Sports

Mattie Papenthien is a trailblazer in the sport of girls high school wrestling.

What began as a whim in fifth grade has grown into a passion, culminating with the Middleton junior scheduled to compete at the first-ever WIAA-sponsored girls state wrestling tournament at the La Crosse Center on Saturday.

“It’s kind of exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time,” Papenthien said about the opportunity to compete in the historic event for the WIAA. “I’m excited that we finally have our own girls state tournament, and that is this a big event.”

According to Mel Dow, who was Stoughton’s activities and athletic director and now works for the WIAA as an associate director, Wisconsin is one of 33 states to offer championships in girls wrestling.

He said the WIAA girls state tournament will be a memorable event.

For one night, there was excitement, euphoria and enjoyment.

Less than 24 hours later, there was disappointment and displeasure.

That’s the world of high school basketball, and Middleton’s boys experienced all of the highs and lows last weekend.

The Cardinals went to Madison East and notched an enormous 56-50 win over the Purgolders last Friday. That victory gave Middleton sole possession of first place in the Big Eight Conference.

On Saturday afternoon, though, the Cardinals traveled to Oconomowoc, let a 10-point lead get away in the final 10 minutes and dropped a 42-40 decision.

After all of that, the good news for Middleton is it sits at 9-1 in the Big Eight and leads second-place Madison LaFollette (8-2) by one game atop the conference. The bad news is the loss at Oconomowoc means the Cardinals (10-4 overall) have lost three of their four non-conference games — something sure to hurt them when postseason seeding is determined next month.

Slow starts have been the bane of Middleton’s girls basketball team this season.

It happened again last Thursday when Madison East jumped out to an early 12-point lead before the Cardinals stormed back in the second half to briefly pull in front.

While senior guard Audrey Deptula sank four 3-pointers in the second half, Middleton’s furious late rally came up short when visiting East pulled out a 50-48 victory.

Senior guard Ava Ehrlinger scooped up a loose ball near the free throw line and found junior guard Evie Strigel wide open under the basket for the game-winning layup with 6.7 seconds to play.

However, Middleton recorded a 57-43 bounce-back victory over host Beloit Memorial last Saturday to snap the Cardinals four-game losing streak that included three games in league play.

Middleton wrestlers had four dual meets last week. Here’s how the Cardinals fared:

• Middleton 51, Pecatonica-Argyle 24 — The Cardinals got pins from Reese Miller at 120, Seth Howald (126), Walker Hargrove (132), Bryce Falk (170) and Tiem Nguyen (182) last Saturday.

Jonah Dennis notched a 7-2 win at 113 pounds, while Middleton also received three forfeits.

• Middleton 36, Verona 36 — The Cardinals and Wildcats wrestled to a tie last Saturday.

Middleton got pins from Gavin Gall at 160 and Bryce Falk at 170. The Cardinals also picked up forfeits at 113, 120, 126 and 132.

• Middleton 66, Madison West 9 — The Cardinals received 10 forfeits and rolled past the Regents on Jan. 19.

Zane Sarhan also notched a pin for Middleton at 160 pounds, while Bryce Falk had a pin at 170.

• Madison East 42, Middleton 30 — The Cardinals fell to the Purgolders on Jan. 19.

Middleton’s girls gymnastics team notched its first win of the year on Jan. 20, edging Janesville Craig, 129.60-128.7250.

Middleton’s Megg Weiler won the vault with an 8.550, while Claire Jarugumilli was third with an 8.50. Aubrey Anderson and Laney Seffrood tied for fifth with an 8.350.

Jayden Mathias was first on the uneven bars (8.450) and Lucy Hellenbrand was second (8.350). Kenavan Lindner was fifth (7.575) and Weiler was sixth (7.550).

Mathias was also first on the balance beam (9.0), while Weiler was fourth (8.40), Hellenbrand was seventh (7.750) and Jaelynn Kemp was eighth (7.70).

