Written by Abigail Dotzler | Photos by Joe Kusumoto/USOPC,  Craig Schreiner

With a supportive community at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater behind him, John Boie has achieved his dreams. 

Boie — a UW-Whitewater alum, academic advisor at the Academic Advising and Exploration Center and two-time Paralympic gold medalist — shares his success with the friends, family and teammates that have spurred him to achieve. 

On July 8, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome Boie into its ranks during a ceremony at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee. Because of his monumental achievements in wheelchair basketball, Boie will be the first Paralympic athlete to be inducted. 

Boie was first introduced to wheelchair basketball at a camp held by UW-Whitewater when he was 11 years old. He played through a season the next fall and fell in love with the sport. Boie still returns to that camp every summer — now as a camp coach. 

Boie felt the love as soon as he arrived at UW-Whitewater as a college student.

“[Wheelchair basketball provided] a big community [for me] to have coming into college and friends that I still have today,” Boie said.  

In 2014, following an illustrious career on the Warhawk men’s wheelchair basketball team, he graduated from UW-Whitewater with a bachelor’s degree in human resource management.  He continued his education at UW-Whitewater with a master’s degree in human resource management and a master’s degree in accounting. 

Boie has remained on campus as an academic advisor, working with students during their academic journey to ease their path to a degree and their intended profession.

“UW-Whitewater has such a strong tradition of wheelchair basketball, and we’re really excited to have someone who is a continuous and long-time member of our community just really excel at a state level, and national level, and global level,” said Marissa Gruel Hainstock, director of Academic Advising and Success and Boie’s supervisor. 

Boie continued in his basketball journey, competing in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, earning his first gold medal and recognition at the White House. He tried out for Team USA for nine years before finally making the cut for the 2020 Paralympics. 

Boie almost never left the court at his first Paralympics.

“[It felt] like I’d finally reached the goal I set when I was 11 years old,” he said. 

The time, effort and dedication Boie puts into his sport give him the skills to achieve his dreams. He won gold again at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. 

Boie credits part of his success to Jeremy “Opie” Lade, his long-time friend, coach and fellow Warhawk. Lade, who led the UW-Whitewater men’s wheelchair basketball team to six national championships, coached Boie during his time on the UW-Whitewater wheelchair basketball team and has encouraged Boie through his entire basketball career.  

“He’s kinda always been in my corner since I was little. He gave me my first basketball chair when I was a little kid,” Boie said. “Opie was a heck of a coach. [He] prepared me for Team USA… and we even play on different club teams in the U.S., so he and I get the opportunity to play against each other.”

Boie continues to pour himself into the wheelchair basketball community — both on and off campus. He officiates tournaments, scrimmages with the Warhawk men’s wheelchair basketball team, and serves as a role model to all student-athletes. Preparing the next generation of gold medalists and Hall of Fame inductees, Boie inspires students to compete, to work hard and to succeed. 

“I can still connect with students — especially student athletes,” Boie said about his role as an academic advisor. “Because I know what it takes to compete at a college level and beyond.” 

While this latest recognition from the Wisconsin Hall of Fame is “still pretty surreal” for Boie,  he’s incredibly excited. 

“I’m thankful for all the people that have helped me get there: family, friends, and community — and that includes the Warhawk community of our campus.”

He’ll represent Team USA again this September at the 2026 International Wheelchair Basketball Federation World Championships in Ottawa.

Editor’s note: This article was provided by UW-Whitewater.

Molly Griep-Popowski recently earned Northeast Region Girls’ Track and Field Coach of the Year honors in North Dakota.

Molly’s team had 24 athletes qualify for the state track and field meet, which will take place May 21–23 in Bismarck. Reflecting on the achievement, Molly said, “I have a great staff of coaches that dedicate a lot of their time and are selfless in helping get this track team where it is today.”

Molly has served as the head coach at Hatton-Northwood High School for the past three years and has been involved with the program for six years overall. She is currently a K–6 physical education teacher at Northwood Public School.

A 2012 graduate of Whitewater High School, Molly is the daughter of Pete and Lisa Griep. During her time at Whitewater, she became — and remains — the school record holder in both the shot put and discus. She also captured the state championship in the shot put in 2012. She earned High School All-American Honors in that event as well as discus.

Congratulations, Molly!

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Assistant Track and Field Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org

UWW Finishes 2026 Season 43-6

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater baseball team fell in extra innings to Bethany Lutheran College in the Regional Final of the NCAA Tournament. The heartbreaker came to an end in the bottom of the 11th, with the Vikings hitting a walk-off sacrifice fly to score the winning run. 

The Warhawks struck first in the game, scoring at the top of the first as the designated away team. Andy Thies (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles) scored the first run of the game off a single from Jackson Spring (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North). 

From there, it was the Vikings quieting the Warhawks’ offense, keeping UWW at just one run until the 8th inning. On the offensive end, Bethany Lutheran piled on some runs to take the lead. A 2-run homer in the third put a crooked number on the board. The Vikings added one run in the fifth, and a solo home run plus an RBI double in the 7th to build a 6-1 lead. 

Entering the last two down by five, the Warhawks’ time was running out. Leyten Bowers (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) was able to spark some momentum with a solo home run over the right field scoreboard to get the first run on the board since the first inning.

The four-bagger from Bowers kick-started the Warhawks’ offense. Dominik McVay (Mineral Point, Wis./Mineral Point) got a hold of one for his own three-run homer with Wyatt Jensen (Luck, Wis./Luck) following up McVay’s at bat with another solo shot to tie the game up at 6-6. 

Still in the top of the 8th, the Warhawks kept the inning going with a single from Danny Hopper (Palatine, Ill./Palatine). Hopper moved up 180 feet, getting second on a wild pitch & third from an errant throw down by the catcher. Hopper came in for the go-ahead run off a deep double by Aaron Holland (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton North). With just one inning, the Warhawks had flipped the script & took a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the 8th. 

Bethany Lutheran was able to tie up the game from a wild pitch in the 8th, but no scores in the ninth sent the game to extras. In the 10th, the Warhawks had just a single base runner, but couldn’t move him past second. The Vikings were able to get runners on second & third, but the UW-Whitewater defense escaped the frame to send it into the 11th. 

UW-Whitewater was retired in order on the 11th as the side flipped back to the Vikings. A single, sacrifice bunt, and a single put runners on the corners with just one out. A fly ball to right field did the job for the Vikings, as they scored the winning run after 3-hours & 40-minutes of game time. 

The Warhawks 2026 campaign came to a close with a 43-6 record, the second-highest winning percentage in Warhawk history. The 2026 season included a school-record 36-game win streak as well as a perfect 28-0 record in conference play, the first time a team has done so in WIAC history. 

Editor’s note: The above is from the UW-W Athletics website. Attendance was 632.