Good morning Wildcatland!
It’s been a hot minute since we’ve brought you a Slate — and by that we mean last November.
Whoops. Sorry.
But we’re back in our snazzy new digs, here to get you caught up on all the news and notes as we head into the start of another Kansas State sports season!
Spring/Summer Wrap-up
We’ll start with a quick roundup of things that have happened in the last few months, starting with baseball.
Why, yes, of course baseball season is long over. But we’d be remiss to point out that the BatCats ended the 2025
season with it’s second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, though they couldn’t repeat 2024’s magic and fell out in the first round. Some conference and regional honors were topped by AJ Evasco earning his inclusion on the 2025 Freshman All-American team, as named by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
A little later in the summer, two BatCats had their name called in the 2025 MLB Draft, as shortstop Maximus Martin (Red Sox, 298th overall) and left-handed pitcher Jacob Frost (Dodgers, 315th) were picked up by big-league clubs on the last day of the draft.
Staying with swinging a stick at a ball, the golf teams both continued their seasons into the summer. The men’s squad made their 10th postseason appearance with a trip to the NCAA Bremerton Regional, where they finished 7th, just outside the 5th-place mark needed to advance. The women, resoundingly, put up an historic run — riding senior Carla Bernat (who previously won the individual Big 12 crown and the NCAA Regional individual crown) and sophomore Alenka Navarro, the Wildcats made their first-ever NCAA Championship as a team. They didn’t make the 54-hole cut to keep playing, but Bernat and Navarro capped the run tying for a 14th-place individual finish to end the season on a high note. For her efforts over the season, which included eight Top 5 finishes on the season in addition to the Big 12 and NCAA Regional crowns, Bernat was named a First Team All-American by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA).
Both basketball squads added international flavor this summer with extra additions from across Europe. The MittieCats had already lined up Spanish guard Gina Garcia in the “regular” recruiting cycle, but announced in late July the addition of Belgian forward Nastja Claessens for the 2025-26 season. Claessens joins the Cats after helping the Belgian Senior National Team win the 2025 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket in June. Claessens was also a member of the 2024 Belgian National Team at the Paris Olympics. Notably, she spurned the WNBA, turning down signing with the Washington Mystics as the 30th pick in the 2024 draft to keep her options open.
The TangCats bolstered their 2025-26 roster with four international additions (as well as another bevy of “regular” transfers”), including one just a few days ago. Andrej Kostic (6-6 SG; Belgrade, Serbia), Stephen Osei (6-9 C; Toronto, Canada), and Elias Rapieque (6-7 SF; Berlin, Germany) committed over the summer, while Dorin Buca, a 7-1 center from Romania, just committed on Monday of this week. Buca is an especially interesting case, as he is 23 and has played pro ball in Europe, but was granted a 2-year waiver by the NCAA to play collegiately in the US. They are joined by six incoming transfers headlined by journeyman guard PJ Haggerty, as well as “regular” high school recruit Exavier Wilson out of KCMO, and the return of CJ Joneswho had entered the transfer portal only to find there wasn’t a better landing spot than K-State.
On to things happening now.
Soccer
Under first-year head coach Colleen Corbin, the FutbalCats have opened the season 2-0 for the first time since 2018.
Last Thursday evening, the Wildcats snagged a 2-0 win over Oral Roberts at Buser Family Park in Manhattan as the Cats got a 61st minute goal from junior Rilyn Rintoul, followed by a 71st minute goal by freshman Alix Regier off a brilliant assist from sophomore Hannah Palmer. Then on Sunday, the Cats notched another 2-0 home victory, this time over Portland State with two second-half goals again about 10 minutes apart. The first goal came in the 73rd minute off some back and forth between Palmer and sophomore Mabry Williams, with Palmer earning the goal this time off the assist from Williams. Then in the 82nd minute, Williams notched her own goal off a free kick that skirted the defensive wall to land inside the right goalpost.
The Wildcats return to action this Thursday with the start of a four-game road trip. The Cats take on South Dakota at First Bank & Trust Soccer Complex in Vermillion, SD on Thursday at 6pm (Summit League Network for TV), before taking a week off to get school started then head east the Massachusetts for a pair of games next week.
Football
I’m not sure if you were aware or not, but there is a football game happening this Saturday. Shocking, I know.
The KliemanCats are headed across the pond to face off against rival Iowa State in Ireland, this Saturday, August 23rd in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. It’s an 11am CT kickoff from the Emerald Isle, broadcast on ESPN with Dave Pasch (Play-by-Play) and Dusty Dvoracek (Analyst) on the call.
Iowa State heads into the 2025 coming off the high of their best-ever season in school history, going 11-3 with a trip to the Big 12 Championship game and a win (barely) in the Pop-Tarts Bowl over Miami. QB Rocco Becht is back, but he lost both of his best weapons outside as well as a couple key pieces of the line. On the other side of the ball, the Cyclones are reworking their d-line and lost their two leading tacklers (both safeties). But, Matt Campbell has shown the ability to reload in Ames, and this year should be no different. Iowa State will be good, but the Wildcats should be better.
Of course, yet again BracketCat has done an exceptional job of counting us down into the season with his annual player-by-player roster breakdown, and kept discussion lively with his Protest Playoff series. Make sure you check all those out.
Drew has also been lending his insights, previewing this season’s schedule (including a First Look at Iowa State that is a must-read heading into the weekend), and getting you caught up on the depth chart with breakdowns of the official release for the offense and defense.