Seffrood won the floor exercise (8.50), while Olivia Davis was fifth (7.950), Laynie Ricke was seventh (7.525) and Anderson was eighth (7.10).

Dan Truehl knew the Murderer’s Row portion of his schedule was coming.

Truehl — Middleton’s hockey coach — and the Cardinals faced a trio of heavy hitters last week. And while Middleton went 1-2 overall, Truehl wasn’t overly disappointed.

The Cardinals had their eight-game winning streak snapped when the fell to Janesville, 6-2, on Jan. 18. Middleton rebounded with a 2-1 win over Sun Prairie on Jan. 20, then fell to Big Eight Conference leading Verona, 3-2, last Saturday.

“We knew that this past week was going to be a strong challenge for our team,” Truehl said. “Three games in five days is a tough stretch against anyone, but even more so when it’s Janesville, Sun Prairie, and Verona.

“Overall, I thought we played stretches of pretty good hockey. We ran into two red-hot goaltenders and really struggled to put the puck in the net.”

Here’s a recap of Middleton’s week:

Dan Truehl knew the Murderer’s Row portion of his schedule was coming.

Truehl — Middleton’s hockey coach — and the Cardinals faced a trio of heavy hitters last week. And while Middleton went 1-2 overall, Truehl wasn’t overly disappointed.

The Cardinals had their eight-game winning streak snapped when the fell to Janesville, 6-2, on Jan. 18. Middleton rebounded with a 2-1 win over Sun Prairie on Jan. 20, then fell to Big Eight Conference leading Verona, 3-2, last Saturday.

“We knew that this past week was going to be a strong challenge for our team,” Truehl said. “Three games in five days is a tough stretch against anyone, but even more so when it’s Janesville, Sun Prairie, and Verona.

“Overall, I thought we played stretches of pretty good hockey. We ran into two red-hot goaltenders and really struggled to put the puck in the net.”

Here’s a recap of Middleton’s week:

Sports returned to Middleton High School in 2021.

And so did the wins, the thrills and the championships.

After COVID shut down the sports world in 2020, things inched back to a state of normalcy at Middleton in 2021. And that meant one highlight after another.

Last week, we ran stories No. 6-10. This week we look at the top-five.

1. Girls XC team wins state — twice

It was so much fun winning a state title, Middleton’s girls cross country team thought they’d do it twice.

The Cardinals won the WIAA Division 1 2020 alternate fall state title when that event was pushed to May, 2021. Middleton then won its second state title in five months and repeated on Oct. 31.

“Holy cow!” Middleton coach Alexa Richardson. “Our girls ran amazing.”

Sports returned to Middleton High School in 2021.

And so did the wins, the thrills and the championships.

After COVID shut down the sports world in 2020, things inched back to a state of normalcy at Middleton in 2021. And that meant one highlight after another.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll examine the top-10 sports stories of the year. Stories 6-10 will run this week, and stories 1-5 will run next week.

6. Beckman, boys golfers shine at state

When Jacob Beckman walked Middleton’s boys golf program, he wasn’t bashful.

The baby faced, yet ultra-gifted Beckman outlined his goals. And he wasn’t afraid to aim big.

“The goal that I set for myself the very first day of practice my freshman year was to win a state championship,” Beckman said.

Middleton’s boys basketball team gathered late last-Thursday and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to standout senior guard Logan Raffel.

When it was over, one of the assistants hollered, “Boy, that was rough.”

That might have been a kind breakdown of the Cardinals’ singing. Fortunately for Middleton, though, it keeps hitting all the right notes on the court.

Middleton used a late 10-0 run and pulled away from Janesville Craig for a 60-49 win. The Cardinals are 6-0 overall and remained atop the Big Eight Conference at 6-0, while the Cougars fell to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the league.

“We feel great,” said Raffel, who celebrated his 18^th birthday with 13 points. “We’ve got a great run going and we’ve got a great group of guys that all stick together and all complement each other’s games really well. And we just have a great energy, too. We’ve all been playing since we were little, and we all just mesh really well.”