The Prescott High School athletics program reclaimed the Middle Border Conference Cup last week. Athletic Director Andrew Caudill recouped the conference trophy from Baldwin-Woodville last week. Prescott bested Baldwin-Woodville and St. Croix Central based on conference standings for the season. In the three years of the coveted trophy’s existence, the cup has resided within Prescott High School. Additionally, Prescott is the smallest school in the Middle Border Conference. Well done Prescott teams and coaches. 

Fargo-Moorhead Redhawk second basemen Peter Brookshaw is among the team leaders in three offensive categories this season. The 2018 Prescott grad leads the team in homeruns and is in the top three in batting average and runs batted in. The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks are a professional minor-league baseball team based in Fargo, North Dakota, in the United States. The RedHawks are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The Redhawks play their home games at Newman Field and are currently tied for first place in the West Division with the Kansas City Monarchs. 

Impressive.  Prescott junior thinclad Ethan West becomes one of only two Cardinals track team members in Cardinal history  to qualify for the state track meet in four different events. West will compete in the 100-meter, the 4×100-meter relay, the 4×200-meter relay, and the pole vault at the WIAA State Track and Field meet at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse this Friday and Saturday. Aiden Russell, a 2022 Prescott alumnus, did the same during his senior year at Prescott.  

Congratulations to Head Golf Coach Scott Hamilton and the Prescott golf team on qualifying for sectionals this week. Led by juniors Tyler Reiter and Sam Vesperman all spring, the Cardinals have been ranked in the top 10 all season. This week’s WIAA sectional will be held in Rice Lake. The state golf tournament will be held on June 3 and 4 in Kohler. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The DNR presented the elk harvest quotas for the Black River Elk Zone and Clam Lake Elk Zone to the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board. The DNR approved an eight-bull harvest quota for the Clam Lake Elk Zone and a four-bull harvest for the inaugural season within the Black River Elk Zone. Per treaty rights, the Ojibwe tribes may declare up to half of the harvest quota within the Ceded Territory, which includes the Clam Lake Elk Zone. Wisconsin residents must apply for this once-in-a-lifetime hunt by May 31. If selected in the drawing, an elk hunting license costs $49. Winners will be notified by early June. Wisconsin residents can only draw an elk tag once in their lifetime. All winners must participate in a Wisconsin elk hunter education course before obtaining an elk hunting license. The class covers Wisconsin elk history, hunting regulations, biology, behavior and scouting/hunting techniques.

UW-Whitewater is heading back to the NCAA Division III World Series for the first time since 2016 after taking two of three games against UW-La Crosse in the Super Regional this past weekend. After losing game one by a score of 3-0 to the Eagles, the Warhawks qualified for the national championship series by winning the next two games by scores of 8-0 first and 8-2. Whitewater will travel to Eastlake, Ohio next weekend in search of their first national title since 2014. The Warhawks will open the eight-team double elimination series against Randolph-Macon College of Ashland, Va. 

Another team that qualified for the series was Birmingham-Southern of Alabama. Unbelievably, the 168-year-old institution will close permanently on May 31, 2024. The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the College after a 2024 bill designed to amend the 2023 legislation that established the loan program failed the Alabama House of Representatives. Without such funding, the College has been forced to shutter its doors. When the Birmingham-Southern College baseball team takes the field at the Division III College World Series next week, it will be representing a school that no longer exists. The Yellow Jackets (32-14) open the tournament field against Salve Regina College of New York (38-8) this Friday. 

Another team from the Dairy State, the UW-Oshkosh Titans softball team Friday advanced to their third NCAA Division III World Series in program history. The Titans (44-5), ranked No. 12 in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA), eliminated the No. 5 and defending national champion Trine University (43-5) in Angola, Ind. in a best of three series last week. Oshkosh's 44 wins also breaks the WIAC record for most victories in a season, which was set by UW-Stevens Point at 43 in 1998.

Headshaker of the week: While watching some of the recent NBA playoff games I marvel at an increasing trend in all sports: the increased number of assistant coaches. As Washington Post Sports writer Tony Kornheiser penned over two decades ago, “These guys are everywhere. In the NBA they're perched on the bench in expensive suits like mannequins. When the head coach calls a timeout, they all rise in unison, and move around in a semi-circle like the Pips backing up Gladys Knight. By the time they move out of each other's way and head toward the players, the timeout is over. In baseball you find coaches scattered in the dugout, on the bases and in the bullpen. They're like lawyers on K Street; you can't take two steps without bumping into one of them. In the NFL assistants swarm on the sidelines like locusts.”  This trend shows no signs of waning. Kornhieser made reference to former Boston Celtic Head Coach Red Auerbach’s coaching staff when he won nine NBA championships. The number of assistants for Auerbach? Zero. None. Same for two-time NBA Champion Red Holtzman of the New York Knicks. I fear we are getting to the point where each player will have his own personal assistant coach - each identified in the game program with the specific player they guide. We are moving to a place where the number of assistant coaches outnumber players on the bench. That is most likely where we are headed and it’s a headshaker.