Sports

The Whitewater Girls’ Basketball Team traveled to Big Foot High School to play a conference game on Thursday, January 20. 

The Whippets fought back to earn the win against Big Foot. At half, we were trailing by 5, 22-27. In the second half, Big Foot scored two within the first couple minutes, putting us down 22-29. We fought back, going on a 9-0 scoring run, putting us up 31-29. The Whippets held on to the lead the rest of the game, finishing with a win, 38-48. 

Gwen Truesdale led the Whippets with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists, followed by Danielle DePorter with 13 points, 1 assist, and 2 rebounds. Kindyl Kilar added 9 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals, and 3 assists. Freshman Calli Grosinske had her Varsity breakout game with 6 points, 5 steals, 1 assist, and 1 rebound. 

Article Submitted by Kristen Lippens
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
klippens@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Bob and Peter Mischka

The Whitewater Girls Basketball Team played a non-conference game against Elkhorn at home on Tuesday, January 18. We were matched up well with the Elks creating another exciting, close game. At half the Whippets trailed 20-23.

The second half was just as close as the first, but the Whippets came up short losing 50-58.

Kindyl Kilar led the Whippets with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Gwen Truesdale scored 9 points and had 4 rebounds. Danielle DePorter had eight points. Mayte Navejas scored 6 and had 4 rebounds. Jenna Pope scored 4 points and ripped down 11 rebounds.

The Whippets will travel to Big Foot on Thursday, January 20.

Article Submitted by Kristen Lippens
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
klippens@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Bob Mischka

On Friday night, January 14, the Whippet Wrestling Team traveled to Edgerton to participate in the Rock Valley Conference Duals. This is the first year the conference has held this event on a Friday night, and although it was a late night with the five rounds of duals, it gave the teams an opportunity to have their Saturday off. This event has each of the teams competing against either four or five other teams in the conference depending on the random draw of scheduling in the Spring. For the first time since this event started taking place, Whitewater had the opportunity to have a bye as they only competed in four duals.

The night started off rough for the Whippets, dropping a dual meet to Evansville who is ranked third in the state for Division 2. The only ones to win matches in the dual for Whitewater were the DePorter brothers, Mason and Marcus. Dropping a heart breaker in this dual was Aaron Porras.

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The team knew they had to regroup quickly if they wanted to close out the evening successfully. They wrestled very well against Brodhead, defeating them 46-24, with some very well wrestled matches by the team.

Next up for Whitewater was a dual we always look forward to, as over the last several years it has always been very close. This is what makes the duals in a gym with other duals disappointing, as Coach Holle of East Troy as well as Coach Schimming of Whitewater would much rather compete on a Thursday or Friday night in our gym for our fans. Once again, this year did not disappoint in excitement. Whitewater needed a pin in the last match in order to secure a tie in the dual, which Jarvis Porcaro did! The tiebreaker proved how close the dual meet was as it came down to the 7th tiebreaker, most first points scored, which Whitewater won 13-10 in the 12 matches contested. This gave Whitewater the 40-39 victory.

The night cap saw Whitewater defeat Big Foot 57-15 in a well wrestled contest. This was truly a nightcap, as the dual was the last one still going at 11:00 when it ended.

The coaching staff is happy with how the team performed after a pretty good beating to start the night, and they did not run with their tails between their legs. As a team, the Whippets stand at 6-1 in the Rock Valley Conference.

On the night, Mason and Marcus DePorter were 4-0, while Jarvis Porcaro, Aaron Porras, and Carter Friend finished the evening 3-1. 

The Whippets are next in action on Saturday, when the Varsity travels to the Monroe Invitational. The JV has six students traveling to Wausau to participate in the WWCA JV Challenge Series finals. These are Traysen Thomason, Ashly Xochipa, Sebastian Cuellar, Yovanni Rojas-Reyes, Hector Arnodo, and Armando Villarreal. 

