Winter sports practices underway
The sound of balls bouncing and sneakers squeaking returned to area gymnasiums on Monday of this week.
That is when area girls basketball teams were able to begin practicing in preparation for the 2023-24 high school basketball season. The Arcadia and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Area gymnastics teams also began practice on Monday.
Among the returning squads is a team that played in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Championship Game last year. The Blair-Taylor girls basketball team returns after a 28-2 campaign a season ago, though most of the faces will have changed. The team graduated nine of its 13 varsity players. The new-look Wildcats will tip off officially next Thursday at Black River Falls.
The first official games will be played this coming Tuesday. There will be a match-up against two area teams as Independence/Gilmanton plays at Whitehall. This is the first year Independence and Gilmanton will join forces for a co-op. That same day, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau will take on a top Dairyland Conference contender when it plays at Cochrane-Fountain City. Arcadia’s season begins next Thursday with a home game against St. Croix Central.
While the gymnastics programs began practice, they won’t compete this month. G-E-T’s season begins at an invitational in West Salem on Dec. 9. Arcadia competes at a triangular in Tomah on Dec. 16.
The boys basketball and wrestling teams will begin practicing next Monday.
The first boys basketball games will be played Nov. 21 when I/G plays at Boyceville and Arcadia hosts Viroqua.
B-T and Whitehall are both set to begin their seasons on Nov. 27 when the Wildcats play at Plum City/Elmwood and the Norse play at I/G. Like the B-T girls, the Whitehall boys basketball team is coming off of a season in which it advanced to the WIAA State Tournament. G-E-T will begin its season Nov. 28 at Bangor.
The first wrestling matches will come on Nov. 30 at Blair-Taylor takes on Arcadia in a dual. Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro will host a quadrangular that day at Mel-Min. Both the I/G and Whitehall teams will compete in tournaments on Dec. 2 with I/G going to Mondovi and Whitehall at Black River Falls.
