Sports

Middleton’s boys swimming and diving team is more halfway through its season.

And the two-time defending state champion Cardinals should be thrilled with how things have gone.

Middleton — which is unbeaten in both invitationals and dual meets — improved to 4-0 in the Big Eight Conference with a 121-45 win at Sun Prairie East on Jan. 10.

Middleton won all three relays and took first in seven of the eight individual races.

“With the end of the season quickly approaching, we made sure to capitalize on every race we could participate in,” Middleton coach Wes Lagerhausen said. “Luckily Sun Prairie was kind enough to let us put extra entries into the JV heats. This helps me make decisions of who should swim what and in what meet at the end of the season.”

Middleton’s Espen Morner won the 200-yard freestyle, while Evan Myers was third. Sam Wolf, Morgan Dorsey and Ben Freiberg went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard IM, and Wolf set a new pool record (1:53.94).

Middleton’s girls gymnastics team wasn’t at their best against Madison East/La Follette on Jan. 9.

The Cardinals were good enough, though, to emerge with a 129.125-121.20 win.

“This is usually the point in the season where the girls are feeling sick and worn down,” MHS coach Alexis Cairo said. “This competition definitely was not our best, however, I am so incredibly proud of my girls for going out there and giving it their best.”

Middleton’s Aspen Goth won the all-around competition with a 34.60, while Abby Arnold was third (32.550) and Anja Schmidt-Voils was fourth (30.7750).

Goth was first on the vault (8.550), while Arnold was third (8.20), Ana Bollig was fifth (8.0) and Schmidt-Voils was sixth (7.950).

Goth also won the floor exercise (8.975), while Arnold was third (8.40), Schmidt-Voils was fourth (7.950) and Audrey Thomas was seventh (7.0)

Middleton’s girls basketball team rolled past Janesville Parker, 54-40, on Jan. 10.

The Cardinals improved to 5-9 overall and 4-5 in the Big Eight Conference. Parker fell to 1-12, 0-8.

Rowan Borne led Middleton with 17 points, seven steals and five rebounds, while Emily Utter had nine points and three steals. Hailey Stroede had eight points and five rebounds, while Macey Blazek had seven rebounds, four points and three steals.

Brooke Michelotti added six points, five rebounds and two steals, while Lucy Drye had four steals.

Middleton finished with a season-high 20 steals.

• On deck: Middleton was at Madison Memorial Tuesday, then faces Madison La Follette Saturday at 11 a.m. at Sun Prairie West High School.

Middleton’s hockey team had a rough week, dropping all three of its games.

The good news for the Cardinals is they were all non-conference contests, meaning Middleton still leads the Big Eight Conference.

Madison Edgewood defeated the Cardinals, 10-3, on Jan. 7. Green Bay Notre Dame then defeated Middleton, 4-1, on Jan. 10 at Marathon County Ice Arena, and Wausau West edged the Cardinals, 5-4, at Marathon County Ice Arena on Jan. 11.

Middleton fell to 10-7 overall, but is a perfect 7-0 in the league — one game ahead of Verona (8-1) in the loss column.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals week.

• Madison Edgewood 10, Middleton 3 — Edgewood raced to leads of 4-0 and 10-1 and was in control throughout.

Wyatt Ehrhardt, Everett Lamp and Thomas Sutcliffe all had goals for MHS.

• Notre Dame 4, Middleton 1 — The Tritons scored four second period goals and rolled past the Cardinals last Friday.

OAK CREEK — Just 90 seconds had elapsed from Middleton’s boys basketball game at Oak Creek last Saturday.

Cardinals 7-foot senior center Will Garlock — who was playing his first game following offseason ankle surgery — spun baseline and threw home a monster dunk over two much smaller Knights.

Garlock was called for traveling on the play, but the tone had been set.

And when someone from the crowd yelled, “He’s back”, they were spot on.

Garlock was indeed back, finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds in just 16 minutes to power Middleton to an impressive 63-55 win.

The Cardinals, who were 2-5 without Garlock, are now 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big Eight Conference. Oak Creek, which was off to a terrific start, fell to 6-2.

OAK CREEK — Rashard Griffith was befuddled.

Middleton’s girls basketball coach had watched his team play a terrific final 9 minutes in their game at Oak Creek last Saturday. The problem is the Cardinals did very little right the first 27 minutes.

The result was a 52-38 setback that left Griffith wondering how he could get his team to play with the consistency they showed down the stretch.

“I’m trying to figure that out,” Griffith said afterwards. “I just talked to them about it. It’s not like they can’t do it. It’s not that they aren't a good team. But we came out slow, we came out sluggish. I told ‘em it’s like you’re all still at home in your bed asleep. .

“Because we came out slow and dug a hole for ourselves, that’s what happened. And we couldn’t get out of it.”

Middleton fell to 4-9 overall and is 3-5 in the Big Eight Conference. Oak Creek improved to 4-5.

Middleton’s hockey team stayed atop the Big Eight Conference with a 6-1 win over Madison Memorial last Saturday.

The Cardinals improved to 7-0 in the conference and are 10-4 overall.

Michael Garbuz led the Cardinals with two goals and an assist against the Spartans, while Patrick Passini had a goal and two assists.

Thomas Sutcliffe, Kaden Ruedebusch and Luke Strasia all had goals for the Cardinals, as well. Wyatt Ehrhardt, Everett Lamp, Taylor Park and Matt Sanger all added assists.

Heuer Stutz had 17 saves in goal and picked up the win.

Middleton scored the first six goals of the game and was never challenged.

Middleton’s girls gymnastics team had a long wait for their first meet of the season. That wait finally ended last Saturday, and the Cardinals gave an impressive performance.

Middleton finished in second place of the seven-team Red Division of the Mount Horeb Invitational.

Verona won the meet with a 143.0750 score. Middleton was second at 130.500 and Monona Grove was third (130.3250).

“For our first invite of the season, I am so incredibly proud of how my girls did,” Middleton coach Alexis Cairo said. “Of the six girls that competed, four of my girls competed in all four events … and we had eight PRs at this competition.”

Middleton sophomore Aspen Goth was fourth in the all-around competition with a 34.425, while junior Abby Arnold was eighth (32.60). Junior Ana Bollig was 15^th (31.225) and senior Anja Schmidt Voils was 23^rd (28.125).

Middleton’s wrestlers finished in seventh place at the 24-team Ripon Invite on Dec. 30

Waukesha West won the meet with 585.0 points. Middleton finished with 235.0 points.

Middleton’s Sam Zanton finished first at 157 pounds, while Aiden Bell (138) and Pavil Jones (144) both placed third.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ performance.

113 — Kyle Mock (6-6) placed 9th and scored 17.0 team points.

Round 2 - Sam Peterson (Lena) 12-3 won by fall over Mock (Fall 0:57)

Round 3 - Baron Dowland (N. Fond du Lac/St. Mary`s Sp.) 9-6 won by medical forfeit over Mock

Round 4 - Desmond Thomas (Fond du Lac) 1-4 won by medical forfeit over Mock

Round 5 - Alex Hayes (Portage) 3-5 won by medical forfeit over Mock

9th Place Match - Mock received a bye

126 — Tavish Frank (7-5) placed 13th and scored 10.0 team points.

Round 1 - Frank received a bye

Middleton’s boys swimming and diving team went three weeks between competitions during their holiday break.

You would never known it, though, by watching them at the Marquette Invitational last Saturday.

Middleton won the star-studded, 28-team event with 323.5 points, while Brookfield’s co-op was a distant second with 226.5. McFarland (219), Waukesha South’s co-op (212) and Madison West (163.5) rounded out the top five.

“We did an incredible job,” Middleton coach Wes Lagerhausen said. “It was an extremely fast meet and we were fortunate enough to contribute to that in a big way alongside other teams after winter break training.”

Middleton junior Sam Wolf set two new meet records — in the 200-freestyle and the 100-breaststroke. In all, six meet records were broken.

Middleton’s swimmers also posted season-best times across the board.