Sports

If Middleton’s boys cross country team really wants to push itself next season, all it has to do is try keeping up with its new head coach.

If the Cardinals come close to that, good things are sure to follow.

Middleton named Brian Finnel its new head coach last week. Finnel replaces Isaac Mezera, who resigned midway through the 2015 season.

Finnel, an assistant coach in the program the last three years, is an extremely accomplished runner. Finnel finished 57^th at the 2014 Boston Marathon, the highest finish by a Wisconsin runner that year.

Now, Finnel hopes to use his experience and expertise to help Middleton’s program remain among the best in the state.

“Being the assistant coach for the last three season has been terrific,” said Finnel, a science teacher at Glacier Creek Middle School. “So taking over as the head coach seemed like the next natural step.

Middleton’s boys swimming team finished in third place at the 20-team Madison Invitational held at the UW-Natatorium last Saturday.

Madison Memorial won the event with 465 points. Madison West was second at 258.5 and Middleton was third at 193.

“Every swimmer on the team was excited and ready to race,” Middleton coach Sam Niesen said. “We also had quite a few time drops this meet due to some swimmers being half-tapered as well as a great meet atmosphere.”

Cardinals’ sophomore Michael Draves was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle.

Senior Jacob Aegerter was fourth in the 100-yard butterfly and sophomore Luke Delaney was seventh. Aegerter was also eighth in the 200-yard IM.

Middleton senior Jack Zocher finished fifth in the one-meter diving category and senior Ethan Lengfeld was sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Madeline Pflasterer-Jennerjohn has aced every test thrown her way this season.

Her toughest exam came last Saturday at the star-studded Madison Memorial Invite. And once again, Pflasterer-Jennerjohn was up to the challenge.

Pflasterer-Jennerjohn won the all-around competition with a season-best score of 37.775. Pflasterer-Jennerjohn edged runner-up Erin Scholz of Franklin/Muskego/Oak Creek/Whitnall, who scored a 37.50.

“For Madeline to come in and claim first in all-around was huge,” Cardinals coach Kari Steck said. “It was a huge confidence boost for her.

“She is such a humble kid, and she puts much weight on places or scores, but rather on the quality of her routines. It's really a great thing for the younger gymnasts on the team to see. She is such a team player.”

Pflasterer-Jennerjohn’s big day helped Middleton finish third at the eight-team meet. The Cardinals posted a season-best score of 139.750.

The heat is on.

Middleton athletic director Bob Joers has made several solid coaching hires during two different stints as the Cardinals’ A.D.

But Joers has never been able to find stability inside the tennis programs, where it’s been a revolving door for years.

Now, Joers gets another chance to right a wrong.

Andre Glass — who had a tumultuous one-year run as Middleton’s boys tennis coach — resigned last Thursday, just two months before the season begins.

It’s safe to say no tears were shed.

Glass was in over his head from the start and made one of the biggest coaching blunders in school history.

Middleton’s Xavier Sanga and Brian Bellissimo were likely to receive “special qualifier” status to compete in the WIAA Division 1 individual state tournament last June.

All Glass needed to do was email the proper paperwork for the two MHS standouts to the WIAA. Instead, he sent it to the wrong address.

They’ve been tested virtually every way possible.

They’re rallied from double digit deficits. They’ve held off charges from upstart opponents.

They’ve beat teams inside the top-10. They’ve blistered foes with more modest accomplishments.

But every test Middleton’s boys basketball team has been handed during this magical season has been aced.

The latest came last Saturday, when the Cardinals got a scare from visiting Hartland Arrowhead. The Warhawks rallied from a 16-point deficit and held a two-point lead with 2 minutes left, before Middleton battled back and notched an 81-78 win.

Middleton, ranked No. 2 in the latest wissports.net poll, improved to 14-0 overall. The Cardinals are also 10-0 in the Big Eight Conference and hold a two-game lead over Madison Memorial and Sun Prairie.

