne Selden Jr. and Perry Ellis carried Kansas on a sweet romp to the round of 16, combining for 43 points in a 73-61 victory for the Jayhawks over Connecticut in the second round on Saturday to hand Kevin Ollie’s his first NCAA Tournament loss as head coach of the Huskies.

Selden had 22 points and seven rebounds, Ellis scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds and the No. 1 overall seed Jayhawks (32-4) advanced to the South Region semifinals on Thursday in Louisville, Kentucky, to play the winner of the Hawaii-Maryland game on Sunday.

Selden and Ellis combined to shoot 17 for 27 from the floor, shooing away the disappointment of second-round defeats in each of the last two years.

Sterling Gibbs had 20 points for the No. 9 seed Huskies (25-11), who fell into an irreparable deficit that reached 24 points in the first half.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Robinson Chirinos homered over the right-field fence 272 feet away and the Texas Rangers overcame home runs by Kansas City stars Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain to beat the Royals 13-6 Saturday in a split-squad matchup at the Alamodome.

Texas swept the two-game series, totaling 20 runs and 22 hits in the reconfigured football stadium. Kansas City committed five errors in giving up its most runs this spring.

Jared Hoying homered for the second straight day for Texas, a two-run drive in the seventh inning. Drew Stubbs added a three-run homer during a five-run eighth. Chirinos hit his first home run of the spring, looping a shot over the short porch in right during a three-run second off Chien-Ming Wang.

Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Rangers starter A.J. Griffin. Perez followed his homer and added a two-run single in the eighth.

University of Miami Athletics

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Angel Rodriguez took over midway through the second half, hitting a big 3-pointer with 72 seconds remaining and scoring 28 points to lead the third-seeded Hurricanes over Wichita State 65-57 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.Miami (27-7) made it that far three years ago under Jim Larranaga, in his fifth season as head coach. Sheldon McClellan finished with 18 points and Davon Reed had 10 for the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes will play either Iowa or Villanova next weekend in Louisville in the South Region semifinals.

Fred VanVleet and Shaquille Morris each had 12 points and Ron Baker 11 for 11th-seeded Wichita State (26-9), which put on a furious rally in the second half of a bruising game, taking a 43-42 lead with 10:24 to go.

After Baker’s 3-pointer gave Wichita State its first lead, Ja’Quan Newton had a slam dunk to put Maimi back on top and McClellan scored eight straight points for some separation.

McClellan nearly gave it away, though, when he failed to convert a lob from Rodriguez with 2:59 left and Miami clinging to a 55-51 lead.

Rodriguez came back with a stunning hook off the glass for a 57-53 lead with 2:05 left and followed with his clutch 3 from the wing.

With their fans cheering “We shock! We shock!” the Shockers erased the daunting deficit with another gutsy performance in the second.

Zach Brown hit a 3 and VanVleet followed with a steal and another 3, both baskets in a span of 11 seconds, and Morris’s hook in the lane off a steal by Baker closed the gap to nine with nearly 16 minutes left, plenty of time for a comeback for the team that won a play-in game then upset sixth-seeded Arizona.

Baker then set up Markis McDuffie for a 3 and Morris set a perfect screen on Rodriguez at the top of the key to free VanVleet for a driving layup through the paint.

Larranaga was whistled for a technical after protesting a call as the Hurricanes struggled to hold their edge. That margin finally disappeared when Baker drained a 3 for a shocking 43-42 lead.

Much of the focus figured to center on the performance of the backcourts featuring four seniors- VanVleet and Baker against Rodriguez and McClellan. The Miami duo is a tad older, but the Shockers had more tournament experience.

Age took over at the start and came through at the end.

Rodriguez was 7 for 7 for 16 points in the opening half, scoring 11 points in the first eight minutes as Wichita State struggled to find any room to shoot, missing its first five 3-pointers and hitting only 1 of 12 shots.

It got much worse as the Hurricanes gave the Shockers a big taste of their own medicine. The top defensive team in the nation was torched for 12-of-15 shooting in the first 12 minutes as Miami outscored the Shockers 18-0 in the paint and forced seven turnovers, gaining a 21-point lead on a scoop by McClellan at 8:27.

