October 2025

MADISON — The glass was half full.

Things didn’t go quite how Middleton’s girls golf team hoped they would during Monday’s first round of the WIAA Division 1 state tournament, but Tuesday was a new day.

And the Cardinals refused to return to University Ridge in a sour mood.

“Last night, we were all talking, we were like, ‘Guys, we have nothing to lose now. We know we’re in fifth — let’s go out there and do our best,’ ” MHS senior Annika Jafferis said. “We had nothing to lose.”

Not only that, the Cardinals remembered how things went a year earlier, when they were in second place after day one only to see Prescott erase a nine stroke deficit and eclipse them for silver by a stroke.

“So our 10 shots behind second place coming into today,  they didn’t see that as something that was hard to (overcome),” Cardinals coach Becky Halverson said. “We agreed that little by little, anything can happen. 

Middleton’s girls tennis team had its string of five straight trips to the team state tournament snapped last week.

But the Cardnals are sending three players to the individual state tournament, which will be held Oct. 16-18 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

Madison West won the Sun Prairie West Sectional with 38 points and earned a trip to the state team tournament, which will be held Oct. 24-25. The Cardinals were sixth at sectionals with 22 points.

Mira Russo, Middleton’s No. 1 singles player, and the No. 1 doubles team of seniors Sophie Shi and Sarah Li did earn trips to the individual state tournament, though.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ performances at sectionals.

SINGLES

• No. 1 — Junior Mira Russo won her first match at sectionals, defeating Onalaska’s Mara Klein, 7-6 (1), 6-4. Sun Prairie West’s Milena Halberg then defeated Russo, 6-0, 6-0.

Middleton’s girls swimming team finished its dual meet season with an impressive 110-60 win over Madison Memorial on Oct. 10.

“I thought we did an excellent job of rising to the occasion against a good team,” Middleton coach Andrew Cotton said. “I love how we are continuing to focus on the process as we build towards championship season.”

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ top-three finishes.

FIRST PLACE

• Middleton’s 200-yard medley relay team of Jane Garlock, Rian Jost, Brynn Sundell and Sulia Miller finished first.

• Abigail Frommelt was first in the 200-yard freestyle.

• Brynn Sundell won the 200-yard IM and the 500-yard freestyle.

• Garlock won the 50-yard freestyle.

• Middleton’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Miller, Frommelt, Clara Kiehl and Garlock finished first.

• Jost won the 100-yard backstroke.

• Addy Hynes won the 100-yard breaststroke.

Middleton’s boys volleyball team continued its terrific season last week with a pair of convincing wins.

The Cardinals downed Madison East, 25-7, 25-9, 25-17 on Oct. 6.

Middleton then rolled past Madison La Follette, 25-9, 25-16, 25-23 on Oct. 8.

The Cardinals, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the country by MaxPreps, improved to 29-0 overall and 7-0 in the Big Eight Conference.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ two wins.

• Middleton 3, Madison East 0 — Vance Ferry and Jonah Johnson both had five kills, while Bryce Stuttgen had 17 assists to power the Cardinals to an easy win.

Johnson and Will Schmitt both had four aces, and Middleton had a whopping .348 kill percentage as a team.

“We came out extremely strong in the start of the match,” Middleton coach Dylan Griffith said. “We had not seen East at all this season, so we didn't know what to expect.