By Ken Hansard
The Smoky Valley Vikings finished the 2022-2023 season at 11-10 overall and 8-5 in the highly competitive Central Kansas League, but they lost a lot of players to graduation. Viking’s senior Ki Blanchat, one of the league’s top shooting guards, is hoping that he and his younger teammates can pick up right where last year’s squad left off.
Blanchat, who also plays the forward position, had this to say about this year’s version of the Vikings: “I’m definitely looking forward to the chance to prove ourselves this season. We lost the majority of our varsity team, so we’re excited to go into this season to show what we can do. We definitely lost a lot from last year, but we have some young guys who have the potential to fill their shoes.”
Blanchat was an All-League second team performer as a junior, and was also named Honorable Mention All-State (Class 3A) by KSHSAA. But that success has only made him hungry for more. In the off-season, he and his teammates worked hard to improve: “We were in the gym early in the morning during the off-season, and we’ll definitely continue to learn to play a more physical style.”
Away from the hardwood, Blanchat is highly involved at school and in the community. He runs track and has competed at the KSHSAA State meet in each of his first three years. He plays fall basketball and was a member of the SSA Elite team this past year. Blanchat is a member of FCA and his town’s youth group.
Blanchat’s plans for the future are to play basketball and study finance next year at Concordia University in Nebraska.
