Wrestling season will continue one more week for the Pratt High School wrestling team after the Greenbacks had five wrestlers place in the top four of this weekend’s Class 4A Regional Tournament at PHS.
Pratt seniors Austin Baird and Chase Kreutzer, juniors Taylor Baird and Steele Flemming, and sophomore Kasey Crump survived an ultra-tough regional that included over half the state-ranked wrestlers in Class 4A.
Taylor Baird and Kreutzer finished second, going 2-1 in their weight classes.
“Taylor had a virtually flawless regional running into the number one all class Armstrong of Andale. The match was really 1-0, because Taylor gave up two points at the very end trying to make something happen,” PHS coach Tate Thompson said. “Taylor will finish well for us at state. He is ready to go.”
“Chase wrestled well on Friday for us,” Thompson said. “Chase will need to put on his game face and bring his “A” game in Salina, which I know he can and he should repeat as a placer.”
Pratt had a pair of third-place finishers as Austin Baird and Flemming ended Saturday with back-to-back wins to punch their tickets to Salina.
Baird lost to eventual champion Cody Hill of Hugoton in the semifinals, but won all three of his consolation matches to place third at 160 pounds.
“Austin is primed for state after a strong third place finish. Austin lost to Cody Hill of Hugoton 7-5 in the semis and will avenge that loss at state. Austin is now 2-1 against Cody who placed 2nd in state last year,” Thompson said. “I know Austin will make it up when it counts and Austin really wants to finish his senior year out strong. I have no doubt he will do that.”
Flemming lost his opener Friday, but won three straight matches to earn a rematch in the consolation final Saturday evening. Flemming avenged his only loss of the weekend, picking up a 3-2 decision over Valley Center’s Jakob Weldon.
“Steele beat a fifth place wrestler from last years 285 class 4A state championships on the way to a third place finish where Steele avenged a loss to his Valley Center opponent from earlier in the tourney,” Thompson said. “Steele is looking very sharp and is primed to place if he continues on this path.”
Crump lost only to the first and third-place finishers as he earned a trip to state at 215 pounds.
“Kasey just had an amazing tournament. Kasey rose to the occasion and it paid off for him,” Thompson said. “He’ll have to kick it up another notch for state, but I know he can do it.”
Pratt’s Jordan Ervin, Tyler Reed and Ludwing Verbena nearly joined their teammates at state, with all three juniors coming up one win short of the tournament.
“It is hard at this time of the year, but they will all come back strong next year,” Thompson said. “Ludwing was the closest losing in overtime in his consolation semifinal match.”
“I felt for Luda, it meant so much to him and he was so close. You don’t see many first-year wrestlers in that position. Unfortunately for Luda, I know that had he qualified, he would have placed,” Thompson continued. “As for Tyler and Jordan, they will be back and help lead a very strong returning team.”
Every Pratt wrestler won at least one match, helping the Greenbcks finish fifth as a team with 110 points.
“I am very pleased with how the boys performed,” Thompson said. “We will have 11 of these kids back next year, which will be a huge difference from this year.”
“Ryan Rojas doubled his wins for the year in this tournament and all of our kids got us quality wins at the toughest regional in the state,” Thompson continued.”That thing we are building is getting stronger and we will eventually get to our ultimate goal of a team title, but for now we are ready for state and our goal is to improve on our 14th place finish from last year which I know we can. We expect a top 10 finish.”
The Class 4A State Tournament will be held at Salina’s Bicentennial Center Friday and Saturday. A complete preview of the tournament will appear in the Tribune later this week.
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Wrestling season will continue one more week for the Pratt High School wrestling team after the Greenbacks had five wrestlers place in the top four of this weekend’s Class 4A Regional Tournament at PHS.
Pratt seniors Austin Baird and Chase Kreutzer, juniors Taylor Baird and Steele Flemming, and sophomore Kasey Crump survived an ultra-tough regional that included over half the state-ranked wrestlers in Class 4A.
Taylor Baird and Kreutzer finished second, going 2-1 in their weight classes.
“Taylor had a virtually flawless regional running into the number one all class Armstrong of Andale. The match was really 1-0, because Taylor gave up two points at the very end trying to make something happen,” PHS coach Tate Thompson said. “Taylor will finish well for us at state. He is ready to go.”
“Chase wrestled well on Friday for us,” Thompson said. “Chase will need to put on his game face and bring his “A” game in Salina, which I know he can and he should repeat as a placer.”
Pratt had a pair of third-place finishers as Austin Baird and Flemming ended Saturday with back-to-back wins to punch their tickets to Salina.
Baird lost to eventual champion Cody Hill of Hugoton in the semifinals, but won all three of his consolation matches to place third at 160 pounds.
“Austin is primed for state after a strong third place finish. Austin lost to Cody Hill of Hugoton 7-5 in the semis and will avenge that loss at state. Austin is now 2-1 against Cody who placed 2nd in state last year,” Thompson said. “I know Austin will make it up when it counts and Austin really wants to finish his senior year out strong. I have no doubt he will do that.”
Flemming lost his opener Friday, but won three straight matches to earn a rematch in the consolation final Saturday evening. Flemming avenged his only loss of the weekend, picking up a 3-2 decision over Valley Center’s Jakob Weldon.
