Sports

A couple calls didn’t go our way that should have, and the Whippets lost a tightly contested volleyball match in 5 sets (23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 16-18) to Delavan on Tuesday, September 26.

Coach Mary Kilar commented, “This match was ours. I felt we played more consistently, managed our game plan and played well as a team. Unfortunately, a couple critical calls and we found ourselves losing in the final set 16-18. I was truly disappointed for the athletes, as I felt they deserved this match because of the way they battled and played offensively and defensively. We truly need to overcome the mental doubt that creeps in when matches get close and are on the line. We need to have ‘finish’ mentality, because these matches are ours!”

Manny Mbifi had an outstanding match for us. It was so awesome to see Manny fired up about her blocking and play. Manny ended the night with 6 kills and 5 blocks. She was a leader tonight, and the coaching staff has wanted all season to see her confidence blossom, and tonight it did.

Falyn Krahn also had an outstanding night both offensively and defensively. Falyn listens to every bit of coaching and immediately puts it into practice. She is so fun to coach because she works hard, leaves it all on the court, and although undersized for an outside hitter, she always follows the scouting plan and scores for us. She works just as hard on defense as she does on offense and she ended the night with 9 kills, 3 aces, 21 digs, and 3 block assists.

Ava Alvarado passed a 2.5 on the night and was so consistent in defense. She is so solid and consistent! She never quit on a ball, and had some amazing saves.

Ella Spear is a consistent leader for us. She is passing solidly, and owning the libero position. She works so hard, and wants her team to do well. She had 5 aces and led us in digs on the night with 25. Our defense is strong, and tonight was no different. Zoe Kohl finished the night with 16 digs and 3 aces. Sydney Schilt added 6 kills (hitting a .200), 4 digs, and 2 blocks.

Meg Roselle came through with her serve and defense. She added 4 kills, 1 ace, 4 assists, 6 digs, and 3 blocks.

Marina Linos continues to work hard in the setting position dishing out 19 assists, 1 ace, 6 digs, and 1 block.

Calli Grosinske continued to battle and added yet another double-double with 17 kills and 21 digs.

The Whippets overall hit a .056, had 13 aces and 19 errors, 107 digs, and 8 blocks. I have said all season that we are a defensively strong team. You can see in our dig stat that this is true. We have been focusing on serve, serve receive, and blocking at practices, and it is so nice to see our block stat improve. I am hopeful with continued service training we can improve our ace to error ratio as that will finish matches for us.

To see this fight is so great. We have so much to be proud of tonight. We battled and battled hard. I am so proud of the athletes tonight!

Article Submitted by Mary Kilar
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
mkilar@wwusd.org

In warm and sunny conditions, the Whitewater Whippets competed with everything they had and came away with the best team finishes in recent memory at the massive Janesville Midwest Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, September 23. This event boasts over 50 teams from Wisconsin and surrounding states and showcases numerous teams and athletes that will be competing at their respective state meets in about five weeks.

The boys’ varsity team kicked things off first with a bang as the team secured a solid 25th-place finish overall led by Jack Hefty. Jack crossed the line in 16th out of 325 finishers with a new lifetime best of 16:11 for 5000 meters. His place afforded him a medal at this prestigious event. Also running particularly well on this day for varsity was Nate Holden who placed 49th with a new lifetime best of 16:52. Xavier Zei also ran a new lifetime best with a time of 17:51, strong enough for 141st overall. 

The JV athletes all competed in the “white race” and were led by Isaiah Mendez who had a massive time drop and ran his new lifetime best of 21:36. Isaiah placed 43rd in this strong field. Also having a particularly strong day was Alex Clarksen who was not far off his lifetime best he set earlier this season and ran 25:35. Angel Kilar was even closer to his lifetime best by a mere 3 seconds and placed 365th. Collectively as a JV squad, the team placed 15th out of 33 complete teams.

The girls’ varsity was led by Mady Hefty who led the team to a 29th-place finish overall. She placed 83rd with a time of 20:44. Athena Soto placed 117th in 21:33. Carley Boudreau was just a few seconds off her lifetime best and ran 22:15, placing 164th. Ema Aranda debuted on varsity for the first time and was the team’s 5th runner with a new lifetime best of 24:27, strong enough for 231st place. 

The JV athletes were led by Lucy Troxel who ran a new lifetime best of 25:55 and did so in tremendous fashion by placing 24th, which earned her a medal. Not far behind was Sami Van Daele who also just squeaked inside the medals by placing 29th in 26:11. The JV team placed 20th overall.

