April 30, 2012
Letter to campus from Athletics Director John Currie
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
Good morning, Wildcat Nation!
A busy weekend is upon us here at K-State, and many of you already may be on your way to Manhattan for tonight’s 28th annual Powercat Auction at Bramlage. Another sellout crowd will be on hand, and we hope to see you all on campus over the next several days as we head into an exciting weekend of events. Here are the highlights and a breakdown of the events:
Friday:
Powercat Auction and Golf Tournament
We had a great turnout at this morning’s Powercat Golf Tournament at Colbert Hills Golf Course to kick off the weekend. In just a little bit, we will fill Bramlage for the Powercat Auction, which remains our department’s single-largest fundraising event and supports the Ahearn Fund, our National Fund for Student-Athlete Excellence. Last year’s event raised more than $275,000 to directly enhance the student-athlete experience for all Wildcat student-athletes, and all of our Powercat members – $300 donation level and above – will be a part of this year’s event. Click here for a full list of auction items that will be available at tonight’s event.
Baseball opens series with Oklahoma State
For those fans unable to attend the Powercat Auction, head over to Tointon Stadium for tonight’s 6:30 p.m. matchup with the Cowboys. It’s Ladies Night at the ballpark as fans can purchase a $10 ticket package that includes one general admission bench ticket and one pink K-State baseball hat. Additionally, Manhattan area vendors will be available during the regularly-scheduled pregame tailgate on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. directly behind the stadium off College Avenue. The pregame tailgate includes a hot dog meal for $4 and a cheeseburger meal for $5.
Saturday:
West Stadium Center groundbreaking ceremony
Saturday’s spring game activities kick off with a monumental event as we officially break ground on the West Stadium Center project. Fans are invited to attend the 11:30 a.m. ground-moving ceremony, which will include President Schulz, Coach Snyder and representatives from our architectural firms AECOM and Heery and our construction partners GE Johnson and Mortenson Construction. We couldn’t be more excited about this project and know that our fans will enjoy watching the construction process transpire over the course of the next 18 months. Certainly, there will be noticeable construction throughout the 2012 football season, but we know that the finished product will be a transformational facility for all of our fans, student-athletes and the entire Manhattan community. For updates throughout the construction process, click here to visit the official site of the West Stadium Center project.
Spring Game kicks at 1:10 p.m.
Following the West Stadium Center groundbreaking ceremony, fans will get their first chance to watch the 2012 Wildcats in the annual Purple/White game at 1:10 p.m. Click here for gameday details, which include parking information, ticket and gate updates and listening/viewing options for those who cannot make it to the stadium. In addition to our K-State Sports Network affiliates, the game can be heard on SiriusXM and also can be seen live on K-StateHD.TV. Coach Snyder, the rest of our coaching staff and our student-athletes have been working very hard this spring in preparations for the fall. Season tickets for our seven-game home schedule are currently on sale and are going fast as we look to have a sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium for the 2012 season!
Volleyball wraps up spring with scrimmage
Also on Saturday afternoon, Coach Fritz and the volleyball team will wrap up their spring practices with a 1:15 p.m., scrimmage at Ahearn Field House. If you get the opportunity, head over to Ahearn and take a look at some additional improvements we have made to the facility. We are currently in the process of painting all of the upper-level bleachers a nice deep purple to replace the reddish-brown color that has been prevalent for years. You can notice the significant difference and improvement that a coat of paint makes by comparing the new color with the existing hue as we are at the halfway point of completing the project.
Baseball battles Oklahoma State at Tointon
Following the spring game, head on over to Tointon and catch game two of our Big 12 baseball series with Oklahoma State. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
Sunday:
Baseball concludes series
On Sunday, fans can bring their dog to the ballpark for the noon series finale at no additional charge, while the first 100 dogs through the gates will receive a K-State dog bowl. There will also be a water station provided at the Fan Experience gazebo located down the left field line. Fans with dogs are designated to the grassy area down the left field line.
Other weekend action:
While it certainly will be busy around our facilities this weekend, several of our teams are on the road at big events. The tennis team is at Texas A&M Friday for a Big 12 match, while Coach Sweeney and the rowing team are in Oklahoma City Saturday at the Big 12 Championships. Both golf teams are competing at the Big 12 Championships this weekend with the men in Trinity, Texas, and the women in Lawrence. As I am writing this letter, the men are in fifth place and the women are tied for seventh as both are playing their second rounds of the day. And finally, the track and field teams continue to prepare for next month’s Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Manhattan and are split among two of the bigger meets in the country in the Penn Relays and Drake Relays. Boglarka Bozzay won the 800m at the Penn Relays just a few hours ago, while All-American Ryann Krais took fourth in the 400m hurdles. Be sure to visit k-statesports.com for recaps and results from all of these events.
A few additional notes in closing
The final women’s basketball RPI ratings have been released and the Big 12, for the fifth straight year, is the No. 1 RPI conference in America, while the Wildcats checked in at No. 17 in the individual team rankings. In fact, nine of the 10 league teams finished among the top 60 teams in the country. Finally, we have been extremely pleased with the progress that we have made since our launching of K-StateHD.TV and the latest CBS quarterly rankings again show great things for Wildcat fans. K-State ranks No. 1 among all CBS-affiliated institutions in monthly, yearly and total subscribers. If you haven’t yet checked it out, click here for some free content and more information on how to subscribe to our full HD service.
That’s it for today. As always, we appreciate your continued support of our student-athletes, and have fun cheering on the Cats throughout this busy weekend!
Go Cats!
