Sports

Last week was a breath of fresh air for the Middleton girls’ basketball team.

After losing six of seven games, including two in a row, the Cardinals opened the week with a 63-21 pounding of host Madison West before giving visiting Verona all it could handle last Saturday night.

Although Middleton dropped a 49-40 decision to the Wildcats, the Cardinals continued to make progress in all phases of the game.

“At halftime, we talked about how we know we can hang with these teams,” said Middleton senior wing McKenna Monogue, who paced the Cardinals with 11 points against Verona. “We know we can hang with Verona, (Janesville) Craig and (Madison) La Follette. We’re a good team, we just have to do the little things.”

That includes coming out strong on the opening tip, taking better care of the basketball and improved shooting from the floor and at the free throw line.

The Big Eight Conference is traditionally one of the deepest and strongest leagues in the state. And this year’s conference meet proved that once again.

Middleton had a terrific performance, but settled for second place in the meet held at Beloit Memorial High School.

Madison West won the meet with 480.5 points, while Middleton was second (451.5). Sun Prairie was third (422.5), while Madison Memorial (388) and V-MH (267) rounded out the top five.

“Overall, we were very happy with our performance,” Middleton coach R.J. Leiferman said. “We had by far the best energy through a meet so far this season, which translated into our best performance in the pool so far this season. The boys who finished their seasons at the meet all went best times, and the boys who are continuing to sectionals set themselves up for some great swims next weekend.”

Middleton’s girls gymnastics team finished in fifth place at its own invite last Saturday.

Verona won the eight-team meet with 142.025 points, while Sun Prairie was second at 137.90. Waukesha’s combined team was third with 133.425 points, while Waunakee (131.30) and Middleton (129.925) rounded out the top five.

Middleton’s Megg Weiler finished ninth in the all-around competition with a 34.025 score to lead the Cardinals.

Weiler was fourth on the balance beam (9.050), while Lucy Hellenbrand was 11^th (8.60), Buna Karanezi was 21^st (7.750) and Jaelynn Kemp and Jayden Mathias tied for 31^st (7.20).

Weiler was eighth on the uneven bars (8.325), while Hellenbrand was 12^th (8.250), Mathias was 17^th (7.875) and Claire Jarugumilli was 34th (6.70).

The final 21 seconds of last Saturday’s boys basketball game between Middleton and Madison Memorial were a microcosm of what unfolded the previous 90 minutes.

Thanks to a furious rally, the Cardinals grabbed a 57-56 lead over the visiting Spartans with 55 seconds to play. On Memorial’s ensuing possession, sophomore forward Sam Mickelson appeared to travel, then drew a highly questionable foul call against Middleton’s Mike Roach with 20.7 seconds left.

Mickelson drained both free throws to give the Spartans a one-point lead.

After a timeout, Middleton junior standout Gavyn Hurley drove into the lane and appeared to draw contact from Mickelson as he let a 10-footer fly with 4 seconds left. The officials swallowed their whistles and the ball spun out.

Memorial added a free throw with 0.8 seconds left and escaped with 59-57 win. Afterwards, much of the discussion centered on the officiating crew of John Furrer, Gregg Dati and Mark Sorensen.

Saturday marked the first-ever WIAA Girls State Individual Wrestling Tournament.

And Middleton’s Mattie Papenthien made sure it was a memorable one.

Papenthien finished in fourth place at 132 pounds at the event held at the La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wis.

Papenthien opened by pinning Victoria Kampman of Janesville Parker in just 1 minute, 15 seconds. Papenthien then pinned Sydni Schindler of Eau Claire North in 1:45.

In Papenthien’s third match, she pinned Emily Anderson of West Salem Bangor in 1:15 to advance to the semifinals.

Unfortunately for Papenthien, that’s where the fun ended.

Madalyn Sokolski of Bonduel pinned Papenthien in 3:19 in the semis. Aevri Ciha of Cambridge then won a 6-5 decision over Papenthien in the third place match.

