The WIAA boys state basketball tournament begins on Thursday in Madison. Area boys teams making the trip include Eau Claire North in Division 1, Eau Claire Regis in Division 3, Eleva-Strum and Luck in Division 4. Eleva-Strum and Eau Claire Regis are making return trips to state for the 2nd consecutive year. Check out our top 5 games of the week on the homepage for a look at games involving area teams and keep coming back as that section will be updated throughout the weekend. All of the state tournament games can be seen on WQOW-TV 18 and come back here for the latest scores and box scores.

 

An incredible travel weekend brewing for Eleva-Strum Cardinals fans. The girls basketball team is in the sectionals for the first time since 1996 and they will play Alma Center Lincoln on Thursday night in Osseo. In talking to some Cardinals fans this week I have found some will go to the girls game in Osseo on Thursday night and then head to Madison while others will wait until early Friday morning before heading to Madison for the boys game which will tip at 10:30. The girls sectional final is slated for Saturday night in La Crosse so Cardinals fans could be busy traveling from Madison to La Crosse on Saturday.

 

Eau Claire North also has both of it's basketball teams still alive. If the boys should win their state quarterfinal on Thursday night then both the boys and the girls teams will be playing on Friday night in venues 150 miles apart from each other. It should be a very intense game Friday night at the Eagles Nest where the North girls will look to sweep the Old Abes.

In Division 2 girls action we have Western Cloverbelt co-champion Altoona facing this year's cinderella team in #4 seed Amery and junior sensation Luke Taylor. On the other half of the bracket we have undefeated Neillsville facing a much improved Sparta team.

In Division 3 we have Osseo-Fairchild looking for the season sweep over Eau Claire Regis while Colfax looks to get past Park Falls.

In Division 4 the Spooner sectional is absolutely stacked with undefeated Clayton, one loss Flambeau, Siren and Thorp which came from a strong Western Cloverbelt Conference.

 

The 2008 Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Pre-Season Rankings are out and here are the rankings with area teams listed in bold color.

 

 Division 1
1.  Middleton
2.  Appleton West
3.  Racine Park
4.  Eau Claire Memorial
5.  La Crosse Logan
6.  Kimberly
7.  Hartford
8.  Sun Prairie
9.  Stevens Point
10. Milwaukee Hamilton

Division 2
1.  Madison Edgewood
2.  Nekoosa
3.  Waupun
4.  Ellsworth
5.  Watertown Luther Prep
6.  Evansville
7.  Barron
8.  Jefferson
9.  Union Grove
10. Sturgeon Bay

Division 3
1.  La Crosse Aquinas
2.  Stevens Point Pacelli
3.  Bangor
4.  Mineral Point
5.  Waterloo
6.  Chippewa Falls McDonell
7.  Shoreland Lutheran
8.  Spencer
9.  Grantsburg
10. Marathon

Division 4
1.  Burlington Catholic
2.  Hurley
3.  Bruce
4.  Seneca
5.  Pecatonica
6.  Oakfield
7.  Johnson Creek
8.  Potosi
9.  DeSoto
10. Prairie Farm

 

No fewer than 3 former Middle Border Conference baseball players are on the Mesabi Community College baseball roster this season. Mesabi is located in Virginia, MN. The athletes are Joby Davidsavor (Amery), John Anderson (Somerset), and Andrew Wilson (Osceola).

 

Who says and Old Abe and Huskie can't work together? They did last Sunday in helping the Minnesota Gophers baseball team get a 5-2 win over Pepperdine University. Eau Claire Memorial alum Scott Fern in his first ever appearance as a Golden Gopher pitched 2/3rds of an inning to record the win while Eau Claire North alum Phil Isaakson recorded the save while retiring all 11 batters he faced.

 

Grantsburg alumnus Mollie Bjelland hit the game-winning RBI single in Winona State's 1-0 win over Northwestern College of MN on March 5th. Winona State is 5-3 on the young softball season and Mollie is currently batting .348 with 2 RBI's and has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage for the Warriors.

 

The UW-Eau Claire Women's basketball team will take on Carleton College of MN Friday night in the opening round game of the NCAA D-3 tournament in Simpson, Iowa. The game is set to tip-off at 5:00 with the winner taking on the winner of Simpson College vs Gustavus Adolphus, MN on Saturday night at 7:00.

 

Congratulations to the Eau Claire Memorial hockey team on it's first ever WIAA state hockey title. The Old Abes beat Madison Edgewood 3-1 on Saturday for the title. Forward Jefferson Dahl, defenseman David Donnellan and goaltender Brady Sand were named to the first team all-tournament team while forwards Ryan Falch and Nate Verbracken were named to the 2nd team all-tournament team. David Donnellan was also named the state tournament MVP so congratulations to the Old Abes on an undefeated and state champion 26-0 season.

 

The 2007-2008 Middle Border Conference boys basketball all-conference team was recently announced and the athletes include:

 

First team
-----------------

 

Brett Anderson- New Richmond

Hayden Zimmerman- New Richmond

Dan Stovall- New Richmond

Tim Whittenberger-Osceola

Tyler Muchenhirn-Osceola

Shane Resch-Prescott

David Moulton-Somerset

Drew Hipple-Ellsworth

Tyler Howard-Baldwin-Woodville

Cody Holden-Durand

Brock Luehman-Amery

 

Honorable Mention

-----------------------------------

 

Preston Paulson-Amery

Scott Addyman-Baldwin-Woodville

Jake Keefer-Baldwin-Woodville

Mike Zika-Durand

Chris Robelia-Durand

Nathan Prissel-Durand

Nick Niedfeldt-Ellsworth

Aaron Nelson-Ellsworth

Sam Dosch-Osceola

Tim Harris-Prescott

 

Player of the Year was Brett Anderson from New Richmond.

Coach of the Year was Rick Montreal also from New Richmond.