Harper’s Pruitt finds future at Ashford

Harper College men’s track and field coach Renee Zellner announced last week that sprinter Travis Pruitt has signed a national letter of intent with NAIA school Ashford College (Iowa).

Pruitt will receive a partial scholarship from Ashford and will major in business administration and minor in marketing.

In the semifinals of the 100 meters in the 2010 NJCAA championships, Pruitt pulled a hamstring in his right leg. That injury, he believes, was the reason some schools backed off him in the recruiting process. He did earn NJCAA All-American honors.

Pruitt attended Harper this spring and completed courses toward his associates degree, but did not compete on the track and field team, having already used up his junior college eligibility.

“I want to be close to home so my family can see me,” Pruitt said of the school’s proximity to his hometown of Freeport.

Pruitt was also a member of the 2009 team that won the NJCAA Division III national championsihp. The Harper men’s team has won the title four of the past five seasons.

“He (Pruitt) really developed into a skilled jumper and sprinter,” Zellner said via e-mail.

Pruitt is looking forward to competing for Ashford and third-year men’s coach Chris Adams.

“I just felt they had a good program,” he said. “(Adams is) going to put me in spots where I can contribute to the team.”

In all likelihood, Ashford will rely on Pruitt’s versatility in the same manner Harper did. He will run the 100, 200 and 400, will take relay legs and also head to the jumping pit for long jumps.

“In these final two years I’m going to give it all I got on the track and in school,” Pruitt said.

Softball all-conference: The North Central Community College Conference has announced the softball all-conference team. Harper freshmen Samantha Bernstein (Crystal Lake South) and Kaysee Fitzpatrick (St. Viator) where named to the first team. Aly Poehlmann (Schaumburg) was named to the second team.

Fitzpatrick pitched 94 innings for coach Brenda James.

“Everybody in the conference thought she was a great pitcher,” James said.

Fitzpatrick was 20th in Division III in strikeouts with 82. That figure was tops in the league.

“Casey has been a spitfire all year long for us,” James said. “She was a motivating point for us.”

Poehlmann ended the season with a .474 batting average in 110 at-bats.

“I was hoping for her to get first team all-conference,” James said of Poehlmann’s second-team honors. “Aly caught most of our games — that’s an accomplishment for her.”

Bernstein led the Hawks in batting average and on-base percentage this season, hitting a robust .500. She also finished 22nd in Division III in homers and spent most of the season in the top 10 nationally in batting average.

Bernstein also was named to the NJCAA Division III all-Region IV team and the Division III, Region IV all-tournament team.

Bernstein, Fitzpatrick and Poehlmann each earned NJCAA Division III player of the week honors during the season.

Baseball honors: Harper’s Chris Holke and Heriberto Ortega were selected as second-teamers on the Divsion III all-Region IV baseball team.