WHITEWATER WEATHER

Pair Named Academic All-State for Cross Country

January 9, 2023

The WCCCA (Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association) recently held its annual clinic, and awards were picked up for the Fall 2022 season. This piece of paper certifies that Jack Hefty and Nate Holden have been awarded the individual Academic All-State Award for the 2022 season!

Nate Holden and Jack Hefty

The criteria set is that an athlete must participate in the WIAA State Cross Country Meet and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above. This is Nate’s first award and Jack’s second.

Congratulations, guys!

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

Five Wrestlers Advance to JV Finals in Wausau; Girls Place Second in Tourney

January 8, 2023

It was a very busy day of wrestling at the high school on Saturday, January 7, as the Whippets hosted a 28 team JV tournament with 277 competitors in 16 and 32-person brackets. The top three in each weight class earned a trip to the JV Finals in Wausau in two weeks. Whitewater qualified 5 boys.

  • 1st Place: JJ Gonzalez and Jesus Barajas
  • 2nd Place: Richi Kalra
  • 3rd Place: Curtis Rossmiller and Nate Black
  • Just missing out and being designated as alternates are Keenan Sheffield and Christian Minett.

Full results from the JV Challenge Series event are available at this link.

Our girls traveled to their first Women’s tournament today at Kenosha Bradford to participate in a 12-team tournament. They came in 2nd place as a team!

  • 2nd Place: Lauren Buehler and Ashley Xochipa
  • 3rd Place: Khloe Meyer and Odeling Gonzales 
  • 4th Place: Athena Soto

Awesome job to both our men’s and women’s programs!

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

Varsity Gymnasts Put Up Best Team Event Scores of Season, JV Wins Meet

January 8, 2023

The gymnastics team had their first home meet this season on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. JV competed for the first time and WON!

Emily O’Donnell and Stephanie Walters both competed for the 1st time on Vault. Stephanie Walters and Alexa Wildenberg tied for 3rd with a season best score of 6.7.

We had 3 compete on JV Bars, which hasn’t happened for a while. We are super excited to have JV girls competing in this rotation. Stephanie Walters took 4th, Grace Coleman took 3rd, and Payton Brautigam took 1st with a 4.2.

On Beam rotation, Stephanie Walters took 4th. We had two girls compete on Beam for the 1st time, Grace Coleman who took 3rd and Alexa Wildenberg who took 2nd with her no fall Beam routine.

We had a full roster on Floor with 4 out of 5 girls doing their routines for the first time. It was a 1st time performance for Grace Coleman, Payton Brautigam, Emily O’Donnell, and Stephanie Walters.  Stephanie took 3rd place and Brooke Bazeley took 1st.

Stephanie Walters competed in All-around for the 1st time and scored 17.50, taking 1st place for JV.

On the Varsity side, we had several season bests and lifetime best scores. We love seeing these girls push themselves in practices and continue to improve!

On Vault, Brenda Aguilar scored a season best score of 7.15 while Nola Coburn also scored a season best score of 7.4. Mady Hefty stepped up to the plate and competed in Vault for the 1st time and posted a score of 7.7 to tie with Makayla Bazeley. Halee Peters took 1st place with a score of 8.20. The girls scored their highest team Vault score with 31.0

Mady Hefty took on Bars for the 1st time as well. Halee Peters took 3rd place on Bars. The team again had their highest team Bars score with a 23.9.

Beam proved to be difficult against a very strong Elkhorn performance. However, Makayla and Brooke Bazeley both had season best performances. Both Bazeley girls had no fall Beam routines. The team even had a season best Beam team score!

The girls had a very strong showing on the Floor rotation. Alexa Wildenberg had a season best score of 6.0. Nola Coburn had a season best score of 6.85 – very close to her lifetime best. Mady Hefty also scored a 6.85 in her Floor debut. Makayla Bazeley had a lifetime best of 7.9, while Halee Peters took 1st place with her lifetime best of 8.6. The team score of 30.2 was a season high score and makes it 4 out of 4 season best scores for the varsity team.

In All-around, Makayla Bazeley received a lifetime best of 29.95, while Halee Peters took 2nd with a 31.40.

Come watch the girls in action at their next conference meet at Jefferson High School on Tuesday, January 10. Go crush it, Whippets!

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

Conductor “Doc” Hayes Gifts a Carnegie Hall Baton to “Conductor” AJ Dillon of the Packers

January 7, 2023

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

The Green Bay Packers have enjoyed a four game winning streak, culminating in the New Year’s Day 41-17 blowout against the Vikings. Immediately after his second-half rushing touchdown in the Vikings game, running back AJ Dillon (#28), conducted an “orchestra” in the end zone. The video of the performance may be viewed here.

Dr. Glenn C. Hayes, director of bands at UW-Whitewater, obviously appreciated the performance, as he sent Dillon the following letter, together with a cherished baton that he used in “the most famous music performance site in the world,” Carnegie Hall. Hayes, whom the students affectionately call “Doc,” expressed the hope that the baton will lead Dillon “to the most famous football game in the world,” obviously the Super Bowl. On January 4, Jordan Dajan on cbssports.com wrote, ” I hypothesized last week that Green Bay could be pulling an “anti-Packers” this season, where it disappoints in the regular season and then explodes in the playoffs. Win this week against the Lions, and the Packers are in the dance.” Super Bowl LVII will be played in Glendale, Arizona on February 12. The Packers’ final regular season game is at Lambeau Field, Sunday, January 8 at 7:20 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC, with coverage also on WRNW, Milwaukee, 97.3 FM.

The letter is reproduced below.

Dillon expressed his appreciation to Hayes just two days later with the following tweet, which has had over 1.4 million views.

The exchange has also generated considerable media attention, including the following report on Channel 3000 that features a brief interview with Hayes.

Editor’s note: The photo on the homepage is from AJ Dillon’s Twitter page.

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