By Angela Kelm
Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

The No. 5 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs with a 42-14 win over Bethel University at Perkins Stadium Saturday. 

Box Score

The Warhawks advance to face Wheaton (IL) in the second round. That game is slated for Saturday, November 25 at noon. The location is set to be announced Sunday afternoon. The Thunder defeated Mount St. Joseph 41-34 in their first round matchup Saturday. 

UW-Whitewater scored early and never looked back. After the Warhawk defense forced a third-and-out, UWW had great field position with Tyler Vasey (Crystal Lake, Ill/Prairie Ridge) calling for a fair catch at the UWW 48 on the Royals’ punt. Facing a third and seven from the Bethel 49, Alec Ogden (Marshall, Wis./Monona Grove) dropped back, surveyed and found Steven Hein (St. Charles, Ill./North) in stride beating his defender down the right sideline for a 49-yard touchdown. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire sent the extra point through the uprights and the Warhawks held a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. 

Following three consecutive punts – two for Bethel and one for the Warhawks – UWW took over at their own 32 with just under five to go in the first quarter. Ogden opened the drive with a 34-yard scamper off the right side of the line. Two plays later, he extended the play and dodging defenders before hitting Nick Wind (Downers Grove, Ill./Montini Catholic) wide open in the end zone from 32 yards out. Another extra point had UW-Whitewater leading 14-0. 

The Warhawk defense turned Bethel over on downs at the UWW 34 to bring the offense back on to the field. Ogden took off finding space down the right side once again, this time registering a 47-yard run to open the drive. On the next play, Tommy Coates (Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) hauled in a great catch in the end zone from 19-yards out for the score and a 21-0 UWW lead. 

Bethel capitalized on a Warhawk miscue for their first score of the game. A bad snap on a punt gave the Royals the ball at the UWW four-yard line. Bethel punched it in utilizing the wildcat formation to make it 21-7. 

The Warhawks responded with Vasey weaving through traffic on the kickoff for a 39-yard return to set up the UWW offense at their own 42. After a few short gains, Ogden hit Coates on the tunnel screen, and he bolted up the near sideline for a 54-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 28-7. 

UW-Whitewater scored on their first possession out of the intermission on Tamir Thomas’ (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) two-yard run. The Royals added to their total with their own two-yard punch in to make it 35-14 in the third. UWW wrapped up the scoring with a single touchdown in the fourth – a 32-yard Thomas run up the middle. 

Ogden was 11-15 for 218 yards and four touchdowns. He added 71 yards on the six carries. Hein and Drake Martin (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) were the top targets with three catches each and a combined 109 yards receiving. Thomas led UWW in the rushing game with 156 yards on 13 carries and a pair of touchdowns. 

Defensively, Hawk Heffner (Grafton, Wis./Grafton) paced the Warhawks with nine tackles. Matt Burba (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Huntley) added eight including a tackle for a loss of three yards. In the secondary, Egon Hein (St. Charles, Ill./North) was one of the most active breaking up three passes that would have gone for big gains. 

By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information

Mount Vernon, Iowa — The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater volleyball team swept Washington University-St. Louis 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-18) in the second round of NCAA regional play Friday evening in Mount Vernon, Iowa. With the victory, the Warhawks earn a spot in the regional final for the second consecutive season. 

UWW will play the winner of Northwestern (MN) and host Cornell College in the regional championship at 5 p.m. Saturday. The UNW/CC match is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday. Editor’s note: Northwestern (MN) beat Cornell 3-2, so UWW will face No. 1 seed and fifth-ranked Northwestern in the regional final.

The Warhawks were efficient hitting .237 in the match while the UWW defense held the Bears to just .080 attacking. 

WashU had a 7-6 lead in the first set when a 3-0 run for the Warhawks gave UWW a 9-7 lead. Although the Bears came back to tie the set 18-18, UW-Whitewater never trailed the rest of the set. From that even point, UWW scored seven of the next eight to pick up the first set win. 

An early 5-0 run in the second gave UWW an 8-3 advantage and the Warhawks never looked back. Jenna Weinfurt (Waukesha, Wis./Catholic Memorial) put the finishing touch on the set with a kill for the final point. 

In the third, UW-Whitewater strung together a run of six to jump out to a 10-3 lead. Another five-point run mid-set widened the gap to 17-9 and all but sealed the set and match. Ally Warburton (St. Charles, Ill./North) hammered down a kill for match point and a Bear miscue sealed the win for UWW. 

Kirsten Anderson (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) led the Warhawks with 13 kills in 26 attempts while committing just a single error. Warburton joined Anderson in double figures with 11 kills. 

The nation’s top blocking team posted 10 total blocks led by a solo and five assists from Abbie Dix (Brodhead, Wis./Brodhead). Aubrie Krzus (Wheaton, Ill./Warrenville South) added a solo and four assists while dishing out 30 assists in the match. 

In the backcourt, Morgan Jensen (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) registered 22 digs. Krzus posted 14 and Weinfurt added 13. 

Editor’s note: The following story was provided by Elizabeth Miller.

WHS and UW-W Grad Dawson Miller Places 2nd in Division at Hyrox Chicago, Qualifies for 2024 Hyrox World Championship in France

On Saturday, November 11th, Dawson Miller, a graduate of Whitewater High School (2011) and UW-Whitewater (BBA Finance ‘15, MBA Data Analytics ‘17) placed second overall in the Men’s Open Division at Hyrox Chicago. Hyrox is known as the “World Series of Fitness Racing,” with over 40 races around the world in 2023 alone. He and the first place finisher are the first two Americans to break the hour mark in the open division. Miller’s time of 59:53 qualified him to compete at the Hyrox World Championships in Nice, France next June.

By Angela Kelm
Asst. Athletic Director for Sports Information

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men’s cross country team is headed to Newville, Pennsylvania for the NCAA Division III Championships hosted by Dickinson College this Saturday. 

Championship Information:
Date: Saturday, November 18
Host: Dickinson College
Location: Big Spring High School in Newville, PA
Time: 10 a.m. CST start (men’s race)
Live Coverage: Video available on ncaa.com (runs through awards ceremony)

The Warhawks will send eight runners to the national championship meet – seven will compete on Saturday. UW-Whitewater finished 10th in the 2022 national meet. The Warhawks have finished among the top 10 five times in program history including fifth place finishes in 2021 and 1999.  

“Our goal is to finish better than we ever have before in the national meet,” said Coach Jeff Miller. “We have seven runners that have competed in a national meet before,” continued Miller. “That’s a relatively rare feat, so we’re excited for Saturday’s championship.” 

UW-Whitewater enters the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship ranked sixth according to the latest USTFCCCA poll. The Warhawks have won all but three meets this season – each time finishing second to the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the Division III poll that week.

The Warhawks are led by Christian Patzka (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) this season. The junior was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week three times this season – October 2, October 16 and October 30. 

UW-Whitewater will have five All-Region runners including two runners who are two-time All-Americans. Patzka was the 2022 runner-up registering the top finish for a UWW runner in program history. Both Patzka and Gunner Schlender (Brillion, Wis./Brillion) have placed among the top 30 at the national meet each of the last two seasons. Seven Warhawks earned All-WIAC honors this season – the largest contingent in program history.

For more information on each of the Warhawks headed to the championship: https://uwwsports.com/news/2023/11/13/mens-cross-country-ncaa-cross-country-championship-preview.aspx