Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the J-Hawk Aquatic Club.
The J-Hawk Aquatic Club would like to thank our sponsors and participants for making a difference in the lives of our youth in Whitewater and surrounding communities. The J-Hawk Aquatic Club (501(c)3) provides both swim lessons and competitive swimming. It is the mission of the J-Hawks to be able to provide this programming to all youth. No child is ever turned away due to financial constraints. For youth on free or reduced lunches in their district, they receive free or reduced lessons or competitive swimming respectively.
By hosting runs such as the Summer Sizzler and a Run Into Fall 10K/5K in October, along with the Earlybird and Latebird Triathlons, we are able to hire instructors and coaches to make this mission possible.
On July 10, 2021, the J-Hawks hosted a 10k Run and 5K Run/Walk. 77 participants took part.
The J-Hawks would like to thank the City of Whitewater, Fairhaven Senior Living, Whitewater Register, Whitewater Banner, sponsors, and those who donated for making a difference.
Murray was picked from four finalists, all of them Paralympians: Sam Bosco, cycling; Oksana Masters, Nordic and cycling; and Leanne Smith, swimming.
“I guess I never took myself to be one of those athletes,” said Murray of other wheelchair basketball athletes who have been ESPY nominees. “So I was super excited to find out I was nominated.”
The ESPY Award is presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously by ESPN, to recognize individual and team athletic achievements and other sports-related performances. Nominees in other sports categories in 2021 included Simone Biles, Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, Naomi Osaka, Phil Mickelson and LaMelo Ball.
After a tumultuous year for sports, catharsis was in the air and a sense of purpose in the speeches at the 2021 ESPYs. Like many nominees, Murray did not travel to the event and instead posted a 19-second video on the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Facebook page thanking her wheelchair basketball “family.”
“Being good at basketball gets your name out there, but I’ve always wanted to be that athlete who brought their teammates along with them,” said Murray, several days after the awards ceremony. “That makes the difference between a good basketball player and a player who is remembered.”
The quiet athlete from Germantown came to UW-Whitewater as a freshman in 2008, already a member of Team USA, which had gold-medaled that September at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. Murray, a special education major, became a cornerstone of a newly established women’s wheelchair basketball team at the university.
The UW-Whitewater men’s wheelchair basketball team had sprung from the university’s mission to serve students with disabilities, established in the 1970s. By the early 2000s, the men’s program was enjoying both national respect and support from the campus and community, propelled first by former Head Coach Tracy Chynoweth. It was time to expand the wheelchair basketball franchise to a women’s team.
What followed was a remarkable team-building effort that resulted in three straight collegiate women’s wheelchair basketball national championships, international competitions and, for Murray, two more Paralympic Games including a gold medal in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro. Through those years, the UW-Whitewater wheelchair basketball program added athletes from the U.S. and around the world, attracted by the reputation of its program, and talent developed in summer camps on campus. By 2014, UW-Whitewater was the national capital of collegiate wheelchair basketball when both the women’s and men’s teams won national titles under Head Coaches Dan Price and Opie Lade, respectively.
“I have tons of role models,” said Murray, laughing when asked to cite only one. “I couldn’t name them all. That Whitewater family is where a lot of that came from. Opie has always been a big influence, like a brother. Tracy Chynoweth is the reason I got to play at Whitewater. He asked me to help start a team. I’m forever grateful to him for starting that women’s team.”
As a player for the Warhawks, Murray was patient, unflappable and as essential to the team as the hub is to a wheel. Her individual statistics confounded one coach, who noticed she posted higher percentages in games, where she had real opponents, than in practices, where she did not. Murray didn’t fold under pressure — she got better. One close friend, another Warhawk athlete, at first felt intimidated by all of that talent, which surprises Murray.
“It is funny when I hear those stories because I don’t see myself as intimidating,” she said. “No one is better than another person. And so I take the time when people approach me and want to talk. And they see I’m just a down-to-earth person.”
Murray, who graduated in 2014, works as a clinical assistant at Rogers Behavioral Health in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. For the 2021 Paralympic Games held in Tokyo Aug. 25-Sept. 5, she plans to take a two-week vacation just to view the live broadcasts of Team USA, which will likely air in the middle of the night, local time.
