Sports

Under sunny skies, the Whippet CC teams competed in the Rock Valley Conference Championships at UW-Whitewater. With the recent rains it made for pretty soft conditions, even muddy in some areas, but a great atmosphere for high level racing.

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The boys’ team shot off the line first and battled their way around the 3.1-mile course. Jack Hefty crossed the line first again for the Whippets as he secured his first all-conference honors as a freshman to seal off 17th place, good enough for a second-team all-conference honor and to bring home a medal. Jack finished his race in 19:37. Cooper Hammond ran a gutsy race and showed tremendous grit as he crossed the line in 26th with a time of 20:16. CJ Tomomitsu finished just outside the top 30 with a 33rd place showing in 20:42. Nate Holden was the team’s fourth runner placing 37th in 20:50. The team’s fifth runner was Miles Nickelsburg, finishing in 54th with a time of 22:09. Ben McCulloch was 61st in 23:10, followed by Andrew Rollette in 66th with a time of 24:40. The varsity team finished in 7th out of 10 schools competing. 

In the JV boys’ race, the team was led by freshman Onyx Thompson, who ran his second-best time of the year on the grueling UWW course to finish in 23:56, good enough for 31st. The boys’ JV team also finished in 7th place.

On the girls’ side, the Whippets were paced by Caelyn Caputo, who finished in 17th place to not only earn her first ever medal at a CC meet but at the same time earned a second-team all-conference honor! Caelyn looks strong and confident in her races, and it was nice for her to finish in an all-conference position after continually making small gains throughout the season. Sophie Walton ran a strong race and was just a few places off her goal of earning all-conference by placing 27th with a time of 25:15. Emma Weigel and Nola Coburn ran stride for stride much of the race and found themselves in 29th and 30th place with times of 25:28 and 25:29. Olive Coburn and Gwen Truesdale came home in 34th and 35th places with times of 25:55 and 26:30. Isabella Aranda rounded out the top 7 varsity runners in 43rd with a time of 28:09. The girls’ team finished in 6th place out of 10 teams. 

In the JV race, the girls featured Jenni Villarreal who battled her way through a combined boys’ and girls’ field to take home the title of JV conference champ! Jenni completed her 5K race in 26:47. Running strong races on the JV team were Sami Van Daele who took 4th, Lucy Troxel in 6th, Evie Troxel in 8th, and Izzy Dieter in 13th. Once the team scores were revealed, the JV girls won their meet with 21 pts versus Brodhead/Juda’s runner up score of 34. What a race by these girls!

The team will now shift their focus to the WIAA Sectional Meet on Saturday, October 23rd, hosted at UW-Parkside. The boys will race at 12:25, and the girls will be at 1:10. #1Family

Full Results: https://my.raceresult.com/183490/

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Bob and Peter Mischka

Whitewater Volleyball traveled to Clinton last night and came home with a 3-0 victory (25-23, 24-14, 25-19). This marked the end of regular season play. Saturday, October 16, the Whippets will compete in the Rock Valley Conference Tournament up in Edgerton, and then they will host Big Foot at 7:00 pm in the first round of WIAA playoffs Tuesday, October 19th.

Stat Leaders against Clinton:
ACES: Cali Kopecky- 5
KILLS: Kindyl Kilar 24
BLOCKS: Jenna Pope and Aidyn Amundson – 1
DIGS: Avery Hintz 10
ASSISTS: Avery Hintz 14

Article submitted by Kathy Bullis
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
kbullis@wwusd.org

Editor’s note: The following information was provided by UW-W.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams begin their first full season in two years this week as they host Illinois Tech for a dual meet at the Williams Center.

The Warhawk men and women competed last spring in an abbreviated 2021 season, facing all four of its Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents in duals spaced out over five weeks.

Head coach Elise Knoche returns for her fourth season at the helm of the two programs.

The Warhawks continue their slate with WIAC duals in November at UW-Oshkosh (Nov. 6), home against UW-La Crosse (Nov. 13) and home against UW-Stevens Point (Nov. 20).

UW-Whitewater closes the calendar year Dec. 3-4 at the Wheaton (Ill.) Invitational.

The New Year begins Jan. 22 with a triangular against Lawrence and Lake Forest (Ill.) at the Williams Center. UW-W visits UW-Eau Claire Jan. 29 to finish out the regular season.

The WIAC Championship is set for Feb. 16-19 at Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, Wis. The NCAA Championship is slated for March 16-19 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Seniors Jaclyn Fohlmeister (Lakemoor, Ill./Wauconda), Abby Thompson (De Pere, Wis./De Pere) and Anna Yeazel (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) look to lead the Warhawk women into 2021-22 on the women’s side.