If there’s such a thing as the dog days of winter, Middleton’s girls basketball team is in the middle of them.

The Cardinals are in the midst of a 20-day stretch in which they won’t play a team with a winning record. And for three consecutive weeks, Middleton has just one game per week.

January doldrums? You bet.

But the Cardinals played well enough — for long enough — to post a 79-68 win over visiting Madison East last Saturday.

Middleton, ranked No. 2 in the latest wissports.net poll, improved to 13-2 overall. The Cardinals also moved to 11-0 in the Big Eight Conference and maintained a ½-game lead over Verona atop the league.

“For the most part, I thought we played pretty well,” Middleton coach Jeff Kind said. “We just have to learn how to finish. We’re not doing that right now.”

Middleton led by as many as 21 with 3 minutes left in the game. But East finished the game on a 12-2 run to make the final score more respectable.

For Kari Steck, it was a happy homecoming.

For Middleton’s girls gymnastics team, it was a day of growth, progress and perhaps some surprising results.

Middleton finished second at the Southwestern Invite last Saturday, despite missing four varsity performers due to a music trip and family events.

Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau won the event with a 135.6 team score, while Middleton posted its highest team score of the season and finished second at 135.425.

Holmen was third (130.875), Monona Grove was fourth (127.4) and Reedsburg was fifth (110.525).

“We were missing quite a few girls who are typically key players,” said Steck, a graduate of Southwestern High School. “However, the girls still pulled off their highest season score, which really speaks to the depth on the team this year. The girls continuously step up and support each other, and it shows.”

The slide is over.

And Middleton’s hockey team hopes it’s back on track.

The Cardinals rolled past Madison Memorial, 5-1, last Friday and snapped a three-game losing streak.

Middleton, ranked seventh in the latest Wisconsin Prep Hockey poll, improved to 16-3 overall. The Cardinals are also 9-2 in the Big Eight Conference and lead second place Verona (8-2) by ½-game for the conference lead.

“I think the biggest thing for us getting back on track was getting back to the little things that made us successful,” Middleton coach Steffon Walby said. “I never would’ve thought playing Memorial would have been our breakout game, but the little added fire that playing inner-conference teams can add certainly allowed us to succeed and get back to winning.”
Middleton jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period.

In many ways, this was the perfect scenario and the ideal outcome for Middleton’s girls basketball team.

Getting there, though, was anything but easy.

The Cardinals defeated visiting Janesville Parker, 84-74, in overtime last Friday.

Just six weeks earlier, the Cardinals routed the Vikings by 36 in Janesville, and some Middleton players admitted they thought the sequel might be similar to the original.

Instead, the Cardinals learned a valuable lesson about overlooking teams. The good news, though, is it didn’t cost them a game.

“I think we just kind of expected to show up and win the game, especially with how the first game went,” Middleton junior forward Carlee Lemirande said. “But we have to come into games acting like it’s the state championship.”

Middleton junior guard Alyssa Lemirande added: “I think we learned a lot tonight about not taking anybody lightly.”

The I-90 trip is often littered with road blocks and potholes. And it almost always contains two gifted opponents.

This year was no different. But Middleton’s boys basketball team is better equipped than any time in recent memory to handle such trouble.

Middleton traveled to Beloit Memorial last Thursday and Janesville Craig last Saturday and dismantled both Big Eight Conference foes.

The Cardinals rolled past the Purple Knights, 81-72, then toppled Craig, 73-63. Middleton improved to 12-0 overall and 9-0 in the Big Eight Conference.

Both Madison Memorial and Sun Prairie are two games behind Middleton at the midway point of the conference season.

“Any time you make the back-to-back trips to Beloit and Craig it’s a difficult turn around,” Middleton coach Kevin Bavery said. “I thought our guys learned some things in a competitive game Thursday and applied them on Saturday. Craig was our best overall effort to date.”