“Steele beat a fifth place wrestler from last years 285 class 4A state championships on the way to a third place finish where Steele avenged a loss to his Valley Center opponent from earlier in the tourney,” Thompson said. “Steele is looking very sharp and is primed to place if he continues on this path.”
Crump lost only to the first and third-place finishers as he earned a trip to state at 215 pounds.
“Kasey just had an amazing tournament. Kasey rose to the occasion and it paid off for him,” Thompson said. “He’ll have to kick it up another notch for state, but I know he can do it.”
Pratt’s Jordan Ervin, Tyler Reed and Ludwing Verbena nearly joined their teammates at state, with all three juniors coming up one win short of the tournament.
“It is hard at this time of the year, but they will all come back strong next year,” Thompson said. “Ludwing was the closest losing in overtime in his consolation semifinal match.”
“I felt for Luda, it meant so much to him and he was so close. You don’t see many first-year wrestlers in that position. Unfortunately for Luda, I know that had he qualified, he would have placed,” Thompson continued. “As for Tyler and Jordan, they will be back and help lead a very strong returning team.”
Every Pratt wrestler won at least one match, helping the Greenbcks finish fifth as a team with 110 points.
“I am very pleased with how the boys performed,” Thompson said. “We will have 11 of these kids back next year, which will be a huge difference from this year.”
“Ryan Rojas doubled his wins for the year in this tournament and all of our kids got us quality wins at the toughest regional in the state,” Thompson continued.”That thing we are building is getting stronger and we will eventually get to our ultimate goal of a team title, but for now we are ready for state and our goal is to improve on our 14th place finish from last year which I know we can. We expect a top 10 finish.”
The Class 4A State Tournament will be held at Salina’s Bicentennial Center Friday and Saturday. A complete preview of the tournament will appear in the Tribune later this week.
Class 4A Regional at Pratt
Team Results
1. Andale 185.5, 2. Valley Center 180.5, 3. Colby 133.5, 4. Scott City 129.5, 5. Pratt 110, 6. Hugoton 108.5, 7. Ulysses 88, 8. Buhler 64, 9. Russell 53.5, 10. Clearwater 44, 11. Hesston 39, 12. Maize South 20, 13. Nickerson 5, 14. Wellington 3, 15. Cheney 0.
Pratt Individual Results
103 – Ryan Rojas def. Cameron VanDusen, VC, by 4-2 decision; lost to Jason Perez, U, by fall; def. Sebastian Dutton, N, by fall; lost to Clay Kear, A, by fall.
119 – Ludwing Verbena def. Cade Myers-Tice, VC, by 13-3 major decision; lost to Francisco Antillion, SC, by fall; def. Ryan Krause, R, by 7-0 decision; lost to Taylor Miller, A, by 5-3 decision (OT).
125 – Zack Dipman lost to Levi Eck, A, by fall; lost to Colten Wray, B, by 11-3 major decision.
130 – Mitchell Baird lost to Tyson Schmidtberger, R, by fall; def. Casey McConnell, N, by 2-1 decision; lost to Lawson Fiss, Hug., by fall.
135 – Aaron Pribil lost to Chase Nitcher, VC, by fall; def. Dalton Anderson, Hess., by 7-2 decision; lost to Patrick Weaver, Hug., by fall.
140 – Adam Swinford lost to Danny Oste, R, by 9-1 major decision; def. Martin Herrera, U, by fall; lost to Zach Weber, Hess., by fall.
145 – Jordan Ervin def. Xavier Lyon, N, by fall; lost to Bob Schroeder, Col., by fall; def. William DuBry, Hess., by fall; def. Dray Merideth, W, by fall; lost to Kyle McGoldrick, VC, by fall.
152 – Tyler Reed lost to Morgan Numrich, SC, by 17-2 technical fall; def. Isaac Stuhlzats, A, by 1-0 decision; def. Anthony Heckart, W, by fall; lost to Ethan Stickel, Col., by 10-3 decision.
160 – Austin Baird def. Chris Loughmiller, W, by fall; def. Armando Sandoval, U, by 9-0 major decision; lost to Cody Hill, Hug., by 7-5 decision; def. Nehemiah Scott, MS, by 2-1 decision; def. Jake Hattabaugh, A, by injury default.
171 – Taylor Baird def. Clayton Applehans, Col., by fall; def. Paxton Budd, Cle., by fall; lost to Benny Armstrong, Andale, by 3-0 decision.
189 – Chase Kreutzer def. Joey Mies, VC, by fall; def. David Hawk, Hug., by 4-2 decision; lost to Luke Hayes, SC, by 5-1 decision.
215 – Kasey Crump def. Dalton Mauro, R, by fall; def. Jack Maxwell, U, by fall; lost to Titus Hopper, VC, by fall; def. Mitch Wiens, B, by 11-3 major decision; lost to Colten Lissolo, Hug., by 4-1 decision.
285 – Steele Flemmming lost to Jakob Weldon, VC, by 8-7 decision; def. Anthony White, Che., by 4-1 decision; def. Bryce Worley, B, by fall; def. Adam Weber, Col., by 6-4 decision; def. Jakob Weldon, VC, by 3-2 decision.