Next up for the team will be a race in Platteville on Saturday, September 30th. The first race is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.

RESULTS

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Hefty

The Whippet Volleyball Team honored our seniors at the home match against East Troy on Thursday, September 21. Meg Roselle, Emmanuella Mbifi, Marina Linos, and Aidyn Amundson were honored for their 4 years of volleyball dedication to the program. Giulia Ristagno is also a senior foreign exchange student from Italy.

Each one of the seniors were honored by a speech from their fellow teammates and a personal message from their coach. We wanted to honor them by sharing how much they will be missed:

Aidyn,

Your drive to be the best teammate you can be, even when faced with adversity and injury is inspiring. You lead by example, a true attribute of leadership. You have supported your team to achieve all they can, and given perspective about not taking this great opportunity of playing volleyball for granted. You will be so missed, but we know you are off to do BIG things!

Manny,

You are such a student of the game! You soak in every ounce of information and put it into practice. You give 100%, and lead by your work ethic. You are kind, encouraging, and the best example of a positive teammate. You will be missed!

Marina,

You want more for your team to do well than anything else- the true definition of selfless leader! To watch you encourage your teammates, and push yourself to be better for them, is such an inspiring example for our program. You have stepped up, and led with poise. You should be so proud of all you have accomplished, you will be so missed!

Meg,

Your energy, honesty, and leadership will be so missed! You know what our team needs to be focused, get better, and be there for one another. You set this example every day in team meetings and at practice. You strive to make yourself and those around you better both on and off the court! You will be so missed!

Giulia.

Your smile lights up a room! Our time together has been short, but we are so glad you chose to play volleyball! It still makes me smile when I think of your first time going in the game- Coach looked at you and said you would be going in and you smiled, and then shook your head NO! But, you overcame your fear and went in the game and passed perfectly! Never doubt your abilities!

While we couldn’t pull out a win on Senior Night, that doesn’t diminish how proud we are of each of these seniors. We wish them the best of luck in all they do!

Article and Photo Submitted by Mary Kilar
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
mkilar@wwusd.org

The Whitewater Girls’ Swim Team competed at home against Platteville/Lancaster and Badger on Tuesday, September 19. Our athletes showed up to compete as many obtained personal best times for the season. We also want to note that a majority of the team took on new and challenging events. 

Like her fellow teammates, Makayla Bazeley shows up to compete. In the 200 Freestyle, Makayla placed 1st by over 8 seconds with a time of 2:02.52. And in the 100 Butterfly, she placed 1st with a time of 1:00.17. 

Lucy Davis went 3 of 4 best times in her events. In the 100 Backstroke, Lucy dropped 15 seconds off her time from last year. She continues to get stronger in the 200 IM despite it being one of her least favorite events. 

Emerson Dunham beat out the Platteville/Lancaster swimmer in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:24.56. She had an impressive split in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:05.24.

Georgia Esch competed in the 100 Butterfly for the first time in her swim career. Not only is this a difficult race, but Georgia completed it with an impressive time of 1:47.35.

Sanibel Fox-Simes earned herself a best time in the 100 Freestyle. She continues to gets faster and faster every week in the 100 Freestyle. We are looking forward to what next week has in store for her! 

Charlotte Hajewski sang her heart out in the National Anthem and it was beautiful! She competed in the 100 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. Charlotte earned herself a best time in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 1:24.08.

Maggie Maas went a best time in the 50 (30.01) and 500 (6:41.05) Freestyle. Maggie is very close to earning herself a spot on the Under 30 Club for the 50 Freestyle. We are excited to see her make the list this season! 

Marijose Verduzco continues to take on new and challenging events. She completed in the 500 Freestyle where she earned herself an impressive time of 8:56.04. Marijose had a best time in the 50 Freestyle as well. 

Atreya Wilson competed in the 100 Freestyle where she dropped 11 seconds. She is now the proud owner of a new time of 1:19.08. She continues to swim a strong 100 Breaststroke. 

Zoe Zei willingly took on the 500 Freestyle for the second time this season. Within a week, Zoe dropped 15 seconds in this event. This is impressive to say the least! 

The Swim Team is back in Whippet territory on Tuesday, September 26 against Jefferson/Cambridge. We hope to see you all there!

Article and Photo Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Swim Coach
sreynolds@wwusd.org

​A week which saw Whitewater Soccer decimated by injuries, illness, and other absences ended on a positive note with a 2-0 win over Monroe on Thursday, September 14. Whitewater was able to dominate all aspects of the game and show Monroe very few opportunities to make it a contest. With a goal scored in the first 90 seconds of the first half by Avi Kalra and another beautiful headed goal 38 seconds into the second half by Abdi Calvillo, the Whippets were set on their way to victory. Whitewater will take on their toughest opponents yet when they take on the two leading goal scorers in the state against Big Foot this Thursday.  

