By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

For 16 years, Travis Betz has coached football in the Western Kansas Liberty League. From 1993 to 1996, Betz had a 6-foot-3, 215-pound running back named Derek Wright at Winona-Triplains, a three-sport standout who still holds the all-time eight-man football career rushing record with 6,145 yards. Since Wright, Betz has not coached an elite three-sport athlete until Tate Bruggeman came to Rexford-Golden Plains.

The 6-foot-4, 170-pound Bruggeman never set a Kansas state record, but is one of Kansas' best athletes in three sports: football, basketball and track. Betz called Bruggeman a better basketball player and track athlete than Wright.

"That would be about the closest that I would say that would come to this as far as multi-talented," said Betz, the current Golden Plains' assistant football coach and head track coach.

The fun-loving, lanky, talented Bruggeman has yielded an impressive career for the Bulldogs. In track, he finished fifth, fourth, third and second in the high jump. This spring, he overcame an ankle injury and set the school record with a jump of 6-foot-5. For basketball, Bruggeman averaged nearly 17 points a game and was selected to the Kansas All-Star Basketball Classic. Bruggeman proved a matchup nightmare for opposing football teams, collecting 32 catches for 379 yards and 11 touchdowns and picking up 76 tackles on defense, second-most for a 5-5 squad that reached the playoffs. Bruggeman earned first team all-WKLL in football and basketball.

"Tate is not blessed with a lot of speed, but Tate runs extremely good routes," Betz said. "When you are a 6-4 kid like he is and when you can high jump what he does, a lot of time, (the opposing) defensive back, whoever it might be, he has got a definite size advantage. It's pretty easy to just say, we are going to throw it to a spot and we are confident that he is going to go up and get it and most of the time, that is what happens."

Bruggeman was one of 11 area players selected for the annual Kansas Eight-Man all-star games Saturday in Beloit. Bruggeman, along with teammate Kelton Jones, will play on the Eight-Man, Division II West squad. Beloit will mark Bruggeman's final football game; this fall, he will either run track at Tabor College or play basketball for Colby Community College. Earlier this spring, Bruggeman's team lost a close game in the basketball all-star game.

"That was kind of a letdown, so it would be really nice to win one here," he said.

When Bruggeman entered Golden Plains, he weighed about 130 pounds. He didn't start as a freshman, but still saw plenty of playing time. As a sophomore, though, Betz said Bruggeman started to gain weight and "become a special kid." After he earned state medals in back-to-back years in the high jump, he received a letter from International Sports Specialists, Inc. to attend the DownUnder Sports competition in Australia.

Bruggeman didn't attend after his sophomore year, but raised $4,200 through dinners, concession stands and fundraisers to go in 2008. Bruggeman finished second in the high jump (6-0) in the international competition and toured Australia and Hawaii, including seeing the largest residence building in the world, attending amusement parks and bungee jumping.

"That was awesome," he said.

Bruggeman continued his success when he returned to Rexford for his senior year. Historically, most 6-foot-4 players are linemen or quarterbacks. In the 2008 Eight-Man all-star games, six players were listed at 6-foot-4. None played wideout, and four were offensive or defensive lineman. However, Bruggeman's talent and length allowed Golden Plains to change its offense last year for the first time under ninth-year head coach Travis Smith.

"I have not had a receiver that tall," Smith said. "I have a receiver playing at Garden right now. Dan Rogers, who is 5-10 and starts in the slot down there and has some speed. I have never had a kid who was this tall and just able to take advantage of the smaller DBs in our league."

During the regular season, Bruggeman never saw a defensive back that could match his height and often outjumped smaller opponents for catches. In past years, Golden Plains often ran the ball 70 percent of the time.

In 2008, they had a 50-50 split of run and pass because of Bruggeman's catching ability and sophomore quarterback Rilee Spresser's arm.

"Tate's ability and his length really pushed us to spread out the defense and throw the ball a little more," Smith said.

