Sports

Big Foot beat Whitewater 53-41 in a RVC girls’ basketball crossover game on Tuesday, January 27. Big Foot jumped out to an early 14-2 lead before Whitewater went on a 12-6 run to cut the lead to six towards the end of the first half. Whitewater was able to pull within eight with a few minutes remaining but was not able to get it any closer. Emery Kachel led Whitewater with 23 points while Leah Paulsen led Big Foot with 29.

Whitewater plays at Turner on Friday, January 30.

Article Submitted by Mike Dowden
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
dowmi01@wwusd.org

The Whippet Boys’ Swim Team had a strong showing at the EagleJay Invite on Saturday, January 24th, finishing 3rd overall in a competitive field! The day was filled with personal bests, Top 16 finishes, and great team energy from start to finish.

Top 16 Finishes:

• 200 Medley Relay

A Relay (Hunter Runnoe, David Enns, Wyatt Esch, ChaCha Binagi) – 11th (2:12.16)

• 200 Freestyle:

Cruz Aranda – 1st (1:54.71)

• 50 Freestyle:

Mateo Bazeley – 3rd (23.54)

Caleb Kluck – 9th (25.72)

Wyatt Esch – 10th (25.78)

• 100 Butterfly:

Langdon Coburn – 2nd (56.87)

Wyatt Esch – 11th (1:11.37)

• 100 Freestyle:

Cruz Aranda – 1st (51.31)

Mateo Bazeley – 2nd (52.24)

David Enns – 15th (1:03.53)

• 500 Freestyle:

Angel Kilar – 11th (8:03.72)

Cooper Housel – 12th (8:06.48)

• 200 Freestyle Relay:

A Relay (Cruz Aranda, Langdon Coburn, Caleb Kluck, Mateo Bazeley) – 2nd (1:35.76)

B Relay (David Enns, ChaCha Binagi, Hunter Runnoe, Wyatt Esch) – 10th (1:53.22)

• 100 Backstroke:

Langdon Coburn – 4th (1:03.37)

Ian Agen – 16th (1:47.43)

• 100 Breaststroke:

Caleb Kluck – 9th (1:19.77)

David Enns – 1:23.21

• 400 Freestyle Relay:

A Relay (Cruz Aranda, Mateo Bazeley, Caleb Kluck, Langdon Coburn) – 3rd (3:37.87)

B Relay (Cooper Housel, Angel Kilar, Ian Agen, Carson Miller) – 12th (5:16.81)

Other Highlights:

• ChaCha Binagi dropped 9 seconds in the 200 Free (3:06.27) and 2 seconds in the 100 Free (1:10.79).

• Carson Miller had a massive day, dropping 28 seconds in the 100 Free (1:20.88) and 6 seconds in the 100 Breaststroke (1:37.17).

• Cooper Housel dropped 5 seconds in his 100 Free leading off the 400 Free Relay.

• Hunter Runnoe dropped 2 seconds in the 100 Free, finishing with a time of 1:08.51.

The Whippets are back in action Tuesday, January 27th, as they travel to Edgerton High School to take on Edgerton/Evansville in their final dual meet of the season. Swimming starts at 5:30 PM — come out and support the team!

Article and Photos Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Head Swim Coach
ReynoldsSM07@uww.edu

The Whitewater Girls’ Wrestling team followed up their Janesville Craig Invite title with a busy week of wrestling the week of January 19th. 

On Tuesday, January 20, the girls traveled to Edgerton to compete in two dual meets against the Tiders of Edgerton and the Trojans of Beloit Turner. The girls wrestled extremely well dropping only one match on the evening. This loss was a rematch for the girls from a previous loss by pin. This was a tough battle with De Porter winning at one point 12-9 but coming up short in the end.

The ladies opened the night with a 66-0 victory over a very short-handed Edgerton team The team then followed with a 56-12 victory over Beloit Turner.

