Wisconsin News and Sports
Wisconsin Rapids Assumption captured the WIAA girls Division 5 State Basketball Championship on Thursday night at the La Crosse Center. Assumption (16-8) knocked off Three Lakes (20-6) 55-48 for the title.
Assumption advanced to the championship game by beating McDonell Catholic 46-43 in the D-5 semifinals. Three Lakes advanced with a 51-48 win over Black Hawk.
Day two of the championships features Division 3 and Division 4 action. [Read more…]
The WIAA girls state hockey championship game is set for Saturday at noon in Wisconsin Rapids.
In the state semifinal games on Wednesday night, the University School Co-op upset top-seeded Eau Claire Area 1-0 at Chippewa Area Ice Arena in Chippewa Falls. University School earned a spot in the state final for the first time since 2016.
University School will face the Chippewa Falls Co-op in Saturday’s title game. Chippewa Falls knocked off the D.C. Everest Co-op 4-3 in overtime in the other state semifinal on Wednesday night.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) has named the Menominee Nation Arena in Oshkosh, Wis., as the second venue to host the 2021 State Girls and Boys Basketball Tournaments with games scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27 and March 5-6 respectively.
Last week, the La Crosse Center was named the first of the two host venues for the tournaments. Three of the five divisions, to be determined at a later date, will be held at the La Crosse Center Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 25-27 and March 4-6, with two semifinals and a championship game for each division scheduled on one of the three days. Two of the divisions, to be determined, will be held at the Menominee Nation Arena on both Friday and Saturday of each of the tournaments.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Jason Fields and his staff at Menominee Nation Arena to host two of our divisions for both the Girls and Boys State Basketball Tournament,” WIAA Assistant Director Kate Peterson said. “We believe that Menominee Nation Arena and the Oshkosh community will do a great job to create a memorable experience for our high school basketball players as they celebrate the 2020-21 season. Securing this venue will ensure that all five divisions will play in an exciting environment.”
After a second place showing last year, Brookfield Central captured the WIAA State Girls Golf team title at Blackwolf Run in Kohler on Tuesday. It’s the first state title for Central since 2003.
Brookfield Central had an eight-stroke lead after Monday’s weather shortened 9-hole opening round. They finished the second and final round with a 10-shot win over Waunakee and Arrowhead, who tied for second.
Arrowhead freshman Jessica Guiser tied Cedarburg’s Elise Hoven and won individual honors after a one hole playoff. Guiser’s 5-over-par 77 was the low round for the day.
Prescott won the Division 2 team title, a whopping 19 strokes over second place Racine Prairie. Appleton Xavier’s Laurie Haen won individual honors by one stroke over Prescott’s Ava Salay.
The WIAA Board of Control approved a number of measures on Friday morning, including an alternate fall season plan for schools that can’t participate in fall sports due to coronavirus restrictions.
On a 11-0 vote, a modified winter-alternate fall-spring plan was passed that has the winter and spring sports seasons shortened by a couple of weeks each. It also moves tournament dates around, referred to as culminating events. Schools will have until September 1 to declare whether they will play their fall sports this fall, or take the alternate schedule in the spring.
For schools that compete in the spring with their fall sports, there will be some overlap with spring sports, but the WIAA has no rules against multiple-sport participation by student athletes. The ability to play dual sports is up to each school district.
For football, schools competing this fall will play seven regular-season weeks with two culminating event weeks, while the schools playing in the spring will play seven regular-season games with no postseason.
Practice for football, volleyball and soccer starts on September 7.
Jon Murphy – Photo Courtesy of WLUK TV – Green Bay
After 33 seasons as head men’s basketball coach at Seymour High School, Jon Murphy has announced his retirement.
Murphy’s teams at Seymour went 615-193, played in 12 WIAA State Tournaments and won three state championships (1997, 2001 & 2006).
Murphy is one of six prep coaches in Wisconsin state history with 600 or more coaching victories. He ranks fourth on the all-time list, behind only Jerry Petitgoue (963), Bob Letsch (661) and Tom Desotell (646). Following Murphy’s 615 victories are Frank Schade with 610 and Tim Anderson with 607.
After 30 seasons as the head coach at Homestead High School, Hall of Famer Dave Keel has resigned, ending a career that finished with a 292-70 record, a .807 winning percentage and six state championships. Keel ranks 10th all-time in Wisconsin for coaching victories.
The resignation came on Friday, just one day after the WIAA pushed back the start of practice from August 3 to September 7 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 66-year-old Keel told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the uncertainty of the upcoming season due to the pandemic was a factor in his decision to hang up his whistle.
Keel served as president of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association from 2007-09. He was elected to that organization’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
The WIAA’s Board of Control unanimously approved the addition of a girls individual state tournament beginning with the 2021-22 season. It marks the first addition of a girls sport since 2001 when girls hockey was added.
WIAA bylaws call for 5% of the membership to offer a sport before the organization recognizes it and 10% of the membership to have a sport in order for there to be a state championship. While girls wrestling doesn’t meet either of those percentages, there is a growing support around the state.
Wisconsin is certainly not alone in their support of girls wrestling. Sixteen other states offer girls wrestling state championships and 35 other states offer girls wrestling as a sport.
Several details still need to be figured out, including the weight class structure. But girls individual state wrestling champions will be crowned for the first time in 2022.
While individual champions will be crowned, there won’t be a team state tournament for the sport until the number of teams increases.
In a move that was expected for some time, the WIAA’s Board of Control canceled its spring sports season and tournament series on Tuesday.
The WIAA originally canceled the rest of the winter sports season back on March 12, due to COVID-19.
When governor Tony Evers ordered schools in the state closed a week later, the spring sports season was in jeopardy. The governor’s Stay at Home order was extended for the rest of the school year which forced the WIAA to take the latest action.
The state’s high school sports governing body was holding out hope for as long as possible. But it wasn’t just the governor’s order. The University of Wisconsin’s decision to cancel all non-essential events through June 30, forced the WIAA to find new venues for the state tournament series if the season was actually delayed. Those events included the state boys individual and team tennis events at Nielsen Tennis Stadium, boys golf at University Ridge and softball at Goodman Diamond.
Prep coaches in spring sports will be able to continue to offer virtual coaching until the end of the season, which is defined as the final date of that sport’s state tournament or meet.
The Board of Control also expanded the number of summer contact days for spring sports from five to 30.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, in accordance with policies and guidance from public health organizations and the World Health Organization for mass gatherings, will be limiting attendance at the remainder of all winter tournament events this weekend and next weekend.
The restriction also includes the boys basketball sectional semifinal and final games, the State Girls Basketball Tournament, and the State Boys Basketball Tournament. The boys sectional competition runs tonight (Thursday night) and Saturday. The Girls Tournament runs today through Saturday and the Boys Tournament is set for March 19-21.
The guidelines for mass gatherings calls for restriction of public events to 50-250 attendees, depending on the event and venue. This pandemic has created unprecedented circumstances that make these decisions and actions prudent and necessary. [Read more…]