By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
Special to Hays Post
The players wear the name of their school mascot, Monarchs, on their game jerseys.
But it’s a different word that members of the Thomas More Prep-Marian High School boys’ basketball team proudly display across the chest of their warmup shirts, right above the school logo – FAMILY.
Plain and simple, Coach Bill Meagher feeks that caring for each other as a family is vital to a team’s success.
“Families are the strongest things in the world,” Meagher said. “They are there to help celebrate the good times and help through some of the most difficult times in your life.”
There’s been a lot of good times to celebrate this season for TMP (21-2), and one Monarch family in particular is thoroughly enjoying the 2022-23 season.
Tim and Marilyn Werth from Hays have not just one, but two, grandsons – Dylan Werth and Landon Rozean – starting for the Monarchs.
That duo is part of a strong senior class that has led TMP into the state tournament for the fifth time in six years.
The Monarchs won their Class 2A sub-state tourney in Ellis Saturday night with a 57-36 victory over Hoxie.
That win, their 20th straight this season, propelled them into this week’s 2A state tournament at Kansas State University in Manhattan. The Monarchs’ first game will be Wednesday. Complete state tourney schedules can be found at www.kshsaa.org.
Dylan, who was 5 feet, 11 inches, as a sixth-grader, kept growing – and growing. Now 6-foot-8, he towers over the 6-1 Landon.
But they still mesh well together on the court, where Dylan is one of the team’s offensive leaders and Landon, a defensive stalwart.
“It’s nice that we have that connection,” Dylan said. “We know what each other is going to be doing before it even happens.”
You can bet there will be whole lot of Tim and Marilyn’s family taking up seats in KSU’s Bramlage Coliseum this week.
Tim and Marilyn, 1971 graduates of TMP-Marian, are accustomed to big family gatherings. Tim is the second oldest of 10 siblings, and Marilyn (Budke) is the oldest of 13.
Their families have been supporting each other for years. But this year has been special, with two grandsons a big part of the Monarchs’ success.
While a plethora of relatives show up in person at Al Billinger Fieldhouse – and for away games, too – many others have been following the Monarchs via internet streaming.
That support hasn’t been lost on Dylan and Landon, who agree that they appreciate it immensely.
“We’ve pretty much had our own cheering section since we started playing in fourth grade,” Landon said.
Dylan and Landon, who were born just a few months apart, have been close since birth.
Landon was born in June 2004, the middle son of the Werths’ daughter, Jill, and her husband, Travis. Dylan arrived in September, the oldest child of Tim’s and Marilyn’s middle son Cory and Amber Werth.
Landon and Dylan grew up together, attended school together since kindergarten and have been playing on the same basketball team since elementary school.
They were able to celebrate together at their final home game at TMP when Dylan reached the 1,000 career- points total.
Dylan and Landon admit they are blessed to be part of a dream season.
So, too, are their grandparents.
“We are definitely living a grandparents’ dream,” Marilyn said, “getting to see four of our grandkids all participate in one night.”
Landon’s younger sister, junior Madelyn, is a Monarch cheerleader. Dylan’s sister, freshman Brooklyn, played for the TMP girls’ basketball team this season.
Dylan’s and Landon’s younger brothers Hayden Werth and Mason Rozean are both in sixth grade and are anxiously awaiting their arrival at TMP-Marian Junior High next year.
So there will be plenty more cheering for the Werth clan for years to come.
But for now, they are focused on this week.
Dylan and Landon would like nothing better than bringing another state championship to TMP. Then they can share family bragging rights with their uncle, Kyle Werth.
Kyle – Tim’s and Marilyn’s youngest son – was a senior on the TMP team that won a state title in 2007.
“Oh, yeah, he reminds us of that all the time,” Dylan said with a grin, “that there is one in the family who has won a state championship.”
“We’d sure like to change that,” Landon said.
UPDATED 9 a.m. Sunday to correct the number of times TMP has gone to state in recent years.
