SE: Weekend Wrap – Track & Field, Rowing Get Back to Winning Ways
Apr 12, 2021 | Baseball, Rowing, Soccer, Tennis, Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
Back in December, Cliff Rovelto said the 2021 outdoor track season could be among the best the K-State women have ever had.
In Tucson, the Wildcats took another step towards proving their head coach right.
Lauren Taubert won the heptathlon at this weekend's Jim Click Combined Events meet with a personal best 5,831 points on Friday, good for fourth in the NCAA this season.
Fellow super-senior Ariel Okorie joined Taubert in the top five.
"Lauren and Ariel both did a nice job," Rovelto said. "Both were very close to what I had projected they were ready to do. They both do a very good job competing."
If there was a theme for the Wildcats in Tucson, it was a group of seniors that proved almost a year of training without the chance to compete for K-State has been worth the wait.
Just ask Ashley Petr and Helene Ingvaldsen, who both grabbed medals with a pair of top-three finishes in the discus and hammer throw.
Ingvaldsen reached a new personal best as she looks to become a three-time All-American and three-time conference champion in 2021.
"I don't know the actual number, but there were quite a few personal bests," Rovelto said. "There also were a number of marks that bode well for us as we move towards the conference championships."
Baseball
K-State Baseball hasn't had a stretch of games like this in more than two decades. Six straight conference matchups against the No. 3 team in the country, first Texas Tech and then Texas.
K-State dropped all three games to the Longhorns over the weekend, after letting its best chance at a win in Austin slip away on Friday night. The Wildcats led 6-5 in the bottom of the eight before the Longhorns erupted for eight runs to dash any hopes of an upset in a 13-6 loss.
The middle of the order stayed hot for K-State, as Zach Kokoska supplied the early offense on Friday with three hits and two RBI.
The 'Cats also got a boost from Daniel Carinci, who went opposite field with an eighth-inning RBI triple to put K-State ahead, before Texas pulled away for good in the bottom of the frame.
"Great battle by our guys to put ourselves in position to take the lead in the eighth inning on the road, but you've got to finish the job," head coach Pete Hughes said. "Give credit to Texas, they scored in six out of eight frames and when they went down, they kept punching."
K-State welcomes Northern Colorado to Manhattan for a two-game midweek series beginning on Tuesday, before hosting Oklahoma when Big 12 play resumes at Tointon Family Stadium this weekend.
Tennis
Karine-Marion Job has made defeating ranked opponents a habit this season. It certainly isn't a surprise to her head coach.
"Another ranked win for KJ," Jordan Smith said. "Each of our ladies needed to go the distance, but they should feel great about how well they closed out their matches."
K-State welcomed two of the best tennis programs in the country to Manhattan this weekend, snagging a pair of victories in singles' play over No. 10 Baylor in a 5-2 loss to the Bears.
No. 2 Texas defeated the Wildcats 7-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Job and Maria Linares have locked down the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for K-State all season, and the Wildcats saw their top two players make a statement on Saturday afternoon.
"Great wins by KJ and Maria," Smith said. "They're both doing a fantastic job competing in our top two spots."
Job defeated the No. 57-ranked player in the nation with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mel Krywoj, who has junior match victories at both Wimbledon and the French Open on her resume.
Linares matched her doubles partner on Saturday, as she defeated Baylor's Jessica Hinojosa in a tightly contested 6-4, 6-7 (7-10), 1-0 (10-6) match to give K-State some momentum.
The Wildcats are back on the court in Manhattan on Friday against Oklahoma State and on Sunday afternoon against Oklahoma.
Soccer
The fouls told Mike Dibbini everything he needed to know after a 1-0 loss to Iowa State in the final home match of the spring for K-State Soccer.
"Looking at the foul count here you could tell that their mindset and their urgency and their aggressiveness was disruptive to what we are trying to do," he said. "We didn't compete for 90 minutes like we are capable of doing."
That "90 minutes" thing might sound like coach speak, but the numbers back him up. The Wildcats lost just once in regulation over their last six matches before Saturday's setback.
Looking for their second win of the season over the Cyclones, K-State couldn't recover from a first half goal from Iowa State's Tavin Hays that would prove to be the game-winner.
"Our talk at halftime was to just have energy because we felt like we came out flat," Brookelynn Entz said. "They controlled the pace of the game and we thought that goal showed exactly how they were controlling the game. So, we just wanted to come out with energy and try to get that tying goal, kind of like we did against Mizzou. We were close but we didn't get there."
The next opportunity for Entz and the Wildcats is a big one, as K-State will face an Oklahoma team they defeated in the fall with an opportunity to end the spring season on a winning note next weekend in Norman.
Rowing
With the Sunflower Showdown and Big 12 Championship coming up next month, it would have been easy for K-State Rowing to focus on the future this weekend.
