Sports

MADISON — Ian Connell walked about 100 feet, or so, through the bowels of Nielsen Tennis Stadium late last Friday night.

When Connell got to the end of the hallway, his entire Middleton tennis team was waiting to shower the Cardinals’ freshman with love.

Hugs. High fives. Yelling. Screaming.

The group produced all of the above.

“That was just amazing,” Connell said. “Best thing I ever felt.”

And certainly deserved.

Connell took part in arguably the most grueling, exhausting, intense match seen at the WIAA Division 1 boys state team tennis tournament in several years. And when it ended after nearly three hours, Connell’s 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (8) win over Arrowhead junior Cole Contardi lifted the Cardinals past the Warhwaks, 4-3, in a state quarterfinal match.

WALES — Taylor Rough and Anna Mintz stood at midfield, hugging each other and refusing to let go.

Hailey Kowalski lifted her shirt over her face, almost to hide the tears.

And McKenzie Zocher — a gritty, gutty senior who’s torn both ACL’s during her standout prep career — battled through tears to deliver the final message of Middleton’s 2019 girls soccer season.

“We were a family, like as family as family can get,” Zocher said. “And like for me, this was my best season playing soccer ever. I’ve had multiple injuries and this is my first year not getting an injury. And I told this team after the game that this was the best season I’ve ever had.”

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it came to an end last Saturday night.

Middleton allowed its second-most goals of the year, narrowly missed on several second half scoring opportunities, and fell to Waunakee, 3-2, in a WIAA Division 1 sectional final played at Kettle Moraine High School.

Middleton girls soccer coach Mary Duffy said prior to Middleton’s WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal against Sun Prairie last Thursday, her team was full of nervousness and excitement.

Second-seeded Middleton — seeking its first trip the sectional finals since 2015 — had to go through third-seeded Sun Prairie to get there. That’s no easy task as Sun Prairie features Alexis Baker, the Player of the Year in the Big Eight Conference.

If the nerves were present for Middleton they didn’t show.

Middleton used a strong defensive performance to stymie Sun Prairie, 2-0. Middleton got goals from Tyler Wilson and Kendall Roquet.

Middleton improved to 12-3-4 for the season, while Sun Prairie finished the year 9-5-4.

Middleton now faces top-seeded Waunakee on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Kettle Moraine. The winner will advance to the state tournament at Uihlein Park in Milwaukee on June 14 with seedings to be determined.   

MADISON — Tommy Kriewaldt stood on the putting green at University Ridge with two young children by his side. Kriewaldt held the state runner-up trophy high, smiled from ear-to-ear and posed for pictures.

Carson Frisch took the trophy, was immediately surrounded by four female classmates, and produced one of the largest smiles of his young life.

Each member of Middleton’s sensational boys golf team followed suit, hoisting the trophy for a photo they’ll never forget. 

The American rock back Styx once produced the hit song, ‘The Best of Times.’ Tuesday evening was undoubtedly the best of the times for the Cardinals.

One year after a disappointing sixth place finish at the WIAA Division 1 state tournament, Middleton notched a second-place finish. That meant the Cardinals received a large runner-up trophy and a fire truck escort through Middleton.

Motivation. Drive. Enthusiasm.

Ryan Gold, Middleton’s top singles player, and the Cardinals’ top doubles team of Brandon Bodak and Sam Dettman had all of these last Saturday — even though it would have been easy for all three to be listless.

The trio had all lost in the quarterfinals of the WIAA Division 1 boys state tournament last Friday night. Now, all three returned to Nielsen Tennis Stadium just 12 hours later knowing their hopes of a state championship had been dashed.

“It was very rough losing in the quarterfinals,” Bodak said. “But we weren’t going to let that stop us from making podium.”

None of the three did.

Gold notched a pair of straight set wins on Saturday and finished in fifth place in the singles division. Dettman and Bodak cruised through their first match, then won a three-set match to finish in fifth in doubles play.