Article and Photos Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org

The Whitewater High School Boys’ Basketball Team struggled offensively as they lost to Evansville 59-40, on Thursday, January 13th. It was cold outside that night, but it seemed even colder inside for the Whippets as they only shot 12 for 46 (26%) from the field. In addition to losing the game, Whitewater also lost 2nd leading scorer, Jake Hintz, for the season as he was injured driving for a layup only four minutes into the game. After his injury, Evansville went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-4 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.  Although the Whippets played one of their better defensive games of the season, their shooting woes frustrated any comeback attempts. 

Whitewater was led by Wyatt Nickels with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ramon Wence had his best all-around game of the season with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Jon Aron also scored 11 points.

Whitewater’s next game is Tuesday, January 18, at home against Beloit Turner.

Article Submitted by Dwayne Lange
Photo Courtesy of Peter Mischka

The gym was buzzing and full of energy when the Whippet Girls’ Basketball Team hosted Youth Night for a conference game at home against McFarland Friday, January 14. The amazing collaboration of our district bands for the Pepapalooza event added to the buzz.  

The Whippets fed off the energy in the gym, coming out strong, and keeping the Spartans within reach, ending the first half down 11 points, 28-39. Maintaining the intensity, Whitewater narrowed the score to within 8 in the second half. The Spartans went on a 16 point scoring run with the Whippets stuck at 38, creating a deficit the Whippets were unable to recover from, losing 44-80.  

Gwen Truesdale led the Whippets with 14 points, followed by Danielle DePorter with 10, Kindyl Kilar with 7, and Jenna Pope with 6.  

The Whippets will take on Elkhorn next week Tuesday, January 18, at home. 

Article Submitted by Kristen Lippens
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
klippens@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Bob and Peter Mischka

The Boys’ Swim Team traveled to Burlington on Tuesday, January 11th, to compete in a Triangular against Burlington and Edgerton/Evansville

Some highlights of the meet are:

• Tyler Arnett took on the 200 IM for the first time this season and had a nice swim, going a 2:33.21.
• Jack Hefty competed in new race this season, taking on the 100 Fly, going a 1:13.61
• Zach Tomomitsu had a nice 50 Free time, going a 37.27.
• Andrew O’Toole has made significant improvement in the 200 Freestyle since his very first meet, dropping nearly 30 seconds!
• Casey Schilling and Miles Nickelsburg continue to drop time in the 100 Backstroke, both going season best times.
• Jack Hefty improves his time in 100 Breaststroke, going a 1:26.23.
• Casey Schilling had a nice 50 Freestyle Relay split, even after his goggles fell off.

The Whippet Swimmers will be back in action on Tuesday, January 25th, for their last conference dual meet against Badger, at home, starting at 5:30 p.m.

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

Freshman Jack Hefty received his first academic all-state award this week after the WCCCA (Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association) clinic was hosted in Brookfield. Jack had a stellar freshman season that included a second team all-conference honor as well as racing his best race of the season at the WIAA Sectional Meet to earn a trip to the WIAA State CC Meet this past fall. Jack adds his name to the long list of Whippet Cross Country Student-Athletes that perform at a high level in the classroom.

The criteria to earn this award from the WCCCA is to have raced in the state meet and have a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Congratulations, Jack!

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

The Whitewater Gymnastics Team had a fantastic meet Tuesday night, January 11, against Jefferson/Cambridge. Many season best scores and some career best scores were mixed in as well. 

Congratulations to our first-time competitors, JV team members Estefany Reyes-Saldana and Jackie Franco, as they learned routines and competed on beam. Not only was this Myialynn Cobbs’ first-time competing Vault – she competed on the Varsity team!  Another one that stepped up and competed Varsity Floor for the first time was Brooke Bazeley, who scored a season best (as well as a career best on her beam routine). It has been so awesome to see these girls step up and be versatile enough to jump in wherever needed.

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Our best round of the night was on Beam, where 8 out of 10 girls had season best scores, and 4 girls had no fall beam routines! JV scored their highest season team score on Beam with their full roster and strong performances. Coming in a close second was the Floor round, where 7 out of 10 girls scored their highest this season. Varsity and JV both had their highest season team scores on Floor, while Varsity had their highest season team score on bars as well! This goes to show how much work these girls are putting in daily.

