By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information

Box Score – The No. 3 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team opened the 2024 campaign in stellar fashion. The Warhawks cruised to a 34-7 win over John Carroll University in front of the UWW faithful at Perkins Stadium Saturday afternoon. UW-Whitewater is now 18-2 in season openers in the last 20 seasons. 

The pace may have looked a little different than years past, but the result was the same. After a touchback on the opening kick, the Warhawk offense jogged out to the 25 for their first possession of 2024. UW-Whitewater established the run game right off the bat with Tamir Thomas gaining eight yards on the first carry of the game. He would take the handoff six more times in the drive hitting paydirt from one yard out for UWW’s first score of the season. Jackson Fox split the uprights on the extra point and the Warhawks had a 7-0 lead less than six minutes into the game. 

The UW-Whitewater defense followed with a three-and-out. After a seven-yard gain to open the Blue Streaks’ first drive, Lucas Sadler got into the backfield and sacked the JCU quarterback for a loss of six. On third down, Trey Castella and Jakob Simmons blasted through the line for another sack and a loss of 11 to force a punt. 

The punt was down at the 22 and the UWW offense returned with all of the momentum. Following a couple of short gains, Brian Stanton was tapped for the handoff, burst through the line and bounced to the outside bolting up the sideline past defenders for the 56-yard touchdown run. Fox hit the point after for a 14-0 Warhawk lead with just over four minutes left in the first quarter. 

The teams turned the ball over on downs on the next two drives before the UWW defense forced a turnover early in the second quarter. Six plays into a Blue Streak drive, a short pass up the middle was completed and fumbled at the Warhawk 36. Mika Gutoski jumped on the loose ball to bring the UWW offense back onto the field. 

UW-Whitewater capitalized on the turnover with a 28-yard field goal by Fox.

As halftime neared, head coach Jace Rindahl did a phenomenal job of managing the clock to give the Warhawks another scoring chance. The defense forced a punt and Jason Ceniti led UWW back onto the field with 1:35 left to drive 87 yards – and that’s exactly what they did. 

Ceniti hit Nick Wind on a crossing pattern for a 31-yard gain. Two plays later, he found Brian Wilterdink for 12 more and another first down at the JCU 20. Next, it was Wind again, this time for nine yards to the Blue Streak 11. From there, Thomas got the nod once again. He found his way through the middle and into the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown scamper. Fox’s extra point made it 24-0 at the break. 

After a scoreless third, the Warhawks scored on the first play of the fourth quarter. Ceniti found Wind in the end zone from 11-yards out for the team’s first touchdown through the air of the season. Fox hit the point after to give UWW a 31-0 advantage. Fox would connect on a 24-yard field goal later in the fourth for UW-Whitewater’s final score of the game. 

John Carroll’s final drive lasted nearly five minutes. The Blue Streaks negated the shutout with a touchdown strike with just one second remaining. The extra point was good to make it 34-7 and the game ended as time expired on the ensuing kickoff. 

UWW registered 439 yards of total offense including 286 yards on the ground. The defense held JCU to just 226 yards on the day. 

Ceniti was 14-25 for 153 yards through the air. He added 43 yards with his feet. Blake Haggerty was Ceniti’s favorite target on the day with five receptions for 79 yards. Wind added three catches for 51 yards. 

Stanton led the Warhawks in the ground game with 123 yards on 10 carries. Thomas registered 77 yards on 14 rushing attempts. The duo combined for three rushing touchdowns in the game. 

Ethan Gallagher posted a team-high seven tackles while Castella tallied 1.5 tackles for a loss of 10 yards. 

It was a terrific day for the Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country Teams as they competed at the West Allis Bulldog Invitational on Friday afternoon. There were six boys and six girls who all ran a lifetime best in the first meet of the season! 

Leading the boy’s field and never looking back was Jack Hefty, who blitzed the course to a new personal record time of 15:56 to secure the win. Xavier Zei ran a very strong race and also ran a lifetime best to place 16th in 17:26. Luc Pomazak has transformed himself into a killer runner and was the team’s third runner, cutting over six minutes off his personal best from last year in 18:01 and placing 32nd. Miles Nicklesburg wasn’t far behind and placed 34th in 18:08. Rounding out the top five scorers for the team was Andrew O’Toole placing 66th with a new lifetime best of 18:55. Onyx Thompson placed 86th in 19:38, and Isaac Straight ran a new lifetime best to place 100th in 20:06. The team had a very strong showing and placed 4th out of 18th teams, one point from Oak Creek which was 3rd. 

In the JV race, Quinton O’Toole ran a new lifetime best of 20:16 and placed 33rd. He led the team to a 9th place finish out of 15 complete teams.

