It was another fun year full of unique stories about KU athletes, some you’d heard of, some you hadn’t and some you surely wanted to learn more about once you did.
We’re looking forward to finding more such stories in 2026 and introducing you to the many unseen sides of some of your favorite Jayhawks.
From funny on-court/field tales to off-the-court features on who these athletes are and what makes them tick, our goal here is to always bring you an interesting look at your Jayhawks.
Before we move fully into a new year, here’s a look back at our favorite KU athlete features of 2025, with the rest of our “Favorite Stories of 2015” dropping tomorrow, covering R1S1 analysis, news, game reactions and more.
Part I - Our favorite Jayhawk features of 2025
• Year 2 at KU was a big one for Spanish Jayhawk Laia Conesa, a reserve guard for the KU women's hoops team, who wound up starting some and playing a pretty big role. Still not fully fluent — nor completely comfortable — in English, R1S1 Sports conducted the first official interview with Conesa in February — mostly in English but with a little Spanish mixed in — to recap her path thus far.
• One of the biggest surprises of the 2024-25 KU basketball season was the impact made by Lawrence native Zeke Mayo, a transfer from South Dakota State, who showed he more than belonged in the Big 12 as one of the top shooters in the conference and a key player for Kansas. In March, we talked to a dozen people from his basketball journey to find out where Zeke Mayo got his game.
• Women's hoops star Caitlin Clark has been one of the big stories in all of sports during the past couple of years, and, in freshman basketball player Libby Fandel, the KU women's program found its connection to the WNBA superstar and Iowa Hawkeyes legend.
• It's just three letters tattooed on the left arm of transfer forward Lilly Meister — JOY — but that word carries a whole lot of meaning for the Indiana transfer and perfectly conveys how she lives her life and plays the game.
• In April, we dove into the incredible story of KU baseball player Jackson Hauge, who went through hell, physically, mentally and on the diamond to make his way to the Jayhawks' dugout and then made the most of it while he was here.
• There's a stereotype that exists around college and NFL place kickers, but first-year Jayhawk Laith Marjan did not fit it in any way, shape or form. He knows that. He loves talking about it. And the transfer who wound up having one of the best seasons by a KU kicker in recent memory has a heck of a personality to go along with it.
• Our first stab at our weekly diary series in the KU soccer world came with none other than KU superstar Lexi Watts, an all-Big 12 standout who, once again, led KU in goals and also to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. In the 9-part "Letters from Lexi" series, we covered everything from the origin of her name to her favorite Halloween memories, a midseason injury — "sitting out sucks" — and the magical moments of her final season as a Jayhawk.
• On to the KU volleyball world, where first-year head coach Matt Ulmer led his Jayhawks to a Sweet 16 appearance of their own. While a few KU veterans took advantage of their new opportunity, Ulmer's time at KU began with him adding a couple of familiar faces to the roster just to be comfortable. None of them had a better story than setter Cristin Cline, who was all-Big Ten at Oregon under Ulmer in 2024 and decided to leave it all behind to follow her coach to Kansas. Speaking of Cline, she was also involved in a pretty rare recruiting feat that helped Ulmer and Kansas land one of the top freshmen in the Big 12 this season.
• One of those KU volleyball veterans who took advantage of her first real chance to play was McPherson, Kansas native Rhian Swanson, who waited in the shadows for years, often with bad body language and a disgruntled attitude, only to see it all finally pay off with an all-Big 12 showing during her senior season.
• Another transfer who wound up playing a big role for KU volleyball this season was libero Ryan White, who, after three losing seasons at Oregon State, finally got her chance to play in the NCAA Tournament with the Jayhawks.
• Finally — and this one's still ongoing — we took our weekly journal series into the world of KU men's basketball, to chronicle "The Return" of KU guard Elmarko Jackson, who is back from a knee injury that forced him to miss the entirety of the 2024-25 season. Jackson's had both some big moments and quiet nights already this season, and we've tracked all of it along with his best Christmas memories, favorite venues and more. Keep an eye out for more of these throughout the early months of 2026.
And keep an eye out tomorrow for Part II of "Our favorite stories of 2025."
Thanks for reading, subscribing, interacting and coming along for the fun.
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