March 2015

Pat Riley, the Miami Heat general manager, trademarked the term “three-peat” in the late-1980s. Back then, Riley was the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, and his team was trying to win a third straight NBA championship.

Riley may own the rights to the term. But Middleton’s boys track and field team is anxious to make a run at a three-peat.

The Cardinals have won back-to-back Big Eight Conference titles. And with several key cogs back from a year ago, Middleton hopes to capture a third straight league crown this spring.

“They have the right mindset, they've worked hard in the off season, and we have great depth,” Middleton ninth-year coach Isaac Mezera said. “A three-peat is our No. 1 goal. If that is accomplished, I'm sure we'll have a strong postseason, too.”

Middleton enjoyed one its best season in recent memory in 2014. Not only did the Cardinals win the Big Eight again, they won the Madison Memorial Sectional and finished fifth at state.

There will be two contested Middleton-Cross Plains Area School Board races on the April 7 ballot. In Area 4, which includes the towns of Middleton and Westport, newcomers Todd Smith and Linda Yu will square off. In Area 5, the school board’s central district, incumbent Anne Bauer will be challenged by Tia Eady. In Area 1, newcomer Kelly Kalscheur filed to run unopposed. In Area 2, which includes Cross Plains, newcomer Sean Hyland filed to run unopposed.

Area 4 candidate Linda Yu currently serves as the Chair for the Finance and Business Law Department at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She has also worked at the State University of New York Institute of Technology. She earned an undergraduate degree in British Literature, a master’s degree in Business Administration, and a Ph.D in Finance. She holds chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation.

Editor's note: In the last couple of years, an unprecedented number of Dane County residents have died from heroin overdoses. Most recently, Middleton High School graduate Kyle Wood, 32, died following a long battle with addiction.

As authorities struggle with how to contain the epidemic, The Middleton Times-Tribune, over the next several months, will publish the first-person accounts of an addict currently in recovery. That addict, Nathan J. Comp, has contributed to the pages of this newspaper as well as several other publications throughout the state, including Isthmus and The Capital Times.

His work has been recognized by several distinguished organizations, including The American Academy of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry for a series he wrote in 2004 on drug use among Middleton teens following the death of 16-year-old Julie Zdeblick, who died of an oxycodone overdose that same year.