Congratulations to Prescott Senior Ty- ler Loucks who qualified for the WIAA Di vision 2 Cross Country State Tournament with a second-place finish in the Rice Lake Sectional last week. This is the second time Loucks has qualified for the state tournament that will be held in Wisconsin Rapids this Fri – day. Osceola won the team competition and will advance to this week’s state competition. For the girls, senior Ella Johnson was the top finisher for Prescott and the Amery Warriors won the team competition and will advance to run in Wisconsin Rapids on Friday.

Congratulations to senior football players Tobias Ripley, Dryden Seeley, and Kenyon Raden for being named Academic All State by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Associ – ation. Qualifying seniors must be a varsity letter winner and have a cumulative GPA of 3.75 or higher.

Senior Forward Haylee Yaegar, a 2019 Prescott alumnus, has begun her final season as a member of the UW-Stout Blue Devil basketball team. Yaegar and the Blue Devils are coming ou a fourth-place finish last sea –

son in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athlet – ic Conference and open the season at home against Gustavus-Adolphus on Nov. 8. The #2 seed the Ellsworth football team received still has Panther fans scratching their heads. If Ellsworth advances to the Round 3, chances are they will travel to take on the #1 seed Columbus Cardinals. It will be a three-hour and 45-minute drive for the three-time Middle Border Conference cham – pions. Similar frustrations are being felt by the Northwestern Tigers who won the Heart of the North Conference and defeated St. Croix Falls during the regular season by a score of 36-28. However, the Saints received the #1 seed and the undefeated Tigers were given the #2 seed. Could there be a glitch in the WIAA computer seeding system? From the Wisconsin Department of Natu –

ral Resources: The winners of the 2023 Wis – consin wild turkey, pheasant and waterfowl stamp design contest were announced last week. A total of 34 pieces were submitted with judging taking place at the Wisconsin Waterfowl Expo in Oshkosh in August. Wau – toma resident Sam Timm won first place in all three categories this year. His wild tur – key painting features a tom in strut with two hens. His pheasant design depicts two rooster pheasants in a farmland scene, and his wa – terfowl design shows a pair of buweheads in flight over the water. Here is a gift suggestion for the fast-ap – proaching holiday season. Buy the book “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports – and Why It Matters,” by Linda Flanagan. Based on a great deal of research, Flanigan laments how parents and other adults encourage special – ization, shakes her head at the skyrocketing cost of participating in youth athletics, and discusses the obscenely high percentage of children who have given up on sports at a very young age. It will be a very, very un – comfortable read for some parents. All the more reason to make the purchase. It has been reported anecdotally that ruued grouse numbers in the northern regions of the state are said to be among the highest in recent years. On the other hand, hunters in Polk and Burnett counties continue to opine about the dearth of grouse numbers over the last two decades. Recent roadside drumming studies conducted by the Wisconsin DNR showed grouse numbers at their cyclical low in the state.

Webster High School graduate Jack Wash – burn has transferred from NCAA Division 1 Baseball Champion Mississippi to Texas Tech to join his younger brother Owen. Jack and Owen are the sons of former Major League pitcher Jarrod Washburn who was an Oshkosh college teammate of Prescott High School teacher and coach Brad Matzek. This will be the third Division 1 team Jack has played on in the last three years. Headshaker of the week. While having a sandwich and passively watching a Major League playou game at the same time, a per –

son walked into the establishment and bel – lowed, “Hey, what’s the score?” In response a person in the booth next to me turned and said “It’s 1 to 3.” Huh? What? 1 to 3? And of course, no one corrected them. I can re – member back in my elementary playground years where some kids would incorrectly say the score of the losing team first in a heated game of noon hour playground kickball. Sad – ly, those kids have grown up and never been properly corrected. Today that same person says the score of the Packer game is 17 to 28, or the final of the Bucks game was 94 to 103. Come on fans, get it right. Although appear – ing quite piddly to some, to this fan it’s an annoying and ridiculous headshaker.