Bulldog track and field teams earn All-Gopher honors

Seventeen JWP/WEM track and field athletes earned All-Gopher Conference honors following the 2026 spring season.

The girls team had 11 athletes named and the boys had six athletes named.

In order to make the First Team, athletes needed to win an event in the Gopher Conference Meet which was held in early May. Honorable Mention selections were picked based on their performances in the meet.

The Bulldogs boys and girls teams each won their respective conference championships.

Eagle Lake, a Class B amateur baseball team, came to Waterville Wednesday, June 24 and defeated the Waterville Indians, 12-2 in eight innings in a non-league game.

The Expos, who were previously in the 13-60 League with the Indians, scored five runs in the fourth inning and added four more in the eighth inning to pick up their ninth win in 12 games.

Dalton Grose started for Waterville and pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out two.

Three WEM baseball players were honored last week by Gopher Conference baseball coaches.

Seniors Jacob Androli, Andrew Krenik, and Noah Lanham received post-season awards. Lanham received the Sportsmanship Award. Androli was named to the All-Gopher First Team. Krenik was named to the Honorable Mention All-Gopher Team. Androli was named for the second straight season.

The top 25 players were named to the All-Conference Team. Each team has one player named to the Honorable Mention Team. Each team had one player selected to receive the Sportsmanship Award.

Halfway through their league season, the Waterville Indians amateur baseball team remains on top of the 13-60 League with a 5-1 record after a 2-0 shutout of Janesville Sunday, June 21. 

The Indians are tied for first with Minnesota Lake, a team they defeated two weeks ago.

The win Sunday included another impressive pitching performance by Dallas McBroom.

McBroom pitched eight scoreless innings and among the 24 outs he recorded, 17 of them were by strikeouts.

Sam Stier shut the door in the ninth inning, picking up his first save of the season.

After a pair of early season losses, the Waterville Indians have started to dominate opponents, improving to 4-1 in the 13-60 League after a 2-1 week.

The Indians won their 4th straight game after a 6-3 win over Minnesota Lake Wednesday, June 10 and a 9-4 win over the Lake Crystal Nine Friday, June 12 in the Waterville Chamber of Commerce game.

Unfortunately the win streak ended Sunday, June 14 at Waseca, with the Braves handing Waterville their first league loss, 9-6.

In the win over Minnesota Lake, Dallas McBroom pitched a gem,

WEM junior Alix Velzke has been named the Most Valuable Player on the 2026 WEM Softball Team.

Those were not the only honors the outstanding player received this spring. She was also named WEM’s Best Offensive Player, was an All-Gopher Conference First team selection, and made the All-Section 1A Team.

A number of WEM softball players have moved their way into the local record books following a successful 2026 spring season.

Senior/graduate Robyn Schwichtenberg, junior Alix Velzke, sophomore Brooklyn Novak, and eighth grader Kalyn Novak are now each included in the school records in either individual season or career season statistics.

The first two wins of the season for the Waterville Indians amateur baseball team were important ones with both being played against 13-60 League opponents.

The Indians celebrated Waterville Bullhead Days Saturday with a 11-5 win over Blue Earth. The following day they traveled to Albert Lea and shutout the newest team in the league by a score of 3-0.

Nolan Grose and Ben Boran each had three hits and a home run. Josh Cook and Dalton Grose added two hits each.

In their first Section 2A Track and Field Meet as a co-op team, the JWP//WEM Bulldogs finished 3rd among 24 entered.

The Bulldogs scored 68 team points finishing behind champion Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial-Nicollet (93.5) and Maple River. The top ten teams included Sibley East (62), St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran (51.75), Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (48), USC (36.75), Minnesota Valley Lutheran (36), Glencoe-Silver Lake (27), and Windom Area (26).

Three straight wins during a rainy Sunday night lifted the WEM girls flag football team into the 2026 High School Girls Flag Football State Tournament.

The Buccaneers shutout Fit Academy, 18-0 in their opening game. In the semifinals they defeated Farmington, 34-6. In the championship, the Bucs edged an undefeated NRHEG, 26,25, when sophomore Paetyn Judd returned an interception for a touchdown with less than 90 seconds to play.

WEM will open State Tournament play Monday, June 8 at 2 p.m. against Centennial at TCO Stadium. The...

For the past four years, WEM senior Robynn Schwichtenberg has been a varsity player for the Buccaneer softball team.

She has been recognized through the conference a couple of times with All-Gopher Conference honors.

Now Schwichtenberg has been recognized at a much higher level, being named to the Class A All Star Game. She was one of 22 players in the small school division selected to play in this series of games which will be held Sunday, June 7 at Caswell Park in North Mankato.

With three individual championship and three relay titles, the JWP/WEM girls track and field team pulled away to win the Section 2A, South Sub-Section meet Thursday, May 21 at St. James.

WEM senior Addison Condon won two championships, WEM eighth grader Rachel Mielke won one, and the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,600-meter relays each won events, helping the Bulldogs score 116 points.

The WEM flag football team recently finished their regular season with a 4-2 division record and a 5-3 overall record.

They will begin playoff action Sunday, May 31 in Waterville at 6:30 p.m. against FIT Academy. Other first round games include Farmington vs. Austin, with the winner playing WEM, NRHEG, the No. 1 seed and undefeated Panthers vs. Lakeville South, and Lakeville North vs. Fairmont.

The winning teams will play at 7:30 p.m. and the championship is set for 8:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the State Tournament.

WEM junior Alix Velzke had a week to remember while playing three games for the Buccaneer softball team.

She was the winning pitcher in two of her team’s three games, including four hitless innings pitched against Medford. At the plate she was 6-for-9 with four runs scored, six RBI, two walks, three doubles, a triple, and a home run.

WEM opened the week with a 6-2 loss to Randolph Thursday, May 14. The following afternoon the Bucs defeated Medford, 11-1, in five innings. Saturday in their regular season finale, WEM downed Waseca, 7-4.

WEM junior Gavin Atherton won the Section 2A True Team 200-meter and 400-meter Championships Tuesday, May 5 helping the JWP/ WEM Bulldogs place 3rd among the 14 teams.

Atherton was timed in 22.72 which edged out Oilver Schull of St. Clair (22.75), and Lucas Proehl of Maple River (22.97). Atherton ran the 400-meter dash in 51.51, which was almost a second faster than St. Clair’s Wyatt Lein. Atherton also placed third in the 100-meter dash (11.27).

Track and field enthusiasts knew when JWP and WEM decided to combine their teams for the 2026 season good things were in the making.

Both teams have had great success not only as individuals but as complete teams.

The Bulldog (JWP/WEM) girls team will now show the state how good track and field is in this area.

They are one of only 12 teams in Class A to advance to the Class A True Team State Championships. The event...

To see more on this story pick up the May 14, 2026 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.