Property Executives Realty ‘Moving On’ report

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The Pierce County Journal Sports Department, which includes me and Andrew Harrington, is trying to be creative, shall we say a joint venture in journalism. As a Pierce County Journal sports reporter, I enjoy writing stories about our area student-athletes and all of the adjacent stories surrounding them. I do have a passion for smalltown newspapers and that's why I was a volunteer contributing writer for over six years before I likely had a mid-life crisis. Instead of buying a sports car, I decided to write full-time for the Pierce County Journal Sports Department. My Honda Pilot is dangerously close to cracking the 300,000-mark on the odometer.

I love our local community and I think inspiring stories about our residents help make our community a little bit better place to live. It helps us connect. It can calibrate the motor of our relationships, even for those of us “more experienced” and approaching 300,000 miles.

Like any business, small town newspapers have bills to pay, too. You may have noticed when clicking on a Pierce County Journal story in the past, once you click on the third story per month on the same device, you're blocked.

"No news for you!" says the news Nazi pay wall.

Now, the easiest way to gain access is to subscribe on-line at piercecountyjournal.news and click on the subscribe button. The two-year subscription is a whopping $3.95 per month for a weekly copy mailed to your home and full on-line access to the e-edition. I bought a cup of coffee for my daughter for $6.34 yesterday at Starbucks. Former Wildcat girls' basketball great Olivia Pizzi served it to me. She's currently “Moving On” and working her way through college at UW-River Falls in the sports psychology field.   

This once-per-month Property Executives Realty Moving On report is sponsored by Property Executives Realty owners' Jeremy and Dana Cudd. You can social-media share away on this! The News Nazis have been stonewalled and there won't be a paywall. Jeremy and Dana Cudd covered it for everybody. They want you, the reader, to learn about the outstanding collegiate accomplishments of the student-athletes from our area. It's a joint venture, a joint account so to speak. The report will feature news and notes about our area high school athletes that have moved on and are now succeeding at the college level.

Since this is the maiden voyage of the Property Executives Realty Moving On report and we're officially in winter, let's catch up on some local college football, shall we?

UW-River Falls Head Coach Matt Walker is up to his ears in recruiting right now. This past season, the Falcons were a few plays away from making the NCAA National Tournament.

Maybe the only thing more impressive than current River Falls Wildcat volleyball player Brooke Dusek’s jumping ability, is the number of fans attending UW-River Falls football games the past two seasons. Part of the reason is Coach Walker and his staff have 14 players from our Pierce County Journal coverage area on their roster.

Spring Valley's Aaron Borgerding completed a stellar career for UWRF football. The 6'2" 205-pound senior defensive back was a semi-finalist for the National Football Foundation Campbell Trophy. Borgerding was also named the WIAC Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete winner. He was first team All-WIAC and the D3football.com All-Region First Team.

River Falls' Michael Krueger was named All-WIAC Honorable Mention his senior season for UW-River Falls football. The 5'11" 195-pound running back finished with over 2,000 yards rushing and receiving for his career, including 21 touchdowns. Krueger was named to the All-WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll for four straight years.

Elmwood-Plum City's Trevor Asher ranked second on the team for Falcon football with five rushing touchdowns. The sophomore running back averaged 6.2 yards per carry this past season.  

Last but certainly not least for Falcon football, Prescott's Jack Olson notched the WIAC Player-of-the-Week honors in late September. The junior defensive lineman recorded 11 tackles against Mt. St. Joseph.

Former River Falls Wildcat Monty Wilson anchored the left tackle position for St. Scholastica this past season. The 6'3" 260-pound junior came back in a big way from a severely broken ankle suffered during the last couple minutes of his final game as a sophomore. Wilson has, without a doubt, a first-team All-MIAC mustache he was sporting over Christmas break. 

 

UW-Whitewater Wrestling

River Falls' Gavin Kohel (sophomore, 184 pounds) was recently named UW-Whitewater's Kwik Trip Athlete of the Week. Kohel pinned UW-Oshkosh's Elijah Matzke at the 1:49 mark, the fastest of any fall during the Warhawks' 55-0 dual victory last week. Kohel is 12-6 on the season.    

 

Wildcat Sister Acts

River Falls has three sister acts making waves in the college scene. Emily Banitt finished her final "Covid" fifth year of eligibility at the College of Charleston, after four years at Loyola University-Chicago. The Cougars made the NCAA Division-1 National Tournament only to lose to #17-ranked Utah. Banitt finished a stellar career with over 1,400 kills and numerous conference accolades. "The Gunslinger," her nickname in high school, has a few bullets left in the holster. Banitt signed up to play beach volleyball for the College of Charleston in the spring. Her younger sister, Abi, is the libero for Southern Illinois-Edwardsville in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Staying on the volleyball court, fifth-year senior Maddi Kealy put a big red bow on her career at Minnesota-Duluth this past fall. Kealy tallied 577 assists from the setter position in her final season to lead the Bulldogs. Her younger sister, sophomore, Morgan Kealy, has been the starting setter for St. Thomas for the past two seasons. Morgan Kealy has already reached the 1,000-assist plateau in just two years with the Tommies.

River Falls' Rachel Randleman is a senior basketball player for St. Kate's in St. Paul. This past month, Randleman was named St. Kate's Athlete of the Week with a career-high 16 points in a 77-69 overtime win over St. Olaf. Her younger sister, Becca, runs track at St. Thomas. Just a sophomore, Becca Randleman has already set three school records in track. She holds the Tommie 300-meter dash record and was a member of the record-holding 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

Speaking of Siblings

It was a thankful Thanksgiving for parents Jason and Chandra Janke in Ellsworth this past November. Their former Panther kids, Jack and Molly Janke, were stat stuffing at UW-La Crosse. Jack, a wide receiver for the Eagles, caught four passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns in the first round of the NCAA football play-offs against Northwestern on Nov. 23. Two weeks prior, freshman Molly ripped the nets for 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting and snared six rebounds to help the Eagles to a 101-89 win over Simpson College (IA).  

Cardinal Trifecta

Prescott's Isabella Lenz is a two-time All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference first-team selection at Michigan Tech. The 5'9" senior notched a career-high 25 points last month in a 79-75 loss to UW-Parkside. Lenz's former teammate, Lila Posthuma, is averaging eight minutes per game as a freshman for Division-1 Bradley University. The 6'0" guard's season-high to date is eight points.

Prescott's Reese Ptacek took home Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors this past month for the Kansas Jayhawks. The 6'3" middle blocker was a fixture in the line-up after the first month of the season. Ptacek tallied 80 blocks on the season to go along with 127 kills and an eye-popping .325 hitting percentage.

If you know of a local high school athlete "Moving On," doing well, and shining bright, please contact me at greg@piercecountyjournal.news.

If you're moving in or "Moving On" in real life, you're welcomed to contact Jeremy or Dana Cudd at Property Executives Realty. 

Property Executives Realty, Moving On, college athletes, Pierce County alumni