Against one of the top programs in the country, the Wildcats also delivered in the present.
In races with Central Oklahoma and Tulsa, who received votes in the latest Pocock/CRCA Poll, K-State snagged a pair of victories at the Tulsa Triangular.
"Going into the race, I think our whole boat really felt like the underdog just based off times we had seen from these other schools," sophomore Kate Odgers said. "But once they called the start we just took off and within the first 100 meters we had walked through both boats and were gaining open water. I was kind of shocked we had lost them so quick, then our lead just kept growing."
The Varsity Four - coming off a Big 12 Boat of the Week performance in Florida - and Second Varsity Four won their races to keep the Wildcats trending in the right direction this season.
Beyond getting the win in Oklahoma, the Wildcats were focused on fine-tuning every phase of their race on Saturday. Odgers said the Varsity Four wanted to improve their consistency and closing speed in the final phase of the race.
"Our boat had been struggling in the third 500," she said. "So, we were really set on improving that portion and with the help of (sophomore Kaitlyn) Henke's calls, we were able to be a lot more consistent in our numbers which we were really happy about."
The all-underclassmen crew of the Second Varsity Four took a similar approach, especially as they held off Tulsa and a boat full of student-athletes with more experience in the sport.
"It felt like we made a big push around the 1250 when Tulsa started closing the gap," redshirt freshman Lindsey DeVreugd said. "We've had some changes in our lineup this week, so our big focus was coming together and working as a unit. We knew that the other schools were going to be fast, so as a boat we wanted to focus on our own race and improve from last weekend."
Back in December, Cliff Rovelto said the 2021 outdoor track season could be among the best the K-State women have ever had.
In Tucson, the Wildcats took another step towards proving their head coach right.
Lauren Taubert won the heptathlon at this weekend's Jim Click Combined Events meet with a personal best 5,831 points on Friday, good for fourth in the NCAA this season.
Fellow super-senior Ariel Okorie joined Taubert in the top five.
"Lauren and Ariel both did a nice job," Rovelto said. "Both were very close to what I had projected they were ready to do. They both do a very good job competing."
RECAP | Taubert Wins Heptathlon at Jim Click Combined Events
— K-State Track (@KStateTFXC) April 9, 2021
"I'm happy with how this weekend turned out I had an overall PR and I showed some improvements in my throws. I still have a lot I can improve on," said Taubert.
More at https://t.co/XPDHIl0k7i pic.twitter.com/G0meKbPGtZ
If there was a theme for the Wildcats in Tucson, it was a group of seniors that proved almost a year of training without the chance to compete for K-State has been worth the wait.
Just ask Ashley Petr and Helene Ingvaldsen, who both grabbed medals with a pair of top-three finishes in the discus and hammer throw.
Ingvaldsen reached a new personal best as she looks to become a three-time All-American and three-time conference champion in 2021.
"I don't know the actual number, but there were quite a few personal bests," Rovelto said. "There also were a number of marks that bode well for us as we move towards the conference championships."
Baseball
K-State Baseball hasn't had a stretch of games like this in more than two decades. Six straight conference matchups against the No. 3 team in the country, first Texas Tech and then Texas.
K-State dropped all three games to the Longhorns over the weekend, after letting its best chance at a win in Austin slip away on Friday night. The Wildcats led 6-5 in the bottom of the eight before the Longhorns erupted for eight runs to dash any hopes of an upset in a 13-6 loss.
The middle of the order stayed hot for K-State, as Zach Kokoska supplied the early offense on Friday with three hits and two RBI.
HR metrics compared to 2,100+ home runs hit during 2019-2021 season (D1):
— KSU Baseball Analytics (@ksu_analytics) April 10, 2021
10th lowest (17.4 degrees)
25th hardest hit (111.2 MPH)
22nd quickest (3.6 seconds)
In other words: that's was a missile.
(Data from @TrackManBB) https://t.co/XKRsVbcP3d
The 'Cats also got a boost from Daniel Carinci, who went opposite field with an eighth-inning RBI triple to put K-State ahead, before Texas pulled away for good in the bottom of the frame.
"Great battle by our guys to put ourselves in position to take the lead in the eighth inning on the road, but you've got to finish the job," head coach Pete Hughes said. "Give credit to Texas, they scored in six out of eight frames and when they went down, they kept punching."
K-State welcomes Northern Colorado to Manhattan for a two-game midweek series beginning on Tuesday, before hosting Oklahoma when Big 12 play resumes at Tointon Family Stadium this weekend.
Tennis
Karine-Marion Job has made defeating ranked opponents a habit this season. It certainly isn't a surprise to her head coach.
"Another ranked win for KJ," Jordan Smith said. "Each of our ladies needed to go the distance, but they should feel great about how well they closed out their matches."
