Sports

Middleton’s girls swimming team cruised past Janesville Craig, 125-45, last Friday.

The Cardinals’ 200-yard medley relay team of Ella Needham, Abby Ensenberger, Lily Mair and Natalie Charles finished first. The Cardinals’ quartet of Piper Garcia Hall, Isabell Frommelt, Serena Haack and Hannah Machleidt was second.

Middleton’s Garcia Hall, Sophie Benson, Molly Haag and Abby Utter won the 200-yard freestyle relay. And the Cardinals’ 400-yard freestyle relay team of Audrey Alexander, Amanda George, Emma Chandler and Utter was first.

Benson, Alexander and Maja Cicero were first, second and third, respectively in the 200-yard freestyle. Haag won the 200-yard IM, while Ellie Eisele was third. Ensenberger, Taylor Carbon and George went 1-2-3 in the 50-yard freestyle, while Chandler and Charles were first and second, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly.

Middleton’s girls tennis team went 4-0 at the highly-competitive Madison West Invite last Friday and Saturday.

The Cardinals defeated Sussex Hamilton, 7-0, and Brookfield Central, 6-1, on Friday. Middleton then toppled Green Bay Notre Dame, 7-0, and Brookfield East, 5-2, last Saturday.

Here’s a recap if the Cardinals’ big weekend, along with two Big Eight Conference wins:

• Middleton 7, Sussex Hamilton 0 — The Cardinals’ top two singles players — Netra Somasundaram and Sophia Agapov — and their No. 2 and 3 doubles team of Bella Conrad/Amy Li and Grace Olson/Cate Ohly all rolled to 6-0, 6-0 wins.

Lydia Sabat cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles, while Rose Ryan and Ashley Andler posted a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles.

• Middleton 6, Brookfield Central 1 — Somasundaram, Agapov and Sabat all posted straight set singles wins.

It’s as rare as the Tiger Slam or a hole-in-one.

It’s the undefeated season.

And for a girls golf team, it happens about as often as a Blue Moon.

Middleton’s girls golf team stayed on track for that remarkable accomplishment last week when it wrapped up the Big Eight Conference title and won the Janesville Parker Invite.

The Cardinals rolled past host Madison La Follette on Sept. 14. Middleton then captured the 14-team Parker Invite last Saturday.

While the Cardinals remained undefeated in this stellar season, they’re not talking about a perfect season — yet.

“We try to just focus on each individual accomplishment along the way,” Middleton coach Becky Halverson said. “(Parker) was a great win against some really great competitors, like Westosha Central, Union Grove and Milton.

Tempo is a word Middleton’s girls volleyball team has been stressing of late.

The Cardinals want to control the pace — and the match — every time they take the court.

Last Saturday, that’s exactly what Middleton did.

The Cardinals went a perfect 5-0 and won the Deerfield Invitational. Middleton improved to 20-3 on the season.

“We had a great day today at the Deerfield invite,” Middleton coach Maddie Vogel said. “One thing we have been working on a lot is setting the tempo of the match and focusing on what we can control on our side of the net.

“We were able to get our offense running consistently in every set, which made a huge difference for us in terms of confidence and energy. Our serve receive was also phenomenal. I think that our team is definitely getting grittier in terms of our ability to stay mentally tough in close situations, and that is something that can make or break a team.”

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ day:

The Waukesha South Invite is one of the top girls swimming events every season.

So, after winning the star-studded invite Saturday, Middleton felt awfully good about where its season is headed.

The Cardinals won the 18-team invite with 273.5 points. Arrowhead was second (266), while Madison West (248), Verona/Mount Horeb (206) and Waukesha West/Catholic Memorial (188) rounded out the top five.

“Our girls did a great job of improving through the meet at the Waukesha Invite,” Middleton coach R.J. Leiferman said. “We had a bit of a slower start to the meet than we had hoped, and the girls were really tired from a very tough week, but they managed to find a way to get better with each race, and pulled out a win over a lot of really good teams from all over the state.”

The schedule — which has been daunting to begin the year — is about to get even tougher.

