Blue was the special color Saturday at the 2026 Flint Hills Optimist All Star Classic at White Auditorium in Emporia. The best senior basketball players shared the court and competed in two competitive games. Allie Kneisler of Lyndon and Dylan Theel of Osage City won the Bryan Douglas Most Valuable Player Awards.
The Blue girl’s team won 70-65. The victorious team raced out to a 24-13 first quarter lead and never looked back. The winning coach, Machelle Stueve Corpening, said this is just an all round great event.
Kneisler led the charge with 22 points and five made threes. She was the MVP and thought the team’s rebounding sealed the game.
MdCV’s Gracen Stahl chipped in 16 for the Blue club. Madelyn Wilson of Chase County led red with 13 points and Sadie Albert of Madison had ten.
The Blue boy’s team won 82-79. The Red team led for most of the night, 25-24 after one and 42-40 at half. The Blue coach, Dylan Farr, always has a great time on the sideline.
Theel finished with a game high 20 and was one of three from the Blue squad in double figures. The MVP was honored to win the award.
Maddux Cheever of Burlington added 18 and Burlingame’s Drake Skirvin rocked the rim a couple times on his was to 12 points. Octavian Dean of Madison led Red with 18 and Emporia’s Rylan Crowell chipped in 16 points. James Marcotte of Lyndon nailed four threes and scored 14.
Maddox Shivley of Emporia and Kneisler each won the random scholarships the Flint Hills Optimists hand out.