Whitewater:

• 2’ Goal by Avi Kalra assisted by Abdi Calvillo
• 40’ Goal by Abdi Calvillo assisted by Emerson Ellenwood
• Casey Schlicher 7 saves

Monroe:

• #3 with 13 saves

Article Submitted by Sam Burns
Whitewater High School Head Boys’ Soccer Coach
dburns@wwusd.org

In the 55th edition of the Angel Invitational on Saturday, September 16, the Whippets didn’t disappoint as they came to compete hard and leave it all out on the course. It was the second race of the week for them and the only time this season when the team will do this race combination. 

On the girls’ side, the varsity team finished 15th out of 33 teams. Mady Hefty cut over a minute off of her time at this race last year and placed 28th with a time of 21:22. The trio of Nola Coburn, Carley Boudreau, and Athena Soto packed it up well throughout the race with Carley emerging as the team’s second runner on this day to place 81st with a time 22:52, Nola in 82nd with a time of 22:54, and Athena ran a gutsy race as she rolled her ankle in the warm up and brought herself to the finish line in 86th with a time of 23:00. Silvia Harris emerged as the team’s fifth runner today by placing 146th with a time of 25:30, followed closely behind by at the line by Isabella Aranda who placed 147th with a time of 25:32. Lauren Buehler rounded out the top 7 varsity athletes by placing 152nd with a time of 26:16.

The JV girls placed 13th out of 33 teams. Freshman Ema Aranda competed in her 2nd race of the year and paced the team by crossing the line as the first Whippet in 50th with a time of 25:09. Sami Van Daele placed 77th with a time of 26:04. Lucy Troxel placed 95th in 26:59. Payton Brautigam ran faster today than she did on Tuesday on a much more difficult course at Parkside to place 117th with a time of 28:06. Hailey Keltesch ran her personal best time of 30:07 to take 163rd. Danielle DePorter placed 159th in 30:28. Mya Graves-Koran finished 163rd in 30:55. 

In the boys’ race, Jack Hefty raised some eyebrows by finishing 3rd overall in a very tough meet. His time of 16:35 is very strong on this course and at this point in the season. Nate Holden and Xavier Zei raced tightly together for much of the race before Nate was able to pull a bit ahead to place 32nd in a time of 17:49. Xavier ran a lifetime best to place 35th in 17:57 on this tough course that features a lot of hills. Miles Nickelsburg crossed the line in 61st in 18:32. Onyx Thompson, Quincy Boudreau, and Andrew O’Toole ran three-wide for much of the race before Onyx unleashed a strong surge near the end of the race to cross the line 121st with a time of 19:43. Quincy came next in 125th in 19:45 and Andrew in 146th with a time of 20:09. The varsity team placed 8th, which is the strongest finish the program has seen in years at this meet. 

The JV boys saw the return of Chad Hein who led the team with a 61st place finish with a time of 21:25. Wyatt Esch wasn’t too far behind in 68th with a time of 21:33. Sterling Truesdale kicked the snot out of his time from Tuesday by stopping the clock in 22:38 in 98th place. Parker Genskow was 107th in 22:37. Marcus Roselle gutted out of a tough day to place 113th in 22:50. Gavin LaFlash and Quinton O’Toole finished together placing 126th and 127th with times of 23:10 and 23:12. Isaiah Mendez placed 137th in 23:21. Sam Nickelsburg and Dante Baker duked it out and finished only .7 away from each other in 182nd and 183rd with a time of 25:07. Luc Pomazak stormed home in 25:24, good for 190th. Alex Clarksen took 204th in 26:19. Angel Kilar competed in his first race of the year with a nice sub-30 effort to place 237th with a time of 29:17. The JV team finished 13th out of 33 schools. 

Whitewater was recognized at the awards ceremony for having attended this invite for 45 years in a row. 

Next up for the Whippets will be the Midwest Invitational in Janesville on Saturday, September 23rd. The first race is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM. 

Full results: https://wisconsinrunner.com/results/2023/2023angelinvite/

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org

Editor’s Note: The following was provided by UW-Whitewater.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team, ranked fourth in the latest D3football.com poll, capped their non-conference slate with a perfect 3-0 record after defeating Mary Hardin-Baylor 17-14 on the road Saturday. The Warhawks had to overcome a lengthy, three-hour delay for the kickoff due to weather. 

