Latest news with #ChippewaFallsHighSchool
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
North's Larson having sensational track season
Josie Larson has been a gift that just keeps giving for the Eau Claire North track and field team. In her junior year, Larson already holds two schools records and is on her way to breaking a third. On May 9 at the Stan Bar Relays, Larson set her personal record in the shot put after throwing a distance of 38 feet, 6 inches. Advertisement Larson holds the school record for the both pole vault and discus. The discus record is now 134 feet, 2 inches. The Big Rivers Conference Championship took place at Chippewa Falls High School on May 19. Larson pole vaulted 11 feet, 6 inches. She was named the field MVP for the meet. Breaking the school record at the conference championship meet is something Larson said will forever be a core memory. 'I came into this season thinking it was definitely in reach,' Larson said. 'I continued to just practice and gain more confidence. When it finally happened I was kind of just stunned, but the environment and the emotions were all there. It was awesome.' Advertisement She said the motivation to get into track and field came from both of her grandfathers. 'My grandpa was a pole vaulter and when I was younger he would always say, 'You're gonna be a pole vaulter one day,' and now I'm here,' Larson said. 'Throwing was just one of those things that I tried and enjoyed. I knew I was I on the muscular side, so I gave it a shot and it turned out to be something good.' Larson is an all-around athlete. She is a competitive gymnast for the Huskies and she is also a member of the volleyball team. North coach Adam Sturgis has a list of compliments dedicated to Larson. 'She truly is a generational talent in a number of different ways,' Sturgis said. 'And what kind of separates her is that she outworks everybody, there's no doubt about it. And I am not talking about just on the track, but in the classroom as well.' Advertisement Sturgis said Larson has truly had an influence on the team. 'She's in a zone when she's here and that picks up all the kids around her,' he said. 'She has upped the level of intensity from practices to competitions.' Sturgis may be the head coach, and the team may have top-notch coaches for Larson's events, but he said Larson is not a product of him. 'I almost feel more like an orchestra director where she's producing the music. I can't take credit for most of what she's done because she's done all the work,' he said. Sturgis was impressed by the countless hours of work Larson put in during the offseason. Advertisement 'She does a lot of work with pole vault camps and clubs. There's a private pole vault club in Menomonie that she's a part of and that's where she's really grown,' he said. 'It's so vital to take that time when you have the opportunity to really make some improvements outside of the season.' Larson does not get to practice sprinting often because of her shot put and discus practice, but she does a great job in balancing all three events. 'She's going to continue to improve, and the stronger she gets the more explosive she gets,' Sturgis said. 'She has that type of talent where it is very realistic to see her on the podium at state.' Larson's plan is to take her track and field talents to the collegiate level. Advertisement 'I know that I am capable of so much more and there's always something I can do better. There's always room for improvement,' she said. 'Nothing is perfect.' The Huskies are heading into regionals on Tuesday and Larson said there are some nerves but she is not new to this. 'I have the ability and I've been gifted the ability to be able to move my body efficiently,' she said. 'I have the energy, I have the strength, I have the people to support me, so why not push myself to my full potential.'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Evers visits Chippewa Falls, discusses mental health programming
CHIPPEWA FALLS — Gov. Tony Evers stopped by Chippewa Falls High School on Thursday, touring the Fab Lab and tech ed classrooms, hearing about plans to expand mental health programming, and even saw a performance by the school's wire choir. 'One of the reasons I was here was to hear their good work in mental health,' Evers said at the conclusion of a tour that lasted more than an hour. 'And they are doing a lot of good things here.' Jamie Ganske, principal at the Chippewa Valley (alternative) High School and mental health & resiliency counselor, told Evers that the district partners with 30 agencies to provide mental health to students. She said the need climbed post-COVID and has remained at a high level. 'We are well over 5% of our students utilizing mental health services over the course of a school day,' Ganske told Evers. The district received a five-year grant that helps pay for the Student and Family Assistance Program, she said. Evers said his proposed budget includes a significant investment in mental health at schools, adding that he has seen support from Republicans for those programs. 'Clearly this has taken mental health to a different level, a higher level,' Evers said. Evers added: 'I don't know if we'll be making things specific in the budget. My goal is to get as much money out the door to schools as possible.' Evers said the tech education and Fab Lab classes and talked with the Skills USA students about the items they are making and the problem-solving examples they have learned. Eric Andreo, a senior, said the laser printers and software allows students to make almost anything they can imagine. 'It teaches you about solving real-world problems,' Andreo told Evers. 'It's taught me a lot about engineering and what I want to go into.' The Chi Hi Wire Choir, who are headed to state this weekend, also performed two songs for the governor, playing their orchestra instruments while dancing to '(I've Had) The Time of My Life' from the film 'Dirty Dancing.' In some comments at the conclusion of the tour, Evers was asked about the state's policy if an ICE agent enters a state government building. Evers, a Democrat, contends that Republicans have overblown his policy. He said the goal is for each agency to make sure they have an attorney present for an encounter with an ICE agent. 'It's a legal process,' he said. 'We are not stopping ICE. We are just making sure our employees have an attorney with them.'
