Kpreps -- Kpreps.com is pleased to announce the finalists for the ninth annual Get Busy Livin’ – Kpreps Player of the Year Award in conjunction with the Dylan Meier Foundation.

The 2019 award finalists include Quinn Buessing of Axtell, Turner Corcoran of Lawrence Free State, Landon Everett of Canton-Galva, Jordan Finnesy of Plainville, Beau Foster of Dodge City, Tyler Green of Mill Valley, Max Kalny of St. James Academy, Bryce Krone of Bonner Springs, and Ty Lindenman of Shawnee Mission Northwest.

The award is in honor of Dylan Meier, a former All-State quarterback at Pittsburg High School and starter at Kansas State University who died in a hiking accident in 2010 at the age of 26. The annual award goes out to one Kansas high school senior who not only has shown excellence on the field but also has demonstrated the values that Dylan embodied and Get Busy Livin’ (GBL) strives to promote: adventure, fitness, curiosity and a daily zest for life experiences.

Dylan Meier – GBL Player of the Year Award winners:
2018 – Jace Friesen, Basehor-Linwood
2017 - Carter Putz, Bishop Miege
2016 - Will Schneider, Shawnee Mission North
2015 - Tucker Horak, Rossville
2014 - Denzel Goolsby, Bishop Carroll
2013 - Austin Chambers, Shawnee Mission West
2012 - Brad Strauss, Lawrence
2011 - Kole Schankie, Madison

Players from around the state were nominated. The GBL committee then narrowed the list of candidates to nine.

“The Dylan Meier Foundation and the selection committee have done a tremendous job in selecting this group of nine finalists,” Kpreps editor Matt Gilmore said. “Each of these student-athletes are not only among the top players in the state, but also exude many of the attributes of the Get Busy Livin’ philosophy in their everyday lives.”

“Every year we are honored to be a small part of this award, and all of the nominees should be extremely proud of this distinction.”

The award is made possible by The Dylan Meier Get Busy Livin’ Foundation and Kpreps.com.

In addition to the award, the Dylan Meier Foundation will host the tenth annual Get Busy Livin’ 5K at 9:30 AM on Saturday, September 12th at Hutchinson Field in Pittsburg. The race was postponed from its original date of May 11th given the COVID-19 public health crisis.

For more information, visit https://www.getbusylivin.org/2020gbl5k

Quinn Buessing, QB, Axtell

In recent Kansas history, few athletes have enjoyed the all-around achievements like Axtell senior Quinn Buessing. In football, Buessing passed for 7,978 yards with 134 career touchdown passes. Buessing came within 16 completions and nine touchdowns of the all-time eight-man state record. He did, though, break the Kansas record for eight-man career completion percentage (64.9).

Last year, Buessing accounted for 61 touchdowns as Axtell lost to Osborne in the Eight-Man, Division II state championship game. It marked the program’s best finish since 1993. Axtell battled injuries throughout the year, and even defeated rival Hanover in the regular season contest in which Buessing exited in the first quarter with a concussion. The win halted Hanover’s 43-game winning streak, an eight-man state record.

As well, Buessing took sixth in state cross country with a time of 17 minutes, 19.03 seconds. He helped Axtell cross country to a state runner-up finish.

“This past season was something special, and without convincing my teammates to go out as well there is no way we would have achieved both runner-up in cross country and football runner-up,” Buessing said. “Because of that, I come into each day wanting to make myself better in the many facets of life all while helping others better their life.”

Buessing cleared 1,000 career points in basketball. In track, Buessing enjoyed great success, notably at the ’19 state meet. Last year, he earned a second-place finish in the 3,200-meter run and had three other top-nine placings in the distance events.

In an extreme rarity, Buessing had offers from four colleges for football and three for cross country/track. Buessing elected to play football at Highland Community College. He plans to major in exercise science.

Buessing’s honors include a two-time Kpreps Eight-Man, Division II all-state selection at quarterback, the Sports in Kansas Eight-Man, Division II Offensive Player of the Year in 2019, and a Shrine Bowl selection. Buessing is the eighth all-time Axtell player picked for the Shrine Bowl.

However, Buessing said the Get Busy Livin’ Award would mark “the most prestigious award I have won.”

“From what I have read Dylan Meier was similar to myself in many ways,” Buessing said.

This spring, Buessing had goals to break school records in the 800 and 1,600 meters. His all-time bests in those events were 2:01 and 4:40. Instead, COVID-19 precautions cancelled the season. Buessing’s family has long worked a dairy farm.

“Living on a dairy farm one day to the next can bring a whole slew of new challenges, and if not prepared for that, that day can be horrendous,” Buessing said. “Dylan had an outlook on life that nothing could stop him and that he wanted to help others because he was given that talent. Like him, I too have that outlook.”

During COVID-19, Buessing has picked up a full-time job working construction and helping out on the family dairy farm. Buessing and his brothers work out four days a week, each day “with something different and more challenging.”

“My life has always been busy with school and sports and working on the dairy farm,” Buessing said. “Now without school I have found numerous things to keep me busy. Aside from my work I have found time to pick up my hobbies I had to give up due to being busy in high school with sports and homework with those being hunting and fishing.”