Yeazel, a fifth-year senior, placed sixth in the 400-yard individual medley and seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2020 WIAC Championship. She is among the top 10 in program history in the 400 IM. Last winter, Yeazel led the team in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and the 400 IM, and owned the top split in the 50-yard breaststroke.

Thompson is a two-time WIAC podium finisher in the 200-yard butterfly, and she placed seventh in the conference in the 400-yard individual medley in 2020. She led the team in the 100-yard butterfly last winter.

Fohlmeister was among the team’s top three in the 50-yard freestyle last season. She was also third in the 50- and 100-yard butterfly.

Makenna Clark (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West), Morgan Nabors (Spring Green, Wis./River Valley) and Leanne Stigler (Beloit, Wis./Muskego) enter their third seasons with the program.

Clark competes primarily in the backstroke and freestyle events. She ranked second on the team in the 100 back in 2021. Nabors led the 2021 Warhawks in the 100-yard freestyle.

Stigler is a five-time WIAC medalist, including runner-up finishes in the 200-yard individual medley and 400-yard medley relay in 2020. She holds top-10 UW-W personal bests in the 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard breaststroke and 200 IM. She finished second to Yeazel in the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke events last winter.

Kayleigh Denruiter (Brantwood, Wis./Phillips), Amanda Harper (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly), Ciara Hynes (Eureka, Mo./Eureka), Gabby Sponseller (Goshen, Ind./Concord), Meadow Warren (Lake Geneva, Wis./Badger) and Brianna Zimdars (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) comprise the team’s sophomore class.

Zimdars held the team’s top split in the 50-yard freestyle and led UW-W in the 200- and 1000-yard freestyle and the 100 and 200-yard backstroke in 2021.

Sponseller posted the team’s best time in the 200-yard individual medley. Hynes recorded the team’s best split in the 50-yard freestyle in 2021.

Harper and Denruiter competed as freestyle sprinters during their rookie campaign in 2021. Harper finished fourth on the team in the 50 free.

Warren recorded three season bests in freestyle events at the team’s final meet of the 2021 season.

Newcomers to the program include Emily Connell (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower), Morgan Galloway (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine), Gianna Gnewuch (Madison, Wis./Verona Area) and Gabby Hayes (New Berlin, Wis./West).

The following UW-Whitewater student-athletes from your coverage area are members of the 2021-22 Warhawk women’s swimming and diving team:

Anna Yeazel of Whitewater (Whitewater High School), a senior majoring in physical education.

Brianna Zimdars of Whitewater (Whitewater High School), a sophomore majoring in general business.

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

Saturday, October 9, 2021

No. 3 Warhawk Football Moves to 5-0 With Home Win

Final Statistics: https://uwwsports.com/documents/2021/10/9/25659.pdf

The No. 3 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team retained the Miner’s Axe rivalry trophy Saturday afternoon with a 65-21 victory against UW-Platteville in the 26th annual George Chryst Memorial Bowl in front of 15,406 fans at Perkins Stadium, the third-highest attendance in the 50-year history of the stadium.

The Warhawks (5-0 overall, 2-0 WIAC) piled up 630 yards of offense, including 296 on the ground and 334 through the air, and led 44-7 at halftime. The team’s 44 first-half points were the most it scored since November of 2018, when it tallied 50 in the first half of a win against Eureka (Ill.) in the NCAA Playoffs.

Max Meylor, who was named UW-W’s Offensive Most Valuable Player of the game, threw for a career-high 313 yards on 22-of-27 passing with four touchdowns. Ryan Wisniewski caught six passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns to lead the receiving corps.

Egon Hein paced the defense with five tackles, and Niko Lemke totaled 2.5 tackles for a loss, including a pair of sacks. Defensive MVP Thomas Wojnowski collected three tackles and a key interception deep in UW-Platteville territory that set up a Warhawk touchdown.

Following a 60-yard return on the opening kickoff by Wisniewski, UW-Whitewater converted a key fourth down on a run by Peete, and Meylor completed the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run around the right side for a 7-0 lead with 10:57 on the clock.

The Warhawks intercepted Colin Schuetz on the next two drives. Jaden Hendrickson posted the first one with 9:46 left in the first quarter, and Wojnowski collected the second at the 7:22 mark, which led to an 18-yard touchdown pass from Meylor to Preston Strasburg with 6:33 left in the first.

UW-Whitewater added to its lead one drive later. After a three-and-out by the Pioneers (1-4, 0-2), Alex Peete ran straight up the middle untouched past the line of scrimmage for a 57-yard touchdown and a 21-0 advantage with 4:25 remaining in the period.

A blocked punt on the ensuing drive by Daniel Baggett went through the back of the end zone for a safety and a 23-0 UW-W lead with 2:21 to play in the quarter.