VanVleet set up Baker for a 3 from the wing to start an 11-0 Wichita State run and the Shockers clamped down defensively, forcing five turnovers while holding the Hurricanes scoreless for more than five minutes.

CATOOSA, Okla. – Kansas State’s Varsity 8+ boat won the team’s first race  of the season as the Wildcats closed out its second competition of the season against Tulsa on the Verdigris River in Catoosa, Oklahoma on Saturday.

 

“The conditions were difficult with a strong head wind,” head coach Patrick Sweeney said. “The first boat, with all of the experience in it, handled the conditions well. The other boats with the less-experienced girls in them raced hard but did not race as well as I would have hoped.”

 

In the second race of the day, the Wildcats’ A boat in the V8+ race finished in first place with a time of 8:03.5, just under five seconds faster than Tulsa’s B boat, which took second in the race with a time of 8:08.1. The Wildcats’ B boat took fourth in the race with a time of 8:20.8.

 

“I thought they did a really solid job,” Sweeney said about the V8A boat. “They raced as planned. Looking at their times, they had no dips in their speed. They did everything right to win the race. They did a good job, especially under the difficult conditions.”

 

K-State took second place in each of the other three races during the competition. The 3V8 finished behind Tulsa’s experienced lightweight boat with a time of 8:27.8 to finish in second place but ahead of Tulsa 3V8 boat.

 

The 2V4+ also recorded a second-place finish with a time of 9:51.1. In the final race of the day, the Wildcats’ 1V4+ took second with a time of 9:38.1.

 

With some spotty weather moving through Manhattan over the next two weeks, Sweeney will have to change up his practice plans to prepare the team for its next race.

 

“I have been looking at the weather for the next couple of weeks before we leave and it does not look good,” Sweeney added. “What we would hope to do is get on the water and perfect the speeds. The boats did not look awful, but they do not look solid enough yet. They each made mistakes at different points of the race. I would want to do is consolidate the lineup a little more, but with the weather coming up that does not look good.”
K-State returns to action on April 2^nd and 3^rd as the Wildcats travel to San Diego, California to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic.

 

Josh Brunner – Graduate Assistant – Athletics Communications

 

CATOOSA, Okla. – Kansas State’s Varsity 8+ boat won the team’s first race  of the season as the Wildcats closed out its second competition of the season against Tulsa on the Verdigris River in Catoosa, Oklahoma on Saturday.

 

“The conditions were difficult with a strong head wind,” head coach Patrick Sweeney said. “The first boat, with all of the experience in it, handled the conditions well. The other boats with the less-experienced girls in them raced hard but did not race as well as I would have hoped.”

 

In the second race of the day, the Wildcats’ A boat in the V8+ race finished in first place with a time of 8:03.5, just under five seconds faster than Tulsa’s B boat, which took second in the race with a time of 8:08.1. The Wildcats’ B boat took fourth in the race with a time of 8:20.8.

 

“I thought they did a really solid job,” Sweeney said about the V8A boat. “They raced as planned. Looking at their times, they had no dips in their speed. They did everything right to win the race. They did a good job, especially under the difficult conditions.”

 

K-State took second place in each of the other three races during the competition. The 3V8 finished behind Tulsa’s experienced lightweight boat with a time of 8:27.8 to finish in second place but ahead of Tulsa 3V8 boat.

 

The 2V4+ also recorded a second-place finish with a time of 9:51.1. In the final race of the day, the Wildcats’ 1V4+ took second with a time of 9:38.1.

 

With some spotty weather moving through Manhattan over the next two weeks, Sweeney will have to change up his practice plans to prepare the team for its next race.

 

“I have been looking at the weather for the next couple of weeks before we leave and it does not look good,” Sweeney added. “What we would hope to do is get on the water and perfect the speeds. The boats did not look awful, but they do not look solid enough yet. They each made mistakes at different points of the race. I would want to do is consolidate the lineup a little more, but with the weather coming up that does not look good.”
K-State returns to action on April 2^nd and 3^rd as the Wildcats travel to San Diego, California to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic.