The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team opened the 2025 campaign with a 45-14 win over Carleton Saturday. 

It was a beautiful fall day at The Perk and the Warhawk faithful came out to cheer on UWW for their first game of 2025. The first Warhawk points of the season came on their first offensive possession with a Seth Adams 23-yard field goal that capped a 10-play, 81-yard drive. 

The offense surged in the second quarter putting up 21 points to jump out to a 24-7 at the break. Quarterback Justin Klinkner registered UWW’s first TD of the season, punching it in from a yard out to put the Warhawks up 10-0.

After the Knights put up a score to pull within 10-7, Tyler Vasey responded the way he does it best – a 91-yard kickoff return to the house to push the lead back to 10. Another three-and-out for the defense gave UWW the ball back with just under six minutes to go before the break. The Warhawks used up nearly the entire clock before Cole Berghorn blasted through the middle of the line for a three-yard touchdown run to make it 24-7. 

On the other side of the intermission, Brian Stanton ripped off a 75-yard touchdown run with less than five remaining in the third. Klinkner tacked on another TD, this time a 59-yard spurt to push the advantage to 38-7 by the end of the third quarter. 

Stanton struck again early in the fourth, breaking free for a 66-yard touchdown scamper. The final score of the game came on a goal line rush for the Knights. 

Klinkner was 7-8 for 72 yards in the passing game. He gained 107 yards on 19 attempts with his legs adding a pair of touchdowns. Stanton was the leading rusher, with 201 yards on seven attempts – an average of 28.7 per carry – and two scores. 

Vasey hauled in three catches for 28 yards and averaged 58 yards per kickoff return. Adams was perfect on the day — nailing the only field goal he attempted and drilling all six points after. 

Defensively, Karsten Libby paced UWW with 10 tackles, a sack and an interception. Carter Sessa also picked off a Carleton pass in the contest. 

The Warhawks will head out on the road the next two weeks visiting Saint Xavier University in Illinois on September 13th and Mary Hardin-Baylor in Texas on the 20th. After the bye week, UW-Whitewater will be back in Perkins Stadium to host UW-La Crosse on the team’s annual Family Fest, Alumni Day and Shriners Day. 

The Whippet Cross Country Team competed on September 5 in their largest invitational of the season to date at McCarty Park in West Allis. With another week of training, perfect weather, and a growing ability to embrace being uncomfortable, the team rose to the challenge against much larger programs.

Several athletes ran lifetime bests. Freshman Tyler Carollo led the way with his first sub-19 effort, running 18:55 for 58th place—over a minute faster than his debut race last week. Wyatt Esch stepped up as the team’s No. 2 finisher, earning a personal best of 20:09 for 85th. Marcus Roselle joined the PR party with a 20:37 (91st), followed closely by Isaiah Mendez in 21:01 (93rd). Quinton O’Toole finished 99th in 21:26, and Angel Kilar capped the varsity effort with a big breakthrough—running 22:08, over a minute better than his previous best. The team placed 15th out of 25 schools.

In the JV race, Sam Nickelsburg made a big jump from last week, clocking 24:23. Freshman Jameson Rothwell debuted with a 25:37, and Ian Agen nearly broke 30 minutes, crossing in 30:31.

On the girls’ side, Virginia Nelson led the varsity squad with a 22:48 for 56th. Delaney Hammack dropped 32 seconds for a PR of 23:46 (71st), while Ema Aranda finished 83rd in 24:34. Freshman Madelyn Taylor cut nearly three minutes from her season opener, setting a lifetime best of 27:08.

In JV action, Payton Brautigam looked outstanding, running faster than she had in the past three seasons with a 27:02 for 66th. Noelia Villegas-Korbel showed grit, cutting nearly a full minute from her opening race.

The Whippets will now take a week off from racing to focus on training (and water softener salt sales!) before returning to competition at the Dana Waddell Invite in Cottage Grove on Tuesday, September 16.

Full Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/258799/info

Article Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org
File Photo Courtesy of Heather Hammack

SI.com, the official website of Sports Illustrated, featured an article on September 5 titled Border Showdown: Is Missouri Game the Biggest of Lance Leipold’s Career?

Leipold is the head football coach at the University of Kansas, a position he has held since 2021. He was the head football coach at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater from 2007 to 2014 and the University at Buffalo from 2015 to 2020.^[2] During his tenure at Wisconsin–Whitewater, the team won six NCAA Division III Football Championships: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 and were runners-up in 2008. During his time at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Leipold led the Warhawks to 5 undefeated seasons. [Wikipedia]

Per the article, it sounds like the national media has overhyped the September 6 game of Kansas vs. Missouri, but those who remember Leipold may enjoy reading an update on his career.

On Thursday, September 4, the Whippets traveled to Jefferson High School to compete in the Southern Lakes Conference Relay Championship. The team finished 5th overall and showed up with incredible swims, heat wins, and huge time drops throughout the night!

 Meet Highlights:

 200 Medley Relay (Maggie Maas, Atreya Wilson, Lucy Davis, Charlotte Hajewski) – 8th overall and won their heat by nearly 17 seconds!

 4×100 IM Relay (Kendra Serrano, Grace Coleman, Charlotte Hajewski, Emma Maas) – pulled off a thrilling comeback win in the final leg to take their heat!

 1000 Crescendo Relay (Grace Smith, Atreya Wilson, Maggie Maas, Lucy Davis) – 7th overall, winning their heat by nearly 40 seconds!

 50 Freestyle “Splash & Dash”  Two teams made their mark!

• Laken DePorter, Jalayne Hanson, Paige Kollwelter, Storm DePorter – 10th overall, dropping 11 seconds from their seed time!
• Emma Maas, Maya Davis, Grace Smith, Maggie Maas – 6th place with a time of 1:01.10.

 400 Backstroke Relay (Grace Smith, Caitlin Alford, Paige Kollwelter, Georgia Esch) – dominated their heat with a win by over a minute, with all four swimmers crushing their times!

The Whippets brought the energy, teamwork, and grit—what an amazing night of racing! 

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