By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men’s and women’s cross country teams won the annual Tom Hoffman Invitational in Whitewater Saturday morning. Warhawk runners swept the top three places in both races.
The women’s race featured six teams and 74 runners while the men’s race was comprised of eight teams and included 122 runners.
The women were the first to take to the course Saturday morning. Ari De La Cerda led the way and was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 23:16.7. Payton Scoggin finished just two seconds later, and Katie Erb secured third with a time of 23:52.2. Renee Forystek, Ella Hansen and Marlee Nichols added top 10 finishes for UWW. Forystek registered a time of 24:2.6 for sixth while Hansen came in eighth with a time of 24:32.4. Nichols was 10th with a clocking of 25:02.6.
Four Warhawk runners claimed 11th-15th with Carleen Snow (25:08.7) taking 11th and Brinley Everson (25:17.9), Abbey Wedwick (25:21.8) and Miranda McNally (25:35.0) sweeping 13-15th.
Also competing for UW-Whitewater Saturday were Nicole Brown (25:47.1), Jocelyn Ramirez (26:01.0), Jeana Roscoe (26:10.6), Abby Motz (26:41.6), Kaitlyn Burke (27:22.6), Kayla Fogarty (27:37.5), Bella Delgado (29:04.3) and Mollie Bennett (29:11.2).
Gunner Schlender, Christian Patzka and Dan Anderson paced the Warhawk men. They swept the top three places and finished within two seconds of Schlender’s top time of 25:44.5. Chris Allen, Alex Metko and Tucker Johnson claimed 7-8-9th with times of 26:27.0, 26:27.4 and 26:29.4 respectively.
Connor Murphy added an 11th-place finish with a clocking of 26:34.9 while Brandon Gang came in 15th with a time of 27:04.4.
Also competing for the UWW men were Landen Bratt (27:08.2), Tommy Conklin (27:09.8), Johnah Block (27:18.4), Bryce Faith (27:24.4), Matt Andreano (27:28.7), Kody Wassman (27:54.9), Nick Wendl (27:56.7), Ryan Van Dam (28:12.4), Adrian Ahuatl (28:14.3), Aiden Johnson (28:22.1), James Belus (28:44.8), Will MacCudden (29:03.4), Brandon Massman (29:03.5), Andrew Beyer (29:29.4) and Jordan Loferski (30:16.4).
By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
St. Louis, Mo. — The No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s volleyball team swept No. 15 Gustavus Adolphus College 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 26-24) at the Bear Invite hosted by Washington University in St. Louis Saturday. The Warhawks are now 12-1 on the season.
UWW rolled through the first two sets hammering down 13 and 17 kills respectively. Meanwhile the defense held the Gusties to a negative attack percentage in the first set and limited GAC to 10 kills in set two. UW-Whitewater mounted a comeback late in the third to secure the match.
After UW-Whitewater dominated the first two sets, GAC came back to grab and hold the lead for the majority of set three. The Gusties led by five, 21-16, when an attack error made it 21-17. GAC responded with back-to-back points to push the gap to 23-17. Following a Payton Kuepers kill, the Gusties forced set point with a kill of their own to make it 24-18.
From there, the Warhawks rattled off the next eight points to take the match. An Abbie Dix kill gave UWW the serve as Ally Longden headed back to the service line. A pair of GAC miscues pulled UWW to within three. Longden registered an ace and Aubrie Krzus and Dix cut the margin to one, 24-23, with a block. Jenna Weinfurt capped the match with three consecutive kills to seal the victory.
Weinfurt was the only player to tally double digit kills with 16. She added a solo and five assist blocks and seven digs in the contest.
Krzus dished out 31 assists adding five kills in six attempts and a pair of aces on the day.
Defensively, Dix posted five assist blocks while fellow middle Hannah Proctor registered a solo and three assisted. Jaedynn Evans led all players with 26 digs.
UW-Whitewater continues their tough stretch against ranked opponents next weekend at the Transylvania Invitational. The Warhawks will take on No. 4 Hope College and #24 Transylvania in a pair of matches in Kentucky.
By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information
The No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team suffered its first loss of the 2024 campaign Saturday at Perkins Stadium. Despite stellar special teams play, the Warhawks fell to [unranked] Mary Hardin-Baylor 35-17.