In the fall she will return to basketball, playing for the Division 1 Milwaukee Bucks men’s wheelchair basketball team and the women’s counterpart, the Lady Bucks. Retired from playing basketball on the world stage, she recently bought a condo in New Berlin to be closer to the Whitewater campus, where both Bucks teams practice at the Roseman Building. The move also brings her closer to Edgerton, where her friends AJ Messmer, a former wheelchair basketball athlete who just succeeded Lade as head coach, and Lydia Messmer, a former teammate and women’s assistant coach, have their home. It would never do to be too far from your family.
“I enjoyed my time at UW-Whitewater and being a part of that wheelchair basketball family,” said Murray. “There was something special about that team. There are always your highs and lows. But we would always pull together, and that would make us stronger.”
The Whitewater State Farm 10u (3rd & 4th grade) baseball team just wrapped up their season on July 16 with an exhilarating 4-3 come from behind win to take the end of the year league tournament championship. Here’s how they got there. Their season started out flat with a disappointing 0-7 loss to Elkhorn AM Towing. A lack of hitting obvious to be the problem in the game with just a few hits. For the rest of the season that would change. With lots of hard work at practice and taking those improvements to the field the Whitewater State Farm team would go on to hit the tar out of the ball outscoring their opponents by a margin of 189 runs scored to 45 allowed! Great hitting was achieved from the top of the order through to bottom. Leading the team with five home runs was Brayden Cutshall, followed by George Christon and Trevor Bucholtz with three apiece. Great pitching by Brayden, George, Trevor, and Liam Egnoski would continue to dominate all season long as well. In 32 innings pitched Brayden Cutshall would strike out 85 of 92 batters faced with 0 runs allowed on the season. All of the games were important, but the game that would ultimately decide the regular season title was a rematch of the first game loss to Elkhorn. Sweet revenge was in order as Whitewater won the game 18-6 and would go on to finish the regular season with a 13-1 record to wrap up the #1 seed.
In the tournament Whitewater would cruise to a 15-0 win against Delavan and a tough game against the other Whitewater team winning 7-2. That game was secured with a diving catch by pitcher Trevor Bucholtz with bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 6th inning. The championship game would be the next day against the Elkhorn Batterman, whom the State Farm team beat 12-2 in the regular season matchup. That high score would not repeat itself in the championship game as both teams pitched well and played great defense. The game would remain scoreless until the top of the 7th inning as Elkhorn struck first. Whitewater would respond with an RBI groundout by Gavin Dammeir. With the scored tied at 1-1, a mishap on defense would allow the Batterman to take a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the 8th the first hitter for Whitewater would reach base on a hit by pitch and advance to second on a wild pitch. The next batter struck out. Two consecutive base hits would score Zach Babcock and put Brayden Cutshall on 2ndbase and Trevor Bucholtz on 3rd. The next batter would pop up and they were down to their last out. With two out and two strikes Gavin Dammeir hit a soft fly ball over the pitcher’s head and dropped in front of Elkhorn’s second baseman. Trevor would easily score the tying run from third. But Brayden never stopped running and powered around third trying to score the winning run, against the third base coach’s wishes. The ball easily beat him at home, but a tremendous slide and a late tag would allow him to be safe at home and win the championship in walk off style. The crowd at Treyton’s Field of Dreams went crazy! What an end to the season.
The team roster: Brayden Cutshall, Gavin Dammeir, Zach Babcock, Sam Brockwell, Trevor Bucholtz, Liam Egnoski, Owen Everett, Miles Morgan, Brady Schilt, Arlo Zotti, and George Christon. Head coached by Eric Cutshall, assistant coaches Corey Schilt and Will Dammeir and lots of help from other parents as well was much appreciated. Thanks again to our sponsorship from Bob Cutshall’s State Farm agency here in Whitewater. 16-1 with a 16 game win streak to win regular season and tournament championships! What a season!
Editor’s note: The author of this article and the photographer are unfortunately unknown to the Banner. We would be happy to update the post if that information is provided. Our thanks to Molly Fuller for the submission.
