Morning State Sports Briefs: Arrowhead's Taraska calls it a career

One of Wisconsin’s top high school football coaches is calling it a career. 59-year-old Tom Taraska announced his retirement yesterday after 29 years at Hartland Arrowhead.

He’s also retiring from his teaching post in physical education. His wife is also retiring as a teacher in Mukwonago, and Taraksa said they wanted to do some extended traveling. He also said the state’s effort to limit collective union bargaining also played a role. Taraska went 248-76 at Arrowhead. His teams won 11 conference championships and four state Division-One titles in 1993, ’94, ’96, and 2007. They also finished second at state five times.

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North Carolina State graduate Russell Wilson has one year of college football eligibility left. And the quarterback is reportedly thinking about enrolling at Wisconsin this fall. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says the Badgers are one of the teams Wilson has contacted, as he looks for a place to use his remaining eligibility – which he can do right away, and not have to wait a year. Wilson was recently released from N.C. State, where he started for three years and threw for 8,454 yards and 76 touchdowns. He’s now playing baseball for a Class-“A” minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies in Asheville, North Carolina. The Rockies say they plan to keep Wilson for the entire minor league season through September fifth – and that wouldn’t give him much time to gear up for a collegiate football program. But there’s almost no experienced competition for him at Wisconsin. The Badgers’ current Number-One quarterback is Jon Budmayr, who has played in only three games. His backups, Joe Brennan and Joel Stave, will both be freshmen in the fall.

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In the Midwest League, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will try to make it two-in-a-row over Cedar Rapids tonight near Appleton. The Rattlers opened the series with a 4-1 victory. The Beloit Snappers will play at Kane County tonight, on the heels of an 8-4 Snapper loss. Elsewhere, there are two late morning contests. South Bend is playing at West Michigan. And Bowling Green is at Fort Wayne. Tonight, West Division leader Burlington plays at Peoria. Quad Cities hosts Clinton. East leader Lansing is at Great Lakes. And Dayton entertains Lake County.

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Round-Two is underway at the NCAA Division-Three men’s golf tournament in Greensboro North Carolina. UW-Eau Claire was tied for 13th as of mid-morning at 11-over-par. Stout was tied for 18th at 17-over. The Milwaukee School of Engineering was tied for 27th, and Carroll of Waukesha was 35th. Saint John’s of Minnesota had the team lead at two-under. Dan Nelson of Stout was the state’s top individual. He was tied for 10th at mid-morning with a one-under-par 71 in his first round. Jimmy Hutchings of Eau Claire was tied for 21st after shooting a 72 in the first of his four rounds.

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Meanwhile, the Division-Three women are in the second round of their national tournament at Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. Eau Claire was 16th at mid-morning at 72-over-par. Carroll was 17th at plus-74. Gustavus Adolphus of Minnesota was the leader at 33-over. Catherine Wagner of Eau Claire was the state’s top player, despite starting her second round at three-over. She’s at plus-nine for the tournament, in a tie for 11th. Morgan Zuleger of Carroll was 41st as of mid-morning.

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Two UW-Green Bay softball players have received Horizon League post-season honors. Designated player Alli Rivera was named to the all-conference first team. And Phoenix freshman Shannon Butts made the all-newcomer squad. Green Bay finished seventh in the regular season standings at 10-13 in conference play and 24-22 overall. The Phoenix did not qualify for the six-team league tournament which begins today. Tess Sito of Cleveland State was named the player-of-the-year for the second straight time. Jenny Esparza of Butler is the pitcher-of-the-year.

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Ali Schmidt of Saint Norbert College has been named the Midwest Conference women’s field athlete-of-the-week. The freshman set a new school record in the discus with a throw of 127-feet, nine-inches.

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