By Cooper Chadwick
With only four days of work with his team over the summer ,head coach Nate Schmitt coached Wichita Collegiate to its first state title since 2016.
Despite success in the end there were some challenges for Collegiate’s first-year coach.
“Timing. Took the job late. Unexpectedly moving my family across the state. Only got four days with the team over the summer due to the transition. Other than that, the transition was easy due to the state of the program and the amazing job Coach Fiegel did building it over the last 30 years,” Schmitt said.
In the state title game Collegiate beat Burlington 55-43 with senior Sebastian Hines-Turner scoring 33 points and 17 of those coming in the third quarter for the Spartans. As well as senior AJ Batiste adding to that with 12 points and nine rebounds.
“ Can’t say enough about the seniors. They are amazing. They led the way for us! I met with them so many times about what they wanted to accomplish, what I wanted to incorporate into the program and they made it happen. So happy for them and the rest of the team,” Schmitt said.
With a new coach it’s hard to get a team to buy in, especially to get them to buy in enough to win a state championship, but that’s what Schmitt had to do for the Spartans.
“Trust and invest into building relationships with all of them. We set goals and established a road map. The coaching staff believed, encouraged them and helped them navigate through everything to get it done. They did this, I was just there to support,” Schmitt said.
