Congratulations to wrestler Nolan Thomley on the Chippewa Falls Invitational last Saturday. The 150-pound senior improved to 28-5 on the season. Heading into the weekend tournament, Wisconsin Grappler had Thomley ranked #8 in his weight class in Division 2. Junior Steve Atherton finished in fourth place for the Cardinals. Prescott will travel to St. Croix Falls this weekend for an invitational tournament. 

Torrid first half outside shooting by Elk Mound boys basketball vaulted the Mounders to their first regular season win over the Prescott Cardinals since 2014. Members of the Western Cloverbelt Conference, Elk Mound has emerged, along with Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau as the teams to beat in the southern part of the Division 3 sectional tournament bracket. Chances are scores of Prescott rooters remember many intense games with Head Coach Dan Pederson’s club throughout the 1990’s including Pat Ptacek’s school record-setting 47-point regional tournament performance against the Mounders in his final high school game over two decades ago. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: Any member of the public interested in exploring a potential career with the DNR is invited to attend any of four in-person career fairs taking place throughout the month of January. The fairs will be held in Eau Claire, Milwaukee, Appleton and Stoughton starting Jan. 13. Representatives from several divisions including parks, forestry, wildlife, conservation wardens and environmental management will be present. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the natural resource field and explore full-time and part-time job opportunities with the DNR.

From the WIAA: The 2023 Area Meetings included discussions about a myriad of topics, none perhaps more important than how Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) will be addressed. The WIAA may take action as soon as spring on the ever evolving NIL issue. The data collected at the seven Area Meetings showed varied opinions regarding NIL opportunities. Of those who attended the Area Meetings and participated in the poll, 47% favored consideration to add NIL opportunities. Those opposing the new language were 19%. While more yes than no votes were cast, 35% of those voting were noncommittal and wanted to continue the discussion. In addition, 148 of 515 member schools weren’t represented in the survey. The WIAA Board of Control will determine soon if membership schools will vote on a NIL proposal in the spring. There are 32 state associations that have approved some aspects of NIL opportunities, up from 16 states a year ago. Seven other states are now considering adding language to their associations. 

Kollyn Severson (Eichman) became the first Prescott girls’ basketball player to score 1,000 points in her career (1989-1992). What is perhaps most unique about the three-time all-conference forward was not one of her points came via the three-pointer.  he same can be said for Prescott’s Randy Hansen, who scored his 1,000 career points before the advent of the three-point line. What is unique about Eichman’s century mark is although she played during the three-point era, all her points were scored from the freethrow line or within 10-12 feet of the basket. 

KFAN Green Bay Packer Radio Personality Dave Sinykin will be the featured speaker at the annual CAB Company Banquet on March 22 at the Ptacek’s Events and Banquet Center. Ticket information will soon be available. 

Many basketball fans and players will understand the following observations. The Prescott gymnasium has two of the friendliest rims in western Wisconsin. On the other side of the teeter totter, the Hastings High School gym has two game rims that are very unfriendly. In a game dominated by three pointers, friendly rims are the outside shooter’s dream. 

New UW-River Falls Baseball Coach Steve Bartlein will be hosting three youth clinics next month. A pitcher/catcher battery camp will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 17, Fielding Fundamentals from 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 24, and Hitting Fundamentals from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 3. For more information go to http://www.uwrfbaseballclinics.com/

Headshaker of the week. Another high school coach has resigned due to parent criticism related to parent’s night. According to news sources several groups of parents from the team were angry because parents were not properly recognized either before the game or at halftime. After being bombarded with disparaging emails and criticized heavily on social media, the head coach resigned a few days later. Welcome to high school coaching in the 21st century. It’s a headshaker.