Two People Injured When Tornado Rolls Through Osage County
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) - The National Weather Service in Topeka says two people suffered minor injuries in Osage County when a tornado flipped over their recreational vehicle. The weather service says an EF1 tornado with winds up to 100 mph touched down four miles west-southwest of Overbrook in Osage County, just after 6 am Tuesday. It traveled north-northeast and struck the Shawnee County town of Richland. Another tornado touched down early Tuesday morning in Greenwood County. Authorities confirm a tornado touched down around 4:50 am just southeast of Eureka, causing minimal damage. Thousands of Kansans lost power during Tuesday's storms - more than 21,000 statewide. As Wednesday morning, about 100 Evergy customers remained without electricity. The weather service says more showers and thunderstorms are expected late Wednesday night and Thursday morning across eastern Kansas.
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Plane Hit by Lightning, Forced to Make Emergency Landing at KCI
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMBC) — A passenger jet plane departing from Kansas City had to return to KCI to make an emergency landing after it was hit by lightning early Tuesday morning. KMBC TV reports that the American Airlines flight took off from KCI at 5:35 am en route to Chicago. While in the air, the plane was struck by lightning. Pilots turned the plane back to Kansas City, where it made a safe emergency landing. Officials say 42 people were on board the flight but no injuries were reported. It does not appear that the plane was damaged by the lightning strike.
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Kansas Board of Regents Approves Policy Change on DEI Policies at Universities
WICHITA, Kan. (KNS) – The board that oversees public colleges in Kansas will no longer allow schools to require support for diversity, equity and inclusion. The Kansas News Service reports that the Kansas Board of Regents has approved a policy change that bars universities from requiring DEI pledges from anyone seeking a job or promotion. The change comes after Kansas lawmakers approved a bill that would put the same policy into state law. Supporters say DEI statements amount to left-wing ideology. Regents chairman Jon Rolph says the state's universities already don’t require DEI pledges, and the policy change makes it official. “This shows that we were serious about that change in practice, and so communications I’ve had across the street have been in that spirit of why we’re looking at this today,” he said. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has until Friday to act on the bill, which she vetoed last year.
(–Additional reporting–)
Kansas Board of Regents Adopts Anti-DEI Policy After Pressure from GOP Legislators
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State universities in Kansas are banned from requiring prospective students, potential hires and staffers seeking promotion to disclose their views on diversity initiatives under a policy change approved Wednesday by the state's higher education board in response to pressure from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
The Kansas Board of Regents revised policy language that currently emphasizes “multiculturism and diversity” on campus by adding language barring universities from requiring statements “pledging allegiance to, support for or opposition to” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in applications for admission, hiring or promotion — without setting any penalties for violations. Board members voiced no opposition during a meeting livestreamed from Fort Hays State University in western Kansas.
Regents Chairman Jon Rolph called the change “our good faith effort in trying to listen to the Legislature” and said discussions about it began last summer.
“It’s not something central to our practices around wanting student success and trying to fulfill our promises to people when we invite them onto our campuses,” said Rolph, CEO of a Wichita-based company operating more than 150 restaurants.
The board's action came with Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly facing similar pressure to sign the same policy into law. Lawmakers approved a bill with the same restrictions that also would allow a fine of up to $10,000 for a violation.
Separately, the next state budget approved by lawmakers includes provisions that withhold nearly $36 million from the state universities unless they publicly confirm that they don't have such requirements. Kelly has until Friday to act on the bill and until April 25 to act on the budget provisions.
“I don’t think we ever would have had a state law if this was their policy at the outset,” Republican state Sen. J.R. Claeys, the author of the budget provisions, said ahead of Wednesday's board discussion.
Republicans in at least 20 states have sought to limit DEI initiatives, arguing that they are discriminatory and enforce a liberal political orthodoxy. Alabama and Utah enacted new anti-DEI laws this year, and a ban enacted in Texas last year has led to more than 100 job cuts on University of Texas campuses.
North Carolina's governing board for 17 universities, including the University of North Carolina's flagship Chapel Hill campus, could put the jobs of DEI staff on a path toward elimination through a similar policy change next month.
Claeys, who is also an adviser to GOP Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, another DEI critic, said a new regents policy is a positive step because it ensures that all of the universities are following the same guidelines.
But, he added, “I wouldn’t expect them to enact any enforcement on themselves.”
Others say that such policies reflect “a gross misrepresentation” of the purpose behind DEI statements from applicants. The American Psychological Association defines diversity, equity and inclusion as a framework to guide “fair treatment and full participation of all people,” especially those in minority groups.