The good news for Middleton’s boys soccer team is they seem perfectly prepared for what lies ahead.

Middleton defeated Beloit Memorial, 5-1, on Sept. 14. The Cardinals then played Waunakee — the No. 4 ranked team in Division 1 — to a scoreless tie last Saturday.

Middleton is now 4-2-2 overall heading into a demanding week. The Cardinals were at Madison Memorial Tuesday, face Madison West at MATC Thursday at 7 p.m., then host No. 5 Verona on Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ week:

• Middleton 5, Beloit Memorial 1 — The Cardinals scored three first half goals and cruised past the Purple Knights.

Junior Gunnar Brakel scored a pair of goals in the first four minutes. Tim Browning then had a goal in the 10^th minute as Middleton’s lead ballooned to 3-0.

Middleton’s boys volleyball had a quiet week.

But the Cardinals were plenty loud in their lone match.

Middleton rolled over Fort Atkinson, 25-5, 25-15, 25-13, on Sept. 13.

Cole Sweitzer, Ben Heise and John Kruchten all had seven kills, while Brody Stuttgen had 22 assists and Alex Heuer added 19 assists, six aces and seven digs. Kaden Fosdick also had two blocks.

“The guys came out and established themselves early,” Middleton coach Rob Kleinschmidt said. “We passed well and did a great job of controlling the match. 

“Brody and Alex ran a very balanced offense, with several players having five or more kills. Sometimes after a big win in the first game teams can let up on their intensity and we did a bit in the second game, but regained our focus quickly and finished well.”

• On deck: Middleton hosts Madison Edgewood Wednesday at 7 p.m., then hosts its own invitational Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.

Middleton’s girls tennis team stayed unbeaten in Big Eight Conference matches last week with three impressive wins.

The Cardinals defeated Madison West, 6-1, on Sept. 13. Middleton then bested Janesville Craig, 7-0, on Sept. 14 and toppled Janesville Parker, 7-0, on Sept. 17.

“We are trying to focus on the little things that we can control, and that is showing up ready to play whoever the opponent might be,” Middleton coach Mat Given said. “These ladies have been working very hard every day to get better and improve their games.”

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ matches:

• Middleton 6, Madison West 1 — Sonya Agapov, Netra Somasundaram and Lydia Sabat posted straight set wins at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles for the Cardinals.

In doubles play, Rose Ryan and Ashley Andler rolled at No. 1, while Bella Conrad and Amy Li won in straight sets at No. 2. Cate Ohly and Caroline Sax also cruised at No. 3.

Middleton’s cross country programs are deep.

Incredibly deep.

So, when an event like the Big Eight Conference Grade Level Challenge comes around, the Cardinals like to give some of their other runners a chance to shine.

“I held out nine out of our top 10,” Middleton boys coach Brian Finnel said. “I think it's a good mental break (for the varsity runners) because it's likely these kids will be moving on for postseason competition. It was nice to focus on the (JV) group for the races and for them to show off their hard work.”

Middleton girls coach Alexa Richardson took a similar approach.

“This race was mostly junior varsity runners,” Richardson said. “However, experience-wise they raced like varsity runners.”

They sure did.

Middleton’s girls team finished third out of 10 teams. The Cardinals’ boys were fourth.

Middleton Football.

It’s predicated on toughness, discipline, execution and intelligence.

And for the first two quarters of the Cardinals’ game with visiting Madison La Follette last Friday, Middleton fell short in every category.

Needless to say, halftime wasn’t pretty.

“We had a pretty heated heart to heart at halftime,” Middleton coach Jason Pertzborn said. “I said, ‘What you're doing out there isn’t Cardinal football.’ I jumped down a lot of people’s throats and they all came out and responded and did a great job.”

Boy, did they ever.

After a sloppy first half in which Middleton had 10 penalties, the Cardinals cleaned things up. Middleton scored 29 third quarter points, had just one second half penalty, eventually got a running clock and pulled away for a 55-12 win over the Lancers.

Middleton improved to 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big Eight Conference. La Follette fell to 0-4, 0-2.