Gowans Stadium will host three state football championships in 2024

Hutchinson Community College and Gowans Stadium will host three Kansas State football championships in 2024.
As announced in January, the state football championships will be moving to three sites with three games being played at each site. The executive board approved the sites and schedules for 2024.
The postseason formats are set by the KSHSAA Executive Board each year.
The Kansas Class 2A state football championship will be played at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, at Gowans Stadium on the HutchCC campus. On Saturday, Nov. 30, the Class 3A state championship will be played at noon and Class 1A is 5 p.m.
Emporia State University will host three state football championship games. The Class 6A state title game is at 2 p.m. Nov. 29. On Nov. 30, Class 4A is at 1 p.m., followed by Class 5A at 7 p.m.
Kiowa County High School-Greensburg will host three state football championships.
The Eight-Man Division II game is 11 a.m. on Nov. 29. On Nov. 30, the Six-Man championship game is at 43 p.m., followed by the Eight-Man II state title game at 7 p.m.
Changes to postseason formats and championship sites for basketball, football, wrestling and track and field highlight actions approved at the June 12-13 KSHSAA Executive Board Meeting.
Beginning in March of 2026, the state basketball tournaments will move to four total sites. Four facilities will host to the seven classifications and 14 championships.
By honoring the KSHSAA membership voted in the fall of 2023 to qualify eight boys teams and eight girls teams involved at the final site, modifications to the daily schedule will be developed.
The schedule and other event details, including classification designations for each site and venue selection will be determined and announced following the 2024-25 basketball season.
Another basketball postseason change effective with the 2024-25 season will come at the 3A, 2A, 1A DI and 1A DII classifications.
Each class will be divided into four regions and then seeded into two sub-states within the region: Substate A: 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16; Substate B: 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15.
The winner of each substate will advance to the state basketball tournament. Further format details and dates will be sent to member schools.
Girls wrestling will now include four classes to mirror the boys classification designations.
The addition of another class for girls wrestling necessitates the addition of another championship site.
Classes 6A, 5A, 4A and 3-1A will each have their own site to determine a champion.
Class 3-1A state wrestling will be in Hays and 4A will be in Salina.
Park City Arena and one other facility to be named later will house either 6A or 5A
State sites and regional dates will be determined at the September KSHSAA Executive Board meeting. The state wrestling tournaments will take place Feb. 28-March 1, 2025.
Qualification for the state meet was adjusted to now be the top three finishers plus the next four best regional performances in each event.
Ontjes, Smith, Wesslund will be honored at Greater Wichita Sports Banquet
Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball John Ontjes and HutchCC Blue Dragon athletes Kiki Smith and Cooper Wesslund will be honored at the Greater Wichita Sports Banquet Wednesday, June 26, at Intrust Bank Arena.
The banquet starts at 6:45 p.m.
Ontjes will be honored as College Coach of the Year for leading the Blue Dragons women’s basketball program to a 37-0 record and the school’s first women’s national basketball title.
Smith is a finalist for the Junior College Female Athlete of the Year.
Smith, a member of the undefeated HutchCC women’s basketball team, was the NJCAA, Region 6 and Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year. She will play basketball at the University of Arkansas next year.
Wesslund was one of the finalists for Junior College Male Athlete of the Year. Wesslund helped lead the HutchCC Blue Dragons baseball team to a 51-13 record and .
Former NBA player Maurice Evans, a Wichita Collegiate graduate who played college basketball at Wichita State University of the University of Texas, will be the keynote speaker. Evans, a 6-foot-5 guard, played 11 seasons in the NBA for seven teams and now is a sports agent based in Texas.
Also on hand will be former San Francisco Giants’ catcher Buster Posey, who will present the Buster Posey Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award. Posey was the leader of a Giants team that won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
The Catcher of the Year finalists are North Carolina State’s Jacob Cozart, Sam Houston State’s Walker Janek and Cal Poly’s Ryan Stafford.