Bruggeman, who admits he doesn't have breakaway speed, rarely had a long play. Instead, Golden Plains would often run the ball down to the opponents' 25 or 30-yard line and then open up the passing game for Bruggeman. In Week 2, Golden Plains lost to Ransom-Western Plains, but Bruggeman outjumped a smaller defensive back for a touchdown catch.

"I don't think he was ready for me to go up there," Bruggeman said. "Really (the pass) was kind of short so I had to come back, and I just went up over him and grabbed it."

A week later, he replicated the same feat twice against Hill City. On two play action passes, Smith said Golden Plains "got the corners to bite a little bit" and Bruggeman ran to the back of the end zone. Spresser's job was to throw the ball to the pylon and let Bruggeman catch the ball. The first touchdown catch put Golden Plains back in the game, while the second one gave the Bulldogs a lead in an eventual 36-28 loss.

"His length caused a lot of problems for other teams to match up with him," Smith said.

Bruggeman, who put on 20 more pounds before his senior year, became a better blocker and stronger defensive player.

On defense, Bruggeman played "squat corner," a position that allowed him to read the option and make open field tackles. The increased weight allowed Bruggeman to pick up 76 tackles, 26 more than his junior year.

In past years, Bruggeman's weight limited his blocking ability. As a senior, though, he helped Golden Plains roll up 31 points a game after they averaged 22 a contest in 2007.

"His freshman and sophomore year, he kind of struggled with his swarm tackling, but as he got older and especially this year, he became  a very good swarm tackler," Smith said.

"He wasn't someone on the defensive side that was going to knock you out with a hit. But one thing that we did offensively when we ran the ball when we were spread, he would crackback a lot. I remember a few plays against Sharon (Springs) where he would come back and make a really outstanding hit."

Bruggeman's unique style carried over to the classroom and the track. In school, Bruggeman is known for his clothes, including wearing bright orange shirts. One day, he came to school in a turquoise blue robe. Bruggeman often wears a blue camoflauge hat with ear muffs.

"I wear that a lot," he said. "It's cool. I like it. Just like to wear some crazy stuff for the fun of it."

Bruggeman isn't shy in the classroom or at leadership conferences, saying "I like to be friends with everybody."

In a newsletter from the annual High School Youth Leadership Conference at Fort Hays State University, Bruggeman admitted "he liked checking out the girls." Bruggeman remembered the conference Thursday.

"They had a dance, and I noticed that there were a lot of good-looking girls there, I won't lie," he said. "I guess I danced away with them and got to know them a little better."

In the classroom, he was one of two Bulldog seniors and one of 44 boys and girls in the Northwest Kansas League and Western Plains Liberty League who earned a University of Kansas honors program award.

The success carried over to basketball, where he earned honorable mention all-state from multiple publications. During the track season this spring, Bruggeman suffered an ankle injury from triple jumping early in the spring and rarely high jumped in practice. Still, at meets, Bruggeman consistently reached 6-2 or 6-4.

"We really limited his time in practice as far as full approaches, we just worked more on technique stuff where he was not going to be doing a lot of planting," Betz said. "We basically tried to nurse him through the last four weeks and really make sure that the planting and full approach stuff happened on track meet day."

"I just kind of went for it," Bruggeman added. "The pain, it would sit there. I would jump, and then it would hurt and hurt and hurt. Then it would gradually go down before the next jump. It really wasn't that horrible."

Bruggeman didn't practice high jumping before the regional and state meets. Before state, a trainer taped his ankle before he left Golden Plains on Thursday. Then, a coach re-taped him Friday. Bruggeman came one jump away from earning a state title.

"It kept coming out of place. It was out of place at state, and I don't know how I got 6-4. But I did it, but man it hurt, but I guess I guess I endured it. My plant foot, left foot, I had it taped and taped and taped, but it still came out," he said. "I guess I managed."

The state track meet capped off an impressive and unique career for Bruggeman. He is northwest Kansas' only athlete who earned an invitation to the eight-man all-star games, earned all-state basketball honors and placed in state track -- a combination Betz sees every 13 years.

"You don't find them very often that can be that talented in all three," Betz said of Bruggeman.