Middleton’s wrestlers finished 10^th at the 19-team Deerfield Scramble last Saturday.

Random Lake won the tournament with 700 points, while the Cardinals finished with 333 points.

Middleton’s Jonah Dennis won the championship at 113 pounds, while both Seth Howald (126) and Bryce Falk (170) were fourth.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ day:

113 — Jonah Dennis (15-1) placed 1st and scored 73.0 team points.

The postseason is rapidly approaching.

And Middleton’s girls basketball team is running out of time to fix many of its issues.

The Cardinals fell to Madison Memorial, 62-50, last Friday. Then the Cardinals dropped a 51-42 decision to Madison Edgewood on Monday.

Middleton is now 7-11 overall and 6-6 in the Big Eight Conference.

The Cardinals played one of their worst halves of the year against Memorial and trailed, 39-10, at halftime.

Middleton was within 11-7, but the Spartans closed the half on a 28-3 run.

“We got off to a bad start vs. Memorial,” said Middleton coach Jeff Kind, whose team had 16 first half turnovers. “We had issues with the press and turnovers … leading to transition baskets and the ability to press again. It snowballed on us.”

Middleton did battle back and outscored the Spartans, 40-23, in the second half. The Cardinals had just five second half turnovers, which helped them trim the deficit to as low as eight.

Middleton’s boys swimming and diving team finished in second place at its own invitational last Saturday.

Madison West won the eight-team meet with 473 points, while the Cardinals were second with 339.5 points. Madison Memorial was third (287), while Sun Prairie (284) and Verona-Mount Horeb (275) rounded out the top five.

Middleton’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Blaise Lin, Cowan Vitense, Jack Madoch and Nick Chirafisi finished first. The Cardinals’ 400-yard freestyle relay team of Venden Berge, Vitense, Madoch and Chirafisi was also first

And Middleton’s 200-yard medley relay team of Theo Wolf, Noah Dorn, Berge and Blaise Lin was sixth.

Individually, Chirafisi won the 200-yard freestyle, Berge was second and Dorn was 10^th. Chirafisi also won the 500-yard freestyle, while Berge was second and Jackson Esteves was ninth.

Madoch won the 50-yard freestyle, while Lin was eighth. Madoch was also second in the 100-yard freestyle.

Middleton’s hockey team won a pair of games in the past week.

The Cardinals rolled past Madison West, 6-0, on Jan. 25. Middleton then toppled Beloit Memorial, 4-3, on Monday.

The Cardinals are now alone in third place in the Big Eight Conference at 8-5 and are 14-6 overall.

In Middleton’s win over West, it scored four goals in the third period to break open a tight game.

Brady Engelkes led the Cardinals with three goals and an assist, while Wyatt Ehrhardt, Vince Kalscheur and Ryan Inman all had one goal and two assists. Brendan Julius also finished with two assists.

Cam Haynes notched a shutout and picked up the win in goal.

“In a game where there really wasn’t much of any crowd atmosphere due to weather, I thought the boys did a great job of staying focused and taking care of business against a scrappy Madison West team,” Middleton coach Dan Truehl said.

The Madison Memorial Invite is traditionally one of the top gymnastics meets of the season.

Teams from across the state gather and find out how they shape up against many of the state’s elite outfits.

Middleton finished in seventh place in its eight-team division last Saturday. But the Cardinals were thrilled to post a season-high score and hold their own against many state powers.

“We weren't sure where we would stack up,” Middleton co-coach Cullen Steck said. “But as a coaching staff we are very proud of how our girls performed.”

Franklin/Muskego won the team title with a 146.5250 team score, while Verona/Edgewood was second (144.1750). Middleton had a team score of 131.1250.

“This meet is traditionally an extremely competitive one,” Steck said. “There are teams from all over the state that target it as one of their highlights for the season.