“The intended purpose is to provide an opportunity for prospective employees to reflect on their experiences and how those experiences complement the mission and values of an institution to support a diverse campus community,” said Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Educations, in an email statement.
It's unclear how widespread required DEI-related statements on applications are. GOP lawmakers have said they are responding to complaints and applications they’d seen online, but Rolph said Wednesday that the practice was mostly abandoned over the past year.
Granberry Russell said she was unaware of any university expecting students, job applicants or employees to actually “pledge allegiance to diversity.”
A legislative audit released in February said that just 1.6% of spending by Kansas’ six state universities — $45 million — went to DEI initiatives but noted that each university defined DEI differently. Besides initiatives traditionally seen as DEI, such as training and recruiting, resources included food pantries for poor students and services for military veterans and disabled students.
Kelly told reporters after a Tuesday event that she has not had time to review the anti-DEI bill. While the bill specifically mentions diversity, equity and inclusion, it also says universities cannot require a statement about “any political ideology or movement.”
Last year, Kelly used her power under the state constitution to veto individual budget provisions to scuttle anti-DEI provisions in the current budget, and GOP lawmakers did not have the two-thirds majorities necessary in both chambers to override her actions.
But Kelly also signed legislation last year that bars Kansas officials from using environmental, social and governance factors in investing public funds or deciding who receives government contracts.
“Sometimes those bills, you know, they really don’t do much, and the universities can continue to function the way they need to function,” Kelly said Tuesday. “So, I need to figure out or look at how impactful that will be.”
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Former Kansas Prosecutor Surrenders Law License
UNDATED (KCUR) – A Kansas prosecutor accused of several ethical breaches has surrendered her law license and will be disbarred. KCUR reports that Terra Morehead has agreed to turn over her law license as part of an agreement with a Kansas disciplinary board. Court filings say she will soon be disbarred by the Kansas Supreme Court. In the 1990s, Morehead was the Wyandotte County prosecutor who helped former Kansas City, Kansas Police Detective Roger Golubski frame Lamonte McIntyre, an innocent man who spent 23 years in prison. While in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas, she was accused of threatening witnesses and concealing evidence. Morehead retired from the U.S. Attorney’s office last August.
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Low-Income Kansans Wait to Learn If Internet Discount Bill Will Be Allowed to Expire
TOPEKA, Kan. (KNS) – Thousands of Kansans could see their internet bill go up if Congress fails to extend a pandemic-era program by the end of April. The Kansas News Service reports that the program gives a discount of up to $30 per month on internet service to lower income households. More than 130,000 Kansas households are set to lose that discount when the program expires at the end of the month. Jade Piros de Carvalho leads the Kansas Office of Rural Broadband Development. She says people need affordable internet access to participate in the economy, especially in rural areas. “People can’t apply for a job without a broadband connection. They can’t work from home; they don’t have remote work opportunities,” she explained. Piros de Carvalho says there’s widespread support in Congress to renew the program but House leaders have not yet allowed a vote.
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Bond Denied for 4 'God's Misfits' Defendants in the Killing of 2 Kansas Women
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma judge ordered public defenders to represent four members of an anti-government group who appeared in court Wednesday on charges of kidnapping and killing two Kansas women.
The judge also entered not-guilty pleas and denied bail for Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend, Tad Cullum, 43, both of Keyes, Oklahoma, as well as Cole and Cora Twombly of Texhoma, Oklahoma.
Texas County Associate District Judge Clark Jett assigned the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System to represent all four defendants, OIDS Executive Director Tim Laughlin told The Associated Press. Laughlin declined to comment about any details of the case or the defendants, citing his agency's policy. “The reason we don’t comment is to protect our client’s privileges and our client’s interest throughout the trial process,” Laughlin said.
All four are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in the killing of 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley of Hugoton, Kansas, who disappeared on March 30 while driving to Oklahoma to pick up Butler's children and attend a birthday party.
During an interview with investigators, Adams, the children's grandmother, admitted she was responsible for the deaths of Butler and Kelley, according to a prosecutor's motion for the defendants to be held without bond.
“Adams, Cullum, Cora and Cole have resources sufficient to organize and execute a complex murder,” OSBI Lt. Amie Gates wrote in an affidavit. “Therefore, they also have the resources to flee if given the opportunity.”
Adams and Cullum also own numerous firearms, and Cullum had a rifle, ammunition, body armor and a “go-bag” prepared at his home, the affidavit says.