Maritza Vidales and Estefany Reyes-Saldana both had season best scores on their Floor routines, and we are seeing them becoming more confident.

It was fun to see Brooklyn Griswold nail her back tuck in her Floor routine (another first), which earned her a season best score. The smile on her face when she landed said it all.

Nola Coburn had an amazing night, scoring season bests on Bars, Beam (no falls), and Floor, and improved her All-Around by 2 points! She has been working hard to add in a squat on in her Bars routine and performed it last night for the first time with a fly away off the high bar. 

Makayla Bazeley proved to be another strong competitor with her solid performances last night as she scored personal bests on Bars, Beam (no falls), and Floor, and improved her All-Around score by over a whole point! Makayla has been working diligently to be able to add in a cut catch on bars and performed it almost flawlessly last night for the first time. 

Halee Peters continues to be a force to be reckoned with as she took first in all 4 events as well as All- Around!

You can catch the girls in action again on January 22 as they travel to Southwestern High School for another invitational. I guarantee these girls are going to be spicing up their routines even more! 

Article Submitted by Shawnda Peters
Whitewater High School Head Gymnastics Coach
speters@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Bob Mischka

Chris Lindeke, Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Stats: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/uwwsports.com/documents/2022/1/12/1968297.pdf

The No. 8 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team remained unbeaten in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Wednesday night with a 62-53 victory at UW-Platteville.

The Warhawks (14-1 overall, 5-0 WIAC) broke open a tie game through three quarters with a 19-10 advantage in the fourth quarter, including an 11-2 run to end the contest. UW-W held the Pioneers to 39.6 percent shooting, including 30.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and forced 21 turnovers.

Aleah Grundahl led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Rebekah Schumacher tallied eight points, four rebounds and two steals, while Abby Belschner collected eight points, three rebounds and two blocks. Kacie Carollo scored seven points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

UW-Whitewater held advantages in points off turnovers (16-7) and made free throws (15-10) to overcome 35.6 percent shooting from the floor.

UW-Platteville (9-5, 2-2) hit three 3-pointers and shot 50 percent in the opening quarter, holding a 19-14 lead at the 2:56 mark. Johanna Taylor and Grundahl converted back-to-back layups to cut the UW-W deficit to one by the end of the period.

The Pioneers continued to lead in the second before the Warhawks ran off eight straight points for a 28-24 advantage following Carollo’s layup with 5:52 on the clock. UW-W held UW-P scoreless for more than six minutes in the quarter and held a 30-28 lead by halftime.

Neither team led by more than two in the third as the two teams traded baskets. The quarter included six ties and four lead changes, and the game was tied at 43-43 entering the fourth.

UW-Platteville led by four just over three minutes into the fourth quarter before UW-Whitewater’s 6-0 run, including three points each from Grundahl and Schumacher, made it 51-49 just past the midway point of the frame.

The Pioneers tied the game at 51-51 and, one minute later, Yssa Sto. Domingo gave the Warhawks the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 3:42 remaining.

Sto. Domingo drew a charge with 1:43 left, and UW-W scored the next five points to put the game out of reach. Maggie Trautsch knocked down four free throws over the final 40 seconds of regulation.

UW-Whitewater hosts UW-River Falls this Saturday at 3 p.m. on Alumni Day inside Kachel Gymnasium.

After rolling over Delavan-Darien on Friday night, January 7, by the lopsided score of 64-34, the Whitewater Whippets played a home conference game against Clinton on Tuesday, January 11.

Gwen Truesdale and Kindyl Kilar had strong offensive games on Tuesday, both scoring 16 points. Clinton shot extremely well from outside, scoring 45 of their 84 points from 3-point range. The Whippets came up short losing 46-84.

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Article Submitted by Kristen Lippens
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
klippens@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Bob and Peter Mischka