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.

WEM senior Claire Bohlen recorded a season-high 22 kills in a four set win over Hayfield in the regular season finale for the Buccaneer volleyball game.
Bohlen had 60 hitting attempts and made only two mistakes in leading the Bucs to a 25- 21, 25-15, 25-27, 25-21 win over the Vikings Tuesday, Oct. 17.
The win for WEM gave them an 8-3 record in the Gopher Conference which was good enough for third place behind Kenyon-Wanamingo and Faribault BA. They are 21-8 heading into the post-season.

Two wins in the Gopher Conference moved the WEM volleyball team into third place in the Gopher Conference.
The Bucs dropped a fiveset thriller to Faribault BA Tuesday, Oct. 10 but rebounded with a four-set win over Blooming Prairie Friday, Oct. 13 and a 25-11, 25-21, 25-14 win over Triton Monday, Oct. 16.
The wins improved WEM’s conference record to 7-3 and 20-8 overall, the 12th time in school history the team has won 20 or more matches.

Thirteen of the top teams in Class AA participated in the Class AA Minnesota High School Volleyball Showcase Friday and Saturday in Burnsville.
The WEM squad was seeded 14th out of the 16 teams and they finished the event in 9th place, winning three of their five matches.
The Bucs won the Bronze Championship by defeating Mounds Park Academy (26-24, 22-25, 15-10) and Zumbrota-Mazeppa (25- 20, 25-17) on Saturday.

Minnesota’s regular waterfowl season opens a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday, Sept. 23, with the same regulations as last year. Minnesota has three waterfowl hunting zones — north, central and south — that share the Sept. 23 season opener but have varying end dates. The central and south zones also have a mid-season closure Oct. 2-6.

The WEM volleyball team pulled off a huge upset Friday, Sept. 15 when they traveled to Cannon Falls and defeated the Class A 3rd Rated Bombers in four sets.
The win ended a solid week for the Bucs. They picked up a sweep of NRHEG Thursday, Sept. 14 and were defeated by undefeated Kenyon-Wanamingo Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The WEM football team scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to defeat Cleveland, 16-6, Thursday, Sept. 7 at Cleveland in a Mid Southeast West District game.
The Bucs trailed 6-0 early after Cleveland scored on their second drive of the game on a 6-yard pass from Blake Lyons to Carson Lyons.
Turnovers and penalties stopped a pair of Buccaneer drives in the first half, including one at the one-yard line.

The WEM volleyball team won their opening Gopher Conference match of the season and placed third in their home invitational this past week.
The Bucs swept JWP 25-11, 25-20, 25-15 Thursday, Sept. 7 in Waterville. Two days later they hosted the 45th annual WEM Invitational and split four matches.
WEM defeated Minnesota Valley Lutheran (MVL) 25-20, 25-15 and TriCity United 25-14, 15-13, and were defeated by Cleveland 17-25, 25-19, 15- 12 in pool play.

The opening game for the WEM football team ended in a loss, with Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop picking up a 22-6 victory Thursday, Aug. 31 in Waterville.
A pair of early touchdowns by the Thunderbirds gave the visitors a 14-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game.
The two teams played a very evenly matched game for much of the final three quarters. Penalties hurt the Bucs in the second half. They started a pair of drives with successive penalties, forcing the team into some longer possessions.