In the second meet of the season, the Pratt High girls tennis team finished in fourth place at the Hillsboro Invitational Tuesday.

The meet started with pool play before being placed in the bracket to compete for a place. Both Lauren McClain and Adele Loomis, competing at No. 1 and 2 singles respectively, placed third in the meet, going 1-1 in pool play and winning the third place game. Coach Larry Kahmeyer said Loomis had a very tough matchup against Brenda Sanchez from Hesston.

The Pratt High JV girls tennis team fielded two teams in Tuesday’s JV home meet at the Walter Blake Tennis Complex, with the Pratt Green team taking first overall in the event.

Third place medalists were Allison Evans at No. 1 singles and Anecia Violetti at No. 2 singles. The No. 2 doubles team of Cinthya Ibarra and Lindsay Naumann also placed third. The No. 1 doubles team of Naomi Burrell and Jessica Miracle placed second.

The Pratt Green team narrowly edged Lyons and Kingman to take first in the meet with a score of 18.
“Overall, we had a really good day today,” said JV coach Tate Thompson. “We fielded two full teams for the JV tournament and got the opportunity to put our young or inexperienced players in some competitive slots, which will bode well for them in the long run.”

The JV team will play next on Sept. 7 at Russell.

The Pratt High girls golf team opened up its season Tuesday at the Nickerson Invitational Golf Tournament at the Highlands Golf Course.

Of the 12 teams competing, Pratt finished fourth behind Andale, Cheney and Maize with a combined score of 239.

Pratt High girls tennis coach Larry Kahmeyer admitted that he’s never had a girls tennis team start two freshmen at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. But, there’s a first time for everything.

Lauren McClain and Adele Loomis made their debut on the varsity tennis team Thursday, playing at the two singles positions and performing well.

Last year, Sarah Mason led the girls golf team throughout the season, carding low scores and helping the team any way she could.

Now, it will be up to a trio of seniors to pick up the slack and lead the team against new teams from the Central Kansas League.

Last year’s Pratt High volleyball team set a school record for wins and leaned heavily on a talented group of seniors. This year’s senior class has just three members, Rystal Hoeme, Breanna Blankenship and Emma McNay. That leaves plenty of room for younger players to make their mark. Coach Dean Rausch hopes they will sooner rather than later.

Skyline and Pratt high schools have both been practicing in full force in anticipation of the coming season. The following are facts about local teams by the numbers.

1 – Number of teams on this year’s PHS Varsity football schedule that they also played last year. The team? Kingman, which Pratt beat 50-0 on the road.

Pratt High School KAY Club will carry out its annual Canned Food Drive at the upcoming PHS Soap Bowl on Friday, Aug. 27.

    A canned food donation will serve as admission to the Soap Bowl activities.  Donations accepted include canned as well as boxed, non-perishable food items.

    All donations will be delivered to the local food bank for use by Pratt

residents.  Soap Bowl activities are as follows:

    5:30 p.m.-  Volleyball introductions and scrimmage (PHS Gym)

    6:15 p.m.-  Freshman Football scrimmage (Zerger Field)

    7:00 p.m.-  Cross Country introductions and run at Zerger Field

    7:10 p.m.-  Introduction of Fall athletes and cheerleaders (Zerger Field):

                Cheerleaders

                Girls Golf

                Girls Tennis

                Freshman Football

                Varsity Football

    7:30 p.m.- Varsity Football scrimmage

    Also on tap for the evening is the PHS Booster Club's membership drive and hamburger feed. The group will begin selling memberships and serving hamburgers at 5:30 p.m. at Zerger Field. All fall athletes and Booster Club members are invited to attend.

For Pratt High cross country coach Kathy Hitz, this season of cross country will be largely unfamiliar.

For starters, of her 21 runners, 11 are new to the team, with seven of the newcomers joining as incoming freshmen. On top of that, like all Pratt sports, the cross country team will face a brand new league that nobody knows a whole lot about.

Members of the Pratt High School Cross Country team warm up on the track before heading out for a two-mile run on their ‘easy’ day. The team is young, but Coach Kathy Hitz is excited to see how this team will compete in a brand new conference against new runners. Look for more on the cross country team in Monday’s Tribune.

As I sat in my recliner last night, nodding off while the Royals actually won a game, I realized something.

It’s officially football season.

While basketball is by most definitions a winter sport, that hasn’t stopped basketball from flourishing in the summer, with MAYB and AAU club teams the classic standard.

However, high school teams are getting the chance to work in the summer months too.

As if being named the Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches’ 4A Player of the Year wasn’t enough, Pratt graduate Skylar Angood added another honor to his list of awards.

Angood received the ‘Catchy’ award for Best Baseball Player. The awards are based on fan voting and are in its third year of honoring the state’s top athletes.

Angood’s 10 homeruns, 50 RBIs and .556 batting average made him an easy choice for voters. Angood also stole 16 bases and walked 17 times. Angood finished with 34 percent of the total vote.

Angood will next take his game to Pratt Community College. He led the Greenbacks to a 50-14 record during his time at Pratt High and will join teammates Brad Richardson, Brady Batman and Jamie Hitt on the Beaver baseball team in the spring.

The Pratt High Greenback football team is doing plenty of conditioning this summer to ensure they will be ready when they take the field in the first game of the season.

June 21-23 the Pratt High Cheer Squad attended a National Cheerleader’s Association Day Camp in Greensburg. During the three-day camp, squad members learned new cheers, dances and stunts to be used during the upcoming fall and winter sports seasons. Squad members were recognized for Excellent Technique in Safety, Spotting and Stunt Technique as well as Excellent and Superior ribbons during cheer evaluations. At the completion of the camp, the Gold Squad was awarded the Performance Top Team Trophy. This is given to the squad that exemplified the best cheer technique, skill incorporation and performance ability. They were also awarded the Camp Spirit Award, voted on by all squads at camp, for being the squad that added the most spirit to camp all week. Both Pratt High Squads earned a spirit stick at the end of camp as well as the Gold Squad receiving a bid for National events.

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.

The Pratt High School baseball Greenbacks just completed another outstanding season. The Greenbacks finished with a record of 18-5 and were ranked as high as No. 4 in Class 4A. PHS finished second to Scott City in the MSAA with a 5-3 record.

Following a season in which they finished with an overall record of 14-8, 5-3 in the league, and one win from the state tournament, the Pratt High School softball team dominated the MSAA All-League team. Coached by Mike Forshee, the Greenbacks earned six first-team selections as well as an honorable mention pick.

A quick glance at the team standings of the KSHSAA State Track and Field Championships could give you the impression that the Pratt High School Greenbacks did not perform well. But, upon further review, the PHS girls’ 16 points and the boys’ two points were not because of poor individual performances. No, it was because they went up against the best the state has to offer.

Skyline and Pratt athletes will be competing this weekend at the 100th annual state track meet at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.