Sports Digest

Monsters to make up game against Rapids Saturday

The Rhinelander River Monsters have announced that they will make up one of the two games postponed when Wisconsin Rapids was unable at attend a schedule Dairyland League doubleheader June 29 in Rhinelander due to low numbers. 

The make-up game will be played tomorrow (July 19) at Stafford Field with first pitch slated for 1:30 p.m.

River Monsters manager Todd Johnson told the River News he was under the understanding that the second game would be considered a forfeit win for Rhinelander, which would hand Rapids (6-1) its first loss in Dairyland League Large play while moving Rhinelander to 5-6 on the year. 

The Monsters play back-to-back games at Stafford Field this weekend, hosting Abbotsford Sunday in a 1:30 matinee. The regular season will close for Rhinelander July 27 at home against Whittlesey. 

Sixteen student-athletes added to WIAA’s leadership team

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association has selected 16 high school student-athletes from across the state that are entering their junior years to serve on the 27-member Student-Athlete Leadership Team for 2025-26.

Members of the team submitted an application form and a short introductory video to express their interest in serving on the team. The WIAA received 150 applications this spring. The number of representatives from each district is determined by a percentage of member schools in each of the seven districts.

The following are new Student-Athlete Leadership Team members: 

Olivia Korish (Turtle Lake), Ryley Darr (Northland Pines), Hope Soper (Gillett), Maxwell Jaeger (Menomonie), 

Portia Hah (Southern Door), Claire Higgins (St. Mary Catholic), Laynie Vaughan (Wautoma), Isabella Ganoung (Evansville), Evan Henderson (Union Grove), Jackson Brazer (Elkhorn), Paige Murphy (Lakeside Lutheran),  Pierce Briley (Greenfield), Macy DeRosa (Cedarburg),  Brooke Dyer (Brookfield Central), Austin Jarmuz (University School of Milwaukee) and Sawyer Lorier (Port Washington).

The 16, all juniors entering the 2025-26 school year will join 11 returning seniors — Sawyer Jones (New Auburn), Nevaeh Nwachukwu (St. Croix Falls), Ginger Gerndt (Suring), Tori Creighton (Alma), Elizabeth Curtis (Westby), Emma Resop (Ripon), Cooper Smith (Marinette), Owen Barnet (Edgewood), Blake Brancel (Portage), Kiernan Kawleski (Jefferson) and Max Reeve (Shorewood).

The purpose of the Student-Athlete Leadership Team is to serve as ambassadors for their peers and the WIAA while learning more about the sports industry. Their involvement provides a student-athlete voice in the WIAA and will assist in supporting, educating and advancing the purpose of interscholastic athletics. The Leadership Team engages in an advisory role without rule-making authority, but their input is conveyed and has an impact at the various levels of the committee process.

Additional benefits include instilling leadership skills; compiling diverse ideas and perspective from different areas of the state; learning more about the many career opportunities in sports professions; getting a better understanding of how the WIAA functions; sharing the many positive, life-enriching experiences the association creates each season; and creating the interest and growth of student-athlete leadership groups at local schools.

Members on the team will engage in four meetings per year, attend WIAA State Tournaments each season, plan and participate in the Fall Area Meetings for student-athletes, as well as organize and participate in an Annual Student-Athlete Leadership Conference that will merge with the Sportsmanship Summit beginning in December, 2025.

 The 2025-26 Leadership Team’s orientation meeting will be scheduled in August at the WIAA executive office in Stevens Point.