Wednesday, Nov. 8 was National Signing Day for high school students destined for college athletics, and Prescott High School honored three of them in a ceremony held in the Performing Arts Center.

The three students are Reese Ptacek, who will play volleyball for Kansas State University; Lila Posthuma, who will play basketball for Bradley University; and Cullen Huppert, who will play baseball for Southern Minnesota State University. Each of these students leaves a legacy of rarely paralleled success behind them as they move on, one sooner than the others.

Reese Ptacek

Ptacek, who is going to be an early graduate by finishing high school in December, will be on the court for Kansas this spring getting a head start on the competition and continuing what she began as a Cardinal.

In her time at Prescott High, she was a revelation for the Prescott volleyball program. In her four years playing varsity volleyball, she made the all-conference team every season and was the Middle Border 2023 player of the year. Ptacek is one of only 88 players in the country to be named to the 2023 Junior Volleyball All-National Team, she is currently ranked 59th in the class of 2024 in the Prep Dig National Rankings and she is the 15th highest ranked middle blocker in the nation.

Obviously, these are some big shoes to fill, but Head Coach Tracey Budworth says that Ptacek helped create a legacy of success and has raised the bar for the program as a whole.

“Reese is leaving behind a legacy that is focused on hard work and dedication, as well as one of leadership,” Budworth said. “Her ability as an athlete goes well beyond her stats. She is incredibly mature and addresses challenges with a level head. She has been a role model and an inspiration for the other players in my program.”

The competitor in Ptacek is excited by what she and her team have accomplished but is ready to get back to work in Kansas.

“I'm definitely most proud of the fact that we made it as far as we did this season. Being able to say that we played in the sectional semifinals for the first time in 40 years, I feel like that was huge. I'm so grateful to my team and my coaches and for the opportunity to do this,” Ptacek said. “I'm excited to be getting back in the gym, getting an early start on everything and playing with the team before primetime season starts this fall. My biggest goal is and always will be to win. I want to become a better volleyball player, but beyond that, I want to become a better person and achieve high academically.”

While no system was put into place to track volleyball stats for the Cardinals until just recently, Budworth has a pretty good idea of who would hold several school records.

“I can guarantee you this, no player in the program has had the number of kills that Reese has. Not many athletes play varsity all four years of their high school career, and Reese has been dominant at the net from the second she walked onto the court as a freshman,” Budworth said. “I wouldn't be surprised if Reese also held the highest serving percentage in the history of the program as well.”

Lila Posthuma

While Posthuma isn’t graduating and heading to Bradley early, the Cardinals girls’ basketball team is very happy that as their season starts this week, and they’ll have her talent on the roster.

A four-year starter for Prescott, Posthuma is already in the top 10 for a number of school records and she hasn’t even started her final season of ball yet. Notably, she’s seventh on the all-time points scored list with 814, fifth in rebounds with 520 and fifth in assists with 221.

Head Coach Owen Hamilton says Posthuma will be just the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 points, and she is on pace to be the program’s all-time leader in rebounds with a likely top two finish in assists. With all she’s done as a Cardinal, Hamilton isn’t surprised by her signing with Bradley.

“Lila is a three-time all-conference player, received an All-State honorable mention and a three-time team captain, this season included,” Hamilton said. “Her play style is so unique that even on an off night, she’s still impacting the game in a million different ways.”

For Posthuma, there isn’t some secret recipe for success that makes her any different than any other athlete, she just gets after it and does what she needs to do to succeed.

“I’m definitely always getting in reps after practices and focusing during practice on getting better at passing, shooting, assists and keeping my teammates involved,” Posthuma said. “I’m excited to finish out my senior year with all these girls and see what the season brings, but I’m super, super excited to get down to Bradley and getting in that environment and meeting everyone.”

Keeping her teammates involved is something the Cardinals staff have actually had to coach her to do less. Hamilton says they’ve tried to tell her she needs to take more shots throughout her varsity career as the last thing a player of this caliber needs to be doing is not taking shots. That said, it’s part of what makes her such a good team player.

“A player like Lila makes every person around her better, coaches included. She’s the type of player to do anything to win games and has always been a team player who makes sure she’s feeding the hot hand,” Hamilton said. “In my opinion, she’s leaving behind a legacy of greatness all around. She’s had a career that puts her up with some of the all-time greats, and she hasn’t played a minute of her senior year yet. She’s one that you never want to see go but can’t wait to see what she accomplishes at the next level. Lila will be a girl that I talk about for as long as I’m coaching because she’s truly one of the best as a player, teammate and person.”

Cullen Huppert

The last senior who will be competing at the collegiate level next fall is Cardinal baseball pitcher Cullen Huppert.

Huppert was an All-Conference selection a year ago, finishing with an ERA of 2.51 while striking out 47 hitters in 40 innings pitched. At the plate he batted either third, fourth or fifth and tied for the team lead in doubles. In his career, he is the owner of three one-hitters and has three shutouts.

Head Coach Jeff Ryan says that of the over 400 baseball players that he has coached, Huppert is in rare company with his athletic prowess, being one of the very few to have lettered all four years of Prescott varsity baseball.

“Cullen puts a great deal of pressure on himself and takes a lot of pride in his work. He has played a lot of high school and club baseball over the years, and I know he believes he can be even better than he was last year. With greater command and maturity, I think this will be his best year as a Cardinal,” Ryan said. 

Huppert says his success stems from the relationships he has in his personal life, although he has been playing since the ripe young age of just past infancy.

“A lot of it comes from friends and family. Friends makes it a lot more fun and having family that's willing to take you on road trips to go play baseball. Just having friends and family to support me is lot of it,” Huppert said. “This season is going to be fun. We’ll definitely be a lot better than last year. We had a lot of sophomores that are juniors now and have a lot more experience. I think it'll be a fun group to watch.”

One might argue that all these players have been a lot of fun to watch. Congratulations to Reese, Cullen and Lila on advancing to the next level of competition.