Offensive woes continued to haunt the PCC volleyball team in its conference opener against Seward County on Wednesday. After winning the first set 25-22, the Beavers dropped the next three 25-15, 25-16, 25-13. Pratt hit only .060 for the night.
Coming off a conference win on Friday, the Pratt Community College women’s soccer team squared off in a non-conference match on Tuesday. This was PCC’s first contest at their temporary home pitch in Havilland, and the win moved them to 2-0 on the season.
Curt Gowdy, Pat Sumerall, Harry Caray, Keith Jackson, Jim Nantz, Howard Cosell, and more recently the stars of ESPN, all had their humble beginnings, perhaps even as sportscasters at a community college. And now two bright and talented PHS graduates, Will Shoup and Spencer Sinclair, will get a start in the business. Shoup and Sinclair have been selected to be the voice(s) of the Beavers for live Web casts of this year’s home sports contests.
Bringing in Coach Kevin Kewley, a former coach of the Wichita Wings and a longtime club soccer coach in the Wichita area, brings a certain amount of credibility to the new men’s soccer program at Pratt Community College.
It’s a hectic time for PCC women’s soccer coach Jerrid Schicke.
The first-year coach has a lot on his plate as he tries to prepare his young team for their first match on Aug. 27. Wander into the soccer office and you’ll probably find a hectic scene. In addition to preparing for the season, he also has to keep track of his players and make sure that every one of them is set up to succeed, both on and off the soccer pitch.
With just two returning players from last year’s team that finished second in Region VI, Pratt Community College volleyball coach Patrick Hall knows he has his work cut out for him with a new group of young players.
“We have 10 freshmen and only two sophomores,” he said. “But, we feel really good about those freshmen. We really look like at any given point, five out of our six players on the court will be freshmen. So we may take our lumps here and there because of that.”
Walk into Kurt McAfee’s office and you’ll see a busy man. Gearing up for an athletic season is hectic in any year, but the added burden of creating both men’s and women’s soccer programs have caused a headache for McAfee that has made his summer extremely busy.
Adding a new sport in both men’s and women’s divisions doesn’t happen without a fair amount of work. Coaches have to start from scratch and players have to commit to a work-in-progress team, and in some cases, you have construction on new facilities to accommodate the new athletes.
In the 2009-2010 academic year, Pratt Community College athletics have continued to find success in the Jayhawk League, as well as prepare student-athletes for transfers to four-year universities all across the country. The following is a brief summary of how each team fared this past season.
Joining three teammates from Pratt High School and even more from his American Legion team, Jamie Hitt signed a letter of intent on Tuesday to play baseball at Pratt Community College.
Pratt Community College women’s basketball player Whitney Slater, signed a national letter of intent to play basketball for the McPherson College Bulldogs for the 2010-2011 season.
Pratt Community College will launch a soccer program for men and women in fall 2010. Kevin Kewly has been hired to coach the men and has begun recruiting players. They begin their season Aug. 19 in Wichita against Newman University. The first home match is scheduled for Sept. 4 against Hesston College.
Pratt Community College’s women’s basketball team will be hosting a basketball camp June 28 through 30. The camp is for girls ages 7 to 13 and will be from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena.
The Pratt Community College volleyball team finished runners-up in Region Vi for two years in a row, and four factors in that success have been awarded full scholarships to play at four-year universities next fall. Juliana Chavez will play at Division I Hampton University. Kalie Mader will play at Division II SW Oklahoma State, and Tatiana Gonzalez and Kate Trejos will play for Wayland Baptist University.
During one season as a Pratt Community College Beaver, Jay Valerius showed flashes of his potential while shaking off two years of rust. St. Gregory’s University in Shawnee, Okla., saw past the rust, and the 6-7 Topeka native recently signed a letter of intent to continue his career for the Cavaliers.
While it came time to assemble his 2010 recruiting class, Pratt Community College baseball coach Ryan Schmidt didn’t have to go far to sign three players that he expects to make an immediate impact.
Pratt Community College saw its baseball season end with a 10-3 loss to Allen County in the Region VI Sub-Regional Tournament at Johnson County Community College. The Beavers lost the first game of the double-elimination tournament to Johnson County 9-0.
The past two years have seen Milwaukee natives play key roles on the Pratt Community College mens basketball team, and 2010-11 should be no different as PCC coach Trevor Rolfs has signed a pair of talented players from Milwaukee to headline his next recruiting class.
Months before the players will arrive on campus to begin preseason workouts, Pratt Community College head womens basketball coach Stephanie Shanline is excited about the 2010-11 Beaver squad.
Dylon Walker, the Class 4A 189-pound state wrestling champion from El Dorado High School, has signed to wrestle for Pratt Community College next season.
