For the 2025-26 Kansas State women's golf team, the time is now. On Monday, K-State head coach Stew Burke, who took a veteran K-State team to its first-ever National Championship a year ago, brings the youngest team at K-State to the 2026 NCAA Louisville Regional — a defiant bunch of Wildcats out to prove that they're better than a No. 7 seed in the regional — to compete against the likes of No. 1 seed Arkansas, No. 2 seed Auburn, and No. 3 seed and Big 12 Champion Iowa State.
When last we spoke in early February, Vanessa Mercera was unable to put it all into perspective. A few days prior, Curacao, a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, had become known as the birthplace of the best women's pentathlete in the world, as Mercera, a 21-year-old Kansas State senior, put together five personal bests in all five events for a staggering 4,429 points at the Cliff Rovelto Indoor Track — at the time the most points scored by a pentathlete in the world.
A deep monotone voice on the other end of the phone dips even deeper and finally fades away like that wind that whispers along the white sand beaches at Trinidad in May, back where Aaron Antoine ran and jumped and brought joy to the dual-island Caribbean nation near Venezuela, its people spying elite potential early in his youth, and cheering his name as he grew to 6-foot-8 by age 16, and as he stood above the rest, on this independent, sovereign country entranced by this youthful hero, so entrenched in track and field, a young man with the body and voice of an adult, and skills of an Olympian, who today, just a little while away from the 2026 Big 12 Outdoor Championships, has a story to tell.
Late last week, Tèa Clèante left Kansas State and returned home in Dunkerque, France, to catch a break before preparing with the French national team for the European Championships in July. This is nothing new for the 5-foot-9 combo guard, who is a standout on the big stage on the international circuit. Playing for the French national team since she was 17, she helped France to a pair of gold medals in 2024. In the gold medal campaign at the 2024 FIBA under-18 Women's EuroBasket, she averaged 13.3 points, 3.7 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game. The previous year, she averaged 10.1 points, 3.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds.
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