The Warhawks never trailed in the contest and sealed the win on Thomas Wojnowski’s late interception – his second game-sealing pick this season. 

UWW set the tone on their first drive of the game. Christian Crump returned the opening kick 17 yards and the Warhawks proceeded to march 73 yards in nine plays for the first score of the contest. Big plays in the drive included a 17-yard Jason Ceniti to Tommy Coates connection, a 20-yard Ceniti to Nolan Hawk completion and a 16-yard scamper from Tamir Thomas. Thomas hit paydirt to cap the drive punching it in from two yards out for the touchdown. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire made it 7-0 Warhawks with the kick. 

That score held until early in the second when the Cru capped an 11-play, 58-yard drive with a quarterback sneak up the middle to knot the game 7-7. 

UW-Whitewater responded in the ensuing drive. Tyler Vasey’s 41-yard kick return gave the Warhawks a short field to work with starting the drive near midfield. Alijah Maher-Parr was tapped for the majority of carries in the drive, rushing off the left side of the line for 12-yards and a first down on the second play. A few plays later, Ceniti found Steven Hein for 15-yards down the middle to the UMHB 27 for another new set of downs. Drake Martin hauled in a 10-yard catch to put UWW on the 17 and five plays later Thomas would cross the goal line again for his second touchdown of the day. The kick made it 14-7 UW-Whitewater and the teams would take that score into halftime. 

On the other side of the break, UMHB tied the game at 14 capping a drive with a 33-yard touchdown strike. 

Once again, UWW had the answer, this time using Isotalo-McGuire’s boot to add to their total as he hit from 46 yards out to give UWW a 17-14 lead. 

The rest of the half saw two UMHB drives ended on fumbles recovered by the Warhawks, a punt and finally Wojnowski’s interception with less than 30 seconds remaining. 

Ceniti was 11-18 for 98 yards in the game. His favorite target was Coates with three catches in the game. UWW stayed true to their tradition of “Pounding the Rock” registering the majority of yardage on the ground. Thomas posted 11 yards with the pair of touchdowns while Maher Parr added 44 yards rushing. 

Defensively, Joey Antonietti led the Warhawks with 13 tackles including two for a loss. Matt Burba registered eight including two for a loss and a sack that pushed the Cru back 13 yards. Roy Panthier forced one of the fumbles and registered the recovery. 

The Warhawks will enjoy a well-deserved week off before returning to the gridiron for Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. The first league game is slated for September 30 at UW-Oshkosh. 

The Whitewater Volleyball team lost to Jefferson in 5 sets (25-18, 24-26, 25-23, 24-26, 10-15) on Thursday, September 14. Coach Mary Kilar stated, “I felt like we came out and played solidly and were in control of the match through the first couple sets. Our defense was solid and we passed well for most of the match. We have to begin to finish teams in 3 or 4 sets, because going to a 5th set to 15 points becomes anyone’s game. I was definitely pleased with our energy and commitment to each other tonight. Unfortunately, when games get tight we still resort to playing with the “not to lose” mentality, versus a “play to win” mentality. That confidence has to develop. As I told them in the huddle, I felt they battled. We just need to work on closing out matches early, and playing with confidence. We look forward to playing everyone in the conference two times, so these tight battles will hopefully fall our way soon. As always this is a team that will get back in the gym and fight hard to get better every contact. That hard work will eventually pay off with some solid wins.”

“I feel we are starting to see some great leadership on both offense and defense. We are definitely a strong defensive team, and our backcourt of Ella Spear, Ava Alvarado, Calli Grosinske, Zoe Kohl, and Falyn Krahn keep us battling in matches. Spear led the team in digs with 23 and tied with a team high 4 aces. Krahn added 12 digs, 7 kills, and 4 aces, and Kohl posted 15 digs and 3 aces. Emmanuella Mbifi and Meg Roselle got their hands on a ton of balls while blocking tonight, each posting 2 blocks a piece. This is exciting to see develop. Marina Linos led with a great team attitude, dishing out 19 assists, 7 digs, 2 blocks, and 3 aces. Calli Grosinske works hard to see open shots and make solid shot selections from both front and back court. She posted another double-double with 16 kills and 20 digs, 2 aces, and 1 block.”

“Tough losses like this can make or break teams, but as I told them tonight there is nothing to hang their heads about. Some calls did not go our way, and some great saves fell short. We need to keep our positive attitude because we are a good team, and if we keep working hard, the wins will come.”

Article Submitted by Mary Kilar
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
mkilar@wwusd.org