Driving the distance

The NCAA First Four in Dayton has a way of bringing people together — including seven people crammed into one car that made its way to Dayton from Kansas.

Katie Hammbrschmidst, sister of Wake Forest assistant coach Brett Ballard, spent the first half of the Wake Forest vs. Kansas State basketball game March 14 at UD Arena holding her 1-year-old daughter, Hadley, who slept contentedly on her mother’s shoulder.

“We drove nine hours all the way from Kansas,” Hammbrschmidst said. “My husband and I, our four children and their grandmother in one car. It was a bit crammed, but the kids were great.”

Hammbrschmidst and her family are originally from Kansas, and her brother previously worked for University of Kansas basketball.

“We traveled a lot when he was there because there were so many tournament games,” Hammbrschmidst said.

Though Ballard has made the move to Wake Forest, she still enjoys cheering on her brother and his team.

“It’s so awesome that he made the tournament,” she said. “We’re here to cheer him on, and Dayton has been great so far.”

She's among the fans who go the distance to get to Dayton.