New Prague’s Orioles and the Waterville Indians will offer their efforts representing area town baseball when TV station Fox 9 brings its town ball tour to Memorial Park tomorrow, Wednesday, June 5.
The behind-the-scenes planning has been in the works for several weeks. Orioles manager Nick Schoenecker received a call from the TV station earlier this spring asking if his team would be interested in the opening round of the station’s seventh annual Town Ball Tour.

WEM junior Gavin Brown and sophomore Talen Taylor have been honored by Gopher Conference Boys Basketball Coaches for the second consecutive year. Seniors Luke Michael and Redzel Priebe were honored for the first time.
After being named to the Honorable Mention All-Gopher Conference Team last year, Brown and Taylor were both named to the 3rd Team All-Conference squad.
Priebe was named to the Honorable Mention Team.
Michael received the Gopher Conference Sportsmanship Award.
They are among 15 senior and 12 underclassmen named to the All-Conference Teams.

It was an incredible weekend for three WEM youth wrestlers at the NYWA Girls State Championships.
Mariella Masso, Jacee Knish, and Anaelyse Skidmore combined to win nine straight matches and win three State Championships.
Masso, age 6, won the Pre-K & K 55-pound title. She wrestled only 48 seconds in three matches. She pinned Elise Jaeger of Albert Lea in 20 seconds, pinned Lilyanna Bugbee of Stewartville in 14 seconds, and in the championship she pinned Adrianna Jordan of Shakopee in 14 seconds.

The Gopher Conference West Division Champion JWP boys basketball team handed the Buccaneers an 84-52 loss Friday, Feb. 16 during Parent’s Night in Janesville.
The Bulldogs are currently 19-5 overall and 12-1 in the conference. WEM is 10-11 overall and 8-5 in the conference. Tuesday they played Maple River, the team they are tied for second place in the conference with. WEM will host Cleveland Thursday, Feb. 22.
The Bucs also played a nonconference game Tuesday, Feb. 13 and were defeated by Norwood-Young America (NYA), 62-56.

The WEM/JWP Grizzlies participated in a 20-team youth kindergarten thru 3rd grade team tournament in Waseca on Sunday, February 18. The team went 3-3 on the day with a 1st place finish in Pool D. The team was composed of weights from 40 pounds thru heavyweight (130 pound maximum). On the team was Mateo Masso, Sutton Wenker, Maddox Knish, Derek Budahn, Rhett Melchert, Ryatt Melchert, Mariella Masso, Reed Blasing, Gabriel Skidmore, Crue Knish, Chance Luiken, Weston James, Jacee Knish, Cadence Potter, Charlie Bauer, Hudson Splett, and Kason Flohaug.

The WEM girls basketball team played two of the top teams in Section 2AA last week and finished with a split.
The Bucs defeated Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (LCWM), a 16-win team, 62-44 Tuesday, Feb. 13. Three days later a 20-win JWP team came to Waterville and edged WEM, 54- 48, avenging and earlier season loss to the Bucs.
WEM is now 10-6 in the Gopher Conference and 14- 11 overall heading into the post-season playoffs, which will begin next week. Seeding will take place Friday, Feb. 23.

The WEM girls basketball team gave the Class A No. 6 rated Hayfield squad all they could handle Thursday, Jan. 25 in Waterville.
The Bucs used an eightpoint scoring run to eliminate a nine point deficit midway through the second half against the Vikings.
Alayna Atherton scored a pair of baskets and Addison Condon and Ashlyn Pelant added baskets during the eight-point run.

The WEM girls basketball team split a pair of Gopher Conference games last week.
They began their week with a 68-61 loss to league-leading NRHEG Tuesday, Jan. 9 in Waterville. They ended the week with a 70-38 rout of Randolph.
With the split, WEM remains tied for second place in the West Division of the c o n f e r e n c e with a 5-1 record, one half game behind NRHEG and tied with Maple River, a team they have already defeated.

Eight top six finishes and one championship helped the WEM/JWP wrestling team to a third place finish in the St. Croix Lutheran Crusader Invitational Saturday, Jan. 13.
Avery Fall claimed the 215 pound championship in dominating fashion and the Grizzlies scored 140 points in placing third.
Ogilvie won the 15 team event with 192.5 points. Second place went to Chisago Lakes with 153 points. Fourth through seventh went to Hopkins (127.5), North Branch (116.5), Roseville Area (116), and St. Paul Humboldt-Open World Learning (87.5).

The Tri-City United (TCU) boys basketball team outscored WEM 34-16 over the final nine minutes of their game Thursday, Dec. 28 to pull out a 72-68 nonconference win in Waterville.
After leading 27-25 at halftime, the Bucs increased their lead to 52-38 on a rebound basket by senior Caleb Caron with 9:13 remaining.
The TCU defense held the Bucs to five field goals over the next nine minutes while their offense did much of their damage at the free throw line, scoring 14 from the charity stripe, including the final four of the game.

You can guarantee yourself a win if you never let your opponent lead.
The WEM girls played two games last week and led from tip off to the final second, defeating Waseca 53-43 Tuesday, Dec. 12 and Faribault BA, 64-35 Friday, Dec. 15.
In the win over the Bluejays, the Bucs jumped out to a 13-5 lead behind a pair of three-pointers by Kylie LaFrance. WEM led 23-20 at halftime.

A number of WEM youth bowlers competed in two post-season tournaments which are held for some of the state’s finest bowlers.
Competing in the Minnesota High School Bowling’s 2023 All-Conference Tournament were Nathaniel Boese and Jared Boese on the South Central Conference First Team and Mason Waugh and Nathan Eich on the South Central Second Team.

It was a tale of two halves in three games played last week by the WEM girls basketball team.
The Buccaneers trailed at halftime of all three games and outscored all three in the second half, but not by as much as WEM lost three straight games.
WEM lost 53-48 to Blooming Prairie Tuesday, Dec. 5, were defeated 58-49 by Norwood Young America (NYA) Friday, Dec. 8 at Maple River, and were defeated 59- 56 by Belle Plaine Saturday, Dec. 9, also at Maple River High School.

The WEM/JWP boys cross country team improved their finish from a year ago at the Section 2A Cross Country meet which was held Thursday, Oct. 26 in Norwood.
The Grizzlies placed 13th last year with 308 points. This year they moved up to 11th place with 295 points.
Mountain Lake Area/ Comfrey won the boy’s race with 60 points, 10 less than runner-up St. James Area (70). Third through seventh were Loyola/Cleveland/St. Clair (81), Madelia-Truman/ GHEC/Martin Luther (127), Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet (134), Sibley East (178), and Norwood-Young America (239).

This time of year volleyball fans can pretty much schedule trips to Sub-section Playoff games if following the WEM netters.
For the 11th straight season, minus the COVID year, the Buccaneers have advanced to the Sub-Section Championship.
This year is not any different after the Bucs dismantled NRHEG, 26-24, 25-18, and 25-5 Thursday, Oct. 26 at Mankato West High School in the South Sub-Section Semifinals.

Despite a season-best rushing performance, the WEM football team dropped its sixth game of the season, losing 48-0 to St. Clair/Mankato Loyola Wednesday, Oct. 18.
The Bucs gained 111 rushing yards on 38 carries against a very good Cyclone defense.
“Disappointed in the discrepancy in score but we never quit and I'm proud of that culture,” head coach Sam Stier said. “Now it's a matter of executing early and often”
St. Clair/Loyola opened up a 34-0 halftime lead behind an outstanding performance by quarterback Dylan Blount.