Meylor hit Wisniewski for his first touchdown of the day on the next drive, a 14-yarder that capped an eight-play, 59-yard drive for a 30-0 lead with 12:46 to go in the second quarter.

UW-Platteville found the end zone on the next drive, the first points allowed in the first half this season by the Warhawk defense, at the 12:32 mark.

With just under four minutes to play in the quarter, Meylor hit Zach Sherman for an eight-yard score to give UW-Whitewater a 37-7 advantage. On the next offensive drive, the Warhawks added to the lead on a 30-yard pass from Meylor to Wisniewski with 14 seconds until halftime.

UW-Whitewater continued to add to its lead in the third quarter as Peete plunged in from one yard out with 6:46 on the clock for a 51-7 lead.

The two teams exchanged touchdowns the rest of the way. Ryn Ponick capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run at the 10:05 mark of the fourth quarter, and Drake Martin accounted for the final margin with 1:14 to go on a 2-yard touchdown run that completed a nine-play, 75-yard drive.

The Warhawks visit No. 9 ranked UW-Oshkosh next Saturday, Oct. 16, at 1 p.m.

Per an article in the Janesville Gazette, “Former Parker standout athlete Ryan Callahan, now the athletic director at UW-Whitewater, had the best of both worlds Thursday night when he served as guest speaker at the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame’s 2020 induction banquet.

The banquet—delayed a year due to COVID-19—saw Mistie McCray Bass, Ron Brown, John Koebler, Joe Shere and Anne Sonka Nagle added to the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame.

The event also gave Callahan a chance to talk about two things he loves: UW-Whitewater athletics and growing up in Janesville.”

To read the rest of the article courtesy of Yahoo News click here.

Whitewater Volleyball defeated Big Foot Thursday, October 7^th, 3-1 by the scores of 25-21, 12-25, 25-19 and 25-18.

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Many players contributed to the team’s success Thursday night. Jenna Pope dominated at the net with 6 total blocks and added 4 kills. Jenna played confidently and was able to shut down Big Foot’s middle attack.

Freshman Calli Grosinske had her best match setting for the year. She did an outstanding job distributing her sets and worked hard to set our middle in transition.

Seniors Nikita Hartzheim and Savannah Hill had breakout games. Nikita came in and served tough, hitting Big Foot’s seams, which kept them out of system. Savannah Hill played her best game to date, having solid contact on the ball when hitting, and helping provide a strong block.

Sophomore Aidyn Amundson had her best game to date, also. She worked really hard to close blocks and be up and available to hit. She is getting more and more confident each time she plays. 

The Whippets have one more conference match on Thursday, October 14, in Clinton. They will close out the regular season at the Rock Valley Conference Tourney in Edgerton on Saturday, October 16th. 

Stat Leaders:
Aces: Kindyl Kilar-3
Kills: Kindyl Kilar-24
Blocks: Jenna Pope-6
Assists: Avery Hintz-16, Calli Grosinske-12
Digs: Kindyl Kilar-23

Article Submitted by Kathy Bullis
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
kbullis@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Bob and Peter Mischka

Finishing their regular season on Saturday, the Whippet XC programs took to a new Invitational at Stoughton HS after another invite was canceled the day before. This meet was loaded with huge schools and just one other school the size of Whitewater. It afforded the kids an opportunity to learn how to scout a new course and put out an effort that they will be able to apply in the championship portion of their season in the coming weeks.

Caelyn Caputo put together another solid race and came through as the team’s top runner on the girls’ side. Despite the heavy race load lately, her times have all been similar on varying terrain, and she looks very confident in her pursuit of the finish line. Sophie Walton, Emma Weigel, and Gwen Truesdale aren’t far behind trading different positions on the team in recent weeks, feeding off each other as one may be feeling stronger in a race than someone else. The Varsity team was incomplete and didn’t have a team place. The JV girls were led by Sami Van Daele who ran her third best time of the year in 27:57. She paced the team to a 10th place finish out of 11 teams.

Jack Hefty ran 17:56 for a leading Whippet effort, followed by veteran Cooper Hammond who ran 18:52. The boys’ varsity team placed 12th out of 15 complete teams. In the JV race, Sterling Truesdale led the team by running his third best time of 25:03. Xavier Zei ran a lifetime best in 26:31, and debuting in a Whippet uniform for the first time was senior Colin Dugan. Colin has been with us since day one and was set to race at the Seibold Alumni meet in August, but the night before the meet he was in tremendous pain which meant a rushed trip to the hospital which called for immediate surgery. This ended up putting him on the shelf for several weeks while he got things put together and healed up nicely. After a few weeks of getting back into the swing of things and the go-ahead from his doctor, Colin cruised his way around the property of Stoughton High School to joyfully cross the line in 26:51! With a little more confidence now on his side and more training coming up, he is eager to run at the conference meet on October 14th. The JV squad finished in 12th out of 12 teams scoring.

