On Tuesday night, February 15, the Whippet Wrestling Team traveled to River Valley to compete in the Team Sectional Wrestling Tournament with the hopes of getting two dual meet wins and the right to advance to Team State. The Whippet Community should be proud to call the Whippet Wrestlers their own as they fought hard against a very good Evansville team, but ended up losing the dual, hence ending the team portion of the season. Whitewater finished the season 9-2 with both losses coming to Evansville. I feel as though we wrestled much better last night than we did earlier in the season, so the coaching staff is proud of the team for that.

Individually in the dual, Marcus DePorter got the team on the scoreboard with a well wrestled match against his opponent, winning by a major decision. Aaron Porras followed with another win for the team by getting a second period pin to help spark some excitement for the team. Sebastian Cuellar followed with an exciting takedown to start the match against a young man who has 40 wins on the season and was wrestling well but unfortunately dropped the match. Carter Friend showed he will not back down to anyone as he went up a weight class to get another shot at an opponent he lost to earlier in the season and who was a state runner-up last year. Carter wanted to show he can do better, and indeed did, securing a couple of takedowns in the match and wrestling better overall. However, he was unable to get a victory. The team ended the dual meet by winning the last two matches, so they ended on a couple of positive notes. Mason DePorter got a first period pin, his 27th of the season, which has now broken the single season record held since 2010. Jarvis Porcaro ended the evening for the Whippets when he avenged his Conference Championship loss by defeating his opponent 13-10 in a very exciting match to end the dual meet.

The coaching staff is very proud of the team this season. They showed they are a true team as they are always there in each other’s corner, no matter what, supporting and picking each other up when needed. Although this is the end of the dual meet season, seven individuals will be traveling to Richland Center to participate in the Individual Sectional with the hopes of punching a ticket to State. Wrestling begins at 10:00.

Article Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org

The Whitewater Girls’ Basketball team hosted Evansville for a conference game Monday, February 14th. 

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The Whippets struggled to gain momentum offensively throughout the game, falling 45-28. 

Kindyl Kilar led the Whippets with 10 points, followed by Gwen Truesdale and Calli Grosinske each with 5. 

The Whippets also honored seniors Lexi Juoni and Gwen Truesdale for their last home game of their high school careers. These two are extremely dedicated athletes that demonstrate tremendous grit and leadership. 

Article and Senior Photo Submitted by Kristen Lippens
Whitewater High School Head Girls’ Basketball Coach
klippens@wwusd.org
Action Photo Courtesy of Peter Mischka

The Whippet Varsity Gymnastics Team competed at the Platteville Invitational with 12 other teams on Saturday, February 12th. The girls had such an amazing meet, scoring their highest team score of 110.425, improving their old team score by almost 2 points! Breaking that 110-barrier is a big deal! We had our highest team Beam score of the season which was really awesome to see.

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Halee Peters made the podium with her no-fall Beam routine – earning herself a medal.  She also was right on her best scores for Vault, Floor, and All-Around.

Makayla Bazeley scored a personal best on Beam with a no-fall routine and also improved her All-Around score to 29.5. She tied her personal best on her Bars routine and was right on her best score for Vault.

Myia Cobbs had season bests on Vault and Beam and tied her best score on Bars. She also scored her highest in All-Around. Miyu competed varsity for Vault for the first time and scored a season best.

Our next meet is our Conference meet in Elkhorn on Friday, February 18th.

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

On Saturday, February 12, the Whitewater Wrestling Team achieved one of their goals that they set out to accomplish after last season, win a Regional Wrestling Championship. After the dust settled in a great tournament held at Jefferson High School, the Whippets brought home their first Regional Championship since 2017 by outdistancing Delavan-Darien. As a team, the Whippets wrestled very well and proved it was a team effort, as everyone did their part. If a teammate had a hiccup, others were there to step up and make up for it. Of the 14 competitors, 13 finished in the top four, with our sole 5th place finisher, Sebastian Cuellar, wrestling his heart out to finish his day with a pin in the 5th place match. He had a tough first round loss to the young man who ended up coming in 2nd place for the weight class.

Individually, the Whippets had 3 champions in Jarvis Porcaro, Marcus DePorter, and Mason DePorter. Each of these champs had big wins on the day to help push the points more into Whitewater’s favor.

Coming in runner up and also earning a trip to Individual Sectionals on Saturday were Traysen Thomason, Aaron Porras, Carter Friend, and Leo Ortiz. Each of these gentlemen lost tough ones in the championship round, but were able to hold onto their position as a qualifier.     

Just missing out on qualifying and finishing in 3rd place were CJ Tomomitsu, Connor Friend, Cooper Hammond, and Hector Arnodo. CJ, Connor, and Cooper each had an opportunity to wrestle for true second but came up just short, so they are alternates for Saturday in case of injury to a wrestler that finished ahead of them.

Last but definitely not least, as they brought in great team points, were Jason Villegas and Jesus Barajas. Jason wrestled outstanding all day and continued to show the great improvement he has all season long, dropping a good match to his opponent for 3rd. Barajas also wrestled well on the day, knowing he had an uphill battle, as he was bumped up a weight to help the team win a title. He did not back down in the 3rd place match, but came up short.

The coaching staff is extremely proud of the accomplishments of this team. As an underclassman said afterward, “Yes, we get to spend another week competing with these seniors. I love this team!” 

The team is in action on Tuesday night, February 15, when they travel to participate in the Team Sectional at River Valley High School in Spring Green. Their first dual is at 6:00, and then the championship dual will be at 8:00. The winner on Tuesday night in the two duals qualifies for Team State.

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