September 2021

Middleton’s cross country teams have extremely hopes this season.

And both showed why at last Saturday’s season-opening Verona Invite.

Middleton’s boys and girls won the star-studded event, letting the cross country world know it could be a big year for both Cardinal teams.

Middleton’s girls — which began the year ranked No. 1 — finished first with a miniscule 41 points. Madison West was second with 67 points, while Whitefish Bay (162), Lincoln-Way Central (202) and Sun Prairie (213) rounded out the top five at the 23-team invite.

“I was very impressed with how the girls performed,” Middleton coach Alexa Richardson said. “That was definitely an accurate representation of how their training has been going.

This much we know about Rob Kleinschmidt.

Middleton’s boys volleyball coach likes heavyweights, not cupcakes. So when Kleinschmidt is assembling a schedule, he loads the Cardinals up with many of the state’s elite teams.

Middleton saw a murderer’s row of terrific foes at last Saturday’s Brookfield East Invite. And after a solid all-around day, the Cardinals left with a fifth-place finish in the elite tournament that included several teams likely to reach the state tournament.

“We had a very good opponent in every match, and it was exactly what we wanted going into the tournament,” Kleinschmidt said. “We learned a lot about ourselves and improved even within the day as we played bigger and bigger matches.” 

Middleton opened against third-ranked Milwaukee Marquette, a program that’s won nine state championships since 2002. The Cardinals battled, but fell to the Hilltoppers, 25-19, 25-20.

Middleton’s girls swimming team rolled past Madison Memorial, 109-61, last Friday. The Cardinals are now a perfect 3-0 in dual meets.

“The team swam well vs. Memorial, who was our toughest competition so far this year,” Middleton coach R.J. Leiferman said. “However we will need to be much more consistent with our performances throughout the meet in order to compete with West and Verona in the coming weeks, so that is something we will be working on in practice this week.”

Middleton’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Ella Needham, Eva Anagnostopoulos, Piper Garcia Hall and Abby Ensenberger finished first. The Cardinals’ foursome of Audrey Alexander, Emma Chandler, Taylor Carbon and Izzy Ensenberger was third in that same event.

Middleton’s quartet of Abby Ensenberger, Alexander, Molly Haag and Lily Mair won the 400-yard freestyle, while the foursome of Sophie Benson, Chandler, Anagnostopoulos and Natalie Charles was second.

DANE COUNTY–Effective Sept. 10 at 12:01 a.m., Public Health Madison & Dane County is issuing Face Covering Emergency Order #2. The Order is nearly identical to the current face covering order which requires that everyone age 2 and older wear a face covering or mask when in in any enclosed building where other people, except for members of the person’s own household or living unit, could be present.

The new order includes exemptions for actively playing a wind instrument that has a fabric bell cover, or similar cover, that acts as a face covering and while presenting or performing a religious, political, media, educational, artistic, cultural, musical, or theatrical presentation as long as other spacing and vaccination requirements are met.