Today is Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Both cross country teams rose to an early alarm clock and headed west to compete in Platteville against 34 teams on Saturday, October 1. This invite is broken down into two equal divisions of 17 teams split down the middle and defined as “small school” and “large school” based on school enrollment. All teams compete against one another in the same race, but the results are split based on the divisions.
Whitewater competed in the large school division and did well! The girls’ varsity was first and was once again led by freshman Mady Hefty. She continues to just simply be rock solid, steadily improving or racing near her previous best, setting the pace for the Whippets. Her time of 21:42 was good enough for 35th. Athena Soto ran her lifetime best of 22:40 to take 62nd and commented that this was her favorite course we’ve competed on yet. Jackie Franco put together another really nice race packing it up with her teammates and crossing the line in 24:14 taking 81st. The girls’ team took 13th in the large school division. In the JV race, Silvia Harris and Danielle DePorter paced the Whippets placing 56th and 57th, respectively, with times of 26:06 and 26:08. Paula Wilms wasn’t far behind in 60th with a time of 26:10. Elisa Albertini had a nice race really pushing herself and flourished at the finish to take home a new PR of 27:49 and take 83rd. The girls’ JV squad did well and placed 11th overall out of all 34 teams.
The boys’ varsity has consistently seen Jack Hefty up front for the Whippets. After getting bogged down slightly by a large field and tight turn on the bridge, Jack eventually found himself with the lead pack by 2K. Jack fought hard and ran his second sub-17 effort to stop the clock in 6th overall, but 3rd in the large school division. His time was 16:49. Nate Holden really is pouring it on in the middle to latter portions of his races and moved from the mid 30’s in the race to 17th overall, and 9th in our division. Nate’s time was 17:30. Both boys earned a medal for their terrific races. Miles Nickelsburg is steady in his low 19’s efforts and did so again by running 19:11 to take 64th. Overall, the boys’ team placed 8th. The JV team had some great packing running by a number of guys with Onyx Thompson coming out on top to place 54th in 21:19. Andrew O’Toole was a very motivated man on this day to make the cut for the varsity team at the conference meet in two weeks by dropping nearly a minute and a half from his previous personal best and took the 63rd in 21:35! Ben McCulloch and Yovanni Rojas-Reyes also ran strong races in the JV field to place 67th and 69th overall, just behind their teammates. Quinton O’Toole also had a significant improvement by dropping 59 seconds from his previous personal best to stop the clock in 23:59, good enough for 104th. Gavin LaFlash also improved by running with Quinton and placed 105th with a new PR of 24:00. Keith Cameron PR’d with a time of 24:43 to place 123rd. The boys’ JV team finished 10th overall out of 34 teams.
Next up is the Rock Valley Conference Meet hosted by Whitewater High School, on the campus of UW-Whitewater on Thursday, October 13th. The first race is set to begin at 4:10 with the Varsity Girls followed at 4:50 for Varsity Boys and finally at 5:25 for combined JV Boys and Girls. Come out and watch some intense racing in the championship phase of our season. Both varsity races will have athletes that are of state caliber and there are currently two boys’ teams that are ranked in the top 12 in the state. Don’t miss out!
Boys’ Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2022/plattcc_22b.pdf
Girls’ Results: http://www.accuracetiming.com/results/2022/plattcc_22g.pdf
Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
Pictures courtesy of Tiffany Buehler
By Angela Kelm
Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
The No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team defeated No. 9 UW-La Crosse 34-31 courtesy of a late field goal to open Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Saturday at Veterans Field in La Crosse.
The Warhawks posted 479 yards of total offense including 347 yards through the air while the defense held the Eagles to 293 yards of offense. Tommy Coates had a career game with three touchdown receptions while Jeffery Isotalo-McGuire nailed the game-winning field goal to lead UW-Whitewater.
UW-La Crosse marched down the field in their first possession of the game going 65 yards in 12 plays capped by a seven-yard touchdown catch for an early 7-0 Eagle lead.
