“Former” Lebo High School standout athlete Drew Konrade is still repping the Wolves. He will be playing in the Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches All-Star Game in Wichita June 18.

Konrade was selected as a KABC First-Team 1A/2A outfielder.

“This is the first time in program history a Wolfdog player has been selected first-team and invited to play in the all-star game,” said Lebo-Waverly coach Jason Konrade.

Konrade was named First-Team All Lyon County League all four years of high school and set several single-season Wolfdog program records, including batting average, .630, a .740 OBP, a 1.944 OPS, 34 hits, six homers, 13 doubles set in 2024, 45 runs and five triples established in 2023. Three of those triples occurred in one game, which is a state record. Defensively, he led the team with a .981 fielding percentage. Konrade is the career stat leader in a number of categories as well: .492 batting average, 115 hits, 41 doubles, 11 triples, 10 home runs and 110 runs.

“To have the opportunity to play next week in this game is just a great way to cap high school baseball for me,” he said.

Konrade said his time with Lebo baseball will mostly be marked by this past season.

“We had big goals this season. Some of those goals were accomplished and some of those goals fell short,” Konrade admitted. “But just to work with this freshman class was awesome. And just how — personally and statistically — my season was, and just the fun we had as a team this year was just amazing. I'd say it's probably the most fun year out of all my four years here playing baseball…it was a great way to go out.”

The multi-sporter also excelled on the gridiron — and was a member of the highly successful Wolves’ state tournament basketball team — culminating with his participation in the Kansas Eight-Man Football All-Star game June 7. Konrade averaged 120 yards per game and nearly seven yards per carry last season, scoring 25 touchdowns. Career-wise, he gained 2,014 yards and amassed 41 TDs. He also threw for 40 touchdowns. And it’s a football experience that will stay with the 2025 graduate more than any other. It was a moment of resoluteness that brought out fortitude and character, something to lean onto later in life.

“It was our last game…it was the regional game. We played Osborne…We ended up losing,” he said.

The Wolves found themselves on the wrong end of a beatdown in inclement weather, losing to Osborne 44-8 in last season’s regional playoffs. However, it was those eight points that impacted Konrade.

“We went all the way to Osborne, Kansas, and it was a monsoon. It was like a 30-mile-an-hour wind and pouring hard rain,” he explained. “It was just a rough game going in…We played the full game, and it was a long night, and you're soaked head to toe, all muddied up.”

Konrade said the Lebo passing game was missing in action that night, and points were hard to come by, a quagmire across the board. The realization that this could be the last game for the seniors compelled the squad to buckle down despite an adverse situation.

“We ended up scoring against the wind, against the rain on the opposite end zone,” Konrade said. “It was just to settle in and have the determination to rally our guys together, ‘Hey, we're not going to get shut out. We're gonna push through, and we're going to have some pride and continue to fight. No matter how easy it would be just to give up.’”

Much can be gleaned and learned from a loss, where the victory in defeat is revealed sometime in the aftermath or later.

“It's really cool to learn from wins and losses, but especially losses,” Konrade said in an instance of foresight. “I can still use what I've learned in that last game of football — determination, never giving up and to continue fighting no matter how hard it gets — that will forever stay with me through the rest of my life.”

Navigating the rigors of being a multi-sport athlete at a rural high school has had a profound influence on Konrade. It is a high school life that many teenagers in the U.S. do not experience.

“Working with different teammates, different sports. The grind of waking up to weights, a morning practice and then staying up with academics and everything else, it's a lot to handle,” he said. “But then at the same time, I feel like it's given me great lessons as well, through all the sports I've played and just how to handle situations, problems and how to handle the busyness of a schedule…your body's aching and to continue to persevere and fight through to get to the end and see all what you've accomplished.”

With the completion of high school, Konrade is contemplating baseball at the next level, Emporia State or Tabor.

“I’m deciding either between Tabor or ESU. So still getting some of that stuff figured out. That's kind of where I'm at right now as far as what I'm doing next.”