Wednesday night, January 21, the team hosted their only dual meet at home against Madison Memorial and Big Foot in which our Seniors (Isabelle Cantu, Silvia Harris, and Atreya Wilson) were honored as well as parents recognized for their support of our students.

The girls wrestled extremely well on the evening with an opening dual meet victory over Madison Memorial 48-21. A big turning point was a victory by Aubrey Fuoco (145) who was able to wrestle through a scramble position and put her girl on her back for the pin. 

In the closing dual of the night the Lady Whippets came out victorious against the Lady Chiefs of Big Foot 42-19.  Coming up with the big pin for the Whippets was Emma Maas (114) with her first period pin, running her pinning combination extremely well in the victory. Also with a big pin on the night in the nightcap dual was Storm De Porter (132) pinning her opponent early in the first period. Likely the most exciting match of the night belonged to Atreya Wilson (138). There was a lot of action in this match with both ladies going with big moves. Unfortunately, Atreya dropped the match 13-17. 

The victories this week pushed the Whippets’ Team record to 4-0 on the season.

The girls are next in action with three dual meets on Tuesday night, January 27, at Beloit Turner. They will wrestle Beloit Turner, Janesville Craig, and Jefferson. These should all be very good dual meets for all the teams involved! Wrestling begins at Beloit Turner High School at 5:00 pm Tuesday night.

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

The past week was a busy one for the Whippet Boys’ Wrestling Team. On Tuesday, January 20, the team traveled to Edgerton to compete against Edgerton and Beloit Turner, coming away with two dual meet victories over the Tiders and Trojans.

Thursday, January 22, the team then traveled to Janesville Craig to have a dual meet with the Cougars. Both the JV and Varsity teams wrestled very well. The JV team won 58-12 with some very nice wrestling by all competitors. The varsity came up big with some big wins from Esteban Lopez-Villanueva at 126 and Cristian Aranda at 157 pounds. Villanueva showed much improvement and was able to wrestle tough in the closing period to secure a big victory for the Whippets. Aranda showed a no give up attitude in his victory. He was losing in the second period and found himself in a scramble on the edge of the mat. He kept wrestling through positions and was able to put his opponent to his back for a big pin. This win put the dual meet out of reach for the Cougars giving the Whippets their 7th dual meet victory on the season. They extended their record to 7-3 with one dual meet left on their regular season schedule. 

Saturday, January 24, the team braved the cold and traveled to Monroe to participate in the Monroe Invitational. This was an extremely competitive tournament and was made even more competitive when some teams were added after cancelations of tournaments on Friday night. The boys wrestled tough and although WHS had nobody in the finals, they did have many competing in the final round. Gabe Crane (132) and Deavion Olson (Hwt) led the way with 3rd place finishes in two very close matches in the bronze medal victory. Also coming home with a medal for the Whippets were George Christon (106) bringing home fourth place and Austin Retzlaff (215) coming home with a 5th place finish, going 4-1 on the day.

Tuesday, January 27, the team will travel to Belleville to compete in their final dual meet of the regular season.

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

The Whippets took care of business against Beloit Memorial, picking up a 108–49 victory and winning 9 of the 11 events Tuesday night, January 20!

Meet Highlights:

• 200 Freestyle

Wyatt Esch won his heat with a time of 2:18.68. Sam Nickelsburg dropped 8 seconds for a best time of 2:20.07, and Hunter Runnoe had a massive 55-second time drop going 2:44.15.

• 200 IM

Langdon Coburn won the event with a time of 2:21.84. Caleb Kluck gave the 200 IM a try for the first time, posting a solid 2:45.88, while Ian Agen dropped 6 seconds off his previous time.

• 50 Freestyle

In the JV heat, ChaCha Binagi won with a blazing 30.41, and Cooper Housel dropped 2 seconds to go 32.84.

In the varsity heat, Mateo Bazeley won the event with a lifetime best 23.28, jumping from 9th to 6th on the Whippet Top 10 list.

• 100 Fly

Sam Nickelsburg won his heat swimming right on his best time at 1:10.50. Angel Kilar also had a strong swim, posting a new best time.

