Flag football for females will be part of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Flag football for Minnesota high school students started in April.
One of the teams who will be part of the new flag football league hail from Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.
A total of 51 teams from throughout the state, mostly metro schools, started this journey in early April thanks to the Minnesota Vikings. Last year there were only four teams who competed.

The WEM baseball team was involved in two shutouts last week, one ending in their favor.
The Buccaneers earned their first victory of the season Monday, April 14 with a 10-0, five inning win over Blue Earth Area (BEA). Kenyon-Wanamingo (K-W) came to Waterville Monday, April 21 for a night game and handed the Bucs an 8-0 loss for their first win of the season.
Senior Ivan Pratt was nearly perfect on the mound in the win against BEA. He faced 16 batters, struck out eight, allowed one hit, and tossed 48 strikes in 60 pitches.

Third grader Jacee Knish, daughter of Andrew and Cara Knish, won a State Wrestling Championship Saturday, April 5 in Rochester.
Knish competed in the 3rd and 4th grade division of the Northland Youth Wrestling Association State Tournament. She won four straight matches to claim her second straight State Title.
She pinned Sophia Lares from Albert Lea in 11 seconds and pinned Raelynn Schmidt from Big Lake in 21 seconds.

Senior Ashlyn Pelant and junior Addison Condon each won events during the Blue Earth Area Indoor Quadrangular held Friday, April 4 at MSU, Mankato.
Condon won two individual events, placing first in the 60-meter dash in 8.4 and the long jump with a distance of 15-feet 10 1/2-inches. Pelant won the shot put with a season-best distance of 37-feet, 7-inches.
The Buccaneers placed third in the meet with 40.5 points. JWP was the winning team with 77 points, followed by St. James/Madelia with 45 points and Blue Earth Area with 37.5 points.
Placing second were...

The annual Waterville Bowler of the Year Tournament was held Friday, March 21 at Hoot Lanes in Waterville.
Any bowler who rolled a 220 game or a 600 series during the season had the opportunity to compete in this tournament.
Gio Lozane captured the title by defeating Joey Schnoor in the final game, winning 201 to 184.

Up and coming local youth wrestlers continue to excel.
Nearly 20 Grizzly youth wrestlers have advanced to the NYWA State Tournament, which will be held March 27 through March 30 at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.
The Grizzly Junior High team will compete in the State Tourney after winning one of three matches at the Regional Tournament last weekend in Worthington.
They lost to St. Peter (32-16), defeated Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (33-16), and lost to Springfield (36-15).

Less than a month ago, the JWP boys basketball team handed the WEM squad an 81-55 loss.
Fast forward to Friday, Feb. 14 and the Buccaneers nearly knocked off the Gopher Conference West Division Champions, losing 50- 46.
WEM held the high-scoring Bulldogs to a season low in points, with their previous low of 59 earlier in the season. JWP has scored more than 70 points in half of their games.
The Bucs offense was led by Talen Taylor, who scored 17 points. He also had nine deflections, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and two steals.

The best season in the history of WEM/JWP Grizzly wrestling came to an end Saturday, Feb. 15 with a Section 2A Runner-Up finish.
The Grizzlies finished their dual meet season with a 17-8 record after advancing to the Section finals. They were defeated by Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, 40-25, in their first-ever Section Championship since the two schools combined in 2008-2009.

For nearly two thirds of their game against Gopher Conference leading JWP, the WEM girls basketball team played right with the Bulldogs.
The Bucs led 30-29 at halftime and five minutes into the second half trailed by only one against the Bulldogs, who are undefeated in the conference and 16-2 overall.
It was at the 13 minute mark of the second half JWP's defense took over the game and they limited the Bucs to only 14 second half points, and just nine the final 13 minutes of their 60-44 win.

Two wins in the Gopher Conference last week has moved the WEM/JWP wrestling team into second place.
The Grizzlies edged previously undefeated Maple River/United South Central, 32-31, Friday, Jan. 17 in Janesville. They traveled to Medford Thursday, Jan. 23 and returned with a 42-29 win over the Tigers.
WEM/JWP is now 3-1 in the Gopher Conference and 10-6 overall. They trail Kenyon-Wanamingo in the conference and have two duals left against NRHEG and Triton.

The WEM/JWP wrestling team improved to 4-2 this season with two wins in three duals at the Byron Invitational Saturday, Dec. 14.
The Grizzlies defeated Dover-Eyota (53-17) and Byron (52-20) and lost to Rochester Mayo (43-21).
Five wrestlers finished the day undefeated and three others won two of their three matches.
Winning three straight matches included Jacksten Knish (107), Carsen Petry (133), Brady Murphy (139), Lucas Morsching (160), and Keegan Kuball (285).
Knish pinned Derek Bye of Dover-Eyota in 1:07 and also received a pair of forfeits.

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.

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.