Our Whippet volleyball team was recognized by the Marines and The American Volleyball Coaches Association for academic excellence this past spring! Super proud of all their hard work in the classroom and on the court!
Team Members were: CC Alexander, Lexi Juoni, Avery Hintz, Amanda Tovar, Kiyla Kopecky, Kindyl Kilar, Emme Bullis, Cora Linos, Caleigh Yang and Cali Kopecky!
Whitewater United FC formerly known as Whitewater Youth Soccer Club (WYSC) would like to invite kids from four years old through the 8th grade to join the 2021-2022 soccer season. Registration is now open until July 31 for Recreational and Select (*If you received an offer letter.) For more information or to register please check out https://www.whitewatersoccer.com/
The Whitewater United FC Soccer Club is the local soccer club for children ages 4 to 14 in the Whitewater area. The club is volunteer-run and season are played in the fall and spring. Our home fields are at Moraine View Park.
Editor’s note: the following information has been supplied by UW-W.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Gymhawks Gymnastics Club has one session remaining for Summer 2021: August 9 – September 2.
The GymHawks Gymnastics program is a developmental gymnastics program run by the UW-Whitewater Gymnastics Team! There are classes for girls and boys, ages 18 months through 18 years. With state of the art facilities and a fully qualified staff, your child will be able to learn and develop his or her skills in a safe environment with excellent coaches.
Pictured are members of the Whitewater Girls’ Softball Team who earned Rock Valley All-Conference honors from the spring softball season. Players holding their awards are: Lexi Juoni (junior) second team-outfield, Cali Kopecky (sophomore) honorable mention, and Shyan Lesperance (freshman) honorable mention.
Cali Kopecky
Lexi Juoni
Shyan Lesperance
Article Submitted by Ron Sdano Whitewater High School Head Softball Coach rsdano@wwusd.org Photos Submitted by Players
It was an exciting two and a half weeks for Whitewater’s Reese Brantmeier at the Wimbledon Junior Championships held at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club.
Before Wimbledon, Reese participated in an International Tennis Federation tournament held at the University of Roehampton in England. This event is at the level of the junior U.S., French, and Australian Open. Reese Brantmeier and her doubles partner, Ashlyn Kreuger from Highland Village, Texas, won the ITF doubles championship with a 6-4,6-2 win over Greece’s Michaela Laki and Serbia’s Lol Radivojec.
At Wimbledon, Reese participated in both singles and doubles competitions. Reese reached the round of 16 in singles before losing in a tough three-set match against the #1 junior player in the world. Reese had advanced farther than any U.S. singles player in the tournament.
Reese had another strong showing in doubles. Her doubles partner at Wimbledon was Elvina Kalieva from Staten Island, New York. They advanced to the Wimbledon semifinals before losing to the eventual doubles champion 3-6, 2-6 Kristina Dmitrok of Belarus, and Diana Shnaider of Russia.
Reese would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragement!
The NCAA’s new rules regarding college athletes’ ability to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL) has knocked down more than a century of tradition and understanding about how college sports work, with the whole enterprise stumbling through the dark to figure out what comes next.
Days before the new rules were instituted on July 1, UW-Madison quarterback Graham Mertz tweeted a video out to his more than 25,000 followers teasing a new personal brand. Just more than a week later, his Twitter account has been mostly promoting his new online apparel store selling Graham Mertz-branded t-shirts and baby onesies.
Mertz, the starting quarterback at one of the biggest football schools in the country, is in the top tier of earning ability in this new era. Estimates say that football and basketball players at powerhouse schools could bring in hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars through endorsements and other deals.
The money isn’t even likely to be limited to the biggest, most popular sports. Olivia Dunne, a gymnast at Louisiana State University, is projected to be one of the highest earning college athletes because of her 1.1 million followers on Instagram and 3.9 million more on TikTok.
But the rules haven’t just changed for starting quarterbacks at schools in power five conferences or gymnasts-turned-influencers. The new NIL rules apply to all three divisions of NCAA sports, meaning athletes at small schools in small towns across the country will need to figure out how this works for them.
