December 2012

Fri
14
Dec
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Parker rallies past Middleton girls

It was all right there for the taking.

A four-point lead. Less than a minute remaining. A chance to make an enormous early-season statement.

And then it all slipped away.

Middleton’s girls basketball team led visiting Janesville Parker, 48-44, with 53.3 seconds left last Thursday. But the Vikings answered with a stunning 8-0 run and held on for a 52-50 win.

“Our inexperience really bit us in the butt,” Middleton coach Jeff Kind said. “I’m really proud of how we hung in there. But we just don’t have people that have been in position where they’ve had to finish games. This is new to so many of our kids.”

Middleton, which has won at least a share of six straight Big Eight Conference titles, had the preseason favorite Vikings on the ropes throughout. The Cardinals, playing without all-state forward Liz McMahon (broken finger), were the scrappier team all night.

Fri
14
Dec
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Boys basketball team bounces back

When it comes to playing games on back-to-back nights, Luke Schafer said a little depth can go a long way.

Schafer’s layup off a backcourt steal helped spark a key scoring surge in the third quarter as Middleton rolled to a convincing 68-45 victory over visiting Madison West in a Big Eight Conference boys basketball game Saturday night.

The quick turnaround couldn’t have come at a better time for the Cardinals, who dropped a hard-fought 61-53 decision at Madison East on Friday night.

“West has great personnel. They have quick kids and one prolific scorer and they’ve some size inside and we knew it would be a tough matchup,” Middleton coach Kevin Bavery said. “A couple of people after the game hit me up with that (Madison) Memorial took a lot out of (West) last night in a tough game. But I told our kids don’t let anybody tell you that we didn’t have a tough game with East.”

Fri
14
Dec
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Middleton wrestlers shine

Middleton’s wrestling team finished third at the 16-team Tomah Scramble last Saturday.

Lancaster won the event with 445 points, while Lodi (392), Middleton (362) Caledonia (360) and Neillsville (342.5) rounded out the top five.

Cardinals senior Jake Cain finished first at 138 points, pinning three foes along the way.

Cain received a bye in his first match, then pinned Lodi’s Adam Phillips in 45 seconds. Cain followed with pins of Baraboo’s William Pierce in 1:40 and Lancaster’s Joe Crosby in 1:01, then won by injury default over Caledonia’s Luke Werner.

Taggart Haase also enjoyed a big day, finishing second at 170 pounds.

Haase opened with a pin of Mosinee’s Jacob Sparby in 3:07, then captured a 6-2 decision over Viroqua’s Clay Fitzpatrick. Haase followed with an 8-3 win over Mitchell Pohlman of Neillsville, lost an 11-1 decision to Lancaster’s Ethan Soderstrom and toppled Cashton’s Brandon Schmitz, 7-3.

Fri
14
Dec
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Gymnasts win opening meet

Kari Egan-Steck always has great expectations. But Middleton’s girls gymnastics coach likes to temper them for the first meet each season.

This year, that probably wasn’t necessary.

The Cardinals opened their season last Tuesday with an impressive 134.625-132.275 win over visiting Mount Horeb.

“With the first meet you never really know what to expect,” Egan-Steck said. “But I think that the girls definitely exceeded my expectations. They had a phenomenal meet.”

These two programs know each other well from club gymnastics and traditionally open the season against each other. It leads to a meet that’s usually more friendly than fiery.

“It is a low stress, friendly meet that the girls have a lot of fun with,” Egan-Steck said.

Fri
14
Dec
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Middleton swimmers make a splash

 

It was a busy — and highly successful — week for Middleton’s boys swimming and diving team.

The Cardinals took second place at the Brookfield East Invite last Tuesday. Middleton then defeated Madison La Follette and Janesville Parker in a triangular last Friday, and finished second at the Janesville Parker Relays last Saturday.

Madison Memorial won the Brookfield East Invite with 593 points. Middleton was a distant second at 391.5, but the Cardinals finished ahead of traditional state powers Brookfield (299.5) and Hartland Arrowhead (284).

“We ended up beating Arrowhead and they took second at state last year,” Cardinals coach Luke Lengfeld said.

Middleton had several terrific performances on the day.

Thu
13
Dec
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A Friday Tradition

It’s Friday afternoon and there’s a distinctive sound emanating from the kitchen beneath St. Peter Catholic School in Ashton. It’s periodic laughter and the percussive clunk of chopping as a handful of volunteers mix massive vats of coleslaw, trim hundreds of slabs of cod, and line up tray after tray of homemade cupcakes.

In a few hours, the sound will be replaced by a din rivaling that of any busy restaurant. Baskets of battered cod will be lowered into cracking oil, and more than 1,000 people will line up to take part in a Wisconsin tradition.

It’s a tradition that has been going on here, at St. Peter Catholic Parish, for four decades now.

Friday night fish fries take place in many different venues. Their origin, however, is linked to the devoutly religious European communities that settled in this region of the Midwest.

Thu
13
Dec
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Family Farming in the Suburbs

It didn’t start with the chickens. Before the chickens came the kids. It all started with the kids.

Amy and Jeff Wiltzius have an uncommonly large residential lot, about three quarters of an acre, in Middleton’s Shorecrest neighborhood. A petite neighborhood with little traffic, Shorecrest is north of County Highway M and east of County Highway Q. Across the backyard fence is Bishops Bay.

In 1997 Amy and Jeff, a young couple with plans to raise a family, bought their home. The  transition to homeownership included the addition of new chores and responsibilities.

“Every weekend we were mowing the lawn,” Amy recalled.

Three years after purchasing their house, Amy gave birth to a son, Nate. An independent child from the beginning, as a toddler Nate’s curiosity took him all over the neighborhood. “We’d find him having cookies and milk in our neighbors’ kitchen down the block,” Amy said.

Thu
13
Dec
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Personality a Key Ingredient for Local Chef

There’s an old saying about going to dinner and a show. When Rod Ladson is the chef, dinner is part of the show.

“In high school I wanted to be a comedian,” reflects the jovial culinary maestro. “I was in drama all four years. I loved to be on stage and be in the limelight.”

For nearly five years now, Ladson has been center stage as executive chef at Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse, 8390 Market Street in Greenway Station.

He treats the 1940s-themed restaurant like a theater. The bartenders are called “bootleggers.” All servers have a role to play. The kitchen is like a sweltering green room accented by bubbling saucepans and the perpetual clattering of dishes.

Thu
13
Dec
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City Sustainability Committee Announces Water Conservation Challenge

The Middleton Sustainability Committee, with assistance from local businesses, is challenging residents to join the 2013 Water Conservation Challenge and compete with their neighbors to reduce 2013 water usage by the highest percentage.

Those who enter will be eligible to win monthly prizes just for signing up. Three grand prize winners will be selected based on the highest percentage of water saved. Grand prizes include: a dual-flush toilet ($300 value), a Death’s Door Spirits gift pack, and green housecleaning session. A $50 gift card to Willy Street Co-Op will be awarded to the participant who submits the most innovative method of water use reduction (to be judged by three water experts).

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