Local Sports

By CHRIS PARRY
Staff Writer

Tyler karate standouts Kierstyn Pruitt and Dianne Pruitt competed last weekend at the American Taekwondo Association’s Top 10 World Championship tournament in Little Rock, Ark.

Pruitt qualified for the Top 10 in sparring for the 14-16 year old first-degree blackbelt division with her mother, Dianne, qualifying in forms and weapons in her age division.

Pruitt won the ATA World Tournament last year, but narrowly missed qualifying for the top 10. This year, thanks to a strong season, Pruitt entered the sparring event ranked No. 4 and would now battle it out in a single elimination tournament to determine the overall winner.

Since she was in the top 4, Pruitt earned a bye for the first round. She took the first step by winning her second-round match. This moved her into the quarterfinals against Ilene Green of Virginia Beach, Va. Green entered the competition seeded behind Pruitt at No.5, but upset the Texas state champion to move into the semifinals.

Pruitt’s second-round victory gave her an overall fifth-place finish. Top seeded Rachel Rippon of Defuniak Springs, Fla., backed up her ranking by capturing the gold medal.

Dianne rebounded from a poor showing in forms to earn a top 5 finish in weapons. Seeded seventh coming in,

Dianne jumped ahead two spots and could have been in contention for a medal.

“It was just a huge surprise,” Dianne said of her weapons competition. “There were a lot of people who messed up. I ended up with a little bobble and if I hadn’t done that, I would’ve ended up in the top three.”

The Pruitts decided to forego competing in the ATA World Tournament, which took place the following day. Dianne said it would have been unfair to the other fighters for her and Kierstyn to compete.

“We are moving up to second-degree black belt (later this month), so any points we gained (in the tournament) would’ve been lost,” Dianne said. “Kierstyn easily would have finished in the top three in her division, so that would’ve taken points away from someone else.”

Both Pruitts compete for Tyler Songahm Martial Arts academy. Despite their absence, a Songahm student who did make a name for himself was Tyler Reeves. Competing in 10-year old brown belt division, Reeves finished second in sparring.