WEM senior Taylor Glende and sophomore Jaden Taylor each claimed individual titles at the Gopher Conference Meet Tuesday, May 15. Glende won the long jump title with a distance of 20-feet, 1 1/2 inches. Taylor won the pole vault title by clearing 12-feet. Two days later Taylor set a new Buccaneer pole vault record when he cleared 13-feet at Waseca. Also winning a conference championship was the 4 x 100-meter relay team of Glende, Chris Byrne, Tanner Ranslow, and Tyler Hermel in a time of 45.89. WEM finished fourth with 100 points. NRHEG won the boy's title with 231.5 points.
The WEM softball team defeated United South Central 10-0 in six innings Monday, May 21 and Faribault BA 5-3 Tuesday, May 22 in Section 1A, West Sub-Section Playoff action. WEM, the No. 2 seed in the West Sub-Section, will play No. 1 seed Hayfield in the Sub-Section Championship at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 24 at Austin's Todd Park. If the Bucs defeat Hayfield, they will not play again until Tuesday, May 29 at 5 p.m., also in Austin. If they lose to Hayfield, they will play an elimination game Thursday against the Blooming Prairie vs. Faribault BA winner at 6:30 p.m. in Austin.
Despite losing to Maple River 6-2 Thursday, May 17, the WEM baseball team clinched a tie for the Gopher Conference Championship with only one loss in conference play. The Bucs, 10-4 overall, tied with Maple River for the title with a 5-1 record. It was the fourth straight title for the Bucs. WEM is the No. 5 seed in the Section 2AA Tournament and will host No. 12 seed Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Thursday, May 24 at 5 p.m. in Waterville. If they win, they would play Tuesday, May 29 against either Jordan or Kenyon-Wanamingo.
The WEM baseball team had its seven-game winning streak ended Monday, losing 4-2 to Blooming Prairie in the second half of a doubleheader. WEM won the opening game of thw twinbill 10-0 in six innings. WIll Storch hit his first home run of the season in the win. For more on the six -game week for the Bucs (7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Gopher Conference), check out the May 10 edition of the LIFE/Enterprise.
Sophomore pitcher Trista Hering pitched a perfect game Friday, May 4, defeating Mankato Loyola/St. Clair, 10-0 in five innings. Haring faced only 14 batters and struck out 13 in the victory. WEM is 6-2 overall after falling 11-3 to NRHEG and Faribault BA, 6-5. The Bucs did defeat Blooming Prairie, 11-1 in six innings, Monday, May 7. For more on the four-game week check out the May 10 edition of the LIFE/Enterprise.
The WEM baseball team is currently 6-0 after a pair of doubleheader sweeps this week. Tuesday the Bucs defeated NRHEG 17-1 in five innings and 12-3 in three innings in New Richland. The Bucs downed Faribault BA Thursday in Faribault by scores of 11-4 and 9-8 in five innings. Tyson Miska hit a walk-off bases loaded double in the bottom of the fifth of the second game with the Cardinals to give the Bucs the winning runs. WEM will host Blooming Prairie Monday in a doubleheader and play at Le Sueur-Henderson Tuesday.
The WEM softball team has started their 2018 season with three straight wins over Gopher Conference opponents. Friday, April 20 they defeated Blooming Prairie, 7-1, in seven innings and NRHEG, 3-1, in five innings at the Austin Westcott LifeEnterprise Sports Complex Dome. Tuesday, April 24 the Bucs downed United South Central, 15-5 in five in Waterville. WEM trailed 5-4 heading into the bottom half of the fifth inning when they exploded for 11 runs to end the game by the 10-run rule.
Hoot Lanes II defeated Xpressions Salon Friday, April 13 for the Waterville Bowling Championship. Hoot Lanes rolled a 3,330 series with handcap while Xpressions rolled a 3,234 series. All 10 bowlers in the championship match averaged higher than their league average. Jacob Hill (667 series), Nick van Houdt (660), Tim Steinhaus (641), Willie Lindquist (629), and Henry van Houdt (553) made up the Hoot Lanes team. Don Simes (702), Jay Schneider (650), Jeff Ready (598), Tauston Taylor (521), and Brian Pittmann (495) made up the Xpressions team.
The WEM baseball team will be looking for a fourth straight Gopher Conference title this spring.
The Bucs are 43-18 in the last three years and are 31-5 in the conference, winning the last three titles.
This season five seniors and six juniors will look to continue the championship run for head coach Sam Stier, who is starting his fifth season with the Bucs.
The seniors returning include Jacob Meskan (Inf),Tyson Miska (OF), Adam Rients (OF, 2nd, C), Michael Ungs (P, OF, 3rd), and Will Storch (C, OF, 3rd).
A number of WEM spring sports have been rescheduled due to inclement weather in early April. The Saturday, March 24 track and field meet at Minnesota State University-Mankato was cancelled and will not be made up. The Thursday, April 5 track and field meet, also at Mankato, has been changed to 6 p.m. The WEM baseball game Thursday, April 5 with JWP has been rescheduled to April 27. The Friday, April 6 game with Kenyon-Wanamingo has been moved to May 15. The WEM softball game with Hayfield has been moved to May 15. The April 6 softball game against Mankato Loyola/St.
The WEM boys basketball team dropped a pair of contests last week, falling to Waseca and NRHEG. Waseca, rated 13th in Class AAA, downed the Bucs 76-44 Dec. 19. NRHEG, undefeated with a 6-0 record, edged the Bucs 60-53 Dec. 22. WEM has lost three straight games and fell to 1- 3 in the Gopher Conference and 2-5 overall. They will play in the Howard Lake- Waverly/Winsted Tourney Dec. 27 and 28. The Bucs scored only 16 points in the first half against Waseca. They only made three field goals in falling behind 45-16. Junior Tanner Ranslow led the team with 12 points.