Full Results: https://my.raceresult.com/182738/

The team will now retool and sharpen their physical abilities and mental edges over the next week and a half as they prepare to host the Rock Valley Conference Meet on Thursday, October 14^th, on the campus of UW-Whitewater. The first race is set to begin at 4:10. Be there!

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

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

Stats: https://uwwsports.com/documents/2021/10/2/26034.pdf

The No. 3 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team combined an opportunistic offense with a defense that stood its ground in the red zone Saturday afternoon for a 37-6 victory against UW-Stout in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams in front of 8,963 fans at Perkins Stadium.

The Warhawks (4-0 overall, 1-0 WIAC) posted a balanced offensive attack with 165 rushing yards and 193 passing yards, while the defense limited the Blue Devils’ potent offense to one fourth-quarter touchdown.

UW-Whitewater held UW-Stout (3-1, 0-1) to 6-of-18 on third-down conversions and 2-of-6 on fourth down, including three times in UW-W territory.

Max Meylor completed 14-of-17 passes for 193 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Ryan Wisniewski. Alex Peete rushed for 69 yards on 18 carries and scored two touchdowns.

Shane McGrail paced the defense with nine tackles, including 0.5 for a loss. Egon Hein totaled eight tackles, and Mackenzie Balanganayi posted three tackles, including 1.5 for a loss, and four quarterback hurries.

After the Warhawks forced a three-and-out on the opening drive, punctuated by a sack by Balanganayi, the Blue Devils fumbled the punt snap, setting UW-W up at the UW-Stout 3-yard line.

Peete took the handoff on the first play of the drive and crossed the goal line to give UW-Whitewater a 7-0 advantage with 12:46 to play in the first quarter.

The Warhawks increased the lead at the 13:42 mark of the second quarter. A 28-yard pass over the middle from Meylor to Wisniewski capped an eight-play, 78-yard drive, and gave UW-W a 13-0 advantage.

Midway through the period, Balagnanayi and Kyle Gallagher combined for a stop on fourth-and-1 in UW-Whitewater territory. The Warhawks took over on downs, and Meylor connected with Sam DeLany on a 23-yard scoring play between two defenders to make it 20-0 with 4:51 left in the half.

The Warhawks started the second half with a 10-play, 75-yard drive. After a first-down run by Meylor on third-and-3, Peete plunged in from one yard out to make it 27-0 with 9:52 remaning in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils drove to the UW-Whitewater 5-yard line on the ensuing drive, but Thomas Wojnowski batted down a fourth-down pass in the corner of the end zone to give UW-W the ball back.

In the fourth quarter, after another UW-Stout turnover on downs, Meylor capped a five-play, 70-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Wisniewski, who eluded one defender and dove just inside the pile-on to make it 34-0 at the 13:00 mark.

Following a three-and-out by UW-Stout, Dain Hudson returned the punt 49 yards into UW-S territory, and Matt Maldonado kicked a 39-yard field goal with 8:33 to play.

The Blue Devils scored with 6:46 remaining to account for the final margin.

The Warhawks return to action next Saturday, Oct. 9, as they host UW-Platteville during Family Fest at UW-Whitewater. Kickoff at Perkins Stadium is slated for 1 p.m.

The Whippet Cross Country Team headed over to Jefferson on Tuesday to race on Wisconsin’s finest 13-hole golf course. Although coming off a recent race and having some tired legs, this was a great opportunity to see many of the conference schools all on the same course on the same day. Because of the closeness of racing, both teams were not racing at full strength as we have continued to focus on growth and improvement over the course of the regular season, while keeping an eye on running our best at championship time in about two weeks.

Caelyn Caputo had another solid day as the varsity #1 runner and was just one place out from earning her first ever medal at an invitational, placing 16th. She led the girls to a strong 3rd place showing with 94 points behind Jefferson and Evansville with six complete teams scoring.

Jack Hefty mixed it up with some of the lead pack and finished in 8th overall to earn another medal this season. Cooper Hammond also medaled by placing in the top 15 with a 13th place finish. With some runners not racing, the boys finished 9th place out of 11 teams scoring.

The Nightfall Classic has been canceled for Friday; however, the team has been added to the Stoughton Invite on Saturday, and it will be their final race of the regular season. This will take place at Stoughton High School with the first race set to go off at 9:30 a.m. 

Boys Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2021/jeff1cc_21b.pdf
Girls Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2021/jeff1cc_21g.pdf

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