The fantastic finish made it a memorable weekend for all of the Cardinals.

LA CROSSE — It didn’t matter that the Middleton Cardinals’ 3,200 relay was seeded fourth entering the WIAA Division 1 state track and field meet at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium last Friday evening.

Their goal was to come home with a spot on the top of the podium, a gold medal and a memory to last a lifetime.

Mission accomplished.

Middleton’s 3,200 team of junior Zach Leffel, senior Michael Madoch, junior Braedon Gilles and senior Caleb Easton got the meet off to a tremendous start when they finished first in 7 minutes, 48.65 seconds. Kenosha Bradford/Reuther was second in 7:51.18.

“Our goal was to win and just to win is cool,” Madoch said.

Middleton coach Joe Line said regardless of their seeding or previous times, the quartet was thinking about running in the 7:40 range.

“They knew they were capable of doing it,” Line said. “They just went out to race and win it. It was awesome.”

LA CROSSE — Lauren Pansegrau was all smiles following her state track and field debut last Saturday at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium.

On a beautiful, sun-splashed afternoon, Pansegrau picked the perfect opportunity to run the best race of her prep career.

The Middleton freshman distance runner put the finishing touches on an impressive year that began with a 31^st place finish at the Division 1 state cross country meet last fall and ended up on the podium with a runner-up finish in the 3,200-meter run at the WIAA Division 1 state track and field meet.

Pansegrau ran a strategically savvy race finishing in a personal-best time of 10 minutes, 47.81 seconds. She trailed only Onalaska sophomore Kora Malecek, a triplet whose sisters also competed in the meet, who was first in 10:36.25.

“I’m really happy,” Pansegrau said. “It was a fun race. I tried not to stay too far behind (the leader) and run with the pack around me.”

Middleton senior Taylor Rough had never attempted a corner kick prior until late this season. But Rough, a senior defender for Middleton’s girls’ soccer team, decided she would give corner kicks a try during a recent practice.

“We just had her kick a few in practice and thought ‘whoa, those look good,’” said Middleton head coach Mary Duffy. “So she kicked a couple in the game (Saturday).”

The move panned out pretty well for the Cardinals.  

Two of Rough’s corner kicks led to goals last Saturday and helped lead the second-seeded Cardinals past 10th-seeded Madison West, 2-0, in a WIAA Division 1 regional final at Breitenbach Stadium in Middleton.

Middleton improved to 11-3-4 on the year while West finished the season 9-8-2. 

The 23-minute, half inning felt like a week to Ben Collier.

Collier, Middleton’s standout junior right fielder, watched impatiently as Madison Memorial sent nine batters to the plate in the third inning of last Thursday’s WIAA Division 1 regional final. When it was over, the Cardinals had used two pitchers, the Spartans had scored five runs and Middleton never could recover.

Memorial toppled the host Cardinals, 9-5, ending Middleton’s season in the process. The Spartans advanced to Tuesday’s Middleton Sectional, while the Cardinals finished the year 14-10.

“It was a very long inning,” Collier said. “Things just kept happening. It wasn’t errors either. They just hit the ball, kept moving guys over, and we just couldn’t get out of it.”

Middleton first-year manager Brent Jorgensen agreed.

“Oh man, that was tough,” Jorgensen said. “That inning just went on and on.”

VERONA — Fill the bus.

That was message Middleton boys track and field coach Joe Line delivered to his Cardinals all season long.

Line’s Cardinals then went and did just what their coach had asked.

Middleton won the WIAA Division 1 Verona Sectional with 86 points last Thursday, edging host Verona. More importantly, though, the Cardinals advanced six individuals and two relay teams to the state meet, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse.

“Our motto this year was try to fill the bus,” Line said. “Fill the bus to state with as many people as we can. We were trying to get as many guys to state as we could.”

The Cardinals did an awfully good job of that.