Shots from the hip: Who will stand alone atop the MBC?

By Cripe Olson
Posted 1/29/25

Head Coach Ian Ruble and the Prescott Cardinals wrestling team will host the Ellsworth and St. Croix Central Panthers this Thursday at Prescott High School. This will be the only home meet of …

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Shots from the hip: Who will stand alone atop the MBC?

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Head Coach Ian Ruble and the Prescott Cardinals wrestling team will host the Ellsworth and St. Croix Central Panthers this Thursday at Prescott High School. This will be the only home meet of the season for the Cardinals with action beginning at 6 p.m. 

After this week we will know who stands alone at the top of the Middle Border Conference basketball standings. Undoubtedly the coveted position will loom large as we are just a few weeks away from the WIAA State Tournament seeding meetings. For the boys, Osceola and Prescott head into the final week of January tied for first in the Middle Border conference while the Barron Bears hold the top spot in the Heart of the North. For the girls Baldwin-Woodville and St. Croix Central are co-leaders of the Middle Border and Elk Mound has a two-game lead in the Dunn-St. Croix. The girls’ seeding meetings take place Sunday, Feb. 16 and the boys are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 23. 

There are zero teams from the Heart of the North, Middle Border, Lakeland, Dunn-St. Croix, or Western Cloverbelt ranked in the most recent Wisconsin Sports Network Boys Basketball State Rankings. In fact, the closest team to Prescott ranked at any level is Eau Claire Memorial. The Old Abes are ranked #5 in Division 1. For the girls, Elk Mound is the lone Division 3 team ranked in the top 10. 

Add the University of North Dakota to the list of schools who have visited with Prescott junior football player Kobe Russell. 

State baseball fans can now pre-order copies of the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Yearbook. Labeled as one of the pre-eminent baseball publications in the nation, the WBCA Yearbook contains team summaries, previews, and player profiles of all Wisconsin high school and college baseball teams. Those interested can go to the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association website for ordering information. The 2024 Yearbook was sold out by the middle of April. 

Speaking of baseball, Wisconsin university teams have officially begun practice this week. Perennial power UW-Whitewater enters 2025 as the pre-season #1 ranked team in Division 3. The Eagles of UW-La Crosse will start their season at #13 and UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh also received votes in what has consistently been identified as one of the best Division III conferences in the country. 

Prescott grad Megan Gilles turned in an impressive performance at the Jack Johnson Invitational Indoor Track Meet this past weekend at the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota-Duluth hurdler and sprinter finished second in the 60-meter hurdles and also took home the silver in the 4x400-meter relay. Another Prescott Cardinal thin clad alumnus, Madison Matzek finished fourth in the women’s 5,000 meters at the St. Olaf Invitational in Northfield, Minn. over the weekend. Matzek finished less than a second out of third place in a race with a field of over 35 runners. 

Prescott Cardinal baseball alumnus Hunter Daymond will play baseball at Siena University (New York) this spring after spending the last two years at Bemidji State University. Siena plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and competes at the Division 1 level. Peter Brookshaw plans to return to Fargo-Moorhead this year to play for the Redhawks. 

Softball pitcher Ella Stewart is poised to begin her first season at North Dakota State College of Science. A junior college located in Wahpeton, the Wildcats are coming off a 55-11 season a year ago that culminated in a national championship. There are other Prescott softball grads poised to start their seasons. Taylor Graf will begin her second year for St. Catherine’s University as will Rebecca Heinz at Macalester College. And two-sport college athlete Liz Rohl will begin her third season for the Blue Devils of UW-Stout. 

One of the most popular and influential angling organizations in the United States is Trout Unlimited. With over 300,00 members and 420 chapters in over 40 states, Trout Unlimited is a non-profit organization that works to protect and restore cold water fisheries and their watersheds in North America. It is certainly important work for those who enjoy the great sport of trout fishing.

Growing up in Hastings, Neb., each spring our family would drive up to the northeastern part of the state and fish a small trout stream called West Hat Creek. With Zebco fishing rods in hand and a can full of night crawlers we always caught our share of brookies.  You could count on losing a few Eagle Claw hooks since the stream was full of overhanging trees, submerged logs, and rocky outcrops - all great spots for lurking trout. There certainly was no room for fly fishing so “drop and drift” fishing was always the order of the day. As they have done for years, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has continued its work to revitalize trout streams all over the state - Bravo! However, the majority of these Wisconsin stream restoration projects seemingly involve the cutting down of almost all the trees near and in these streams. Interesting. I can’t help but wonder if these restoration projects are geared toward the Curt Gowdy or Gadabout Gaddis (veterans will get the reference) fly fisherman so they can have room to cast their Cabella’s fly rod. Am I calling conspiracy? Nah. I just grew up differently. Trout fishing in the early morning under a canopy of trees, losing countless hooks and having your hat knocked off by a tree branch was all part of the trout fishing experience. But for some today that’s just too much to endure. Who knows? Perhaps there will be a movement to make trout fishing become what deer hunting has today; hunting while sitting in a four-sided, heated stand, browsing the internet. Thankfully, when it comes to trout fishing, people have just not figured out how to do the same. Fingers crossed they won’t. 

Headshaker of the week. Wisconsin high school basketball sports forums are full of continued commentary regarding the absence of a shot clock. It will be interesting to see if the WIAA bows to the pressure led, in many cases, by boisterous AAU basketball coaches who opine about the merits of the shot clock and how it “prepares players for the next level.” Here is the question: Why change a rule when less than 5% of all high school players go on to play college basketball? 

It will increase operational costs for schools to install and train people to operate the clock. The basketball scorer table of today has more workers than an Amazon Distribution Center. Added a shot clock to high school basketball? It’s a headshaker. 

Shots from the hip, Cripe Olson, Prescott Cardinals, Prescott athletics, Prescott, Wisconsin