INMAN – Cooper Wiens’ senior year is following many of the normal rhythms of a busy student-athlete.
 
At this point, high school’s finish line is starting to come into view, and the mild-mannered Wiens is determined to block senioritis from taking a bite out of his grades while he helps Inman’s basketball team make marked improvement from the previous winter.
 
But in a painfully personal way, Wiens’ one shot at a normal senior year passed on Nov. 17, when his adoptive father, Daniel Wiens, died after a battle with cancer that began in 2023. He was 39.
 
“It’s had its ups and downs, obviously,” said Wiens, the CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week. “November was really tough for multiple reasons and then December came and we got through it. And we’re here now.”
 
According to his obituary, Daniel Wiens “joyfully adopted Cooper” on Oct. 22, 2015, just over a year after marrying Cooper’s mother, Ashley. The Wienses added two children, Dietrich and Stella, and eventually settled in Inman.
 
A young Cooper and Dan originally bonded over games on Dan’s PlayStation 2. That bond grew and was sealed by the time Cooper began spending his teenage summers working at Lyons Public Golf Course, where Dan served as course superintendent.

 
“He was always really funny,” Wiens said. “He always made jokes. He really tried to have as much fun as possible with me and my siblings. And he was always like the voice of reason in our family.”
 
Dan enjoyed sports, and in Cooper he had a talented son to follow. The 6-foot-4 Wiens earned first-team All-Heart of America honors on the offensive and defensive lines in football as a junior. Last spring in track, Wiens teamed with Tyler Martisko, Riley Roots and Gage Sisson to set a school record in the 3,200-meter relay, running 8:27.09 at regionals to qualify for state.
 
“People look up to Cooper,” Inman football coach and athletic director Lance Sawyer said. “He carries himself well and does things the right way, and kids really respect him for that. And nobody’s going to try harder on the football field or on the basketball court.
 
“He’s going to give his all every single time and kids look up to that.”
 
Wiens had another superb football season last fall, earning All-Class 1A first-team honors on defense as he helped the Teutons post an 8-2 record. He did so as Dan’s battle with colon cancer intensified.
 
Dan, who underwent more than 20 rounds of chemotherapy treatment during his battle, traveled with Ashley to Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center in early October to see if he would be a candidate for clinical trials. The Wienses returned in time to see Cooper’s game at Marion, which Inman won.
 
Later that month, after the Teutons edged Conway Springs 14-13 to end the Cardinals’ two-year reign as Class 1A champions, Cooper learned his father was coming home from the hospital to enter hospice care.
 
“At that point, I had been clinging to belief he would get better,” Wiens said. “When my mom told me he was being brought back home, that took the wind out of me.”
 
Wiens played his final high school football game on Nov. 7, a 22-14 playoff loss to Moundridge in a rematch of a regular-season win for the Teutons. A week and a half later, Dan’s cancer battle ended with his family at his side.
 

“Cooper’s got a hard taste of life right off the bat, but he’s handled it extremely well,” said Sawyer, a close friend of Dan’s who requested him to serve as best man at his wedding. “He’s had a group of kids here who are really supportive of him. And he’s had a great group of coaches who have done well for him.”
 
Wiens has carried on, maintaining a 3.76 grade-point average as a member of Inman’s National Honor Society. His favorite subject is history, a testament to his granddad, Gordon Polston, a retired history teacher and coach.
 
Wiens is also part of the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes. As a senior, he has tried to model the leadership qualities he witnessed from older Teutons when he was a freshman.
 
“I’ve really tried to make sure guys keep their heads up and keep talking to them whenever they look like they’re down,” Wiens said. “Then you also have to keep yourself in check so you don’t sound like you’re anything but one of the guys.”
 
While Wiens has drawn interest to play college football, he said he plans to attend Hutchinson Community College next fall and complete his general education studies before heading to Kansas State to major in turf management. Like Dan, he would like to work on a golf course.
 
Meanwhile, Sawyer said he will enjoy seeing Wiens around school for his remaining time in high school.
 
“He will be missed,” Sawyer said. “It’ll affect us. But he’s left a good legacy. He’s showed some kids how hard you have to try and how hard you have to compete.
 
“And he was meant to be here at this point in time. I don’t know where else could have helped him more than what this place has. He has grandparents right down the road, a good school environment here, and him being part of the football team and a playoff run, at least it was something to take his mind off a tough situation. He was in the right spot.”