No KU football game over the weekend means no helmet stickers — or Wheaties — for the Kansas football team. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hand them out anyway.
A few other KU teams in action benefited from solid individual play in a number of different areas and we’ll honor those athletes this week. We will throw on KU football-related recipient in there for good measure.
You’ve seen the tomahawks on the back of the Florida State helmets, the buckeye tree leaves on the Ohio State helmets and the paw prints on the back of the Clemson helmets.
These are your weekly Wheaties.
Each Monday, after every KU football game, we take one last look back at the game that was and hand out different amounts of the iconic breakfast cereal to the Jayhawks’ top performers.
So, be sure to come get your Monday morning Wheaties and feel free to hit up the comments section — subscribers only for now — with any players you feel we might’ve missed.
Picture on the box
• Junior outside hitter Ayah Elnady – The junior from Cairo, Egypt continued her stellar season by leading the 14th-ranked Jayhawks with 16 kills and 3 service aces in a 3-1 win at TCU on Sunday. Elnady now ranks second on the team in kills, with 179 so far this season, and her 19 aces lead the team. The Jayhawks now have won back-to-back matches in dominant fashion — over Oklahoma and TCU — after dropping a pair at Texas earlier this month. They’ll return home this weekend for a pair of matches Friday and Saturday against West Virginia.
A full bowl
• Senior outside hitter Reagan Cooper – KU’s kills leader with 218, the transfer from Texas Tech was at it again in KU’s win over TCU, finishing with 14 kills and no attack errors to hit .424 for the match. Cooper has been a monster pick-up for Ray Bechard’s Jayhawks this season, and her experience, athleticism and talent have helped push the Jayhawks into the top 14 (and climbing?) of the national rankings midway through the always-tough Big 12 slate.
• Kansas football coach Lance Leipold – Leipold would probably be the first to turn this kind of honor down, but he deserves it nonetheless. On Sunday, FOX Sports announced that it’s Saturday pregame show, Big Noon Kickoff, would be in Lawrence this weekend for the Jayhawks’ homecoming clash with No. 6 Oklahoma. Kickoff is slated for 11 a.m. on FOX, but the mere fact that this type of showcase is showing up on KU’s campus for the second year in a row — ESPN’s College GameDay was here last year — is a true testament to the magnitude of what Leipold and company have accomplished in a very short period of time in Lawrence.
• KU swimming victors – In its second home meet of the season last week, the KU swimming and diving team dominated, winning 15 of 19 events en route to a perfect weekend in the pool against visiting Lindenwood and South Dakota. Included among the winners for Kansas were: The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Claudia Dougan, Caroline Blake, Keyla Brown and Lauren Collins; Hailey Farrell in the 400 IM; Blake in the 100 freestyle; Lezli Sisung and Lydia Lafferty in the 200 backstroke and 100 butterfly, respectively, and Gracyn O’Mara in the 500 freestyle. KU diver Shiyun Lai also won the diving portion of the event with 297.4 points, which was just enough to edge out KU teammate Lize van Leeuwen, who finished with 282.75.
Drink the milk
• Kansas basketball center Hunter Dickinson – It seems to be a safe bet that Dickinson will land in this feature more than a few times this season for the numbers he puts up. But let’s give the Michigan transfer an early win for the way he conducted himself at Big 12 media day in Kansas City last week. Dickinson was confident, transparent and honest throughout the event, even when being asked questions about his expectations for the season or KU’s status as the No. 1 team in the AP preseason poll. In short, he likes being there because he likes when other people know he’s better than they are. Add to that confidence, the fact that Dickinson came to KU to win a national championship and get ready for the NBA and it’s clear that the 7-foot-2 Big 12 preseason player of the year is ready and willing to do whatever he can to achieve those goals and willing to talk the talk and walk the walk along the way.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kutickets.com
