Kansas
Winter Juniors Qualifier Rebecca Pickert Chooses To Stay In-State With Kansas (2025)
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Rebecca Pickert has announced her verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Kansas, beginning with the 2025-2026 season next fall. Pickert’s decision keeps her close to home with her current high school, Saint James Academy, located less than half an hour from her future school. Pickert will be a 5th generation Jayhawk, but is the first of her family to swim for the school.
“I chose KU for the wonderful coaches and positive team environment. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!”
Pickert, who trains year-round with Ad Astra Aquatics, is a distance freestyle specialist. Her top event is the 1650, which she owns a Winter Junior Nationals qualifying time in. Pickert recorded her fastest 1650 time at the Tiger Invite this winter, where she dropped over five seconds for a 16:58.37.
Last summer, the 1500m was also Pickert’s highest placing event at the NCSA Championships. She stopped the clock at 17:59.03, good for 19th overall. She also secured a top-20 finish in the 800m (9:28.15), and took 21st in the 200m fly in a best time of 2:20.37.
In 2023, Pickert represented her high school at the Kansas High School State Championships (1-5A). She captured the state title in the 100 fly and 500 free, hitting times of 56.19 and 5:04.58, respectively. That time still stands as her personal best in the 100 fly, while her 500 has been recently lowered to 5:01.80 this spring.
Top SCY Times
- 500 free – 5:01.80
- 1000 free – 10:12.30
- 1650 free – 16:58.37
- 100 back – 56.71
- 100 fly – 56.19
- 200 fly – 2:03.10
The Jayhawks earned 7th out of 8 teams at the 2024 Big 12 Championships this spring. The conference will look very different by the time Pickert arrives, as Texas will have departed for the SEC while Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah will have joined.
Pickert’s current best time would have made her the team’s fastest 1650 swimmer this past season by nearly ten seconds. Gracyn O’Mara led the way this year with a season best of 17:07.57.
With her commitment, Pickert joins Sammy Cummins, Ivy Solt, Aubrey Tuthill, Maddie Wagner, and Hannah Green in Kansas’ class of 2029. Tuthill is also a distance specialist with a personal best of 16:51.79 in the 1650.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.
WIBW Scoreboard
BOYS
5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
- Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)
5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
- Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
- Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)
3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)
3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
- Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)
GIRLS
6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
- Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
- Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)
4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
- Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
- Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)
2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results
- Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
- Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
- Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)
Copyright 2026 WIBW. All rights reserved.
In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.
The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.
The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy and possession of an illegal firearm.
According to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, 22-year-old Antoine R. Gillum was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.
His sentencing stems from a June 2024 incident in a metro gas station. KCPD investigators contacted Gillum inside and found that he had discarded a 9 mm pistol in an aisle between the merchandise. He also discarded a pill bottle containing multiple illegal substances: cocaine base, oxycodone/acetaminophen and oxycodone.
Officers searched the vehicle Gillum had arrived in and found approximately 32 grams of cocaine base.
On May 6, 2025, Gillum pleaded guilty to one count each of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Jennings. It’s a part of ‘Operation Take Back America,’ a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
No further information has been released.
Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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