SHOTS from the Hip

Congratulations to Sam Murphy on qualifying for the WIAA Division 2 State Wrestling Tournament in Madison. The senior enters Thursday’s tournament with an overall record of 34-6 and will wrestle St. Croix Central sophomore Owen Wasley in his opening match on Thursday at the Kohl Center.

The WIAA Team State Tournament is slated for the weekend of March 4 at the FieldHouse in Madison.

And congratulations to the Prescott boys basketball team on their Middle Border Conference Championship. It is the eighth conference championship for the Cardinals in the last nine years. With both the girls and boys winning conference crowns this season expect a busy March for the staff at River City Stitch.

As expected, the Prescott Cardinals and the West Salem Tigers received the #1 seeds in their respective brackets of the Arcadia Sectional. Prescott will play the winner of the game between #8 Osceola and #9 Ellsworth. Heart of the North Conference Champion Northwestern earned the #2 seed, Baldwin-Woodville the #3, and St. Croix Central will be seeded #4. In the bottom half of the sectional bracket, Stanley-Boyd enters the tournament as the #2 seed, Elk Mound the #3, and Wisconsin Dells earned the #4 seed. First round regional games begin on Tuesday, March 1.

Speaking of seeding, there are more than a few coaches who have expressed their disappointment with the new electronic system. Case in point, the Prescott Cardinal girls basketball team defeated #1 seed St. Croix Falls and #2 seed Baldwin-Woodville during the regular season. Apparently, head-to-head matchups were not one of the primary criteria used in determining tournament seeds. Huh?

It was more than Joan Korfhage and the Prescott girls basketball team who were left scratching their heads. Boys and girls coaches and players found themselves questioning the new process.

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The department asks the public to report any black bear den locations they find across Wisconsin to support a new research study. Conducted by the department’s Office of Applied Science, the study will analyze reported dens and generate estimates of reproductive rates of black bears within each bear management zone. These estimates will improve the accuracy of the population models for those zones. Public reporting of bear dens will increase the study’s success and the accuracy of the black bear population model, as black bear dens are difficult to locate. The public is encouraged to report as much information about the den’s location and recent use as possible without approaching or disturbing the dens. Den locations from prior years can be useful since black bears will occasionally re-use dens. The DNR estimates the Wisconsin bear population to be around 24,000 animals.

Parker Nielsen and West Texas A& M enter the final week of the regular season in third place in the Lone Star Conference with a record of 9-5. Overall the Buffaloes are 23-6 and ranked #25 in the NCAA Division II. Isabella Lenz and the Michigan Tech Huskies enter the waning days of the regular season in fifth place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Huskies are 10-6 in conference play and 15-9 overall. And Haylee Yaegar and the University of Wisconsin-Stout Blue Devils began conference tournament play this week. The Blue Devils finished fourth in the always tough WIAC with a record of 8-5 and 13-10 overall.

Speaking of sectionals, many longtime Prescott Cardinal fans are still smarting from the heartbreaking loss the Cardinals suffered at the hands of Prentice in the 1974 Class C Sectional Final in Rice Lake. After defeating unbeaten Shell Lake in the sectional semis by a score of 66-56, the Cardinals faced the unbeaten Buccaneers in the final. Led by the likes of Randy Hansen, Tim Magee, and Randy Larson, Prescott led most of the way and led by three with less than two minutes to play and appeared on the cusp of advancing to the WIAA State Tournament for the first time in school history. However, Prentice outscored Prescott 11-2 late and ended the Cardinals’ season by a score of 69-62. Although finishing the regular season with a record of 10-8, some on paper may have viewed that year’s tournament run as a Cinderella story. However, many of the locals were not surprised. Throughout much of the 1970’s the Cardinals played Class A and Class B teams in the always tough Middle Border Conference. At that time the league included Hudson and River Falls. The tough conference schedule certainly helped Prescott as they entered tournament play during a decade where the Tim Cerni-led Cardinals were a Class C force to be reckoned with each March.

The North Dakota State Bison won three out of four in their series this past weekend against Abilene Christian. Peter Brookshaw and the Bison will play a four-game series against Dixie State in St. George, Utah this coming weekend.

Headshaker of the week. No doubt scores of NCAA basketball fans saw the repulsive antics of Michigan Head Coach Johann Howard after the game with Wisconsin this past weekend. What made it worse was that Howard intimated his actions were simply a reaction to Greg Gaard’s behavior in the hand shake line. Sure, one side is more guilty than the other, but both players and coaches from both teams joined in the post-game fracas. Unfortunately, scenes like this are becoming far too common in the realm of competitive athletics. The ridiculous video has been watched countless times on television, YouTube, and social media. The glorification of such reprehensible behavior among some “defenders” is despicable. Sadly, throughout the United States and the world we are seeing scenes of similar conduct become the norm. It is a headshaker. Remember coaches and players … the children are watching.

By Cripe Olson