SE: Sundell Siblings Push Each Other From Long Distance

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Serena Sundell returned from shootaround at WVU Coliseum shortly before noon on January 8 and sat glued to the TV until the start of the fourth quarter. While the Kansas State freshman guard was in Morgantown, West Virginia, her eyes remained fixed on Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Her older brother Jalen started at center at North Dakota State, which was about to cruise past Montana State 38-10 to capture the 2021-22 FCS national championship.

As Serena gathered her bag at the team hotel and joined her teammates on the bus a couple hours before the Wildcats faced West Virginia, she sent her brother a text.

"Congratulations," she wrote.

Then Serena went out and scored a game-high 21 points to go along with 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals in 39 minutes while leading the Wildcats to a 71-61 win over the Mountaineers. Little did Serena know that after Jalen celebrated the North Dakota State national title with their parents, Bob and Korena, Jalen watched her basketball game on his iPad while waiting for a delayed flight to Fargo, North Dakota.

"I may critique her once in a while," Jalen said, "but only jokingly."

The Sundell siblings are more apt to deliver a congratulatory punch in the shoulder than a three-second hug, but they always get the message across.

"I'm real proud of him," Serena said. "We don't share too many emotions with each other. I know he's been watching a lot of my games during the season, which means a lot. It was a pretty cool day."

Their athleticism is rooted in basketball in Maryville, Missouri. In fact, they might be members of the most athletic family in the history of Maryville, a city with a population of about 12,000, which is home to Northwest Missouri State University.

Their father, Bob, was such a fine high-jumper and basketball player that he is in the Northwest Missouri State Hall of Fame and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Hall of Fame. Bob competed in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials. Their mother, Korena, was a track and basketball standout at Missouri-Rolla.

Jalen was the 2017 Class 3 Offensive Player of the Year and helped Maryville High School to the state championship title. He also played basketball. Jalen just completed his junior season at North Dakota State with two years still to go. The 6-foot-5, 298-pounder graded out at 91% and allowed zero sacks and committed zero penalties during the 2020-21 season. He has been on the Missouri Valley Football Conference Honor Roll three straight years.

Serena was named 2021 Miss Show-Me Basketball, earned back-to-back Class 4 Player of the Year honors, and was rated as the No. 3 player in the state of Missouri by Prep Girls Hoops. Currently, Serena is a leading candidate for Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Year. She ranks second at K-State in scoring (10.4) and ranks second in the Big 12 in total assists (98) and assists per game (5.76).

"Most athletically gifted? That's tough to say," Jalen said. "I didn't really realize that our family was any different. We just grew up playing sports. It was just normal. We didn't really think about it until we got outside Maryville and grew up a little bit. You realize, 'My family is a little bit different than other families.' My dad was super motivating for me and Serena. He has pushed us our whole lives. Getting better was the standard.

"Definitely looking back, you appreciate it more. At the time, you're like, 'I don't want to run hills.' That's the competitiveness that makes you better than the guy or girl across from you."

As for who's the better athlete?

"You know, Jalen likes to claim that he's the worst athlete in the family, which could be true," Serena said, chuckling. "Dad was pretty athletic and mom was also very talented. Yeah, he's down there."

Growing up in the college town of Maryville, the Sundells grew up on Bearcat football, basketball and baseball games — when they weren't competing in their own basketball tournaments. Then while Jalen won a football state championship, Serena won a volleyball state championship. She also played softball and competed in the high jump. She played with fellow K-State freshmen Brylee Glenn and Jaelyn Glenn for Run GMC from Kansas City, which went 25-2 and won the Prague 17-and-under division of the 2018 Nike Tournament of Champions in Chicago.

"I remember watching Jalen play basketball and that, of course, isn't what he stuck with," Serena said. "He was an offensive lineman and put on a bunch of weight. I saw how much time and effort he put into his sports. That stood out. I was always on the skinny side and tried to put on weight, too. He'd bring me meals and wake me up and say, 'You've got to eat your three meals a day. You've got to eat your meats first and then your veggies.

"It's been kind of funny. He definitely wants me to do the best I can here. He's an awesome big brother."

Serena motivates her big brother as well.

"It's been really motivating to go home and my mom, Serena and I would go to the gym, and I'd rebound for her, and she was always working her butt off to get better," Jalen said. "There were not teammates helping her out. It's just her motivation. That's something that really separates her from a lot of other people. I'm most proud when I go home and see the way that she puts in all her work through self-motivation. That motivates me as well."

Jalen went on North Dakota State's radar when he attended a team camp his sophomore year at Maryville High School. North Dakota State offensive line coach Conor Riley, now in his fourth season as K-State offensive line coach, recruited Jalen to the Bison his junior year. Jalen knew right away he wanted to be a part of their winning culture.

Serena received 13 women's basketball scholarship offers, and North Dakota State was on her short list. The Sundell siblings at the same school? It almost happened.

"But K-State just had a few more things I was interested in," Serena said. "That was definitely something I thought about really hard. It was a tough decision for me, but I'm pleased with what I decided."

When North Dakota State played a spring football schedule last year, it lined up with Serena's schedule.

"It was really neat because I was able to make a lot of his games and my parents traveled to a lot of his games," she said. "It was really cool because I knew it'd be the most games I'd be able to see him play at North Dakota State."

These days, she keeps track of her older brother's athletic successes on TV or iPad. Although Bob and Korena have attended every K-State home game this season, the pressure is on for Jalen to attend his first K-State home game as well. That might come when K-State faces Texas Tech in Manhattan on Saturday, February 5 in Manhattan.

"It'd be great to watch her play," he said.

Fargo is 600 miles from Manhattan, so it's not like the brother and sister jump in their cars and hang out. But Jalen continues to impact Serena from long distance.

"He's definitely been a big role model and influence for me with me taking on my first year of college athletics," Serena said. "He's given me a lot of advice that's helped me to be in the position I'm in now. We're close and being athletes definitely brings us that much closer together."

For now, Serena continues to help power K-State, 13-4 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12, which will face Kansas, 11-3 and 2-2, in Wednesday's 6:30 p.m. tipoff at Bramlage Coliseum. Serena, a three-time Big 12 Freshman of the Week honoree, is second in the Big 12 and seventh in the nation for total assists, which also ranks second among freshmen. She has eight games with at least 10 points and three games with at least 20.

"The way she's stepping up this year and doing as well as she is, it's really impressive but that's easy for everyone to see," Jalen said.

Meanwhile, back home, they still have a score to settle.

"My freshman year in college, I came home and hadn't played basketball in a year or two, and Serena and I played one-on-one," Jalen said. "We were playing to 11. I ended up shooting a long 3-pointer that I'd probably make 1 out of 100 times to win the game. We haven't played since.

"I keep telling her that I'm better than her."

Kansas State University Athletics

SE: Sundell Siblings Push Each Other From Long Distance

Players Mentioned

Brylee Glenn

Jaelyn Glenn

Serena Sundell

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