On Tuesday, December 13, the Whippet Boys’ Swim Team competed against Burlington Co-op in their first home meet of the season. Many tried new events, while others swam their go to events and had some best times.

Notable swims from the night include:

• Jack Hefty going best times in the 200 IM with a time of 2:32.35 and 100 Freestyle with a time of 57.88
• David Enns trying out the 200 Freestyle and having a great swim despite breaking his goggles right before his race!
• Tyler Arnett and Cruz Aranda going 1 and 2 in the 200 Freestyle with times of 2:05.39 (Tyler) and 2:14.58 (Cruz)
• Sam Nickelsburg swam a quick 50 Freestyle going a time of 31.10
• Miles Nickelsburg leading off the 200 Freestyle relay, going a best time in 50 Freestyle of 30.48
• Tyler Arnett continues making improvements in the 500 Freestyle going a season best time of 5:32.12.
• Xavier Zei had a great race in the 100 Breaststroke. He dropped 21 seconds from his previous time!

The Boys’ Swim team is up again at home next week Tuesday, December 20, at 5:30 p.m. against Badger Co-op.

Article and Team Photo Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Co-Head Boys’ Swim Coach
sreynolds@wwusd.org
Photos of Tyler Arnett Courtesy of Bob Mischka

The Whitewater Girls’ Basketball team traveled to Monroe for a non-conference game Monday night, December 12. 

Keeping our turnovers low, controlling the tempo of the game, and keeping our intensity up were key in securing the 59-41 win against the Cheesemakers. 

We had great contributions from every player that stepped on the floor. Calli Grosinske led the Whippets with 22 points and had 4 rebounds and 6 steals. Danielle DePorter added 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Katie Gillette scored 7 and ripped down 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Mayte Navejas also scored 7 and had 6 rebounds. 

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

The Varsity Gymnastics Team competed in their second meet of the season at the Janesville Craig Invite on Saturday, December 10th. The girls continue to impress with their personal bests, new skills performed, and eagerness to compete in new rotations.

Halee Peters led the way with a season best on the balance beam with a 7.95. She followed that up with a lifetime best score on the floor with an 8.35 and then a medal worthy performance on vault, taking 5th. In her last rotation, she had a season best score of 7.65 on the uneven bars, which also ties her lifetime best score.

Brooke Bazeley was able to perform her floor and her beam routines for the first time this season. She accepted the challenge with a no fall beam routine picking up where she left off last season! She is excited to add some new skills to both routines for future meets. 

Makayla Bazeley scored close to her season best on the balance beam with a 7.05 and followed that up with a fun to watch floor routine where she did her best 720 pirouette. Her routine on the uneven bars scored her a season best that tied with her lifetime best score of 7.30. She added a double cut catch to her routine and nailed it.

Nola Coburn had a great day on the floor where she had a season best score of 6.65. She went on to have a season best score on the vault with a 7.35 which is getting close to her lifetime best score. 

Stephanie Walters competed for the first time this season on the balance beam, and her score contributed to the team score. It was great to see her trying new skills and hope to add more to her mix in the upcoming meets.

Alexa Wildenberg continues to impress with her floor routine, earning a season best score. She also has been working hard to be able to compete on the vault, and her score contributed to the team score for that rotation!

The girls have a little break in competitions until January 3rd when they have a home meet against Elkhorn. Hope to see you there!

Article and Photos Submitted by Shawnda Peters
Whitewater High School Head Gymnastics Coach
speters@wwusd.org

This week, the Whippet Wrestlers had a busy couple of days being in action on Thursday night, December 8, and again on Saturday, December 10.

On Thursday night, the Whippets traveled to East Troy to participate in a dual meet with Clinton and East Troy, our first two dual meets of the season. The team wrestled very well in both duals coming out on top 60-12 against Clinton and 47-36 against East Troy. Clinton had been down over the years number wise, but the new coach is doing a very nice job getting students out, and they had many competitive matches. The Whippets wrestled well in all the matches to seal wins in many of them. Clinton also provided our JV members with some good matches as well. Whitewater has 44 student-athletes on the team, so it can be difficult getting good matches for all the students. Many had the opportunity on Thursday and performed well.

In the next dual meet against East Troy, it was typical East Troy vs Whitewater fashion. Three of the last four times these two teams have met it has come down to criteria after it finished in a tie. This year could very easily have been the same; however, Whitewater was able to wrestle with grit and win the swing matches. The coaches were proud of the performance of the team after one of their teammates went down with an injury. They did not know what was wrong but were concerned for their teammate. They kept wrestling hard to finish it out. One of the key swing matches came at 126 when CJ Tomomitsu battled back after losing the majority of the match but was able to secure a pin in the 3rd period which created a huge change in events for the dual meet.

On Saturday, the team hosted a 12-team invitational. This year was the most competitive it has been in the 9 years Whitewater has hosted it. There were many very competitive matches throughout the day, and in the end, Burlington won the tournament with Riverdale coming in second place. Whitewater wrestled well during the day and finished in 4th place. The coaching staff was happy with this finish. We were shorthanded in a couple of weight classes to take care of injuries as the focus is the big picture, not a one-day event. 

Unfortunately, the team did not have any finalist this year, but they did have four finish in 3rd place. Jason Villegas, CJ Tomomitsu, Connor Friend, and Payton Lyon all had one loss on the day, but each finished 4-1 to claim 3rd place. Each of the losses were to extremely tough competitors but they all did well in the loss. It is difficult to come back from a loss, but each of them did so to win their last match of the day.

Alongside the boys’ competition there were also brackets set up for the girls to compete in. The women’s wrestling team has some very nice numbers with some new additions in the last week as well. Whitewater had three competing on Saturday. Khloe Meyer has not found success in the win column; however, she is showing much improvement each time she competes. Lauren Buehler wrestled well, pinning her first opponent then losing in the championship in a well wrestled match where she got out of position and took the loss. Lauren finished in 2nd place.

Ashly Xochipa had a great day going 4-0 and bringing home the gold. She pinned all four of her opponents. In one, she was behind in a close match but got a big reversal to the girl’s back for the pin. Ashly improved her record to 9-1 on the year with the wins on Saturday.

Against East Troy and Clinton the ladies also had some very good competition. Coming away with wins for the girls were Lauren Buehler, Stephanie Wence, and Ashly Xochipa who had 3 wins on the night. This was a great performance for the ladies’ team.

Article Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Bob Mischka