The Warhawks responded in kind. Coates opened his day with a 28-yard reception for a first down. He put the book ends on the drive hauling in a five-yard strike from quarterback Evan Lewandowski for UW-W’s first score of the game. Isotalo-McGuire made it 7-7 with the extra point.
Those were the only two full possessions of the first quarter. UW-L’s second drive of the game set up a 40-yard field goal. That kick was the first play of the second quarter to give the Eagles a 10-7 advantage.
Once again, UW-W had the response courtesy of the Lewandowski-Coates connection. Lewandowski led the Warhawks on the 74-yard drive hitting four different receivers while Tamir Thomas took over on the ground. The final play was the signature Lewandowski-Coates fade in the endzone, this time from 12-yards out. With the extra point, UW-W took a 14-10 lead.
The UW-La Crosse special teams crew came up with a big-time play nearing the end of the second quarter. Blocking their third field goal attempt in the last three quarters played, the Eagles scooped up the loose ball and ran it back to reclaim the lead 17-14.
The Warhawks nearly matched the special teams magic as Jaylon Edmonson took the return through a big hole up the middle of the field for a season-long 68-yard return to give UW-W great field position. On the second play of the drive from the UW-L 15, Lewandowski was chased out of the pocket to his right. Throwing across his body, his pass was picked off in the endzone. The Eagles took the lead into the intermission.
UW-Whitewater received the opening kick of the second half with the offense taking over at their own 15. Three consecutive first down plays had the Warhawks on La Crosse’s half of the field. On third and four, Lewandowski hit Coates for a new set of downs at the Eagle 14. Makaio Harn took the handoff for two yards to set up another Lewandowski-Coates touchdown connection on the next play. With 8:45 left in the third, UW-W recaptured the lead 21-17.
The teeter-totter battle continued with La Crosse marching 67 yards in 12 plays capped by a 25-yard pass play to sway the lead back into the Eagles’ favor 24-21.
On the first play of Whitewater’s next drive, Lewandowski dropped back, surveyed and stepped up to find a wide-open Steven Hein in the middle of the field, good for 61-yards. Two plays later, Lewandowski found Hein once again, this time open in the endzone. Isotalo-McGuire’s kick reclaimed the lead for UW-W 28-24 with 1:07 left in the third.
A couple of big pass plays for the Eagles on their next drive had UW-L going 75-yards in 10 plays over a span of just over four minutes for another score. With 11:45 to go, La Crosse held a 31-28 advantage.
The Warhawks faced third and long in their next drive after a false start pushed them back to the UWW 43. Lewandowski hit Hein up the right side for 30-yards and a first down. Following short to no gains the next two plays, another false start had Whitewater facing third and 16 from the UW-L 33. The offensive line gave Lewandowski all day to throw, allowing him to go through his entire progression until he found Shelvin Garrett for 21-yards, down to the 12. A rush for no gain followed by an incompletion had the Warhawk offense needing to convert another third down. The Eagle defense got to Lewandowski forcing him to scramble and step up in the pocket. He looked for Nick Wind in the endzone, but the pass fell incomplete. The field goal team headed out onto the field. The snap and hold were good and Isotalo-McGuire split the uprights to tie the game 31-31 with 5:25 to play.
The Warhawk defense stiffened on the Eagles’ next drive. On third and long, the UW-L quarterback found his receiver up the middle but Shane McGrail came in for the hit jarring the ball loose. Luke Nelson jumped on the fumble to give the Warhawks the ball at the Eagle 35.
Edmonson darted through a big hole for a 17-yard scamper on the first play of the Warhawk drive. UW-Whitewater relied on the run game to take as much time as possible off the clock and keep UW-La Crosse from having much, if any, time left. A couple of short gains made it third down with three to go from the Eagle 11. Preston Strasburg took the handoff toward the left side of the line, but a La Crosse defender was able to grab and hold on to his ankle for just a two-yard gain forcing fourth and one at the nine-yard line. The field goal unit came on after an Eagle timeout but the kick sailed wide left leaving 1:53 on the clock for La Crosse.
