ALEXANDRIA - Back in March, Alexandria’s Braeden Sladek made a verbal commitment to the University of Kansas.
And in the Alexandria High School gym on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, Sladek affirmed his commitment by officially signing to play golf for the University of Kansas.
“When I verbally committed back in March, it was a relief and now to make it official now it's even more of a relief and I'm pumped,” Sladek said.
Sladek, a senior, has been a consistent golfer in the Cardinals varsity lineup since 7th-grade and won the Section 8AAA title that year.
That’s just the tip of the accomplishments he’s had in golfing tenure. He’s qualified for a U.S. Junior Amateur Open before, he won the Men’s Division championship at the 2021 Resorters Tournament at 16 years old, he set a record at Geneva Golf Club and has been an All-Central Lakes Conference golfer in all his years on the varsity team.
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Part of the reason that Kansas appealed to him is the niceness of the facilities.
“I like the practice facilities that they have and their living conditions for all the athletes,” Sladek said. “They treat their athletes really well. They have a really good coaching staff down there. They have a lot of experience. It’s just a good atmosphere down there for me where I can work hard and take my game to the next level.”
Before he heads off to Lawrence, Kansas, Sladek is ready to lead the Alexandria boys golf team to another run at the Class AAA State Tournament.
Alexandria is coming off a third place finish at the 2022 state tournament.
“Our goals are high,” he said. “We have a really good team, I think we by far have the best four, five or six players in the state. I think we can win a state championship if we all play to our potential, work hard and continue to be committed and support each other."
Sladek finished tied for 19th at the tournament and earned all-state honors. He also won the CLC title in 2022 and has finished near the top in a handful of CLC and section meets in his varsity tenure.
“I’m coming off a bad stretch, a bad summer,” he said. “I’m just trying to get it all back under control. I’m trying to be more committed to myself and to my golf game, knowing that I have that game to compete at a really high level. I’m working on trusting myself more and am really working on getting things more dialed in. Obviously, it’s going to be a little bit harder here soon in Minnesota with the snow and stuff. But getting dialed in and committing to myself are the biggest things for me moving forward.”
Sladek previously said that part of the reason that he picked Kansas was because of the weather along with the opportunity to play college golf in a major power conference (the Big 12). Sladek had his signing on the same morning that Alexandria senior Hannah Boraas did. Boraas signed to play for Montana State.
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