Authorities say Adams and Butler were in the middle of a bitter custody battle. Kelley, a pastor's wife, went along with Butler as a court-approved observer to supervise the visit. They never showed up for the party, setting off a two week search that ended with the two couples' arrests on Saturday and the discovery of the bodies on Sunday.
Arrest affidavits painted a gruesome picture of the scene where the women's car was found, not far from the rural highway intersection where Butler had arranged to pick up her son and daughter from Adams. Investigators found blood on the road and Butler’s glasses near a broken hammer.
According to a witness who spoke to Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents, all four suspects were part of “an anti-government group that had a religious affiliation." The affidavits said they called themselves “God’s Misfits” and held regular meetings at the home of the Twomblys and another couple who Adams said watched the children the day the women disappeared.
Relatives of Tad Cullum and the Twomblys have not returned phone messages seeking comment. Tifany Adams’ stepmother, Elise Adams, said she had no information to share.
This story was updated on April 18, 2024 to correct the date of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley's disappearance to March 30, 2024, rather than the previously reported May 30, 2024. The Associated Press apologizes for the error.
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Hundreds Request Polling Site at Fort Hays State University
UNDATED (KNS) – Hundreds of residents of Ellis County, Kansas, are asking officials to open a polling place at Fort Hays State University to help boost voter turnout. The Kansas News Service reports that on Tuesday, supporters hand-delivered a petition to County Clerk Bobbi Dreiling asking for the change. Fort Hays State student Madison Albers says Dreiling recently moved the nearest polling location farther from campus and consolidated two voting districts into one. Albers says that makes it even harder for many students to vote, explaining that “...college students, it may be their first year voting. It's so discouraging to quite a few students who are already on the fence of whether or not they feel they can vote.” She says Fort Hays State students are less likely to vote than students at other Kansas universities with on-campus locations. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas says more polling locations in a county correlates with higher voter turnout. Dreiling declined to comment on the petition.
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KBI Arrests Kansas Police Lieutenant for Sex Crimes
CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. (KPR) – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has arrested a southeast Kansas police officer for child sex crimes. KBI agents took 55-year-old David Justice, of Baxter Springs, into custody Wednesday morning. Justice is charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child, indecent solicitation and promoting obscenity to a minor. Justice served as a Lieutenant with the Columbus Police Department but has been on unpaid administrative leave since February 2023, when allegations against him were first reported.
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Regional Summit to Fight Antisemitism Featured Douglas Emhoff, National Researchers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCUR) – The husband of Vice President Kamala Harris was at a regional summit to combat antisemitism Tuesday. KCUR reports it was organized by Kansas City Jewish community groups. Hundreds of people gathered at Rockhurst University to hear second gentleman Doug Emhoff and national researchers discuss the rise of antisemitism in the Midwest and across the country. The Anti-Defamation League’s Jyot Singh says identity-based harassment of Jews online has been growing since before the current Israel-Hamas war. “This is before October 7th," Singh explained. "This is before most of the things that we've seen this year. And we're seeing thousands of incidents across the country pretty much everywhere there are a large community of Jews.” Singh says hate speech aimed at all minority groups is on the upswing. It also comes from across the political spectrum.
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Lansing Prison Inmate Dies
LANSING, Kan. (KPR) – An inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility has died. Prison officials say 44-year-old Robert Edwin Blanchette died Monday. He was found unresponsive in his cell. His cause of death will be determined by an independent autopsy. Blanchette was serving a life sentence for convictions of first-degree murder and kidnapping in Reno County. Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections, the death is reviewed by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
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Printing Press in Southwest Kansas Keeps Local Newspapers Humming
LIBERAL, Kan. (KNS) — More than half of the counties in Kansas have either just one newspaper or none at all, but a southwest Kansas printing press is helping keep local news alive in small towns across four states. As newspapers around the country close or consolidate, a printing press in Liberal, Kansas, is a lifeline for local media in the region. Print media is struggling in many areas, but it survives in 15 towns thanks to a printing press still churning out newspapers in Liberal. The light blue machine takes up most of a warehouse, about the size of a school bus, with newspapers flying through different pulleys as ink is applied. At medium speed, it can spit out 500 papers per minute.
Danny Morua, the pressman for almost 20 years, makes a small adjustment, and within seconds is pushing a new roll of paper that weighs 700 pounds back onto the mechanism. What used to be a community staple is now almost obsolete. But here in Liberal, Morua and his small crew are printing weekly papers for small towns across four states. It’s helping keep those other community papers alive and slowing the growth of news deserts where people can’t find local news. “I love turning something that comes out looking basic and adding so much color to it, and knowing that I printed that,” Morua said. (Read more.)
