The Whitewater Gymnastics Team competed in a tough invitational on Saturday, February 5th, in Dodgeville, against 10 other teams. Our girls fought hard to have their highest team scores of the season on Beam, Floor, and overall!

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Jackie Franco was told at the last minute that we needed her for Vault. Not only was she willing to step in – she got a season best score! Brooklyn Griswold had a season best score on her Floor routine, while Halee Peters tied her season best score on her Floor routine. Nola Coburn had a great Beam routine that earned her a season best score as well as her highest All-Around score of the season. She also tried out some new skills on Bars where she did a back hip circle on the high bar, upping her difficulty. Makayla Bazeley changed up her passes on her Floor routine by adding a front handspring into a roundoff back-handspring tuck to score her a season best score which contributed to her highest All-Around score.

Impressively, we had 4 out of 5 no fall Beam routines by Lexi Kuhnke, Brooklyn Griswold, Makayla Bazeley, and Halee Peters. This was by far our best day for the Whitewater girls on the Beam! We have been working really hard to achieve a lower percentage of Beam falls, and this meet was a success.

There is only one dual meet left for the season – in Waterford this Tuesday, February 8th. Then we will compete next Saturday, February 12th, in Platteville, for another invitational. After that, we are on to our post season meets. 

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

On Saturday, February 5, the Whitewater Wrestling Team traveled to Brodhead to participate in the 2022 Rock Valley Conference Wrestling Championships. This was a battle between the nine conference teams, each looking to win a team title, and individuals looking to be crowned champions.

Whitewater wrestled well throughout the day, with seven students achieving a medal for placing in the top three. The Whippets had five individuals in the championship matches, winning three of the five bouts. Marcus DePorter, Carter Friend, and Mason DePorter each earned their first conference championship, with all of them winning convincingly throughout the day. Marcus was the first to claim a championship, with a commanding 12-3 victory over his opponent from Turner. Friend then followed two weights later, wrestling a very controlled match, defeating his opponent from Evansville by a score of 9-3. Finally, Mason wrestled outstanding in his championship match, taking a commanding lead early, and never letting off the gas on his way to a 12-0 victory. This is a great accomplishment for these young men as a lot of hard work has been put into these championships and now they have their name etched in Whippet History.

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Also reaching the finals for the Whippets included Jarvis Porcaro and Connor Friend. Each of these young men wrestled well all day, but came up short in the finals. Porcaro pinned his way to the championship match, before falling to his opponent from Evansville. Friend had an extremely exciting match in the semi-finals, avenging an earlier season loss, to win 5-4 to reach the championship. Connor came up short in the finals to a senior from East Troy, falling 6-0.

Bringing home the bronze medal for Whitewater were Aaron Porras and Leo Ortiz. Both of these students lost heartbreakers in the semi-finals, but came back and finished their day strong to bring home third place.

As a team, Whitewater came in Runner-Ups to a very good team from Evansville. The coaching staff is happy with the performance of the team, as they did give Evansville a run for part of the day, until they started to pull away in the final round.

The Varsity is now off until Saturday, when they travel to Jefferson to participate in the Regional Tournament. The Junior Varsity team closes out their season this week, as they travel to Clinton on Monday for the RVC JV Conference tournament and then travel to Badger High School on Tuesday to compete in their last tournament.

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

The Whitewater Girls’ Basketball Team traveled to Jefferson for a conference match up on Thursday, February 3. We played aggressively on defense but struggled to stop Jefferson’s Johnson in the paint in the first half, giving her 20 of her 24 points. At half we were down 20-28. 

We kept the game close in the second half, holding Johnson to 4, but we needed to foul at the end and came up short, losing 39-51. 

Nine Whippets contributed in scoring. Danielle DePorter led the Whippets with 12, going 6 for 7 from the free throw line. Kindyl Kilar contributed 7 points, going 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Gwen Truesdale added 5, Calli Grosinske scored 4, and Josie Treder contributed 3. Two points each were scored by Mayte Navejas, Aidyn Amundson, and Cali Kopecky. 

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

The Whippets Gymnasts took on their last home meet of the season in a triangular against Badger Co-op and Union Grove Co-op on Tuesday, February 1. We had some new skills performed along with a few season best scores to make it a great night! We had our highest team score of the year with 107.875.

Izzy Dieter and Nola Coburn both had season best scores on Bars while Myia Cobbs and Estefany Reyes-Saldana had season best scores and no fall routines on Beam. Nola also improved her All-Around Score with a 24.075.  

Two of our girls tried the Vault for the very first time and scored quite well! We’re very proud of Miyu Tekeda and Jackie Franco for working so hard to be able to compete on the Vault! Adding these two vaults to our lineup improves our JV Team score, which scored nine points higher Tuesday night!

We had a great night of firsts. Beyond our two new vaulters showing their new skills, Lexi Kuhnke added a roundoff back handspring to her Floor routine, and her fans got crazy loud cheering for her. Maritza Vidales added a front handspring to her Floor routine, which was awesome to see. Makayla Bazeley added a 720 pirouette as well as a straddle jump to the end of one of her tumbling passes, to improve her difficulty in her Floor routine. We love seeing the girls incorporating new skills into their routines as they head into their post season meets.

Halee Peters got 3rd in All Around with a 31.95, 2nd on Vault with an 8.3, 5th on Bars with a 7.55, 5th on Beam with an 8.2, and 6th on Floor with a 7.9. 

The Whitewater Gymnastics Team will be heading to Dodgeville on Saturday, February 5th, for an invitational, and then their last dual meet is next Tuesday, February 8th.

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