The New Prague Trojan gymnastics team opened its season Thursday, Dec. 6, with a win over Breck. Score for the meet was 131.7- 126.275.
New Prague used 12 different gymnasts in the meet. Top performer was Emmalyn Dickerson, who placed second in the all-around with a score of 32.7. Dickerson had the high score on both the balance beam (8.575) and the floor exercise (8.95). She also placed third on the uneven bars at 8.025 and had a score of 7.15 on the vault.
Brooke Nerud took first for New Prague on the bars with an 8.325.

The New Prague Area Pickleball Association is holding an Information Session on Saturday, Dec. 15 to introduce people to the game of pickleball. The event will be held at the Central Education Campus gym from 8:30 to 10 a.m. (enter the gym through Entrance 12).
Instructors will be on hand to explain rules and move people through some easy drills on their way to playing actual games. All necessary equipment will be provided during this free event.

The New Prague Trojan boys hockey team lost its opening game to Shakopee, but rebounded with a pair of overtime wins to start the season 2-1 under first year Coach Cory Lonke. Grant Yackly scored the winning goals in both wins for New Prague.
The Trojans were scheduled to travel to Red Wing Tuesday, Dec. 4, and play at Bloomington Jefferson at 7 p.m Saturday, Dec. 8. New Prague renews a rivalry with former Missota Conference foe Holy Angels on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at Richfield.

The New Prague Trojan girls basketball team split its first two games of the season last week, both at home. The Trojans opened with a loss to Shakopee, but rebounded in a big way with a 70-22 win over Rochester Century.
New Prague was scheduled to face Blaine Tuesday, Dec. 4. They will play Friday, Dec. 7, at Prior Lake and then travel to Bloomington Kennedy on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The Trojans host Chaska on Thursday, Dec. 13.

Disney on Ice will be playing this weekend, with eight shows at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and a New Prague native will have a featured role in the production.
Cale Ambroz, son of Chuck and Cindy Ambroz, got his start skating with the New Prague Area Figure Skating Club when he was six years old.
"I didn’t really like it. I thought it was too hard and quit," he recalls.

The New Prague Trojan girls hockey team went 1-1-1 during a busy week of action last week. The squad began with a 3-2 loss to Chaska/Chanhassen, then tied St. Paul United (No. 4, Class A) 2-2 in the first round of the Prior Lake Tournament. United won a shootout 3-2 to advance to the championship game, but the game goes down in the books officially as a tie. They finished with a 5-1 win over Prior Lake in the third place game of the tourney.

Senior Kaitlyn Blair had a career game to lead the New Prague Trojans to a 9-2 win over Red Wing in their season opening girls hockey game Tuesday, Nov. 13.
Blair, a six-year varsity player, scored three goals and added four assists, accounting for seven points. Two other Trojans, Ellie Skaja and Lindsey Bjerke, added two goals apiece and Abby Pirkl and Hanah Robasse each had a goal.
Pirkl, MacKenzie O’Brien, Lexi Kocina and Bjerke each added assists.
Goaltender Mariah Marek stopped 20 of 22 shots to take the win in net.

A few changes could be in the works for the Dakota-Rice- Scott League baseball next summer as the Minnesota Baseball Association has changed its criteria for classification of teams.
Currently 12 of the 13 teams in the league are classified as Class C teams and one (Elko) is Class B. The association is implementing a points system to classify teams, based on population of the community, the number of players with collegiate and professional experience on their roster from outside the community, and success in the state tournament over the past five years.

New Prague High School’s Ellen Popple placed second in diving at the Section 2AA Swim and Dive meet Friday, Nov. 9, at Minnetonka.
The second place finish earned her a spot at this week’s State Class AASwim and Dive meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Diving preliminaries were scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14. Those advancing beyond preliminaries will compete in the finals on Friday, Nov. 16.

For the fourth straight year New Prague High School Alum Ben Dietz is being recognized by the Amateur Trapshooting Association (ATA) as an “All-American.” The ATA All-American selection requirements are rigorous with individuals earning points and ranking throughout the year when they compete at qualifying state, regional and world competitions. Earning All-American points and ranking within the top ten can be quite challenging because the best of the best are often competing against each other for the points at the competitions.

New Prague High School senior Mia Kraimer, with parents Michael and Christine, signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD, during a ceremony in the high school commons Wednesday, Nov. 14. Before attending the Division I school in Vermillion, SD, Kraimer hopes to lead the Trojans to their third state tournament berth in her six-year varsity career during the 2019 season.

New Prague senior Sydney Siegle concluded her six-year high school cross country career by competing at the Minnesota Class AA Girls Cross Country Championships Saturday, Nov. 3, at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
“Sydney has steadily improved her times throughout her six-year career,” said Coach Shawn Brandt. “This year was no different. She qualified for the State Meet by dropping 38 seconds off her previous PR. The State course at St. Olaf is a challenging route stacked with the best runners in Minnesota.”

The New Prague Trojan volleyball team came out flat in the first two sets and lost in three sets to Shakopee, 25- 13, 25-14, 27-25 in the Section 2AAA semifinals Tuesday, Oct. 30, in Shakopee.
“Finding ourselves in the semi-final match was a new place for us this season,” said Trojan Coach Angie Andersen. The last time the Trojans had advanced this far in the section tournament was 2001, when they placed second at state.

The New Prague Trojan boys cross country team competed at the Section 2AA meet Thursday, Oct. 25, at Gale Woods Farm Park in Minnetrista, with the team placing 12th of 16 teams.
Jacob Malecha was the top Trojan runner. He had a PR with a fast second half, placing 23rd in 17 minutes, 3 seconds. Adam Brandt was next for the Trojans, placing 53rd in 17:34, followed by Noah Weichert (61st, 17:48), Carson Davis (74th, 17:58), Jacob Helvick (94th, 18:27), Josh Anderson (101st, 18:38) and Trevor Prelesnik (110th, 19:326).

The New Prague Composite Mountain Bike team had a successful 2018 season. This year the Minnesota High School Cycling League has grown to more than 1,700 racers, from more than 60 teams, from all over the state. All of these teams met this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, for the State Bike Championships at Mt. Kato in Mankato.
New Prague Composite had 18 racers from seventh to 12th grade who practiced and competed in a series of five races since the beginning of July. As the season concludes head coach Jon Rosemeier stated how proud he is of all the racers.

The New Prague Trojan Swim and Dive team hosted the Wright County Conference championships on Saturday, Oct. 27. Nine teams competed, with the Trojans placing seventh.
Hutchinson won the meet with 555 points. It was their 11th straight conference title, dating back to its days in the Missota Conference. Delano was second at 465, followed by Mound Westonka (368), Waconia (272), Orono (260), Dassel-Cokato (236), New Prague (119.5), Litchfield (33.5) and Watertown- Mayer (16).