The U.S. has lost more than 2,800 newspapers since 2005, many of them in rural areas. Now, some journalists are redoubling their efforts to provide local news and trying new models in a difficult industry. See this related story: Newspapers in rural areas are folding, leaving vast news deserts. But there are bright spots.
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KU Marks 70th Anniversary of Brown v Board Ruling with Two-Day Conference
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) — The University of Kansas is marking the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education case with a two-day conference this week (April 18th and 19th). The KU School of Education and Human Sciences is partnering with the Brown v. Board National Historic site in Topeka for "Brown v. Board at 70: Looking Back and Striving Forward." Dr. Jim Williams, the superintendent of the Brown v. Board National Historic Park, recently spoke to KPR's Kaye McIntyre about the lessons learned from Brown, 70 years later.
Learn more about "Brown v. Board at 70" by visiting soehs.ku.edu.
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"Stories for All" Festival Comes to Lawrence
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KPR) — Storytellers of all kinds - writers, artists and filmmakers - will gather in Lawrence this week. The "Stories for All" festival highlights the work of DIGITAL storytellers. Dr. Giselle Anatol is the director of KU's Hall Center for the Humanities, a lead sponsor of the festival. She tells KPR's Kaye McIntyre that more that 40 partners are involved in Stories for All, which takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday (April 18th, 19th, and 20th).
Learn more at StoriesForAll.org.
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KC Chiefs Tight-End Travis Kelce to Host 'Are You Smarter than a Celebrity?'
UNDATED (AP) - Travis Kelce is bulking up his resume off the football field. The Kansas City Chief tight-end has been named the host of "Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?" for Prime Video, the streaming service confirmed Tuesday. It's a twist on "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Filming on the 20-episode season is already completed. On Kelce's show, an adult contestant will be given 11 5th grade-level questions to answer - and they can get assistance from a classroom of celebrities. The final question from a 6th grade-curriculum is worth $100,000. In a statement, Kelce said he is excited about the opportunity.
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Salvador Perez's Homer Lifts Royals Over White Sox, 4-2; Chicago Wins Second Half of Doubleheader
CHICAGO (AP) — Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the eighth to put the Royals ahead, and Kansas City beat the Chicago White Sox 4-2 Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader. Perez socked his fifth homer of the season off Michael Kopech to left center for a 3-2 Royals lead. The eight-time All-Star catcher started the game after missing Monday with a groin injury. Hunter Renfroe added a solo shot in the ninth. Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer off Royals ace Brady Singer.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the White Sox beat the Royals, 2-1. Chicago's record on the year now stands at 3-15.
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Hall of Fame Baseball Manager Whitey Herzog Dies at Age 92
NEW YORK (AP) — Whitey Herzog, the gruff and ingenious Hall of Fame manager who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and a World Series title in the 1980s and perfected an intricate, nail-biting strategy known as "Whiteyball," has died. He was 92.
Cardinals spokesman Brian Bartow said Tuesday the team had been informed of his death by Herzog's family. The team did not immediately have additional details about Herzog, who had been at Busch Stadium on April 4 for the Cardinals' home opener. “Whitey Herzog devoted his lifetime to the game he loved, excelling as a leader on and off the field,” Jane Forbes Clark, chair of the Hall of Fame's board of directors, said in a statement. “Whitey always brought the best out of every player he managed with a forthright style that won him respect throughout the game.”
A crew-cut, pot-bellied tobacco chewer who had no patience for the "buddy-buddy" school of management, Herzog joined the Cardinals in 1980 and helped end the team's decade-plus pennant drought by adapting it to the artificial surface and distant fences of Busch Memorial Stadium. A typical Cardinals victory under Herzog was a low-scoring, 1-run game, sealed in the final innings by a “bullpen by committee,” relievers who might be replaced after a single pitch, or temporarily shifted to the outfield, then brought back to the mound.
The Cardinals had power hitters in George Hendrick and Jack Clark, but they mostly relied on the speed and resourcefulness of switch-hitters Vince Coleman and Willie McGee, the acrobatic fielding of shortstop and future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith and the effective pitching of starters such as John Tudor and Danny Cox and relievers Todd Worrell, Ken Dayley and Jeff Lahti. For the '82 champions, Herzog didn't bother rotating relievers, but simply brought in future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter to finish the job.
