Sports

Life is full of surprises.

Just ask Middleton’s Carter Kadow, who grew up with his sights set on playing college basketball.

Kadow, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound senior, recently accepted an NCAA Division I football scholarship to Rutgers University.

It has been a rollercoaster ride for Kadow, who suffered an ACL injury his sophomore year, then played tight end last year before making the switch to the offensive line this spring.

“I used to think basketball was what I was going to do because I played AAU basketball while I was growing up,” Kadow said. “I really thought basketball was my route.”

Kadow took an official visit to Indiana and received an offer from the Hoosiers on June 17. He then committed to Rutgers on June 25 after attending the Scarlet Knights’ Big Man Academy camp in Piscataway, N.J.

The Middleton-Cross Plains School Board approved a proposal Monday to name its basketball court “Jeff Kind Court.”

Kind, Middleton’s girls coach from 1993-2022, was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018. He compiled a remarkable 578-256 career record and is the sixth-winningest girls coach in state history.

“I am extremely grateful for the honor,” Kind said Tuesday morning. “It is, to me, a recognition, not only of my time and work, but also a commemoration to all the wonderful players, the array of excellent assistant coaches, all the fabulous colleagues and the tremendous support of the school and community who all contributed to our successes over the years.

“There are innumerable memories in that gym for so many people and I feel so fortunate to have been a part of that and just wish to humbly express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to this recognition.”

They were one of the surprise teams in the Big Eight Conference — and really the entire state.

So it was no surprise that Middleton’s baseball team was extremely well-represented on the all-Big Eight Conference team.

Senior pitchers Jacob Guerrero and Noah Schmitt were both named first-team all-conference. Senior catcher Wyatt Baird and senior first baseman Alden Cleary were both named second-team all-league, while senior shortstop Hayden Hellenbrand, senior center fielder Jackson Rademacher and freshman second baseman Jackson Guerrero were named honorable-mention all-Big Eight.

Those seven sensational Cardinals helped lead Middleton to the WIAA Division 1 state tournament for the first time since 2016.

“Overall, we had a lot of great leadership on the team this year,” Middleton manager Brent Jorgensen said. “We had a team full of leaders who stepped up and stepped into different roles throughout the season.

Rick Vander Sanden broke down and cried.

Hudson Cleary and K.J. Peterson told stories why Brad Rogeberg meant the world to them.

Parents, co-workers and coaching colleagues sang Rogeberg’s praises.

Roughly 65 community members descended on the Middleton-Cross Plains School Board meeting Monday night asking that Rogeberg be re-instated as the strength and conditioning coordinator at Middleton High School.

Rogeberg, a football coach in the district since 1991 and the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator since 2019, was fired from both jobs in the aftermath of a bullying scandal inside Middleton’s football program last season. Rogeberg did keep his job as a Physical Education—Health teacher.

Former Middleton football coach Jason Pertzborn resigned from both his teaching position at MHS and his football job on Jan. 26. 

Middleton’s girls softball team enjoyed a terrific season in which it won 18 games and finished fourth in the loaded Big Eight Conference.
So it seemed fitting that the Cardinals had four players named to the all-Big Eight team.

Freshman catcher Hailey Stroede was named first-team all-conference, while sophomore pitcher Megan Button and junior infielder Mackenzie Zimmerman were named second-team all-league. Freshman infielder Annika Jafferis was also named honorable-mention all-Big Eight.

“It's easy to talk about these four student-athletes. Great players, yes, and even better people,” Middleton coach Brittany Carl said. “All bring those intangibles to the table that really make a program better from the inside out. We're excited to have them all back next year.”

Stroede batted .416 with a .454 on-base percentage. She had a team-high 42 hits, including 16 extra base hits.
She also had 29 RBI, scored 21 runs and walked six times.

Middleton’s girls soccer team had another extremely strong season, going 12-4-2 overall.

And the Cardinals were rewarded with eight players named to the all-Big Eight Conference team.

Senior midfielder Dalina Jonuzi and junior defender Sophie Kasel were named first-team all-conference, while senior forward Marley Mladucky and sophomore keeper Lydia Paulsen were both named second-team all-league.

Freshman forward Izzy Frantz, freshman midfielder Zoe Sharaf, sophomore center midfielder Addy Frantz and sophomore defender Ursula Anstaett were named honorable-mention all-conference.

Jonuzi, a two-year captain, finished the year with seven goals and 10 assists. Jonuzi had an assist in each of Middleton’s first five games, a hat trick against Janesville Parker, and a memorable goal against Verona to highlight her terrific campaign.

MADISON — Gold was the trophy they coveted. They got silver instead.

But members of the Middleton boys tennis team, most of whom will return next spring, also got a little more than they bargained for at the conclusion of the WIAA Division 1 team state tournament.

They got all the motivation they’ll need for the offseason.

Those medals they were handed following a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee Marquette in the championship duel last Saturday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium will double as chips they can place squarely on their shoulders.

“It just adds more fuel to the fire,” said junior Koji Heinemann, who notched one of the Cardinals’ three wins with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Charlie Keller at No. 2 singles. “Every single one of us is upset, we’re angry, we’re sad, but those are all emotions that can get put into this next year (to come). Everyone’s going to work extremely hard, and if the stars align I would say, yeah, watch out for Middleton.”

The great New York Yankee catcher/philosopher Yogi Berra coined the phrase, ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over’.

That was an apt description when Middleton hosted Sauk Prairie in a Home Talent League Northern Section crossover game last Saturday afternoon.

Sauk Prairie rallied from an early six-run deficit before Middleton first baseman Connor Manthey lined a bases-loaded, walk-off single to right field to secure a hard-fought 12-11 victory for the host 29ers at Sorensen-Bakken Field.

Middleton (5-0) closer Drew Farrell entered the game with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth inning with the score tied at 11 and one out.

Farrell needed just two pitches to induce the Twins’ (4-1) dangerous Sam Koenig, one of the elite power hitters in the HTL, to bounce into a 5-3 double play to set the stage for the 29ers’ dramatic game-ending hit.

GRAND CHUTE — Brent Jorgensen pulled out all the stops.

Jorgensen, Middleton’s fifth-year manager, knew his Cardinals were facing arguably the state’s top pitcher in Hortonville’s Thomas Burns during Monday’s WIAA Division 1 state quarterfinal.

So to ready his team, Jorgensen cranked the pitching machine to 95 miles per hour. He had a handful of alums return to MHS and pitch to the Cardinals from 50-feet away — roughly 10 feet closer than the pitching mound sits.

While the strategy and preparation was sound, it wasn’t quite enough.

Burns, an Arizona State recruit, showed why he could have a lengthy career in this sport. Burns allowed just three hits, struck out eight and threw a complete game shutout to power the Polar Bears to a 3-0 win over Middleton at Fox Cities Stadium.

Zaira Malloy-Salgado was on a mission,

Neither rain delays, nor lightning or a power outage was going to keep the Middleton senior distance runner and University of Wisconsin recruit from her goal of finishing her high school career on the top of the podium at Veterans’ Memorial Sports Complex in La Crosse last weekend.

Mission accomplished.

Malloy-Salgado won the 3,200-meter run at the WIAA Division 1 state track and field meet last Saturday for the second straight year. Malloy-Salgado also finished fourth in the 1,600-meter run last Friday.

“My overall strategy for the weekend was to run strategic races, but also take risks, and finish each race with zero regrets,” Malloy-Salgado said. 

No problem.

The Friday evening session, which included preliminaries and five finals events, was extended due to multiple weather-related delays. There was also another half-hour delay when the stadium lights went dark at 11 p.m.