The Whippet Cross Country Team headed over to Jefferson on Tuesday to race on Wisconsin’s finest 13-hole golf course. Although coming off a recent race and having some tired legs, this was a great opportunity to see many of the conference schools all on the same course on the same day. Because of the closeness of racing, both teams were not racing at full strength as we have continued to focus on growth and improvement over the course of the regular season, while keeping an eye on running our best at championship time in about two weeks.

Caelyn Caputo had another solid day as the varsity #1 runner and was just one place out from earning her first ever medal at an invitational, placing 16th. She led the girls to a strong 3rd place showing with 94 points behind Jefferson and Evansville with six complete teams scoring.

Jack Hefty mixed it up with some of the lead pack and finished in 8th overall to earn another medal this season. Cooper Hammond also medaled by placing in the top 15 with a 13th place finish. With some runners not racing, the boys finished 9th place out of 11 teams scoring.

The Nightfall Classic has been canceled for Friday; however, the team has been added to the Stoughton Invite on Saturday, and it will be their final race of the regular season. This will take place at Stoughton High School with the first race set to go off at 9:30 a.m. 

Boys Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2021/jeff1cc_21b.pdf
Girls Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2021/jeff1cc_21g.pdf

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

The Whitewater Whippets kicked off Homecoming Week with an exciting 3-2 victory over visiting Evansville on Tuesday, September 28. The Whippets started the first set off by hitting an impressive .389 as a team. Two players, junior Kindyl Kilar and senior Savannah Hill, hit .500. Six different Whippets had one service ace each, to help propel Whitewater to an impressive 25-13 win. In set two, the Whippets continued their success behind the service line by having four aces and hitting .200 as a team, winning 25-17.

In the third and fourth sets, the offensive firepower for the Whippets dropped to .143 and .030, while only having one service ace in each set. The Whippets lost the third and fourth sets by the scores of 23-25 and 19-25.

Whitewater lost the coin toss in the deciding game, thus finding themselves receiving serve to start play. The Whippets immediately sided out with a kill and Cali Kopecky took charge at the service line, ringing off the next two points to put the home team up 3-0 and forcing Evansville to take a timeout. After the timeout, Evansville got on the board by a serving error. After a Blue Devil hitting error, Jenna Pope went back to serve for three more points to put Whitewater up now 6-1. Evansville and Whitewater exchanged the next two points before the Whippets went on another 3-point run. Evansville went on a 4-point run at the end of the fifth set to get within four points but were unable to dig a Kindyl Kilar hit. Whitewater won 15-10.

Whitewater travels to McFarland on Thursday night. McFarland is the 4th ranked D2 team in the state, and the Whippets are looking forward to the highly competitive match. Whitewater is currently 9-8 overall and 3-2 in the Rock Valley.

Whitewater Stat Leaders:
Aces: Kilar-4, Kopecky-3, Grosinske-3
Kills: Kilar-22, Kopecky-8, Grosinske-6
Blocks: Pope-2
Digs: Grosinske-23, Hintz-19, Yang-18, Kilar-17
Assists: Grosinske-19, Hintz-18

Evansville Stat Leaders:
Kills: Messling-11
Blocks: Brandenburg-2
Aces: Etringer-3
Assists: Etringer – 17

Article submitted by Kathy Bullis
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
kbullis@wwusd.org

The Whippets jumped out to an early lead on a cold, rainy, and windy night against Jefferson on Friday, September 24.

On the Eagles’ first possession, the Whippets made three great stops and then forced a fumble and recovered it on the fourth play of the game. The Whitewater offense marched right down the field and on 3rd and goal, Brock Grosinske found wide receiver Jacob Raglin in the back of the endzone to take the early 6-0 lead.

Unfortunately, Jefferson took over from there, and the Eagles were able to score multiple times in the first half.

The Whippets played much better in the second half not letting Jefferson score again and by also punching in another touchdown on an 11-yard run by senior Connor Sharlow.

The final score ended up being a 42-14 loss for the Whippets.

Join us for our Homecoming game this Friday at 7 p.m. as we take on Edgerton in what should be an exciting matchup!

Article Submitted by Jason Bleck
Whitewater High School Head Football Coach
jbleck@wwusd.org
Photo Courtesy of Bob Mischka

In the 81st running of the Janesville Midwest Cross Country Invitational, the Whitewater Whippets were treated to some great racing conditions and supreme competition. Whitewater is one of the smallest schools in the meet but found great value in rubbing elbows with some of the Midwest’s best athletes and walked away with many new personal bests.

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The girls’ team was led by junior Caelyn Caputo who ran 23:09 and was the team’s top finisher for the first time this season. Caelyn has really shown strong growth and solid racing confidence as the season moves along. Another junior, Emma Weigel, also dug deep and was the team’s second runner and ran 23:17, cutting nearly a full minute off her best time this season. Gwen Truesdale started out quite fast but battled hard and was just a few strides behind Emma at the finish and nearly equaling her best time from earlier this season. Freshman Nola Coburn raced with no fear and just slaughtered the race course to cut almost two minutes off her previous season best, drawing herself much closer to the front pack of Whippets. Evie Troxel competed as the team’s 7th runner in varsity and found herself with a new PR by 14 seconds as well. The girls’ varsity program finished in 34th out of 35 complete teams.

In the JV field, senior Olive Coburn debuted with a solid time of 25:33, and freshman Lucy Troxel benefitted from Olive’s return as she latched onto her in the race and was pulled to a huge new personal best of 25:55, which is 1:40 faster than her previous best. Freshman Sami Van Daele also enjoyed the benefits of working hard and continuing to challenge herself and was rewarded with a new personal best of 26:45, which is 40 seconds faster than her previous best.

The boys’ team was once again led by Jack Hefty who finished in 77th with a new personal best of 17:05. In this incredibly loaded field, it is important to note that Jack was the 3rd best freshman in the varsity field. Cooper Hammond got out to a hot pace that will pay off in the future but was a tad much for his legs to maintain, but he was still able to come away with his second best time of the year so far. Nate Holden returned to solid form after some illness and was the team’s 3rd runner back on track where he was a few weeks ago and better races to come. The varsity team finished in 36th out of 44 complete teams.

The JV team came away with some incredible time drops in their own stellar racing. Notably, senior Casey Schilling cut over two minutes off his time and looks better than ever in a Whippet uniform. Xavier Zei didn’t want to let Casey have all the fun and ran with him and hauled in a new personal best by over three and a half minutes! Lastly, Alex Clarksen looked his best as well and cut close to three minutes off his best time.

The Whippets head into next week with two meets on the slate. First will be the Jefferson Invite on Tuesday on the golf course in town followed by the Stoughton Invite on Saturday at Stoughton High School.

Full Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/201008/results

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Photos Courtesy of Bob Mischka