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Schimel receives Trump endorsement, campaigns in town of Tilden
CHIPPEWA FALLS — Fresh off receiving an endorsement from President Donald Trump, conservative state Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel stopped in the town of Tilden on Saturday, as the campaign reaches its final stages. Schimel, a former Wisconsin Attorney General from 2015 to 2019, is facing Dane County Judge Susan Crawford on April 1. Crawford is a Chippewa Falls native who graduated from Chippewa Falls High School in 1983. Crawford is slated to visit Chippewa Falls on Tuesday. Early, in-person voting is underway and continues through this Friday. On Friday, Trump announced his endorsement of Schimel. Doing his best Trump impersonation and drawing laughter, Schimel told the crowd of 75 supporters at the Horizon's Lounge & Event Center about receiving the endorsement call from the President. 'We had a great talk,' Schimel told the crowd. 'It's been a good 24 hours. He's going to weigh in and help on this race. He knows this race isn't done.' Trump's endorsement came after Schimel made comments on a conservative radio show on Tuesday that indicated he questions if all ballots were correctly tabulated in Milwaukee County. He spoke of the possibility of 'bags of ballots' and fraud during that conversation. In the interview, Schimel told his supporters need to 'get our votes banked, make this too big to rig so we don't have to worry that at 11:30 in Milwaukee, they're going to find bags of ballots that they forgot to put into the machines.' Schimel claimed that has happened in the past, including in 2024 when U.S. Sen. candidate Eric Hovde lost to incumbent U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. There is no evidence that any level of fraud or tabulating errors would have overturned the 2020 or 2024 election results. 'I certainly hope the rules will be followed and enforced,' Schimel said Saturday when asked by a supporter about potential election cheating. 'All I can do is go campaign. We've got to out-run any potential fraud.' While Supreme Court seats are technically non-partisan, Republicans are generally supporting Schimel, while Democrats generally back Crawford. Supreme Court seats have a 10-year term. The court is viewed as currently leaning 4-3 in a liberal majority. Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced last April she was not seeking re-election. She is viewed as a liberal-leaning justice, so if Crawford were to win, the court would remain 4-3 liberal leaning. Liberals gained the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years after the 2023 election. During his 30-minute speech Saturday, Schimel highlighted voter ID laws, expressing concern that the state Supreme Court could attempt to unwind laws that require voters to show an ID at the polls. He also contends that Crawford has indicated she would redraw Congressional District maps if elected. Currently, Republicans hold six of eight Congressional seats in the state; a redistricting could help Democrats win two more seats, including U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden's Third Congressional District seat. 'They are going to gerrymander these maps,' Schimel contends. 'That's what they are talking about doing. That's what drew the national money into the race.' One topic that Schimel avoided was abortion — it never came up during his speech. Schimel also left immediately upon finishing his speech and didn't take any questions from the Leader-Telegram; no other local media were present. Crawford contends that Schimel supports an 1849 state law that would make abortion illegal in the state. Schimel proudly talked about his years as a prosecutor and fighting for justice, adding that 'if you do it right, you leave a part of you behind, you never get it back.' He noted that while he has been hammered in ads for rape kit tests, he added, 'We solved the problem that no one had touched for 25 years.' The Trump endorsement received backlash from Crawford's campaign. 'Brad Schimel is a corrupt politician who let 6,000 rape kits sit untested and gave a plea deal to a child predator whose attorney gave him $5,000,' wrote campaign spokesman Derrick Honeyman in a press release Friday night. 'Schimel has spent his entire career on bent knee to right-wing special interests, we assumed he had this endorsement locked up months ago. Schimel has said he wants to be a 'support network' for Trump and that the Wisconsin Supreme Court 'screwed over' Trump in 2020. Wisconsinites will reject Brad Schimel once again on April 1.' Schimel noted he has been endorsed by three-fourths of sheriffs in the state, including several Democratic sheriffs. Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes, also a Republican, told the crowd, 'law enforcement's choice, for sure, is Brad Schimel.' Schimel noted the race is the most expensive in U.S. history, saying his campaign has spent $750,000 a week recently on statewide TV ads, and that will be bumped to $1 million for this final full week. U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minoqua, introduced Schimel. Tiffany said the state Supreme Court could weigh in on topics ranging from concealed carry rights to allowing men in women's bathrooms or women's sports. 'We do not want to become like Minnesota or Illinois,' Tiffany said. 'We have people who are getting out and voting early, but it is going to be a close race. We show up, Brad Schimel wins.'