"They (the media) seemed to think there was something wrong with the way we played baseball, with speed and defense and line-drive hitters," Herzog wrote in his memoir "White Rat: A Life in Baseball," published in 1987. "They called it 'Whiteyball' and said it couldn't last."
Under Herzog, the Cards won pennants in 1982, 1985 and 1987, and the World Series in 1982, when they edged the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. Herzog managed the Kansas City Royals to division titles in 1976-78, but they lost each time in the league championship to the New York Yankees.
Overall, Herzog was a manager for 18 seasons, compiling a record of 1,281 wins and 1,125 losses. He was named Manager of the Year in 1985 and voted into the Hall by the Veterans Committee in 2010, his plaque noting his "stern, yet good-natured style," and his emphasis on speed, pitching and defense. Just before he formally entered the Hall, the Cardinals retired his uniform number, 24.
When asked about the secrets of managing, he would reply a sense of humor and a good bullpen.
Herzog is survived by his wife of 71 years, Mary Lou Herzog; their three children, Debra, David and Jim, and their spouses; nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog was born in New Athens, Illinois, a blue-collar community that would shape him long after he left. He excelled in baseball and basketball and was open to skipping the occasional class to take in a Cardinals game. Signed up by the Yankees, he was a center fielder who discovered that he had competition from a prospect born just weeks before him, Mickey Mantle.
Herzog never played for the Yankees, but he did get to know manager Casey Stengel, another master shuffler of players who became a key influence. The light-haired Herzog was named "The White Rat" because of his resemblance to Yankees pitcher Bob "The White Rat" Kuzava.
Like so many successful managers, Herzog was a mediocre player, batting just .257 over eight seasons and playing several positions. His best year was with Baltimore in 1961, when he hit .291. He also played for the Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics and Detroit Tigers, with whom he ended his playing career, in 1963. "Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it," he liked to say.
After working as a scout and coach, Herzog was hired in 1967 by the New York Mets as director of player development, with Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan among the future stars he helped bring along. The Mets liked him well enough to designate him the successor to Gil Hodges, but when the manager died suddenly in 1972 the job went to Yogi Berra. Herzog instead debuted with the Texas Rangers the following season, finishing just 47-91 before being replaced by Billy Martin. He managed the Angels for a few games in 1974 and joined the Royals the following season, his time with Kansas City peaking in 1977 when the team finished 102-60.
Many players spoke warmly of Herzog, but he didn’t hesitate to rid his teams of those he no longer wanted, dumping such Cardinals stars as outfielder Lonnie Smith and starting pitcher Joaquin Andujar. One trade worked out brilliantly: Before the 1982 season, he exchanged .300 hitting shortstop Garry Templeton, whom Herzog had chastised for not hustling, for the Padres' light-hitting Ozzie Smith, now widely regarded as the best defensive shortstop in history. Another deal was less far successful: Gold Glove first baseman Keith Hernandez, with whom Herzog had feuded, to the Mets in the middle of 1983 for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. Hernandez led New York to the World Series title in 1986, while Allen and Ownbey were soon forgotten.
Herzog was just as tough on himself, resigning in the middle of 1990 because he was “embarrassed” by the team’s 33-47 record. He served as a consultant and general manager for the Angels in the early '90s and briefly considered managing the Red Sox before the 1997 season.
If the '82 championship was the highlight of his career, his greatest blow was the '85 series. The Cardinals were up 3 games to 2 against his former team, the Royals, and in Game 6 led 1-0 going into the bottom of the ninth, with Worrell brought in to finish the job.
Jorge Orta led off and grounded a 0-2 pitch between the mound and first base. In one of the most famous blown calls in baseball history, he was ruled safe by umpire Don Denkinger, even though replays showed first baseman Jack Clark's toss to Worrell was in time. The Cardinals never recovered. Kansas City rallied for two runs to tie the series and crushed the Cards 11-0 in Game 7. "No, I'm not bitter at Denkinger," Herzog told the AP years later. "He's a good guy, he knows he made a mistake, and he's a human being. It happened at an inopportune time but I do think they ought to have instant replay in the playoffs and World Series."
As if testing Herzog's humor, the Hall inducted him alongside an umpire, Doug Harvey. "I don't know why he should get in," Herzog joked at the time. “Doug kicked me out of more games than any other umpire.”
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Jade Carey and Leanne Wong Hope Their Path to the Olympics Goes Through the NCAA Championships
UNDATED (AP) – Jade Carey and Leanne Wong watched as the elite gymnasts they grew up with left college last summer so they could turn their attention to the Paris Olympics.
