We started with 35 nominees for the Winter Sports Athlete of the Season! Then it was down to 17, and now it's down to the final four. It's bitter sweet to see this process, while we believe each of these athletes deserves the award, there can only be two. Here are the final four nominees, two boys and two girls! BOYS Jameson Epple (Cambridge-Isanti Basketball) Oliver Miller (Mora Wrestling) Girls Addison Axtell (Mora Basketball) Madison Gothmann (Milaca Basketball) Congrats t

We started with 35 nominees for our initial list of Winter Sports Athlete of the Season. It was not easy trying to get a list down to 35, there are so many deserving athletes in our local area. And each of those athletes is beyond deserving of this award. Sadly, we can only have two winners, one boy and one girl. So we have let a random generator pick our list of the 17 nominees who will be moving on. Here is the list of the remaining 17 nominees! BOYS Sawyer Schendel (Milaca

Well the winter sports season has officially come to an end here at WCMP. We certainly had a lot of fun and memorable moments throughout the season. Thanks to Pine Insurance Agency, we were able to do an Athlete of the Week to highlight some of the great local athletes in our area. But we wanted to do one more thing to recognize local athletes in our area. And that brings us our Winter Sports Athlete of the Season Award! We'll be going through and picking two athletes, boy an

Braham made the State Tournament after winning the Section 5A Championship over Pine River-Backus! On the 1st day of the tournament they, as the 8th seed, took on the number team at state, Mountain Iron-Buhl. The start of this game was less than ideal, they struggled with turnovers and couldn't quite find their footing. But it was more than understandable, they were trying to take in the moment of being at State. Once they worked through the jitters they started to look li

The second game of a double-header on the St. Cloud State campus on Friday night was for the title of Section 5A. The top seeds from both the east and the west made it through the bracket to face off against each other. This was a battle between the Bombers of Braham and the Pine River-Backus Tigers. It was also a rematch from January 13th that Braham won 70-56. Braham played well from the start. Their defense played a big role as it has for the entirety of the season. Both t

The Lady Wolves played Sauk Centre at Hallenbeck Hall on Friday. Another rematch for the Wolves in the playoffs, this time in the game to go to state. The Mainstreeters were once again the team standing in their way.

Chisago Lakes hosted Hermantown on Wednesday night. It wasn't too long ago these two teams played and Chisago won that game. The Wildcats looked to do so again, but this time a trip to the section semi finals was on the line.

The girls 5A-East subsection championship was a battle between the second-seed Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars and the top seed Braham Bombers at Foley High School. This was the first meeting for these two teams this season. It was a matchup that was a collision course for the majority of the season. BBE was able to jump up to a large 18-4 lead with Braham having trouble getting into a rhythm offensively. Coach Zach Loy was forced to call a timeout. When asked what was said d

Mora hosted International Falls on Monday night. Round one of the playoffs saw Mora welcome in the Broncos as Mora received the 4 seed in Section 7AA. The Mustangs were certainly looking to erase the sour taste of a loss on senior night at home just days ago.

Foley played Albany on Saturday at St Ben's. The Falcons had beaten the Huskies twice during the regular season. But as the saying goes, it's hard to beat the same team three times. Well early on the Falcons had got off to a good start and they seemed to be running away with the game. The Huskies were able to find some success offensively but couldn't find any consistency against the Falcons defense. Foley had all momentum on their side taking a 31-14 lead at the half.

The Lady Wolves played Royalton on Saturday. This game was a rematch of the semi final last year between these two teams. The Wolves this year came in as the 1 seed and looked to get back to the section semi final. This game wound up being a defensive battle, but early on Milaca seemed to control the pace. While their defense played really solid, the offense struggled alittle bit to find its footing.

Mora hosted the Falcons of Foley on Friday night for the final regular season game for both teams. Foley came in looking to keep pace and hold on to their 10-seed in Section 6AA, whereas the Mustangs were looking to hold on to their 4-seed in Section 7AA. The game was very fast paced. There were very few foul calls throughout the game. With the officials allowing the teams to play, it was smooth play for the entire 36 minutes. It was back and forth for the entire game. Neithe

The Girls Section 6AA playoffs started on Thursday night and the 10th seeded Mora Mustangs made the trip to Albany to face the 7th seeded Albany Huskies. This was the first meeting of the season for these two former conference mates. Mora was able to hold strong against the higher seeded Huskies on the road. The score was tied at 20 a piece late in the first half. That is when Albany made their run. Between the end of the first half and the early stages of the second half, Al

Mora hosted Proctor on Tuesday. The Mustangs came into the finally week of the regular season as the #5 seed in the section. With a couple wins this week, they could potentially jump into the 3rd seed.

Chisago Lakes made the trip up to Duluth Denfeld on Wednesday night. The Wildcats opened up the 1st round of playoffs on the road, despite that they were full of confidence going up against the Hunters.

The Playoffs are upon us! Let's take a look at how each team finished and where they'll play in the 1st round of the playoffs! Class A Section 5A East Braham 20-6(11-0), 1st in section The Bombers have their heads down looking to get back to the section championship. They scheduled maybe one of the toughest seasons but it all paid off. They'll host Hinckley-Finlayson on Thursday. Ogilvie 12-13(8-5), 5th in Section The Lions have a younger team this year but have

Milaca hosted Albany on Thursday night. The Wolves came in riding a 9 game win streak, with only two more game in the regular season. They also have a small chance at getting the number 1 seed in the playoffs. As play started both teams were kind of feeling each other out. Waiting to see how they would attack and react. But it wasn't long before the Milaca defense started to make an impact on the game flow. They turned up the heat and the takeaways lead to points and this

The Lady Bombers hosted Moose Lake-Willow River on Monday night. The Bombers started the final week of the regular season at home. They were able to celebrate the seniors, all five of them. But as the game started, it was all Braham all the time. Their offense was unstoppable and the defense gave no ground to gain. They also had a plethora of takeaways and held the Rebels to 9 first half points. The Bombers continued their dominance the entire half and at the break they l

The Lady Dragons traveled to Mora on Friday night. These two teams met a week before and the Dragons were able to hold on for a tight win. But this time the game was in Mora, with alot on the line. Not just a conference win, but a section win, which would help both teams elevate their seedings for playoffs. The 1st half of the game saw Pine City get the lead early, but Mora kept themselves within a few possessions. Both teams battled it out, Pine City held the lead but co

There was a big game in Section 7AA on Tuesday night with the Mora Mustangs hosting the Aitkin Gobblers. Mora was coming into the game in the five-slot in the section and Aitkin in the six-slot.  This game did not disappoint. The lead for either team was never more than six. Caleb Smith for Aitkin lit it up from the perimeter with five-threes in the first half alone. That propelled Aitkin to a 43-42 halftime lead. Mora came out firing on all cylinders in the second half going