Sports

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.

Finn Patenaude was in his element at the WIAA Division 1 state track and field meet last weekend.

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

That didn’t bother the Middleton senior one bit.

“Chaos, I loved it,” Patenaude said with a chuckle. “You had to embrace it. I live for that. It was a lot of fun.”

Patenaude, a University of Vermont recruit, finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles in 38.80 seconds and placed fifth in the 110 hurdles in 14:58.

“I broke my school records in both events that I set earlier this season," he said of his hurdles finals’ races. “What’s better than that?”

MADISON — This time, the stakes were much higher.

This time when Koji Heineman and Ethan Bo squared off, it wasn’t just to determine who would play at No. 1 singles — a spot the two fought for all season long — for Middleton’s boys tennis team.

This time, it was to determine who would advance to the semifinals of the WIAA Divi-sion 1 state tournament.

Oddly enough, that made things easier for the teammates — Heineman a junior and Bo a sophomore — when they took the court at Nielsen Tennis Stadium for last Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals match. 

“It felt more like the easiest challenge match. It felt like all that pressure for who’s going to play No. 1 had finally flown away and I was really just able to focus on the tennis,” said Heineman, the No. 6 seed in the draw who entered the tournament with a 20-3 record. “There were no other variables that I was worried about. It was just about tennis today.”

MADISON — A spot on the podium — and medals for both of them — was at stake.

Lose this match, and that accomplishment was not guaranteed.

Middleton's Jonathan Kim and Neel Mukherjee answered the bell.

In more ways than one, in fact.

The seniors, seeded second in the 64-team doubles draw of the WIAA Division 1 boys state tennis tournament held at Nielsen Tennis Stadium last weekend, got knocked around at times in their quarterfinal match against a Brookfield Central duo. But Kim and Mukherjee always punched back and defeated the seventh-seeded team of Aaditya Tiwari and Gabe Weitzer, 6-4, 6-2.

Kim and Mukherjee went on to suffer a 6-3, 6-4 loss to the third-seeded team of Chatton Haws and Keenan Haws from Cedarburg in Saturday's semifinals. Glendale Nicolet's top-seeded tandem of Alex Aranda and Henry Vizgaitis then toppled Middleton’s No. 1 duo, 4-6, 6-2, 10-3, in the third place match.

LACROSSE — Of all the terrific Middleton baseball teams in recent years — and there have been plenty — this wasn’t the one expected to break the drought.

There was just one starter back from the 2022 team that reached the sectional semifinals. There were no proven commodities on the mound. And as skipper Brent Jorgensen examined his roster back in March, he was left with a bevy of questions and very few answers.

Yet there were the 2023 Cardinals dancing, laughing, smiling and embracing one another at beautiful Copeland Park on Tuesday evening. This team that few thought would excel three short months ago continued a season that’s been surprising, rewarding and exhilarating.

Middleton toppled Verona, 3-1, in a WIAA Division 1 sectional final and earned the school’s first trip to the state tournament since 2016. The Cardinals, who were seeded fourth in their sectional, improved to 22-8 and continued their stunning postseason run.

LA CROSSE — From the time Brent Jorgensen passed out uniforms this spring, Middleton’s manager knew there was a formula that would allow his Cardinals have a big year.

Middleton wasn’t blessed with big boppers or dominant arms. So the Cardinals’ path to success involved small ball, great defense and never flinching in tight games.

Now, that recipe has Middleton one game from state.

The Cardinals defeated Sun Prairie West, 4-3, in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal Tuesday at Copeland Park in La Crosse. Middleton improved to 21-8 overall and moved within one game of its first state tournament since 2016.

“The guys work so hard. They put in a lot,” Jorgensen said. “They do all those small things that make a difference in the game, things that people watching the game don't always see or understand. They do all those small things and it makes a difference.”

Sacrifice flies. Bunting. Moving runners over. And high-level fielding.

Gutted.

As Middleton girls soccer coach Mary Duffy fought through the tears, that word perfectly encapsulated how she and her Cardinals were feeling.

Middleton and host Verona played to a scoreless tie in their WIAA Division 1 regional final last Saturday. And after a pair of scoreless overtimes, the rivals went to penalty kicks to decide the match.

After Middleton converted its first three PKs, though, it missed on its final two attempts. And that allowed the Wildcats to escape with a 4-3 win on penalty kicks.

“I know we should have put a goal away before PKs and I know that ‘should have’ doesn't count,” Duffy said. “But reviewing how the night went on, I firmly believe that Verona got lucky. 

“I also know that saying that isn't really helpful to ease the pain of losing. But dang … it was a difficult loss. I think most of us feel gutted, especially since we outplayed them in the second half and had some of the best chances then.”

It was a repeat of an earlier pitcher’s duel, but Middleton made sure it came out on top this time.

Senior right-hander Jacob Guerrero scattered four hits in tossing his third complete game of the season as host Middleton rallied for a 4-2 victory over Madison West in a WIAA Division 1 regional championship game on June 1.

Guerrero said the Cardinals’ success in late-season victories over Big Eight Conference rivals Janesville Craig and Verona played a key role in helping Middleton storm back from an early deficit.

“We were so locked in for all those games. We felt like we’ve been in the playoffs for the last three weeks,” Guerrero said. “So we’re ready for it now that it’s here.”

Middleton (19-8), which earned a No. 4 seed in the WIAA Division 1 La Crosse Central Sectional, advanced to play eighth-seeded Sun Prairie West, a 9-8 winner over Sun Prairie East, in a sectional semifinal game at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

Brent Jorgensen might be too young to remember Jim Valvano.

But he knows that “survive and advance” — the motto that brought the former North Carolina State men’s basketball coach to prominence — is just as true today as it was 40 years ago when the Wolfpack won the national championship.

So after Middleton edged Madison La Follette, 5-4, in 10 innings in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal on May 30, Jorgensen wasn’t focused on what went wrong. Instead, the Cardinals’ manager was just thrilled his team was still playing.

“It doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you move on,” Jorgensen said.

Moving on certainly wasn’t easy.

Middleton built a 4-0 lead through four innings, then saw the Lancers rally and force extra innings. But the Cardinals won it in the 10^th when pinch runner Biagio Gargano scored on a wild pitch.

Middleton’s boys tennis team is undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state.

The Cardinals are heavy favorites to win the first state championship in school history.

But head coach Henry Johnson — who led Middleton to a 19-0 start — won’t be along for the rest of the journey.

Johnson was fired on May 22 after angering what he said was “the wrong parent.”

Johnson sat one of Middleton’s doubles players at the Big Eight Conference meet on May 17-18 because that player had called two of his teammates “scum bags” at practice the previous week. The disciplinary action was for the conference meet only.

That decision started a chain of events in which athletic director Jamie Sims added MHS girls coach Matt Given and former boys coach Tony Mirasola to Johnson’s staff. Johnson says when he voiced concern over that plan, and told Sims he didn’t feel supported, he was terminated.