On Friday night, January 14, the Whippet Wrestling Team traveled to Edgerton to participate in the Rock Valley Conference Duals. This is the first year the conference has held this event on a Friday night, and although it was a late night with the five rounds of duals, it gave the teams an opportunity to have their Saturday off. This event has each of the teams competing against either four or five other teams in the conference depending on the random draw of scheduling in the Spring. For the first time since this event started taking place, Whitewater had the opportunity to have a bye as they only competed in four duals.

The night started off rough for the Whippets, dropping a dual meet to Evansville who is ranked third in the state for Division 2. The only ones to win matches in the dual for Whitewater were the DePorter brothers, Mason and Marcus. Dropping a heart breaker in this dual was Aaron Porras.

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The team knew they had to regroup quickly if they wanted to close out the evening successfully. They wrestled very well against Brodhead, defeating them 46-24, with some very well wrestled matches by the team.

Next up for Whitewater was a dual we always look forward to, as over the last several years it has always been very close. This is what makes the duals in a gym with other duals disappointing, as Coach Holle of East Troy as well as Coach Schimming of Whitewater would much rather compete on a Thursday or Friday night in our gym for our fans. Once again, this year did not disappoint in excitement. Whitewater needed a pin in the last match in order to secure a tie in the dual, which Jarvis Porcaro did! The tiebreaker proved how close the dual meet was as it came down to the 7th tiebreaker, most first points scored, which Whitewater won 13-10 in the 12 matches contested. This gave Whitewater the 40-39 victory.

The night cap saw Whitewater defeat Big Foot 57-15 in a well wrestled contest. This was truly a nightcap, as the dual was the last one still going at 11:00 when it ended.

The coaching staff is happy with how the team performed after a pretty good beating to start the night, and they did not run with their tails between their legs. As a team, the Whippets stand at 6-1 in the Rock Valley Conference.

On the night, Mason and Marcus DePorter were 4-0, while Jarvis Porcaro, Aaron Porras, and Carter Friend finished the evening 3-1. 

The Whippets are next in action on Saturday, when the Varsity travels to the Monroe Invitational. The JV has six students traveling to Wausau to participate in the WWCA JV Challenge Series finals. These are Traysen Thomason, Ashly Xochipa, Sebastian Cuellar, Yovanni Rojas-Reyes, Hector Arnodo, and Armando Villarreal. 

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

The Whitewater High School Boys’ Basketball Team struggled offensively as they lost to Evansville 59-40, on Thursday, January 13th. It was cold outside that night, but it seemed even colder inside for the Whippets as they only shot 12 for 46 (26%) from the field. In addition to losing the game, Whitewater also lost 2nd leading scorer, Jake Hintz, for the season as he was injured driving for a layup only four minutes into the game. After his injury, Evansville went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-4 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.  Although the Whippets played one of their better defensive games of the season, their shooting woes frustrated any comeback attempts. 

Whitewater was led by Wyatt Nickels with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. Ramon Wence had his best all-around game of the season with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Jon Aron also scored 11 points.

Whitewater’s next game is Tuesday, January 18, at home against Beloit Turner.

Article Submitted by Dwayne Lange
Photo Courtesy of Peter Mischka

The gym was buzzing and full of energy when the Whippet Girls’ Basketball Team hosted Youth Night for a conference game at home against McFarland Friday, January 14. The amazing collaboration of our district bands for the Pepapalooza event added to the buzz.  

The Whippets fed off the energy in the gym, coming out strong, and keeping the Spartans within reach, ending the first half down 11 points, 28-39. Maintaining the intensity, Whitewater narrowed the score to within 8 in the second half. The Spartans went on a 16 point scoring run with the Whippets stuck at 38, creating a deficit the Whippets were unable to recover from, losing 44-80.  

Gwen Truesdale led the Whippets with 14 points, followed by Danielle DePorter with 10, Kindyl Kilar with 7, and Jenna Pope with 6.  

The Whippets will take on Elkhorn next week Tuesday, January 18, at home. 

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

The Boys’ Swim Team traveled to Burlington on Tuesday, January 11th, to compete in a Triangular against Burlington and Edgerton/Evansville

Some highlights of the meet are:

• Tyler Arnett took on the 200 IM for the first time this season and had a nice swim, going a 2:33.21.
• Jack Hefty competed in new race this season, taking on the 100 Fly, going a 1:13.61
• Zach Tomomitsu had a nice 50 Free time, going a 37.27.
• Andrew O’Toole has made significant improvement in the 200 Freestyle since his very first meet, dropping nearly 30 seconds!
• Casey Schilling and Miles Nickelsburg continue to drop time in the 100 Backstroke, both going season best times.
• Jack Hefty improves his time in 100 Breaststroke, going a 1:26.23.
• Casey Schilling had a nice 50 Freestyle Relay split, even after his goggles fell off.

The Whippet Swimmers will be back in action on Tuesday, January 25th, for their last conference dual meet against Badger, at home, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Article and Photo Submitted by Sarah Reynolds
Whitewater High School Co-Head Swim Coach
sreynolds@wwusd.org