Last Saturday, January 7, the Whitewater Wrestling team hosted a huge wrestling tournament at Whitewater High School called the WWCA JV Challenge Series Regional. This is a tournament sponsored by the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association and provides the junior varsity wrestlers an opportunity to compete for a state championship through the coaches’ association. It is a great opportunity for the JV wrestlers around the state to get some extremely great competition.

Whitewater was the host for 28 schools traveling from as far away as River Valley to Oconomowoc. The tournament is all one division, so students from division 3 to division 1 all descended into Whitewater on Saturday. These 28 schools brought 277 wrestlers to compete in this event with as many as 34-person brackets to work through in an attempt to place in the top 3 and earn the right to advance to the state finals in Wausau.

The Whitewater team did very well all weekend, from Friday evening with setting up 6 mats, Saturday competition, and then finally the cleanup of the entire area on Saturday evening. On the mat, Whitewater wrestlers did very well. There were not any disappointments as far as how the team competed. Sure, there were disappointments in not qualifying for the top 3, but there was outstanding competition to work through, and nearly everyone secured at least one win on the day. Whitewater placed 9 of their 14 wrestlers in the top 5 at their weights. 

Highlights of the day included the Whippets having two bring home a Championship, one Runner-Up, and two 3rd place finishes, all qualifying for Wausau. There were two more members of the team who took 4th and were named alternates. Prior to writing this article Coach Schimming got a phone call from Wausau asking for those two students to also come, so Whitewater will have 7 students participating on Saturday, January 21, at Wausau West High School.

Bringing home championships for the Whippets were JJ Gonzalez at 160 and Jesus Barajas at 170 lbs. Both of these athletes wrestled very well throughout the day on their way to the championship.

Coming in runner up for the Whippets was Richi Kalra at 170. Richi wrestled very well all day before falling to teammate Barajas in the finals. 

Two students won their final match of the day to come in 3rd place and earn their automatic bid. Curtis Rossmiller at 126 lbs and Nate Black at 152 both wrestled very well losing tough matches in the semi-finals before securing their spot at Wausau with their win at 3rd.

Reaching the semi-finals before suffering their first lost were Keenan Sheffield at 145 and Christian Minett at 152. Keenan lost his 3rd place match to finish in fourth. Christian defaulted his match to teammate Nate Black due to a recurring injury. Fortunately for each of them they will still qualify based on a competitor ahead of them not going.

Finishing in 5th place on the day with a record of 5-1 included Max Babcock and Avi Kalra. Each of them lost early in the day, and based on the design of the bracket the best they could do was 5th place. Each did the best they could after the early loss which was great to see.

Closing out placements was Kane Obregon who took 7th. Kane is in his first year ever wrestling and has done very well losing a couple of close matches over the course of the day.

As an entire program the coaches could not be prouder of the effort given by the team, wrestlers and managers, putting this event on. The group not competing had the daunting task of working tables, which can get to be a very long day for them. They did absolutely outstanding with their job, and when the tournament was over did an outstanding job with the cleanup of the 6 mats that were used and picking up garbage in the stands. The wrestlers and managers should be commended for giving up an entire Saturday so Junior Varsity wrestlers around our area had this opportunity. 

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

The Whippets hosted McFarland in girls’ basketball on Friday, January 13. In the first half, McFarland came out on fire, hitting nearly every shot they took. That put the Whippets in a deficit early in the game. We fought back and connected on some 3-point shots to give us a spark. We went into half down 23-49. 

In the second half, we inched back little by little and went on a scoring run midway through, closing the gap to within 14, but McFarland fired back beating us 82-49. 

Calli Grosinske led the team with 11 points, followed by Mayte Navejas with 9. Danielle DePorter and Katie Gillette both added 8.

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

The Whitewater Boys’ Swim Team competed against Platteville/Lancaster & PSC on Tuesday, January 10th.