K-State welcomed two of the best tennis programs in the country to Manhattan this weekend, snagging a pair of victories in singles' play over No. 10 Baylor in a 5-2 loss to the Bears.
No. 2 Texas defeated the Wildcats 7-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Job and Maria Linares have locked down the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for K-State all season, and the Wildcats saw their top two players make a statement on Saturday afternoon.
"Great wins by KJ and Maria," Smith said. "They're both doing a fantastic job competing in our top two spots."
Play our game 👌#KStateTEN pic.twitter.com/DBoe2bZ6XD
— K-State Tennis (@KStateTEN) April 11, 2021
Job defeated the No. 57-ranked player in the nation with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Mel Krywoj, who has junior match victories at both Wimbledon and the French Open on her resume.
Linares matched her doubles partner on Saturday, as she defeated Baylor's Jessica Hinojosa in a tightly contested 6-4, 6-7 (7-10), 1-0 (10-6) match to give K-State some momentum.
The Wildcats are back on the court in Manhattan on Friday against Oklahoma State and on Sunday afternoon against Oklahoma.
Soccer
The fouls told Mike Dibbini everything he needed to know after a 1-0 loss to Iowa State in the final home match of the spring for K-State Soccer.
"Looking at the foul count here you could tell that their mindset and their urgency and their aggressiveness was disruptive to what we are trying to do," he said. "We didn't compete for 90 minutes like we are capable of doing."
That "90 minutes" thing might sound like coach speak, but the numbers back him up. The Wildcats lost just once in regulation over their last six matches before Saturday's setback.
Looking for their second win of the season over the Cyclones, K-State couldn't recover from a first half goal from Iowa State's Tavin Hays that would prove to be the game-winner.
A gorgeous day for ⚽️ #KStateSOC pic.twitter.com/0oMWmTK5Mv
— K-State Soccer (@KStateSOC) April 10, 2021
"Our talk at halftime was to just have energy because we felt like we came out flat," Brookelynn Entz said. "They controlled the pace of the game and we thought that goal showed exactly how they were controlling the game. So, we just wanted to come out with energy and try to get that tying goal, kind of like we did against Mizzou. We were close but we didn't get there."
The next opportunity for Entz and the Wildcats is a big one, as K-State will face an Oklahoma team they defeated in the fall with an opportunity to end the spring season on a winning note next weekend in Norman.
Rowing
With the Sunflower Showdown and Big 12 Championship coming up next month, it would have been easy for K-State Rowing to focus on the future this weekend.
Against one of the top programs in the country, the Wildcats also delivered in the present.
In races with Central Oklahoma and Tulsa, who received votes in the latest Pocock/CRCA Poll, K-State snagged a pair of victories at the Tulsa Triangular.
"Going into the race, I think our whole boat really felt like the underdog just based off times we had seen from these other schools," sophomore Kate Odgers said. "But once they called the start we just took off and within the first 100 meters we had walked through both boats and were gaining open water. I was kind of shocked we had lost them so quick, then our lead just kept growing."
RECAP | K-State Earns Strong Showing at Tulsa Triangular
— K-State Rowing (@KStateROW) April 10, 2021
"There is still a lot of speed to be found within these crews. Today was a step forward for the entire team." said head coach Pat Sweeney.
Read more at https://t.co/O00sFgo8ib pic.twitter.com/fM2zngnq5F
The Varsity Four - coming off a Big 12 Boat of the Week performance in Florida - and Second Varsity Four won their races to keep the Wildcats trending in the right direction this season.
Beyond getting the win in Oklahoma, the Wildcats were focused on fine-tuning every phase of their race on Saturday. Odgers said the Varsity Four wanted to improve their consistency and closing speed in the final phase of the race.
"Our boat had been struggling in the third 500," she said. "So, we were really set on improving that portion and with the help of (sophomore Kaitlyn) Henke's calls, we were able to be a lot more consistent in our numbers which we were really happy about."
The all-underclassmen crew of the Second Varsity Four took a similar approach, especially as they held off Tulsa and a boat full of student-athletes with more experience in the sport.
"It felt like we made a big push around the 1250 when Tulsa started closing the gap," redshirt freshman Lindsey DeVreugd said. "We've had some changes in our lineup this week, so our big focus was coming together and working as a unit. We knew that the other schools were going to be fast, so as a boat we wanted to focus on our own race and improve from last weekend."
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
/ Rowing
M
/ Soccer
/ Track & Field
/ Tennis
OF
/ Baseball
/ Tennis
/ Rowing
/ Track & Field
/ Track & Field
/ Track & Field
K-State Baseball | Postgame Highlights vs Columbia Game 2
Saturday, February 28
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference at Colorado
Thursday, February 26
K-State Rowing | Media Day
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Rowing | Weights Practice
Tuesday, February 24
