A combination of disappointment and joy were mixed together following the Section 2AA Championship football game Friday, Nov. 1 at JWP High School.
The disappointment was the Buccaneers losing 52-20 to Triton. WEM scored on their opening drive but the Cobras scored on all eight of their drives in advancing to the Class AA State Tournament. They will play undefeated Chatfield, a team which Triton lost to 33-6 Sept. 27.

The WEM volleyball team was among eight Section 2AA teams who advanced in the Section tournament Monday, Oct. 21.
The Bucs, the No. 4 seed, defeated Le Sueur-Henderson (25-18, 25-21, 17-25, 25- 16) in Waterville to improve to 18-12 this season. More on this match in the Oct. 31 edition of the LifeEnterprise.
The win advances the Bucs into the Section 2AA quarterfinals Thursday, Oct. 24 when they will play No. 4 seed Glencoe-Silver Lake, 19-9 overall, in Glencoe.
All eight teams who were higher seeds won their matches Monday.

After finishing second the last two years, the WEM/JWP girls cross country team claimed the Gopher Conference Girls Championship Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Prairie Ridge Golf Course in Janesville.
Freshman McKenzie Westphal won her second individual championship and all five Grizzly runners placed in the top 15 overall.
The Grizzlies scored 39 team points in winning. Blooming Prairie scored 50, Randolph 62, United South Central/Alden-Conger 100, and Medford 107. Hayfield, NRHEG, and Triton each had runners but did not field a complete team of five runners.

For the third straight game the WEM football offense piled up more than 300 rushing yards.
This week’s opponent, Medford, allowed 332 first half yards and 47 points in a 54-8 win for the Bucs Thursday, Oct. 10.
WEM improved to 6-1 this season, winning their fourth straight game, while gaining a season-high 451 total yards, 424 on the ground.
Gavin Atherton gained 140 yards on nine carries and scored twice.
Talen Taylor gained 77 yards on five carries and completed 3-of-7 passes for 27 yards and a score.

The WEM/JWP girls cross country team showed Thursday, Sept. 26 they have a great chance to improve on their finish in the Gopher Conference after defeating four conference teams in the Grizzly Pie Invitational held at Prairie Ridge Golf Course in Janesville.
The Grizzlies not only defeated the conference teams but they also defeated Blue Earth Area to win the nine-team event.

All 11 WEM volleyball players had at least one dig and eight of them had at least one kill in a sweep of United South Central Thursday, Sept. 26 in Waterville.
WEM improved to 4-2 in the Gopher Conference and 12-7 overall with a 25-19, 25-11, and 25-18 win over the Rebels.
The Bucs also had one more match last week. They were edged by Cannon Falls Tuesday, Sept. 24 24-26, 25- 22, 25-21, 19-25, and 15-2 in a nonconference match.
In the win over USC, Ashlyn Pelant and McKenna Schuster each had four ace serves and Liza Baker added two.

Solid pitching and some small ball helped the Waterville Indians defeat Morris, 8-1, Saturday, Aug. 17 at Green Isle in the first round of the Class C State Baseball Tournament.
Dallas McBroom pitched six innings, allowing one unearned run. Evan Furst, a draftee from St. Clair, pitched three scoreless innings in relief of McBroom.
Dalton Grose hit a solo home run and the Indians bunched together four straight bunts to score four runs and turn a close game into an easy victory.

The Waterville Indians amateur baseball team won a pair of games in the 13-60 League Playoffs which propelled them into their sixth straight Region Tournament.
The Indians defeated Waseca, 9-4 Saturday, July 20 and Minnesota Lake 10-3 Sunday, July 21 to advance to the 13-60 League Championship game Saturday, July 27 at 2 p.m. in Waterville. Their opponent will be Blue Earth, who defeated Wells, 11-10, and Eagle Lake, 12-7.
These two teams met for the 13-60 League Championship in 2023 and the Pirates edged the Indians, 7-6.

The 2024 WEM Clay Target season just wrapped up and it was a huge success! There were 66 members on this year's team of which 50 of them elected to shoot competitively with Clay Target USA which requires additional fees.
For WEM, the clay target season consists of both trap and skeet shooting events. There are other events such as five stand and sporting clays but currently there are no facilities nearby that can support them.

After struggling with their offense through six innings, the Waterville Indians amateur baseball team exploded for seven runs in the seventh inning and five in the eighth in their 12-4 win over Minnesota Lake Sunday, June 2 in Waterville.

The Indians only had two hits through six innings before collecting six hits in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth inning of this 13-60 League game.

After struggling with their offense through six innings, the Waterville Indians amateur baseball team exploded for seven runs in the seventh inning and five in the eighth in their 12-4 win over Minnesota Lake Sunday, June 2 in Waterville.
The Indians only had two hits through six innings before collecting six hits in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth inning of this 13-60 League game.

WEM freshman Gavin Atherton placed in two events, winning one, at the Class A Section 2 Track and Field Championship held Saturday, June 1 at Mankato West.
Atherton ran in two races and was within four hundreths of a second of advancing to State in both events.
He ended up winning the 400-meter dash in a time of 50.71, which is a personal best. He edged Madelia-Truman senior Ryan Koberoski by one hundreths of a second for the title. GFW junior Justin Messner finished with a time of 50.98 and he along with the other two runners, will also advance to State.

New Prague’s Orioles and the Waterville Indians will offer their efforts representing area town baseball when TV station Fox 9 brings its town ball tour to Memorial Park tomorrow, Wednesday, June 5.
The behind-the-scenes planning has been in the works for several weeks. Orioles manager Nick Schoenecker received a call from the TV station earlier this spring asking if his team would be interested in the opening round of the station’s seventh annual Town Ball Tour.

WEM junior Gavin Brown and sophomore Talen Taylor have been honored by Gopher Conference Boys Basketball Coaches for the second consecutive year. Seniors Luke Michael and Redzel Priebe were honored for the first time.
After being named to the Honorable Mention All-Gopher Conference Team last year, Brown and Taylor were both named to the 3rd Team All-Conference squad.
Priebe was named to the Honorable Mention Team.
Michael received the Gopher Conference Sportsmanship Award.
They are among 15 senior and 12 underclassmen named to the All-Conference Teams.

It was an incredible weekend for three WEM youth wrestlers at the NYWA Girls State Championships.
Mariella Masso, Jacee Knish, and Anaelyse Skidmore combined to win nine straight matches and win three State Championships.
Masso, age 6, won the Pre-K & K 55-pound title. She wrestled only 48 seconds in three matches. She pinned Elise Jaeger of Albert Lea in 20 seconds, pinned Lilyanna Bugbee of Stewartville in 14 seconds, and in the championship she pinned Adrianna Jordan of Shakopee in 14 seconds.