WEM softball players received team awards during the team recognition held Monday, June 28.
Brielle Bartelt and Allison Rients were named the team’s Most Valuable Players.
Bartelt was named to the Class A All- State Team and Rients played in the State All-Star Games. Bartelt was also named the Best Offensive Player after hitting .526. She was among team leaders with 41 hits, 32 singles, five doubles, two triples, two home runs, 26 RBI, and 23 runs scored. She only struck out four times in 87 at bats.
The Buccaneer Teammate Award was presented to senior Ella Michael.

Six WEM softball players earned Gopher Conference Awards following the team’s second straight Gopher Conference Championship season.
Seniors Brielle Bartelt and Lindsay Condon were named to the First Team. Seniors Autumn Taylor and Allison Rients were named to the Second Team. Senior Ellie Ready was named to the Honorable Mention Team. Sophomore Emma Woratschka was named the Sportsmanship recipient.
Condon was an Honorable Mention pick in 2019,Taylor and Rients were Second Team selections in 2019. There were no awards in 2020.

No team had been able to shut down the potent WEM softball offense, until Thursday, June 10.
The Lady Bucs averaged eight runs per game in 2021 heading into the Section 1A Championship game played in Austin.
Wabasha-Kellogg All-State pitcher Julia Schmoker put together two outstanding performances in helping W-K upset the Buccaneers, 9-1 and 4-2, to win the Section 1A Championship.
WEM advanced to the Section 1A Championship game by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Wabasha-Kellogg in the winner’s bracket finals Tuesday, June 8.

The WEM girls track and field team put together a very solid performance in the Sub-Section 6 Meet held Thursday, June 3 at Janesville.
The host school won the seven team event with 133 points. There was a log jam between the next four teams. River Valley placed second (123), Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet placed third (120), WEM fourth (116), and St. Clair/Immanuel Lutheran fifth (111). Rounding out the teams were St. James Area in sixth (44), and Mankato Loyola/Cleveland in seventh (37).

AUSTIN - It took nine innings, but the WEM softball team was able to earn a pair of championships in a 1-0, nine inning win over Hayfield Saturday, June 5 in Austin in the Section 1A Tournament.
The first title was the Gopher Conference out-right championship. The West Sub-Section Championship game also doubled as the final conference game of the season.
The Sub-Section Championship was the third straight for the Lady Bucs, going way back to 2018 when WEM played in Class AA.

the WEM girls track and field team scored points in helping the Lady Bucs win the 2021 Gopher Conference Championship.
WEM had scoring performances by more than two dozen individuals in scoring 164 points to win the title Tuesday, May 25 at Hayfield.
Medford placed second with 108 points. Third through eighth went as follows: United South Central/Alden-Conger (93.5), NRHEG (82), Hayfield (81), Blooming Prairie (81), Maple River (50.5), and Faribault BA (30).

Jasper Morris and Evan Lange-Wenker each won an individual title at the NRHEG Invitational Thursday, May 20 in New Richland.
Morris was the top 1,600-meter runner, finishing in 5:04.88, two seconds in front of Cohen Stursa of Medford.
Lange-Wenker won the 300-meter hurdles by almost three seconds over Stursa in a time of 46.84.
The Buccaneers placed third in the four-team Gopher Conference Meet. Medford was the team champion with 88 points. NRHEG placed second (70), WEM third (60), and Blooming Prairie (57).

A bases loaded walk in the sixth inning plated the winning run in a 5-4 victory for United South Central over WEM Monday, May 24 in Gopher Conference baseball.
The Bucs held a 4-2 lead when the Rebels scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out the win.
Senior Kurtis Crosby picked up a pair of hits including a double, scored twice, knocked in a run, and walked once to lead the Bucs.
Tanner Hines, Aiden Snesrud, and Dylan Ahlman also knocked in runs.
The WEM baseball team was limited to three hits in a pair of losses last week.

For the past two years, WEM High School sports have been competing in Class A, the smallest of the three or four classes in the state, depending on sport.
The next two years will look a lot different for Buccaneer teams for a couple of different reasons.
The first change is...
To read more about this article, pick up the April 29, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

The WEM baseball team is 2-3 in the Gopher Conference after winning one of three games last week.
The Bucs had only one hit Monday, April 26 against NRHEG but managed to...
To see more on this story, pick up the April 29, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

The WEM boys and girls track and field teams were up and running with three meets over the course of eight days.
The Lady Bucs won...
To see more on this story, pick up the April 22, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

Two WEM/JWP wrestlers were honored by Gopher Conference coaches following the 2020-21 season.
8th grader Carson Petry was named First Team All-Gopher Conference.
Freshman Gavin Krause received the Sportsmanship Award.
To read more on this article, pick up the April 8, 2021 print edition of the LifeEnterprise.

Take a Mom Fishing Weekend is the weekend before fishing opener
Fishing seasons open for walleye, bass, trout in lakes, and northern pike on Saturday, May 15, with this year’s date taking the prize for the latest possible opener under Minnesota statute.
“We know there is some confusion about this year’s opener date,” said Jon Hansen, fisheries program consultant for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Seven WEM senior basketball players have received State honors following their 2020-21 season.
Brielle Bartelt, Lindsay Condon, Kylie Pittmann, Ellie Ready, Toryn Richards, Allison Rients, and Autumn Taylor were each honored by the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association.
Bartelt and Richards were named to the Class A All-State Honorable Mention Team for the second straight season.

Knights edge Lady Bucs in Section 2A Championship
The Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s girls basketball team was one of the highest scoring teams in Class A this season. They averaged nearly 80 points per game.
WEM held the Knights to 21 first half points in the Section 2A Championship game Friday, March 26 at Arlington, but were unable to score enough themselves in a 64-59 loss.

The season has ended for the WEM girls basketball team after a 64-59 loss to Sleepy Eye-St. Mary's in the Section 2A Championship played Thursday, March 25 at Sibley East High School in Arlington. The Bucs finished the season with a 20-4 record, with two of those losses being to the Knights. For more on this game and WEM's win over Martin County West in the South Sub-Section Championship, check out the April 1 edition of the LifeEnterprise. SESM is currently undefeated and will find out Saturday, March 27 when they play in the Class A State Tournament.