Once again, the UW-W defense came up with a huge takeaway. On the first play from scrimmage for UW-L, the ball sailed on the Eagle quarterback and Egon Hein hauled in the errant pass for the interception at the La Crosse 36.
The Warhawks managed the clock to set up another field goal attempt taking a timeout with seven seconds left. As UW-W took the field, the Eagles called a timeout in an attempt to ice the Warhawk kicker. Isotalo-McGuire was not phased, hitting the 39-yarder to give UW-W a 34-31 lead with just three seconds left.
The Eagles downed the kickoff to allow for one more offensive play, but the Warhawk defense held for the win.
Lewandowski registered career highs in yards, touchdown passes and longest completion going 26-34 for 347 yards, including a 61-yarder, and four touchdowns. Hein hauled in four catches for 117 yards and a touchdown while Coates added eight receptions for 105 yards and three scores. Edmonson led UW-Whitewater on the ground with 62 yards on 11 attempts.
Ryan Liszka and Shane McGrail tallied career highs with 11 tackles each. Egon Hein added eight tackles including 1.5 for a loss of eight yards, the big interception and a pass broken up. The Warhawk defense put the pressure on the quarterback with seven quarterback hurries recorded in the game.
Editor’s note: Next Saturday, October 8, the Warhawks (3-1, 1-0) travel to play UW-EC (1-3, 0-1) at 1:00 p.m. The Blugolds will be coming off a 73-29 loss to UW-Stout on October 1.
A rough evening against a well-disciplined team led to a 4-0 defeat for our Whitewater Whippets Soccer Team on Thursday, September 29. McFarland came out strong with some beautiful 1-2 touch passing, and it proved too much to handle defensively. McFarland also managed to dominate the midfield and allowed your Whippets very few opportunities going forward. Considering all of that, Whitewater did show massive improvements in the winning of 50-50s as well as our overall possession percentage. Secondly, despite a rough first half, the Whitewater defense allowed far fewer opportunities in the second half. Henry Mortimer played a huge role in this with a few crucial saves. The highlight of the evening came at the end of the game with the honoring of our senior class. The evening ended with players, families, coaches, and community members joining together in honoring the 4 years of soccer we had with this wonderful group of athletes.
Article Submitted by Sam Burns
Whitewater High School Assistant Varsity Soccer Coach
dburns@wwusd.org
The Whitewater Varsity Squad (6-1 conference, and 17-6 overall) hosted Jefferson for Senior Night on Tuesday, September 27, and swept the Eagles 25-12, 25-19, 25-20. The Whippets continued their win streak, and swept the Evansville Blue Devils in 3 straight sets on Thursday, September 29. The entire squad shared playing time in the victory.
“I cannot be prouder of the way this team is playing as one unit, selflessly putting it all out on the floor for each other, and working hard day in and day out. This is a group of athletes that emulate what it means to be a team. They support one another, they lean in to whatever the team needs, and they simply are finding success because of their mindset. They are a fun team to coach!”
Statistical leaders on the night included Kindyl Kilar hitting a .405 with 31 kills, 18 digs, and 2 aces in the three sets, Caleigh Yang with 5 aces, and Calli Grosinske with 34 assists.
The Whippets will be in action at home on Tuesday, October 4th, for the Annual Play for Trey, in honor of Treyton Kilar who was killed in 2010 by a drunk driver on his way home from watching his sister play volleyball. Treyton is the brother of Whippet athlete Kindyl Kilar and JV1 coach Rosie Jaskolski, and son to head coach, Mary Kilar.
“This event is truly special. For the high school athletes to continue to honor Trey by bringing awareness of destructive decisions touches our hearts. The message of making good choices will never get old. Treyton was killed by one destructive decision in 2010. We hope this event continues to keep at the forefront that making a good choice will never be the wrong choice. I thank our whole community for their support. We hope to see you in the gym!”
Statistical leaders for Evansville included Rachel Klitzman with 8 kills, Taija Louis with 5 aces, and Skye McDermott with 16 assists.
Article Submitted by Mary Kilar
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
mkilar@wwusd.org
File Photo Courtesy of Bob Mischka
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