• 100 Freestyle

Langdon Coburn hit a lifetime best with a 54.58, and Hunter Runnoe followed with a best time of 1:11.10.

• 500 Freestyle

Mateo Bazeley won the event in his first-ever 500, clocking a 5:46.69. David Enns dropped nearly a full minute for a lifetime best of 7:36.69, and ChaCha Binagi also put together a solid swim in his first 500 of the season.

• 100 Backstroke

Wyatt Esch dropped 2 seconds, finishing with a time of 1:13.68.

• 100 Breaststroke

Caleb Kluck posted a lifetime best 1:20.59, dropping 6 seconds off his previous time.

The Whippets were back in action tonight, Thursday, January 22 as they traveled to Badger High School to take on Badger and Platteville/Lancaster.

Article and Photo Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Head Swim Coach
ReynoldsSM07@uww.edu

On Saturday, January 17, the Whitewater Girls’ Wrestling Team boarded the bus and traveled to Janesville Craig High School to participate in their first annual girls’ wrestling invite. The Whippet girls performed very well with many great performances throughout the day. When the dust had settled the ladies found themselves on top of the podium as a team, outdistancing Verona by 22 points to bring home the team gold.

Leading the way for the ladies was Kora Davis (120) who had a great gut wrenching match in her semi-final coming out with the 8-6 victory to reach the championship. In the championship round Kora had a tough match against her opponent but came up short. This was Kora’s highest placement for her this being her first season of wrestling. 

Madi Kubicz (185) also had a great semi-final match against her opponent, getting the 1-0 victory. In the championship, much of the match was wrestled in the neutral position with Madi providing much of the action, but Madi was unable to completely finish and ended up falling and bringing home the silver.

Also reaching the podium and bringing home the bronze were Isabelle Cantu (100) and Storm De Porter (126). Isabelle lost a tough semi-final ending up on the short end of a scramble. The girl she lost to went on to win the gold in a similar match, coming out on top in a scramble. Other than the one defeat, Isabelle had a really good day, securing three pins during the day.

Storm had a very nice day showing lots of aggression on her feet and wrestling tough on top. She had a very strong opponent in the semi-finals from Monroe, coming up short for the finals. She battled back strong, coming up with two more wins, both by very strong pins.

Other placements on the day included Ema Aranda (107), Katie Rojas-Reyes (132), Atreya Wilson (138), Burma Vubumu (145), Aubrey Fuoco (145), Saray Villegas (152), Payton Taylor (165) and Silvia Harris (120). Silvia had a very good day coming away with three pins and finishing in 5th place. In her 5th place match Silvia was down 9-3 in the 3rd period and was able to come away with the pin.

The girls are in action on Wednesday night, January 21, when they host Madison Memorial and Big Foot. This will be Senior Night and Parents’ night starting at 6:00.

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

Clinton beat Whitewater 69-40 in RVC Girls’ Basketball action Friday night, January 16. After the game was tied 8-8, Clinton went on a 14-3 and then never looked back. Whitewater plays again on Thursday at Brodhead.

Information Provided by Mike Dowden
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
dowmi01@wwusd.org

The Whippet Wrestlers hosted quite an exciting dual Tuesday night, January 14, hosting Jefferson. There was a full house and lots of excitement and yelling in the stands. Coach Schimming stated, it’s “always fun to be a part of a good dual meet.”

The dual came down to the last match of the night, which is always the one people remember, however a lot of things happen in the previous 13 so we never say it was the last match; it was a culmination. When the excitement and the yelling came to a climax our Whippet boys ended up on the short end, so the Whippets will have a share of the Valley Conference Title. Please congratulate the wrestlers when you see them. It hurt last night but, “We don’t lose, we Learn.”

On Wednesday, January 21 our girls’ team will take the mat and have two duals, Madison Memorial and Big Foot. Come on out and support the girls’ wrestling team with matches starting at 6.

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