Four WEM girls basketball players who have played in 40 or more varsity games return to the 2025-2026 Buccaneer squad this winter.
The four include senior Addison Condon (72 games), senior Kaitlyn LaFrance (47 games), senior Alenka Jans (45 games) and junior Alix Velzke (44 games) return after playing many minutes over the last two seasons.
The WEM bowling team captured the regular season South Central Conference Championship.
Following this title, they finished as the conference runner-up in the end-of-theseason conference tournament held last Saturday in Owatonna.
WEM grad Ashlyn Pelant plays for the Yellowjackets
The Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) volleyball team ended on a high note Saturday, Nov. 15, beating the College of DuPage (Ill.) 3-1 in the third-place match of the NJCAA Division III tournament at Allian Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The Yellowjackets, who entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed, finished their season 25-9 overall.
RCTC defeated College of DuPage 25-19, 12-25, 25-18, 25-18.
Goodhue ends undefeated WEM football season at State
The dream of a state championship may be gone, but the memories of two outstanding seasons by the WEM football will never be forgotten.
A team which won one game three years ago morphed into a Section runner up and a Section Champion - something only 10 other teams in WEM School history have done.
Twelve players will graduate from the team which went 10-1 after losing in the Class AA State Football Quarterfinals, 29-28, in overtime Thursday, Nov. 6.
Three members of the WEM volleyball team received individual State honors and the Buccaneer team was also honored by state coaches.
One of those individuals is being honored for the second time.
Seniors Liza Baker, Addison Condon, and Alenka Jans were each honored by the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association for excellence in two different categories.
All three student-athletes received the Class AA Academic All-State Award. Baker and Condon each have achieved a 3.99 grade point average and Jans has a 3.98 grade point average on a scale of 4.00.
STATE FOOTBALL tab on the WEM Website with information related to the Quarterfinal Game.
Bucs limit St. Clair/Loyola to 64 yards in Section 2AA Semifinal shutout
Every chance the WEM football team has to start the game with the ball they take it.
The Bucs received the opening kickoff in the Section 2AA Semifinal game against St. Clair/Mankato Loyola Saturday, Oct. 25 and showed the Spartans it was going to be a long day for them.
WEM put together their best drive of the season, moving the ball methodically on the ground, gaining 95 yards on 20 plays which chewed up 9:16 off the clock.
Post-season playoffs begin this week for WEM athletes
WEM student/athletes have had very successful fall seasons in all three sports.
Three of the four teams have won their league and the fourth took second place.
Now the teams are starting post-season playoffs, with all of them competing in Section Tournaments this week and hopefully into next week.
Volleyball
The WEM volleyball team is the No. 4 seed in the Section 2AA Tournament which began Monday, Oct. 20 with the Bucs sweeping No. 13 seed Maple River in three sets.
Grizzly girls place 2nd in Gopher Conference
Seven WEM/JWP girls cross country runners placed in the top 20 of the Gopher Conference Championship Tuesday, October 14 at Hayfield Oaks Country Club.
All seven earned an All-Conference honor for their efforts.
Eighth grader Norah Welvaert placed 6th overall in a time of 21:16 to earn First Team All-Conference honors.
NRHEG freshman Julieann Wobbrock won the race in 19:17, followed by Hayfield eighth grader Hadley Doman in 19:28, and Blooming Prairie junior Gloria Hernandez in 19:38.
Seven straight for Buccaneer football team
The WEM football team clinched the No. 1 seed in the Section 2AA Tournament and also claimed the Mid-South Silver District Championship with a 32-6 win over St. Clair/Mankato Loyola Thursday, Oct. 9 at Mankato.
The Bucs, rated 7th in Class AA, has opened the season with seven straight wins and are three games in front of JWP in the Section and District Standings with one game to play.
After a solid regular season, which ended Tuesday against JWP, the WEM volleyball team has been seeded fourth in the 17-team Section 2AA Tournament.
WEM, 18-8 overall, will host Maple River (6-15) at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20 in the Section first round. If they win, they would host either No. 5 seed St. Clair (16-4) or No. 12 seed JWP (10-12).
The Section 2AA semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28 at New Prague. If WEM advances, they would play at 6 p.m.
Four of the top 11 runners in Class A competed in the Thursday, Sept. 25 WEM/JWP Grizzly Pie Run at Prairie Ridge Golf Course in Janesville.
The 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 11th rated Class A individual runners and the 4th rated team in Class A competed.
Fourth-rated Mankato Loyola/Cleveland won the girl’s race with 22 points. Blooming Prairie placed second (66), WEM/JWP third (76), Martin County West/Butterfield-Odin fourth (91), NRHEG fifth (133), and Medford sixth (157).
Throughout the last few years, the WEM volleyball team always tries to bolster their regular season schedule with topnotch teams.
This year has been no different.
Last week the Bucs battled two state-rated teams and despite losing both matches, there were some very positive things which came from these matches.
Bucs pick up big win over Cobras
The WEM volleyball team had a perfect week last week which included a key win over one of the Gopher Conference favorites, Triton.
The Buccaneers notched three straight wins between Sept. 15 and Sept. 18, with two of those against Gopher Conference opponents. The biggest of those was a four-set victory over Triton, handing the Cobras their first conference loss.
WEM/JWP junior Wyatt Jans had the top performance for the Grizzly boys cross country team during the NRHEG Invitational which was held Tuesday, Sept. 16 at Riverview Golf Course in New Richland.
Jans covered the 5,000-meter course in 17:51, placing 6th overall among the 70_ runners.
Mankato Loyola/Cleveland senior Soren Kelly won the race in 16:29. He was followed by Austin Pacelli sophomore Isaac Johnson in 17:08 and Tri-City United (TCU) senior Grant Fitterer in 17:21.
The WEM/JWP girls cross country team had their top five runners finish in the top 25 of the Maple River Invitational Thursday, Sept. 11.
The Grizzlies placed fourth among the five full teams with 72 points. Springfield/ Cedar Mountain won the meet with 38 points. They were followed by Jackson County Central (51), Minnesota Valley Lutheran (66), WEM/JWP, and Medford (142).
WEM/JWP competed without their top runner McKenzie Westphal and with her they probably would have finished second overall.
