Thursday, October 17 was a good day for the Whippet Cross Country teams as they raced their guts out at the 2024 Rock Valley Conference Meet.

In this eleven-team meet, the girls finished in 3rd overall, just a few points from second. A tight pack of Whippets played a large role in the team’s success. Carley Boudreau emerged as the top runner in this meet, as she was one of four Whippets that earned honorable mention all-conference honors. Carley finished in 19th with a time of 23:16. In 20th was Athena Soto in 23:22. Mady Hefty was 21st in 23:32, and Virginia Nelson was 22nd in 23:35. The top 24 runners earned all-conference honors. Nola Coburn placed 25th in 23:49. This wave of red was very thrilling to watch race around the course and pass other runners as a pack of Whippets together. Ema Aranda was the team’s sixth runner today and placed 32nd with a time of 24:37. Sami Van Daele was the team’s 7th runner and placed 37th with a time of 25:03.

In the JV race, Delaney Hammack placed 13th in 26:59. Mya Graves-Koran placed 15th in 27:17. Lucy Troxel placed 19th in 27:45. Payton Brautigam placed 23rd and stopped the clock in 30:26. The JV team did not have a team score.

The boys’ team replicated its runner-up finish from a year ago against a very strong Monroe team. Jack Hefty took the lead from the gun and never looked back as he sailed to his second conference title in as many years and finished in 16:50. Xavier Zei earned first-team all-conference honors placing 5th in 17:51. Miles Nickelsburg earned second-team all-conference honors in 9th with a time of 17:56. Luc Pomazac also earned second-team honors in 13th with a time of 18:41. Andrew O’Toole earned honorable mention honors in 19th with a time of 18:49. Rounding out the varsity squad were Onyx Thompson in 27th with a time of 19:22 and Isaac Straight in 48th in 20:20. 

In the JV race, Quinton O’Toole led the team and secured a top 10 finish to place 8th with a time of 20:29. Isaiah Mendez was the team’s second runner and placed 12th in 21:08. Wyatt Esch placed 20th in 22:04. Alex Clarksen placed 44th in 24:36. Wrapping up the team scoring was Angel Kilar who placed 58th with a time of 26:49. The JV team finished in 5th with 129 pts. 

Next up for the team will be the WIAA Sectional meet hosted on this same course at UW-Whitewater on Friday, October 25th. The top two teams and the top five individuals not on those teams will earn a trip to the WIAA State Meet. The girls’ race will begin at 4:00, followed by the boys at 4:45. 

Full Results: https://wi.milesplit.com/meets/628514-rvc-championship-2024

Article and Photos Submitted by Chad Carstens
Whitewater High School Head Cross Country Coach
ccarstens@wwusd.org

Whitewater Volleyball closed its regular season with a non-conference win against Johnson Creek on Thursday, October 17. It was a special night for the Whippets, as they recognized their parents for their constant support all season and honored the program’s six very special seniors (Ava Alvarado, Falyn Krahn, Zoe Kohl, Calli Grosinske, Ella Spear, and Ayden Clark) who played in their final home volleyball match. The Whippets started the match strong and never looked back. The Whippets took the match in three straight sets – 25-11, 25-23, 25-16.

Stat leaders for the Whippets were:

• Kills – Calli Grosinske (senior) – 13; Falyn Krahn (senior) – 7
• Assists – Calli Grosinske (senior) – 15
• Aces – Ella Spear (senior) – 6; Calli Grosinske (senior) 4
• Digs – Calli Grosinske (senior) – 19; Ella Spear (senior) – 12 

The Whippets (12 seed) open postseason play Tuesday, October 22nd at 7 pm in Edgerton (5 seed).

Article and Photo Submitted by Caitlin Dowden
Whitewater High School Head Volleyball Coach
dowca01@wwusd.org

Alayna Jansky goes up for an attack against UW-Stevens Point Wednesday (Michael Gouvion)

The No. 5 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team fell to UW-Stevens Point in a tight five-setter 3-2 (25-19, 11-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-11) Wednesday night. 

The loss in Russell Arena broke a 20-match home win streak for UWW. Over the last four seasons, the Warhawks are 57-3 on their home court. 

The Pointers jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first set. The Warhawks battled to within one, 18-17, but a late run gave UWSP the 1-0 match advantage. 

UW-Whitewater dominated set two taking a 10-2 lead of their own. Another big run in the middle of the set had the Warhawks enjoying a 20-6 lead before evening the match with a 25-11 win. UWW hit .583 in the set hammering down 14 kills without committing a single attack error. 

The Warhawks jumped out to a 6-2 lead in set three before the Pointers battled back to knot the set 7-7. The teams traded points and small runs until a string of three kills for UWW sparked the Warhawks. Alayna Jansky pounded down the first two and Hannah Proctor added the third to give UW-Whitewater a 22-17 lead. Abbie Dix put the finishing touches on the set with a kill to make it 25-22. 

UWW looked to have the fourth set in hand with an 18-11 lead before UWSP came flying back. The Pointers rattled off five straight to narrow the gap to two. Jansky stopped the run with a kill, but UW-Stevens Point responded with three more to tie the set 19-19. The squads traded points with UWW taking a 23-22 lead when the Pointers notched three consecutive kills to force a decisive fifth set. 

The Warhawks had an early lead and held an 8-6 advantage at the side-switch. UWSP evened the score 10-10 and then took the lead with a pair of kills, 12-10. Jenna Weinfurt found the floor on an attack to cut the margin to one, 12-11. The Pointers had the response once again with three straight points to take the set and match. 

Both teams registered 62 kills in the match with the Warhawks holding the advantage in efficiency hitting .301 compared to .224 for UWSP. UW-Whitewater also tallied a 16-6 advantage in blocks. 

Outside hitters Jansky (20) and Weinfurt (17) combined for 37 kills in the contest. From the middle Proctor and Abbie Dix tallied 13 kills in 20 attempts with just a pair of attack errors. 

Defensively at the net, Dix registered 11 blocks for the second consecutive contest. Now averaging 1.43 blocks per set this season, Dix is the second-best blocker in the nation. Proctor, a top-10 blocker in Division III added five more to her season total Wednesday. Libero Jaedynn Evans had a game-high 17 digs while Weinfurt joined her double digits with 15. 

Setter Aubrie Krzus posted 50 assists adding six blocks and four kills. 

With three matches left in the conference slate, the Pointers lead the WIAC with a 4-0 record. UW-Oshkosh is second at 3-1. Four teams are tied for third at 2-2 including UWW, UW-Platteville, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout. 

The Warhawks return to the court with a pair of matches this weekend. UWW will host Carthage Friday at 7 and Saint Mary’s (Minn.) Saturday at noon. Due to other events on campus, fans will have to pay for parking for these matches. Click here for more information.