Prescott guard Isabella Lenz enters this Friday’s game with 997 career points. The junior guard is poised to join Kollyn Severson (Eichman) and Kaycee as the only girls basketball players to score 1,000 points during their high school careers. Lenz is on pace to surpass Charette as the girls all time scoring leader.

Speaking of milestones, congratulations to senior wrestler Joe Schulte on garnering his 100th career prep victory this past weekend. An honor roll student, Schulte is ranked among the top wrestlers in Division 2 and hopes to return to Madison to wrestler in the WIAA State Tournament.

Prescott High School Biology Teacher and Fishing Team Coach Jason Brazzale and the high school fishing team has started their season. The team has been dealing with less than optimum ice conditions this year. The January 4th Bone Lake Tournament has been pushed to Saturday February 1st. Late last year under of the tutelage of retired Prescott Educator Lyle Nolt, team members and other enthusiasts learned how to make ice fishing rods.

“My wrist is feeling good” reports North Dakota State Infielder Peter Brookshaw. The 2018 Cardinal alumnus has returned to Fargo this past weekend and is preparing for the start of the 2020 Bison baseball season. Brookshaw expects to be at 100% when the season begins. A starter last year, Brookshaw played in 43 game last spring finishing with 12 doubles and 25 runs batted in. The two time WBCA 1st Team All State selection expects to return to the middle infield for the Bison during his sophomore year.. NDSU will open the season next month in Honolulu, Hawaii where they will take on the Rainbow Warriors in a four-game series from February 14th-17th.

Hard to believe WIAA Tournament play begins next month. In Girls basketball here are the records of the top teams in Prescott’s sectional: St. Croix Falls 9-0, Bloomer 9-2, Northwestern 8-1, #6 ranked Arcadia 8-1, Adams-Friendship 7-4, and West Salem 7-4. The last two years the Cardinals clashed with the Bloomer Blackhawks (bird) in the regional finals. Bloomer advanced to Sectionals with a 51-47 win over the Cardinals and last year Prescott turned the tables and defeated the Heat of the North school 6257 to advance to the sectional semi-final. On February 10th, Prescott will host St. Croix Falls in a crucial non-conference game that most likely will have seeding implications.

The sectional assignments for the boy’s tournament includes a handful of different schools. Here are some of the top records of clubs in Prescott’s sectional. Altoona 7-1, Northwestern 7-3, Bloomer 5-2, St. Croix Central 7-2, Mauston 7-3, Viroqua 6-4, West Salem 6-4, St. Croix Falls 6-2, and #6 rankedWisconsin Dells 10-1. Two years ago Prescott advanced to the state tournament with a 86-76 win over Wisconsin Dells and the year before the Cardinals bested Mauston 78-62 to advance to the state tournament.

Speaking of basketball tournaments, a petition is being circulated among Wisconsin Schools that seeks to address what many people believe to be a “competitive imbalance” in high school tournament basketball. Connected in part to the long contentious issue of lower level public schools competing against lower level private schools at tournament time, the petition includes factoring in the percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunch in determining the tournament division assignment for a school.

Time for part II of superstitious behaviors from area athletes. Cardinal alumnus Katie Block (Magnan) an All Conference basketball player used to put and take her socks off and on until she was satisfied they were “completely equal”. Another All Conference Prescott Alumnus Cara Tweed (Gilberston) used to always drink Sunny Delight before games and would never play basketball without wearing a Nike headband. Prescott Head Girls Softball Abbie Morris said the importance of her approach to “routine” begin in college and it all started and ended in the batter’s box.

Those were the days…The Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association took a survey wanting to determine the longevity of Wisconsin Head Baseball Coaches. The average time spent as a Head Baseball Coach was 4 years. My guess is the number is not unique to baseball and coaches who coach less than 5 years is becoming the norm in Wisconsin. Today very, very few people coach longer than a decade, a phenomenon reiterated by many veteran officials. Coaches have identified pressure from parents, time commitment, personal/family reasons, lack of administrative support, and burnout as being the primary reasons for stepping down. Head Coaches roaming the dugout, sideline, or bench for over 10 years? Those were the days.