Off Topic Wednesday
We’re taking a break from KU and collegiate links today. No game until Saturday and this team is the same team we’ve seen since December 1, lets explore some high school wrestling and a few other things.
Quinter’s Blackwill takes down unbeaten wrestler to earn another title shot | Class 3-2-1A boys wrestling recap – Kansas State High School Activities Association
HAYS – With an undefeated wrestler standing in his way of a shot at a redemption in the state finals, Quinter’s Tate Blackwill wasn’t about to hang back and wait for things to happen.
Instead, Blackwill was the aggressor from the get-go against West Franklin’s Chase Courtois in the 113 semis Friday at the Class 3-2-1A state tournament in Gross Memorial Coliseum.
Hayden savors ending 20-year girls’ Centennial League title drought | North Central Kansas Basketball Standouts – Kansas State High School Activities Association
As tough as that has been at times, the rugged schedule also was something that hardened the Wildcats for the Class 4A (or 3A in certain years) postseason. Countless times in the past, Hayden has gone into the sub-state and state tournament with a less-than-glossy record and low seed and come away with a state trophy of some kind, including numerous championships.
So when the Wildcats are able to be the ones dishing out the lumps in league play, it’s something they can relish in. And that’s exactly what the Wildcat girls basketball team did this season.
No statement needed, just delivered: Paola’s Johnson one step away from joining four-timer’s club | Class 4A Boys Individual State Champions – Kansas State High School Activities Association
Brock Johnson is at a point in his high school wrestling career where making a statement can be pretty tough to do. After all, the Paola junior has already achieved just about everything he possible could on the mat.
State championship? Check. He now has three of them after capturing the 138-pound state title Saturday at Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.
Olathe North earns pair of upsets to put 4 wrestlers in state finals, stay close in team race | Class 6A boy wrestling recap – Kansas State High School Activities Association
Maize and Garden City raced out to a strong lead in the team standings. Maize holds the top spot with a 141 points while Garden City sits in second with 133.5. Manhattan earned some points late to reach 112 for third, pushing past two other teams that finished Day 1 with over 100 points.
What pressure? Tonganoxie, Bradley enjoy ride, make history with Class 4A girls championships – Kansas State High School Activities Association
In planting the seed with his wrestlers well before the start of the season that they had everything it took to win this year’s Class 4A girls wrestling state championship, Tonganoxie coach Adam Ludwin knew it was a bit of a double-edged sword.
Nye’s persistence boosts Kapaun girls to first Class 5A wrestling championship – Kansas State High School Activities Association
Nye returned, kept developing her skills and technique, and got a jolt of confidence with a second-place finish at Wichita West’s Best of the West tournament in mid-January. She rode that all the way into the Class 5A state tournament – all the way past top-ranked Reece Taylor of Shawnee Heights in the semifinals, in fact – ensuring her early-season struggles were ancient history.
Bull’s-eye! Rose Hill rockets to targeted record-setting performance in 4A boys wrestling repeat – Kansas State High School Activities Association
With his Rose Hill team the overwhelming favorite to repeat as the Class 4A boys state wrestling champion from the moment they left Tony’s Pizza Events Center last February, not once did Rocket head coach Chris Saferite even consider trying to downplay that role.
Other Links
Joe’s Weather Blog
The NWS has extended the blizzard warning into the Kansas City metro for later tonight into early tomorrow morning. I mentioned this last night, and now, more of the region is under that warning. (Note- with spring coming, this is an invaluable resource to plan around the weather, if you’re in the KC area it should be a daily visit)
LA Times Uses AI to Provide “Different Views” on the KKK
In one of the bullet points, the AI noted that some people in the region think there’s no “formal proof” that the KKK was all that bad. In another, it pointed out that the Klan was considered part of “white Protestant culture” in 1920s Orange County.
Gotta love that AI.
The two links below are posts I came across yesterday and thought they were both worth sharing for anyone that hasn’t seen them. I’m especially fond of the second link as it strikes a more hopeful theme about moving forward through everything that’s going on. Scott Hines writes The Action Cookbook Newsletter, highly recommend signing up for it.
This Is Uvalde | Defector
Outside the secure perimeter, protesters have filled the streets and swarmed Tesla dealerships and national parks. Republicans are fleeing town-hall meetings to avoid angry constituents. Millions of people understand how urgently dangerous the moment is. None of the system’s appointed leaders agree. After Uvalde, people talked and talked, in rage and disbelief, about what they would have done if only they’d been there. Here we all are. Now what?
What Can We Do? – by Scott Hines
“Did you see that press conference today?”
“Ugh. I know. It’s just disgusting.”
Over the last decade or so, this sort of bleak commiseration has become a familiar part of our household after-work routine—one of us unloading the dishwasher or sorting through a stack of mail, the other prepping for dinner, dystopia swirling all around an otherwise-mundane night in suburbia.
This time around, though, something’s different.
“What are you guys talking about?”
Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite newsletter that you get through email?