The UW-Whitewater football team is a powerhouse. The Division III Warhawks have won six national championships and 36 conference championships. The team has sent a handful of players to the NFL and holds a huge amount of sway locally — tailgates outside Perkins Stadium are a big deal and nearly every bar in the tri-county area where the city of Whitewater is situated has a purple Warhawk flag hanging on the wall.
The players on the Warhawks roster, are still figuring out how a region’s love for its small-town college football power can be translated into newly allowed perks.
One week after the new rules went into effect, Whitewater business owners were skeptical — either taking a wait-and-see approach, completely unaware of the change or dismissing the idea out of hand.
“I’ve not heard any businesses express an interest — yet,” Whitewater Chamber of Commerce Director Kellie Carper says.
Kevin Chung, a professor at the UW-Madison School of Business with an expertise in celebrity endorsements, says it might just take one Whitewater area business to take the leap for others to follow.
“I think it’ll be more word of mouth,” Chung says. “But once one local business gets on board and people see there’s more foot traffic or more people talking about the business, it might catch on.”
The prospect is intriguing to some business owners. Sean Stemper, owner of Rosa’s Pizza on Main Street, says he would just need to figure out the specifics of a deal with an athlete.
“Any business is going to look at it,” he says.
Other, larger businesses that seem more likely to have marketing budgets hadn’t even considered the idea. Management at neither of the two car dealerships in town had thought about working with football players — though they said if it made financial sense they’d do it.
“I’m not ruling it in, not ruling it out,” Kurt Ketterhagen, owner of Ketterhagen Motors, says.
Some businesses that would seem like attractive options for endorsements from young athletes were completely against the idea. The tattoo parlor in town immediately dismissed the possibility of working with football players — even though college football players and tattoo shops have a long history. In 2010 five Ohio State football players were suspended for trading merchandise for free tattoos — a deal that would be allowed under today’s rules.
Cesar Mendoza, owner of local barbershop Underground Cuts Local, says he already cuts the hair of a lot of the football players but isn’t sure if he’d want to do an endorsement deal with them.
For one, he says it might be awkward. If he’s cutting the hair of half the football team and picks one or two to pay for a promotion, will the other guys get jealous?
Plus, is paying a player — or even giving free haircuts in exchange for promotions — even going to boost his business? But, he says, he sees there are pros and cons to the new rules, especially for the biggest players.
“As a small town, it’s harder,” Mendoza says. “There’s a lot of ways to look at it, you just have to figure it out.”
But Mendoza does see a future where Whitewater football players are able to get some perks or make some cash from local businesses. Maybe they wear a local business’ shirt around campus or post on social media.
Even in Whitewater, some of the players have moderately sized Instagram followings. Alex Peete, a running back and 2018 All-American, has nearly 2,100 followers. Nate Custer, the team’s punter, has more than 1,200. So does Derek Kumerow, a senior wide receiver and younger brother of NFL player (and former Warhawk) Jake Kumerow.
Former Warhawk offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round of this year’s NFL draft. Now he has nearly 37,000 followers.
Chung, who has researched the effect a Tiger Woods endorsement has on the sale of Nike golf balls, says there will be opportunities out there, but it will fall to the players to build their followings and then go out to pitch themselves to local businesses.
“I think it’s going to be on the shoulders of the athletes,” Chung says. “They have to do some marketing of themselves — perhaps even using social media to showcase they have this reach to these local businesses and it may actually work. I think there will be opportunities to command some endorsement deals.”
The UW-Whitewater Athletics department did not respond to a request for interviews with administrators or athletes.
Henry Redman Henry Redman is a staff reporter for the Wisconsin Examiner who focuses on covering Wisconsin’s towns and rural areas. He previously covered crime and courts at the Daily Jefferson County Union. A lifelong Midwesterner, he was born in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a degree in journalism in May 2019.
Whitewater Unified School District is having volleyball camps July 26th-28th at the Whitewater High School. Although a registration form is provided below, it is requested that if you are interested in signing up your child, first please contact Kathy Bullis at kbullis@wwusd.org.