Defense and special teams dominated Saturday at the Perk with more scoring coming from those two facets of the game than from either offense.
The first two scores of the game went to the Crusaders courtesy of pick-6s. The first came on UW-Whitewater’s first drive of the game as Durand Hill jumped a passing lane at the Warhawks’ 18 and went the distance. UWW’s second drive ended with a 32-yard interception return for touchdown.
Following a three-and-out for the Warhawks, the UWW defense stepped up with a big play causing a turnover. On the third play of UMHB’s next drive, Bryson Clarson forced a fumble from the Cru’s quarterback and Luke Hagedorn jumped on the loose ball to bring the Warhawk offense back onto the field at the UMHB 30. Despite the good field position, a Warhawk miscue led to another fumble that was recovered by the Crusaders at their own 20. That turnover led to an offensive score on a 30-yard touchdown pass and an early 21-0 UMHB lead.
The second quarter featured scores from both squads and more turnovers. Deven Magli intercepted a UMHB pass on third-and-six at the Warhawks’ 35 early in the quarter. The next big play would come from UW-Whitewater’s special teams unit. After forcing a punt on fourth-and-14 at the Cru’s own 16, Karsten Libby was able to get into the backfield and block the punt back to the end zone. Eli Hoelke pounced on the ball in the end zone for the special teams score. Jackson Fox hit the extra point to get the Warhawks on the board, 21-7.
Nearing the two-minute warning of the first half, the Warhawks forced another turnover – this time it was Matt Burba that knocked the ball loose and Jaden Hendrickson was credited with the recovery at the UWW 45.
The Crusaders got the ball back on a controversial call. Jackson Chryst attempted a short pass to the right side of the line and receiver Brian Wilterdink was hit as the ball reached him. The officials signaled for a catch and fumble with UMHB recovering at their own 40. That led to a touchdown for Mary Hardin-Baylor and a 28-7 advantage at the break.
The Warhawks seemed to get some momentum early in the second half after scoring on their first drive of the third quarter. Chryst found Wilterdink on a deep ball down the middle for a 43-yard gain down to the UMHB 21 on the second play of the drive. Brian Stanton gave UWW first-and-goal from the 10 on an 11-yard rush, but the drive stalled in the red zone. Fox drilled the 21-yard field goal to make the score 28-10.
UW-Whitewater’s special teams unit continued to try and spark the Warhawks with big plays. The defense forced another three-and-out and Libby got to the punter once again to give UWW great field position at the UMHB 42, but the Cru defense stiffened and kept the Warhawks off of the board.
On UMHB’s next drive, the Cru running back bounced a rush outside and bolted up the sideline for a 96-yard touchdown and a 35-10 lead.
The special teams unit for UW-Whitewater wasn’t done yet. This time it was Nic Hall getting to the UMHB punter for the block. Patrick Lippe notched the scoop-and-score picking the ball up at the UMHB 14 with a clear path to the end zone. Fox made it 35-17 with the point after and the final score of the contest.
Chryst was 20-33 for 236 yards. Stanton led the Warhawks in the ground game with 59 yards on 17 attempts. Tyler Vasey took a couple of direct snaps and bolted through the line for 32 rushing yards. He added three catches for 40 yards.
Blake Haggerty was the favorite target on the day with six receptions for 78 yards while Wilterdink posted 51 yards on three catches.
Defensively, Kyle Koelblinger led UWW with nine tackles including six solo and a tackle for a loss of four yards.
The Warhawks will rest up with a bye week before returning to the gridiron on Saturday, October 5. UW-Whitewater will host UW-Oshkosh for the annual Family Fest game presented by PremierBank at 1 p.m.
The Whippet Girls’ tennis team traveled to Edgerton High School for a match dubbed, “The Battle for the Stick,” on Thursday, September 19. This tradition started three years ago between the tennis programs of Edgerton and Whitewater. The Whippets have won the last two years, and the tradition continued Thursday night in a close contest with the Whippets coming out on top by a team score of 4-3.
The Whippet Girls’ Tennis Team will honor the Seniors on Tuesday, September 24 in a home match against Delavan-Darien.
Article and Photos Submitted by Greg Stewart
Whitewater High School Assistant Tennis Coach
gstewart@wwusd.org