By Jayden Mies
Freelance reporter
Special to the Tribune

The Pratt High School track squad recently began the 2025 season with a solid performance at the annual Andale varsity meet. This year, a total of eight schools attended the meet, including tough ones in Bishop Carroll, Cheney, and Valley Center. However, Pratt still had several athletes produce successful results in multiple events.

First, on the girls’ side, there were many top placers in a variety of events. First was the 100m dash, where Kaidee Winklepleck finished sixth with a time of 13.61. Following this was the 200m dash, where Wendy Candia posted a solid time of 27.57, which was good enough to earn her second place in the finals. Winklepleck followed shortly after in third with a time of 28.71. Reese Ballard also did well, placing seventh with her time of 29.96.

Addy Fields was the first individual champion on the girls’ end. She competed in the 400m dash, where she won with a time of 1:01.5. Callie Novotny and Kate Wiltshire also competed in the event, finishing seventh and eighth with times of 1:06.3 and 1:07.3 respectively. Kamryn Deucy finished sixth in the 800m run with a time of 2:32.44, and Leah Gatz claimed sixth in the 3200m with her time of 14:25.79.

Quinn Thibault competed well in the 300m hurdles, placing fifth with a final time of 51.77. Next were the relay teams, who posted very solid times. The 4x100m was dominant in their race, earning first with a time of 51.45. The 4x400m was also successful as they ended up placing second with a time of 4:16.07.

For the jumping events, Novotny performed well for Pratt in the long jump, earning third place with a jump of 15’ – 10”. Next, Morgan McGreevy competed in the javelin and shotput events for the Greenbacks. She placed sixth in javelin with a throw of 101’ – 8” and seventh in the shotput with a 29’ – 11,75” throw.

The boys’ end also held a lot of success. First, Cade Liggett ran in the 200m dash and was able to place second with an impressive time of 23.52. Yasir Gonzalez was the boys’ first individual champion with his first place finish in the 400m dash, where he ran a 52.01. Wesley Liggett was right behind him in second with a time of 52.38.

Carlito Lara and Blake Winsor both ran very well in the 800m run. They finished second and third with times of 1:58.48 and 2:04.59 respectively. The Greenbacks also swept the top two places in the 110m hurdles with their two runners Gavin Rupe and Connor McLemore. Rupe was first in the event with a time of 16.03, and McLemore ended up second with a time of 16.59. These two also ran in the 300m hurdles, with Rupe placing second with a time of 43.43 and McLemore earning fourth with his time of 44.63.

All three of the relay teams performed very well in this meet. First, the 4x100m ran a blistering 43.96 to take the championship title in that event. The 4x400m ended up finishing second with a time of 3:26.6, which was good enough to earn second place. Lastly, the 4x800m was fifth with a time of 8:55.52.

In the jumping events, Cade Liggett led things off in the high jump with a fifth place finish from a 5’ – 10” jump. Next, Arley Morrell was fourth in the long jump with a jump of 19’ – 11”. He also competed very well in the triple jump, as he was able to claim second place in that event with a jump of 39’ – 11”. Levi Thibault represented the Greenbacks in the pole vaulting event. He placed sixth in this event with a vault of 11’ – 6”.

Kollyn Strong led the way for the Greenbacks in all three throwing events. He finished eighth in discus with a throw of 126’ – 7” and got sixth in the javelin event with a 141’ – 7” throw. However, Strong’s most dominant event was the shot put, which he was able to win by over three feet. His final throw was 51’ – 5.5”.

With these results, the Greenbacks will look to improve in several events as they go through the coming week of practice. They will look to post more positive results in their next meet, which will be on Friday, April 11, when the Greenbacks will host their annual varsity track meet at the Bill Keller Family Sports Complex.