By Jayden Mies
Freelance contributor
Special to the Tribune
The Pratt High School Boys’ Wrestling team recently wrapped up their regular season with the annual Central Kansas League Tournament. This tournament featured the best wrestlers from each school in the conference, and Pratt was able to prevail with a team championship and multiple individual titles. This year, the contest was held in Hesston on Thursday, February 13.
The Greenbacks started off strong with Alex Chavez, who competed in the 120 lbs. class. Chavez began the day by pinning his first two opponents, both being under two minutes. After that, he received a bye in the third round, and rounded out his day with two more pins, these both coming in under three minutes. With this performance, Chavez was the individual champion in his weight class and scored a total of 22 team points.
Next was Kameron Cox. He wrestled in the 126 lbs. class, where he posted a 2-3 record. After losing his first two matches to tough opponents, Cox bounced back with pins in the third and fourth rounds. Unfortunately, he lost the fifth place match to end in sixth, but he still added four team points to Pratt’s total.
Matthew James had a solid day in the 132 lbs. division. He was able to place third among stiff competition, and he tallied a total of 11.5 team points for the Greenbacks. In total, he went 3-2, only losing to opponents with single-digit losses. Two of James’ three victories were by fall, including an impressive sub-two-minute one in the third place match.
Next, Sabastian Beach wrestled in 150 lbs. He unfortunately dropped the first three matches but was able to respond well with two wins to end the day. One of these was a pin in the third place match. He placed third and scored 9.5 points.
Blake Winsor was Pratt’s second individual champion for the tournament. In 157 lbs., Winsor had a perfect 5-0 record, with all five wins coming by fall. The quickest of these was in an astounding nine seconds. He improved his season record to 32-7, and he tallied 24 team points.
In 165 lbs. Wyatt Lovell fought hard to claim a fourth place finish. He went 2-2 on the day, and he received a bye in the last round to claim his placement. One of Lovell’s wins was by fall, and the other was by a tech fall of 23-7. He scored 3.5 team points.
Taye Wilson, who has yet to meet a serious contender this season, continued his dominance in this tournament. Like Winsor, he won all five of his matches on five pins, with the longest match only being 2:51. Wilson scored 24 points for Pratt, claimed the individual championship in the CKL tournament, and improved his season record to 41-0.
Raul Perez was Pratt’s fourth and final individual champion. He wrestled in a tough 190 lbs. class and was able to come out victorious with a 5-0 record. The first four of these were pins, and he won the championship round by a major decision of 11-2. Perez tallied 22.5 points for the Greenbacks.
Last was Xavier Pedroza, who competed in the 285 lbs. division. Pedroza went 1-1 in this weight class, with his win being a pin in under three minutes. As he received a bye in the third round, Pedroza ended his day with a second place finish, scoring 12 team points.
These performances tallied a total of 133 points for the Greenbacks, which was enough for the 2025 CKL title. This was more than 30 points over second place Nickerson.
Now, Pratt will look to the 4A West Regional tournament, which will take place on Saturday, February 22 at Rose Hill. There, the Greenbacks will hope to put together a solid team performance and qualify multiple wrestlers for the 2025 4A State Tournament.