Suni Lee headed home to Minnesota after two years at Auburn. Jordan Chiles returned to Texas following a decorated stint at UCLA. Kayla DiCello asked longtime personal coach Kelli Hill to come out of retirement to help her get ready, a request that included DiCello taking a break from Florida so she could train full-time in Maryland.
Carey and Wong opted to stay put — Carey at Oregon State, Wong at Florida — even though they knew juggling college and elite gymnastics heading into an Olympic year could potentially up the degree of difficulty of making the five-woman U.S. team this summer.
Still, they felt they owed it to themselves and the programs that nurtured them to stick around. On Thursday, Carey and Wong will step onto the floor at Dickie's Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, eying a shot at an NCAA championship.
Yes, it's been draining. Occasionally chaotic, too, for that matter. And totally worth it.
Carey, who won gold on floor exercise at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, initially wasn't so sure she'd made the right decision. The 23-year-old admitted she didn't feel “fully prepared” while competing as an elite last summer. She finished 15th in the all-around at the U.S. Championships and 11th on floor. “I just kept stacking a lot of pressure on myself and felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders,” Carey said. “I wasn’t really enjoying what I was doing just because I wasn’t doing well and I didn’t feel good about my gymnastics.”
She wasn't surprised when she wasn't selected for the world championship team and headed back to Corvallis, Oregon, in need of a reset. Carey took some time off and offered herself something that's sometimes in short supply in a sport where criticism — externally or internally — is almost unavoidable: grace. “I knew that the Olympics was still my end goal and maybe that last year was just something I had to go through,” Carey said. “I would rather it be last year than this year.”
The confidence she was missing has returned. Carey enters the NCAA finals coming off a regional meet where she was the all-around, beam and floor champion. She's recorded two perfect 10s this season to push her career total to 13. Her next fall this season will be her first.
All while dedicating a significant portion of her practice time to building up the endurance necessary for elite routines, which are longer and far more difficult than what is required at the college level. She plans to return to elite competition at the American Classic in Katy, Texas, at the end of this month, a relatively low-stakes meet that will allow her to show the powers that be at USA Gymnastics that she's serious about this.
Not that they need any convincing.
While Carey hasn't attended a national team camp since last fall, she recently went through the skill verification process over Zoom. Carey had two phones focused on her during her routines — one conducting the Zoom so USA Gymnastics officials could watch in real-time, with another recording it all as a backup just in case there was a glitch — all while an elite judge monitored in person. “It was kind of weird and different,” she said.
And also necessary. The “fear of missing out” while USA Gymnastics rolled on without her through the fall and winter is real.
It's much the same for Wong, an Olympic alternate in 2021 and a four-time world championship medalist. The junior — a pre-med student and budding entrepreneur and author — considered trying to fit in a national team camp the same week that Florida hosted an NCAA regional meet.
It turned out to be a little too much, one of the rare occasions when the 20-year-old Wong actually had to say “no.” That's typically not her style. “I feel like I thrive with having a lot of things to do,” she said.
Good, because if anyone has “a lot of things to do,” it's Wong. When she's not helping lead a very young Gators team to the NCAA finals, she's helping her mother guide her booming hair bow business, meeting with sponsors, hawking her autobiography or studying for med school. Sometimes all in the same day.
In the hours before Florida hosted LSU in February, Wong watched three lectures, completed three assignments, and took an exam. Oh, and then posted a 39.875 in the all-around during the meet that included a 10 on floor.
You know, just a normal day.
Wong knows on the outside it looks like a lot. She has found a way to make it work. Sure, she could have returned home to Overland Park, Kansas, to train but with some of her classes making in-person attendance mandatory and the resources at her disposal at Florida, from coaching to athletic training, it made sense to stay.
Besides, there's something about being in a team-oriented atmosphere that has allowed Wong to find joy. “It's a lot of fun," she said. "I am a pretty serious person. It’s just so different.”
All while not taking away from her Olympic aspirations. Wong has made each of the last three world championship teams thanks in part to the experience gained while competing in front of judges weekly at the NCAA level.
She has found peace, happiness and balance along the way. That hasn't always been the case. It's one of the reasons she's good with whatever happens this summer. She's prepping for Paris her way, and that's all she can ask. “Since I’ve been through it all, I can almost control my gymnastics,” she said. “I feel like I have more ownership. It's almost like I'm in the driver's seat now.”
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