Senior cross country runner Kyra Dix finished second at last weekend’s WIAA State Meet in Wisconsin Rapids, ending a truly remarkable high school career. Since joining the team as a sophomore in 2024, Dix has rewritten the Prescott record books. In  her first season, she helped lead the girls to their first-ever team-state appearance, finished 18th individually at State, and established a school 5K record of 19:33. As a junior, she took things to another level, winning multiple meets, medaling in every competition, finishing seventh at State, and lowering the school record to 18:34. Her senior season was more of the same, with victories at Somerset, Nightfall, Altoona, and WIAA Sectional, as the talented runner medaled in every meet, and set  a new school record of 18:02 in the Sectional Meet at Rice Lake. Three consecutive first-team MBC all-conference selections and first-team all-state recognition in 2025 tell much of the story. But not all of it. Dix is also a high-honors student and an outstanding school ambassador who represents Prescott exceptionally well. Dix will take her talents to Division I University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, where she has verbally committed to run both cross country and track. Not a bad way to close out a high school career. Congratulations!

The folks at Bound Wisconsin have the Prescott boys basketball team finishing third in the always tough Middle Border Conference this season. The Cardinals shared the conference title with Osceola and St. Croix Central last season. The Altoona Railroaders, with the dynamic backcourt duo of Graysen Becker and Owen Gunderson are picked to finish atop the league followed by the Amery Warriors who will be led by Wisconsin Badger Football Recruit Keaton Wollan.  

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: This fall, bear hunters harvested 4,275 bears during the 35-day season, slightly above the overall harvest target of 4,160 bears. The 2026 bear season ran from Sept. 15 to Oct. 13. A total of 15,245 bear hunting licenses were awarded to hunters through the license lottery system. Hunter success rates were above average in Zones A and D this year, appearing most pronounced in counties like Barron, Burnett, Polk and Washburn, which all contributed to the Zone D harvest being the largest to date for the area. Nevertheless, this harvest level remains consistent with the current management objective of bear population reduction for this area of the state.

Congratulations to Brady Randolph on being named the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Northwest District Volunteer Coach of the Year. A 1995 Cardinal grad and a member of the 1994 State Championship team, Randolph has been heavily involved in the summer baseball youth program. An all-conference outfielder in high school, Randolph played college baseball at Teikyo-Marycrest (Iowa) and Viterbo College in La Crosse. Congratulations, certainly well deserved. 

The No. 15 Kansas Jayhawks swept the Kansas State Wildcats 25-17, 25-21, 25-20 on Friday night in front of a record-breaking crowd of 8,058 in Allen Fieldhouse. Prescott grad Reese Ptacek had nine kills and two blocks as Kansas dominated their instate rivals. On Sunday, Ptacek garnered 16 kills as the Jayhawks defeated Iowa State 3-1 on and improved to 9-2 in conference play and 16-5 overall. Kansas will play #24 Baylor in Waco, Texas this Thursday.

Junior Guard Lila Posthuma is among 10 returnees as Bradley University opens their season on the road this week against Wisconsin. A 2024 Cardinal alumnus, Posthuma and her Bradley teammates are picked to finish seventh in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. Last year Bradley finished 20-13 overall and tied for third in conference play. Bradley qualified for the National Invitational Tournament last year where they fell to George Washington by a score of 63-60 in the first round. 

Another Prescott grad, Violet Otto will wear #22 for the St. Cloud State women’s basketball team this season. A three-time 1st Team All Conference selection at Prescott, Otto and her St. Cloud teammates open the season against Washburn University of Topeka, Kan. The Huskies, coming off a 14-15 season a year ago, are picked to finish eighth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. 

Headshaker of the week. Unbelievable. This week's rendition involves FIRST-GRADE FLAG FOOTBALL. I will type that again - FIRST-GRADE FLAG FOOTBALL. Recently, spectators at a Saturday morning game witnessed a team from a West Metro suburb apparently with a much bigger vision for youth sports. A vision that had very little to do with the 6-year-olds on the field. It had everything to do with the parents on the sidelines. Once again, we have adults who simply cannot resist inserting themselves into what should be a kids' activity. Sort of like adults hosting Halloween parties. But here, this wasn't your ordinary group of parents cheering from the side lines. No, this was a full-blown production. A team bus. Uniforms with names on the back. Matching parent apparel. Flags waving dads sprinting along the sidelines after each score and grown adults body-bumping after each touchdown. The only thing missing was a parent donning John Randle-style face paint. You have got to be kidding me. These are 6-year-olds. Six! At that age, a football game might be delayed because someone spotted a toad in the grass, noticed a little dog in the crowd, or wanted to wave to Grandma and Grandpa sitting in their lawn chairs. That's what first-grade flag football should look like. A bunch of little kids having fun. Instead, we had an adult rooting entourage that looked like it was preparing for college football game day. It was stunning, and certainly not in an impressive way. In fact, it was downright embarrassing. There's nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about your children's activities. By all means, cheer them on. But there's a difference between supporting your kids and making their activities all about you. When parents become the main attraction at a first-grade sporting event, something has gone terribly wrong. Youth sports are supposed to be about the kids, but apparently somebody forgot to tell this group of parents. How ridiculous. How pathetic. How embarrassing. It was a headshaker.