Author: Ryan Williamson

For those who keep up with basketball during the month of March, they know there are plenty of ups and downs. Whether it’s the ups and downs of the NCAA tournament, the NBA season or high school basketball season, emotions run high when the calendar turns to March. If you want an example of that, look no further than Eden Prairie basketball. This past week, the boys’ team dominated its way to this week’s section final. Meanwhile, the girls’ saw their season end in epic and heartbreaking fashion. Girls suffer heartbreaking defeat Entering the Section 2AAAA tournament, the field was…

For the seventh time in school history, an Eden Prairie wrestler captured an individual state championship. On March 5, EP wrestler Will Sather captured the heavyweight state individual title at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Sather is the first sophomore to ever win the heavyweight state title. After capturing the section championship a week prior, Sather entered the state meet with a 42-1 record. He defeated Tucker Hugg of St. Cloud Tech in the opening round 5-4 before knocking off Jawahn Cockfield in the next round via fall to advance to the semifinals. Sather faced a tough test in…

The Eden Prairie girls’ basketball team conquered quite the challenge on Saturday as the Eagles defeated rival Minnetonka in the Section 2AAAA tournament semifinals. However, the news got even better. Public address announcer Jane Voss reported to all inside the EPHS main gym that top-seeded Chaska fell to Shakopee. That meant not only that EP was onto the section final but got to stay home and host the Sabers on Friday.  All of that led to an excited group of Eagles following a hard-fought, 59-50 win over the Skippers. EP entered the section tournament as the No. 2 seed in…

This weekend, some of the state’s top high school swimmers, divers and wrestlers will compete in their respective state meets, including several representing Eden Prairie High School. Though neither the EP wrestling team or boys’ swim and dive team made it, they each will send a number of individuals to this weekend’s tournaments. The wrestlers will take the mat at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul while the swimmers enter the pool at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. Boys’ swim and dive The Eagles nearly won last week’s Section 2AA team competition, they came up short…

For the first time in 14 years, the Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) cross country program will have a new leader when the season begins in August. On Jan. 22, the EPHS athletics department announced the hiring of Courtney Brandon via a news release. She takes over for Jeff Lindlief, who is retiring from the position after more than two decades of involvement in the program. “I am honored and humbled to lead our students to be the best people and athletes they can be,” Brandon said via the school’s news release. Brandon is no stranger to EP cross country.…

The Lake Conference and West Metro area have long had some of the top girls’ basketball teams in Minnesota. This season, however, the bar has been raised to another level. Five of the top seven spots in the latest Minnesota Basketball News Class 4A rankings are held by Lake Conference teams. Eden Prairie holds the No. 4 spot. The two non-Lake teams are Stillwater and West Metro squad Chaska. This has meant the Eagles have plenty of tough spots in their schedule. However, Eden Prairie has mostly found success but did recently stub its toe on Tuesday in a 65-53…

For the first time in a decade, Eden Prairie girls’ basketball has a nomination for the McDonald’s All-American Game. EP’s Nia Holloway was one of 760 nominees for this year’s All-American game between the boys’ and girls’ games. The senior standout is headed to the University of Minnesota and is one of the state’s top players this season. This is the first time an Eagle has been chosen for this honor since Jackie Johnson in 2012. She also was set to head to the University of Minnesota after her time at EPHS. Holloway, a dynamic forward, has been a presence…

Prior to 2021, many of the runners representing the EP boys’ and girls’ cross country teams had never experienced some of the high-stakes races that come with being a varsity runner, like the conference, section, or state meets. With the 2021 season now in the rear-view mirror, the Eagles have found themselves with a number of runners with that experience. That includes three EP boys who made it to the state meet. They capped off a successful season that saw many young runners get their chance to shine at the varsity level. Despite COVID-19 limiting what all fall sports could…

On Saturday, Nov. 22, a group of EPHS girls swimmers and divers left the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. That exit marked the final moments of the 2021 EPHS fall sports season. The last few days of the season were busy for those involved with EP sports. There was the state football semifinal and the girls’ swim and dive state meet. The dust has since settled on these crazy few days. Here’s a look at how things went. Football Whether it was a fumble recovery on a muffed punt against Lakeville North or an interception early in the game against…

It felt at times that the Eden Prairie-Farmington game Nov. 12 was a two-part story. The first part featured a dominant Eagle offensive attack that punished the Tigers in a variety of ways. The latter part was about the EP defense attempting to hold an early lead against upstart Farmington. When the story ended, it was all smiles for the Eagles. They held onto their early lead and did enough to avoid a season-ending loss to Farmington as EP won 17-7 at Chanhassen High School to advance to the Class 6A semifinals Friday, Nov. 19 at U.S. Bank Stadium in…