On the girls’ side, pack running was as strong as ever. There was only a 52 second spread between the team’s first runner and fifth runner. Athena Soto finished as the top runner on this day after running much of her race with Mady Hefty and Virginia Nelson. Athena placed 37th in 22:01. Virginia placed 42nd in 22:20 for a new lifetime PR, and Mady was not far behind in 22:23, good enough for 45th. Carley Boudreau and Nola Coburn have been finding each other early as they work together picking people off throughout the race. Carley finished in 22:50 for 55th, and Nola ran 22:53 for 56th. Sami Van Daele crushed her race and ran a lifetime best 24:06, finishing in 71st. Ema Aranda was the team’s 7th runner in 24:45 and placed 83rd. Lucy Troxel also ran a lifetime best today by stopping the clock in 25:14, with an overall placing of 89th. The varsity team placed 10th out of 13 complete teams. 

In the JV race, Delaney Hammack ran a new lifetime best of 25:41 to place 43rd. Tying her previous personal best was Mya Graves-Koran in 27:05. Also running a lifetime best was Vivian Harris in 31:32. The JV squad placed 10th out of 13 complete teams.

Next up for the Whippets will be the Marshall Invitational on Tuesday, September 17th.

 Full results: https://wi.milesplit.com/meets/627901-wac-bulldog-invite-2024 

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org 
Photo credits – Coach Carstens and Jeff Hefty

By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information

Box Score || St. Paul, Minn. – The No. 7 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s volleyball team swept No. 20 Berry College 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-16) in the team’s first match of the KTIS Classic hosted by the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. 

The Warhawk offense came out on fire hitting .486 with 19 kills in the first set to set the tone. UWW registered double figure kills in all three sets while the defense held Berry (BC) to single digits the first two sets. UW-Whitewater held a hefty advantage from the service line with six aces compared to just one for BC. 

Outside hitter Alayna Jansky led all players with 21 kills. She added three aces, a pair of assist blocks and nine digs on the evening. Right side Ally Warburton was the most efficient attacker for UWW. The senior registered a hitting percentage of .643 – hammering down nine kills without committing an error. 

Setter Aubrie Krzus set up the Warhawk attackers on 33 kills and posted 13 digs in the match. Defensively, libero Jaedynn Evans led all players with 17 digs. 

UW-Whitewater will wrap up play in the KTIS Classic with a pair of matches Saturday. The Warhawks will take on No. 22 Cornell at noon followed by a matchup against the host, No. 12 UNW, at 2 p.m. 

The Whippet Swimmers came in and made a splash at Conference Relays on Thursday, September 5th! Bringing home the medals for our team were Makayla Bazeley, Emerson Dunham, Charlotte Hajewski, and Maggie Maas. These girls combined for four 3rd place finishes – 4×100 IM Relay, 1000 Freestyle Crescendo Relay, 500 Freestyle Crescendo Relay, and the 4×100 Backstroke Relay. In the 4×100 IM relay the girls worked hard to get redemption for this relay last year. The 1000 Freestyle was another great race; each of them absolutely rocked their distances! The 500 Crescendo tested their grit and determination, and they had to work from behind. Emerson Dunham had a great split in the unusual 150-yard distance with a 1:45 split! All four girls had nice splits on the 500 Crescendo Relay. In the 4×100 Backstroke relays the girls battled until the very end, Makayla Bazeley led off the relay with a great time of 1:00.69!

In addition to our medal winning relays, the entire team impressed with many times close to their end of season times last year. In our first relay of the night, Kendra Serrano, Atreya Wilson, Lucy Davis, and Laken DePorter raced hard to finish in 10th place. The 200 Freestyle Relay of Georgia Esch, Maya Davis, Caitlin Alford, and Grace Coleman were up next; they all continue to get faster in their freestyle from our first meet a few weeks ago. Georgia Esch had a great lead off split of 35.39. In the splash and dash event of the night, we had two relay teams battling it out. Our “A” Relay of Atreya Wilson, Kendra Serrano, Grace Coleman, and Lucy Davis swam fast winning the first heat by 5 seconds and beat 3 teams in the 2nd heat to finish in 6th place. Our “B” Relay of Marijose Verduzco, Caitlin Alford, Laken DePorter, and Maya Davis crushed their seed time by over 9 seconds! Rounding out our relays was the 400 Freestyle Relay of Kendra Serrano, Atreya Wilson, Georgia Esch, and Lucy Davis finishing in 9th place overall. All four posted great split times including Lucy Davis anchoring with a 1:11.74.

The Whippets finished 6th overall as a team! It was a great meet for the girls, and we can’t wait to see what they do the rest of the season! They will be back in the pool on Tuesday, September 10th at 5:30 pm against Edgerton/Evansville at Edgerton High School.

Article and Photos Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Head Swim Coach
ReynoldsSM07@uww.edu