Best Times on the night include:

200 Medley Relay (some notable splits):

• Andrew O’Toole – 29.25 (50 FR)
• Onyx Thompson – 41.17 (50 BA)
• Xavier Zei – 41.43 (50 BR)
• Myles Morse – 37.40 (50 Fly)

200 Freestyle

• Tyler Arnett went a 2:00.83 which puts him 8th overall on the Whippet Top 10 List.
• Myles Morse dropped 9 seconds going a 2:39.45

200 IM

• Miles Nickelsburg went a best time of 2:56.65
• Andrew O’Toole dropped 10 seconds to go a time of 3:02.09

50 Freestyle

• Cruz Aranda goes a new best time of 26.10
• Xavier Zei drops 6 seconds going a time of 33.86

100 Fly

• Jack Hefty drops 3 seconds going a time of 1:07.92

100 Freestyle

• Cruz Aranda drops 3 seconds going a time of 58.86
• Onyx Thompson drops 5 seconds going a time of 1:17.82

500 Freestyle

• David Enns tried out the 500 Freestyle for the first time this season and had a great swim!
• Tyler Arnett continues to swim right on his season best time!

200 Freestyle Relay (notable splits)

• Myles Morse – 30.68 (50 FR)
• Andrew O’Toole – 28.37 (50 FR)

100 Backstroke

• Miles Nickelsburg goes a new best time of 1:16.15
• Onyx Thompson continues to drop time going a 1:33.21

100 Breaststroke

• Jack Hefty continues to drop time going a time of 1:16.22
• Xavier Zei drops 12 seconds going a time of 1:34.26
• Andrew O’Toole goes a new best time of 1:40.14

400 Freestyle Relay (notable splits)

• Cruz Aranda – 1:00.24 (100 FR)
• Miles Nickelsburg – 1:05.10 (100 FR)
• Jack Hefty – 59.49 (100 FR)

The Boys are back in action at home on Tuesday, January 17th at 5:30 p.m. against Delavan-Darien.

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

The gymnastics team had a dual meet against Jefferson/Cambridge on January 10, 2023. Once again, the girls faced some tough competition but held their own and came out of the meet with some great scores and showcased some of their new skills.

Stephanie Walters had her season best score of 5.1 on Floor as well as season best of 4.0 on Uneven Bars where she did a flyaway for the first time in a meet. Grace Coleman had a season high on bars as well with a 4.3. She also had a no fall Beam routine, which is always the goal.  Payton Brautigam had a great performance on Floor and earned herself a season high score of 5.3. Alexa Wildenberg improved her score on the Beam with a season best of 4.9. Lexi Kuhnke performed her Floor routine for the first time this season and scored a 5.65. It’s great to see her back at it. The JV team had season high team scores on Floor and on Bars! 

Mady Hefty had a strong performance on Floor where she tied her season best of 6.85 and did a back tuck in her routine for the first time this season! Her teammates erupted into loud cheers to show their excitement for her. She then went on to Vault where she had a season best score of 7.85. Nola Coburn did a back tuck in her Floor routine for the first time this year which everyone was super excited to watch. Nola went on to score her best on the Uneven Bars with a 5.15. Makayla Bazeley had a stellar performance on the Uneven Bars where she had a lifetime best score of 7.425 and took 3rd place. Brooke Bazeley had another no fall Beam routine. Brenda Aguilar was very close to her season best on the Vault. Halee Peters improved her score on 3 out of 4 rotations. She had a lifetime best on Vault with an 8.50, took 2nd on bars with a 7.55, had a no fall Beam routine and a season best score of 8.35 and then another lifetime best on the Floor with an 8.9. Halee’s all-around score was the highest she has ever had with a 33.3. The varsity team had their highest bars score of the season. 

Many of the girls are working towards more new skills they hope to debut in the upcoming weeks. They all have goals they are working toward and I know they will achieve everything they hope. They will compete again on Monday, January 16th in a triangular vs Janesville Parker and Milton in Janesville. And then will compete again on Saturday, January 21st in the Southwest Invite. Thank you to all that come out and support the girls!

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