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The Packer girls basketball team moved up to third place last week with a home win over Wahpeton. West Fargo has now won three of its last five games after snapping a three-game win streak early last month. One big reason for the turnaround has been the inspired play of sophomore point guard Katelyn Holland, the EDC's leading scorer with 16.3 points-per-game. Holland poured in a career-high 27 points versus the Huskies and has been garnering praise from her head coach. "She just has the makeup of a basketball player.
The Packer girls hockey team is playing its best hockey of the year as it heads into the home stretch with only four regular season games left. And it's a true home stretch. All four games will be at home, two of them against teams the 12-3-1 Packers lost to this season (Bismarck on Feb. 14 and Fargo South on Feb. 17). After 46 days without a home game, last week's home wins over Dickinson and Mandan were a welcome change. That there's plenty of home action to come bodes well for the Packers as they head into the state tournament; there is no EDC tourney in N.D.
Minot's decade-long reign as the top boys swimming team in the state finally came to an end Saturday when the Packers won the Minot Invitational. In doing so, West Fargo became the first team other than Minot to win the esteemed invite, which annually features nearly every team in the state. Minot is also the 10-time defending state champion, and the Packers won't see the Magicians again until the state meet in Grand Forks, March 6-7. But for now, the Packers can revel in the fact that they have finally toppled powerhouse Minot, and they left nothing open to question in doing it.
The Packer boys hockey team was able to do something this past week that it hasn't been able to do consistently all season - score goals. West Fargo tallied 11 of them in going 1-1-1 in EDC action, tying Fargo Shanley, losing to Grand Forks Red River and beating Devils Lake. The Packers, at 4-8-2 overall, have matched last season's win total with several games left to go. At least one of their two ties ended in a shootout victory, although it's logged as an official tie. "We're starting to finally put some pucks in the net," said co-head coach Tim Capouch.
Surprising to some, the Packer boys basketball team remains undefeated and in first place in the EDC. Yet coach Greg Limke says he isn't putting too much focus on his team's 8-0 conference record. He's too busy thinking about West Fargo's next game. "We don't worry about that," he said. "We have to turn the page, and we want the next one. We can reminisce at the end of the season and look back and talk about those things." In the mean time all the Packers are doing is winning. Fargo North and Grand Forks Central became West Fargo's latest conference victims last week.
There's not a whole lot of buzz surrounding the Packer wrestling team this winter. The graduation of several top wrestlers from last season's successful team was just too much to take. West Fargo is currently in sixth place in the EDC with a 1-3 dual record. Last year the Packers took second at the state tournament after winning it all the year prior. Grappling fans are seeing more than just a rebuilding year though.
In addition to bringing you regular Packer sports coverage we like to periodically check in with Packers of the past that are still in the game and playing college sports. This week we catch up with Ali Edwards, WFHS class of 2006, now a member of the Jamestown College volleyball and womens basketball teams. Edwards was named first team all-state her senior year at West Fargo for the Packer girls basketball team that won the EDC regular season championship and finished second at the conference tournament.
It was generally thought that only 10-time defending state champion Minot would stand in the way of the Packer boys swimming team's first-ever state title hopes. That was until last Friday and Saturday when Mandan took on West Fargo at L.E. Berger Elementary in a dual the Packers managed to win 102-82. West Fargo won the Thomas Manley Memorial Invitational at Fargo South the next day with 456.5 points; Mandan finished in second with 415 points. It's a clear sign that Mandan could give the Packers some trouble come post season time.
The Packer girls jump-started their basketball season and ran away with two quick opening wins only to lose four of their next five. Now the Packers are finding they're running away again - from one side of the West Fargo gym to the other. Coach Barb Metcalf has her players running hard in practice to improve their conditioning after they appeared tired in the later stages of some of the recent losses. The team's most recent defeat came at Grand Forks Red River when West Fargo lost 58-44 on Jan. 6. "We've been running a lot more.
The Packer boys basketball team made the most of its first home game in three weeks when it faced Grand Forks Red River last week. West Fargo snapped a two-game losing streak with a well-played 10-point win over the Riders. The pair of losses remains the only two for the 5-2 Packers so far this season.