Chris Lindeke, Assistant Athletic Director, Strategic Communications and Branding, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Stats: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/uwwsports.com/documents/2022/1/12/1968297.pdf

The No. 8 ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women’s basketball team remained unbeaten in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play Wednesday night with a 62-53 victory at UW-Platteville.

The Warhawks (14-1 overall, 5-0 WIAC) broke open a tie game through three quarters with a 19-10 advantage in the fourth quarter, including an 11-2 run to end the contest. UW-W held the Pioneers to 39.6 percent shooting, including 30.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and forced 21 turnovers.

Aleah Grundahl led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Rebekah Schumacher tallied eight points, four rebounds and two steals, while Abby Belschner collected eight points, three rebounds and two blocks. Kacie Carollo scored seven points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

UW-Whitewater held advantages in points off turnovers (16-7) and made free throws (15-10) to overcome 35.6 percent shooting from the floor.

UW-Platteville (9-5, 2-2) hit three 3-pointers and shot 50 percent in the opening quarter, holding a 19-14 lead at the 2:56 mark. Johanna Taylor and Grundahl converted back-to-back layups to cut the UW-W deficit to one by the end of the period.

The Pioneers continued to lead in the second before the Warhawks ran off eight straight points for a 28-24 advantage following Carollo’s layup with 5:52 on the clock. UW-W held UW-P scoreless for more than six minutes in the quarter and held a 30-28 lead by halftime.

Neither team led by more than two in the third as the two teams traded baskets. The quarter included six ties and four lead changes, and the game was tied at 43-43 entering the fourth.

UW-Platteville led by four just over three minutes into the fourth quarter before UW-Whitewater’s 6-0 run, including three points each from Grundahl and Schumacher, made it 51-49 just past the midway point of the frame.

The Pioneers tied the game at 51-51 and, one minute later, Yssa Sto. Domingo gave the Warhawks the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 3:42 remaining.

Sto. Domingo drew a charge with 1:43 left, and UW-W scored the next five points to put the game out of reach. Maggie Trautsch knocked down four free throws over the final 40 seconds of regulation.

UW-Whitewater hosts UW-River Falls this Saturday at 3 p.m. on Alumni Day inside Kachel Gymnasium.

After rolling over Delavan-Darien on Friday night, January 7, by the lopsided score of 64-34, the Whitewater Whippets played a home conference game against Clinton on Tuesday, January 11.

Gwen Truesdale and Kindyl Kilar had strong offensive games on Tuesday, both scoring 16 points. Clinton shot extremely well from outside, scoring 45 of their 84 points from 3-point range. The Whippets came up short losing 46-84.

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

On Saturday, January 8, 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 and Union Grove. The tournament is all one division, so students from Division 3 to Division 1 all descended into Whitewater on Saturday. These 28 schools brought 263 wrestlers to compete in this event, with as many as 26-person brackets to work through, in an attempt to place in the top four and earn the right to advance to the state championships in Wausau.

The Whitewater team did very well all day, from Friday evening with setting up six mats, Saturday competition, and then finally the clean-up 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 four, but there was outstanding competition to work through, and nearly everyone secured at least one win on the day.

Highlights of the day included the Whippets having three team members place in the top two and one third place, all qualifying for Wausau. There was a 5th member of the team who took 5th and will be an alternate in case someone ahead of him cannot go.

Traysen Thomason took second place and lost a tough overtime match in the finals. He was full of energy all day as he hammered his way to the finals. He had his goals set all day for heading to Wausau.

Sebastian Cuellar also took second, losing a tough match in the finals. In the semifinals, he wrestled extremely well, getting a victory that went into three overtimes. 

Yovanni Rojas-Reyes claimed second after a heart breaker in the finals. He wrestled very well all day, adjusting to every opponent’s style.

Hector Arnodo earned third place Saturday after his match against Janesville Parker. Hector all day was looking to score as many points as possible every match. He did what he said, and won by tech fall in his third place match. 

Armando Villarreal took 5th at 220. He had a tough road through the wrestle backs but sealed the deal by pin over Muskego. As stated, Armando is an alternate, so if a competitor who placed ahead of him is unable to go, he will have the opportunity.

As Coach Bruski stated, “Overall everyone seemed to wrestle well. We had good matches and bad matches, and everyone did their part for the team. Effort was far from depleted as the day turned into a long one. I think the overall goal was for everyone to place and get the opportunity for a fun overnight trip to Wausau. I’m looking forward to heading up north with wrestlers in a few weeks as it gets more experiences for our JV program. The Wausau tournament is tough and just what we need as we are nearing the last half of wrestling season. So, we are looking forward to taking this momentum from this weekend and keeping it going.”

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 clean-up of the six 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 and Photo Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org

On Thursday night, January 6, the Whippet Wrestling Team hosted the Eagles of Jefferson in a Rock Valley Conference Dual Meet. In the end, Whitewater pinned them down with a 69-12 victory.

On the night, Whitewater had a total of 10 pins, 1 injury default, and 1 decision. This is the most pins the coaching staff has witnessed in a dual meet in the 16 years they have been together at Whitewater.

Getting pins for Whitewater included Jarvis Porcaro, Connor Friend, Cooper Hammond, Marcus DePorter, Aaron Porras, Carter Friend, Mason Nobs, Payton Lyon, Mason DePorter and Leo Ortiz. Winning by injury default was Victor Hernandez, whose opponent injured himself during a pinning combination by Victor and could not finish the match. CJ Tomomitsu won by a 9-2 decision.

This dual meet is likely one of the most entertaining that I have been a part of as it was extremely exciting with the pins and the excitement in the crowd made it a lot of fun. We had a nice contingent of parents, high school students, and a special set of bleachers for a group of the youth wrestlers.

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The Whippets are next in action on Friday when they travel to Edgerton to participate in the Rock Valley Conference Duals. They will have 4 conference duals that will all be very competitive for the team.

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