Sports

Jeff Kind has been around long enough to know that the only certainty is typically uncertainty.

That every year holds surprises, disappointments, stunners.

But Kind — Middleton’s veteran girls basketball coach — also knows a good thing when he sees it. And if everything breaks right, anything is possible.

That’s why Kind knows with a break or two, a friendly bounce or favorable roll, his Cardinals can challenge anyone and everyone that crosses their path this winter.

Middleton, which opens its season Tuesday with a home game against Janesville Parker, opened the year ranked No. 4 in the first wissports.com poll of the season. And Kind will do absolutely nothing to squash the lofty expectations that surround his team.

“I think we should be in the mix,” Kind said when asked about chasing a state title. “There’s a long ways to go and we don’t want to put a monkey on our backs.

With lots of new faces this season, it took time for the Middleton girls’ swimming and diving team to jell.

But the Cardinals grew together throughout the season and capped their year with a stirring sixth-place finish at the WIAA Division 1 state swimming and diving championships at the UW Natatorium last Saturday.

“We started as a team with a lot of new people and to say we’re the sixth-best team in the state is phenomenal,” Middleton coach Lauren Cabalka said. “I’m proud of the girls with the way they swam. They performed as a team and they came together.”

Added junior Victoria Lin: “With how we started and how we ended, sixth is great for us.”

A strong finish by senior Paige Prestigiacomo in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the meet’s final event, allowed Middleton to hold off Neenah by one point for sixth-place.

The Cardinals finished with 109 points, while Neenah had 108.

The mediocre play was one thing.

The drama — and the constant trash talking — was another.

Middleton’s hockey team endured a brutal 2013-’14 campaign. The Cardinals finished 10-11-2 overall, went through a midseason coaching change, and took a lot of flak from opponents everywhere.

“We were a laughingstock last year,” Middleton junior defenseman Braxton Walby said. “People said a lot of stuff to us on the ice last year. I think this year there’s going to be a different atmosphere.”

The Cardinals are banking on it.

Middleton opens its season Saturday when it hosts Homestead at 7 p.m. And the Cardinals are hoping for a reversal of fortune.

Middleton will be playing its first full season under coach Steffon Walby, who took over at midseason last year. That continuity and consistency should be a positive.

MILWAUKEE — If you ever need a motivational speaker, Jordan Futch would be perfect for the job.

Late Friday afternoon, after Middleton’s boys volleyball team had suffered a crushing five-game defeat to Burlington at the state tournament, one Cardinal after another hung their head while leaving Wisconsin Lutheran College.

Not Futch, though.

“Everybody was crying after the match, but personally, I was smiling,” Futch said. “I think our team did so well, especially with how we started out this year.

“From the way the season started out, I think we did so well. And what we came out with at the end was really good.”

That’s for sure.

But Middleton wanted more, and seemed poised to take it.

The Cardinals jumped to a 2-0 lead, before Burlington battled back and captured a 23-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-23, 15-8 win.

This is the ideal time of the season to be peaking.

The perfect time to be performing at your best.

That’s exactly what’s happening for Middleton’s girls swimming and diving team. And now, the possibilities appear endless.

The Cardinals finished second at the Beloit Memorial Sectional last Saturday.

Verona-Mount Horeb finished first with 348 points and outdistanced runner-up Middleton (326). But the Cardinals entered the meet as 40-point underdogs based on pre-match seeds, and were encouraged by the progress they made.

“This was a great meet for our team,” Middleton coach Lauren Cabalka said. “Although winning the meet was a team goal of ours, the ultimate goal was to qualify as many swims and dives on to the state meet as possible.”

The Cardinals did just fine there, earning qualifying spots in 13 of the 18 events.

It was a year they’ll never forget.

A third place finish at the WIAA Division 1 state meet. A memorable performance at the Middleton Sectional, where they survived a three-team playoff.

And a strong performance during the Big Eight Conference season, where they tied for the regular season title.

Yes, it was an extremely memorable year for Middleton’s girls golf team. And because of it, the Cardinals received plenty of postseason recognition.

Middleton junior Loren Skibba, the individual state champion, was named first-team all-state and first-team all-Big Eight.

Sophomore Alexis Thomas and senior Rachel Thornton were both named second-team all-Big Eight and honorable mention all-state.

And sophomore Morgan Narowetz was named honorable-mention all-Big Eight.

Skibba battled a back injury early in the year, and played through pain when she returned. But you would have never known it from Skibba’s scores.

The postseason certainly didn’t go as planned.

The regular season was a rousing success, though. And because of it, Middleton’s boys soccer team had seven players named to the all-Big Eight Conference team.

Senior defender Roger Waleffe and sophomore forward Braden Allen were first-team all-league selections. Senior midfielder Devin Ott was named second-team all-conference.

And senior forwards Ivan Khamenka and Nicolas Bilodeau, senior defender Jordan Grapentine and senior midfielder Alba Jonuzi were all named honorable-mention all-conference.

Middleton finished the year 11-5-3 overall and tied for third in the Big Eight Conference at 6-2-1. The Cardinals then lost in the first round of the WIAA Division 1 playoffs.

“The Big Eight has become an extremely competitive conference,” Middleton coach Ben Kollasch said. “Picking the all-conference honorees has become a much more difficult process given all the talent and parity in the conference.” 

Expectations won’t be high — except in their own locker room.

Prospects might be dim — in the eyes of others.

But remember, Middleton’s boys volleyball team has surprised all season long. Now, the Cardinals will try doing so again this weekend.

Middleton heads to the WIAA state meet Friday and Saturday at Wisconsin Lutheran in Milwaukee. The Cardinals received the No. 4 seed at state and will meet Burlington in a quarterfinal match Friday at 3 p.m.

If Middleton advances, its state semifinal would be Saturday at 10 a.m., most likely against top-seeded and No. 1 Marquette. The state finals are Saturday at 6 p.m.

Middleton senior outside hitter James Caldwell wasn’t shy when asked about Middleton’s goals.

“I expect to surprise some people and pull off some wins,” Caldwell said.

That certainly won’t be easy, as Burlington has one of the state’s top players in senior outside hitter Josh Ketterhagen.

It was Thursday afternoon, and Middleton boys volleyball coach Ben White stopped by his parents’ house shortly before his Cardinals hosted Kettle Moraine in a WIAA sectional final.

White has been in his share of rodeos while turning Middleton into one of the state’s elite programs. This time around, though, the Cardinals’ leader was a little uneasy.

“I told my Mom I was nervous,” White said. “Usually I’m not, but this is the most fun I’ve had in years. These guys are a bunch of goofballs and they make me laugh more than any team I’ve had in a long time. I just didn’t want it to end yet.”

Turns out, the anxiety was all for naught.

Thanks to the continued brilliance of senior outside hitter James Caldwell and the emergence of junior middle blockers Blake Sprecher and Jordan Futch, the Cardinals toppled the Lasers, 3-1.

Never say die.

Middleton’s football team never did. Not during a season that featured a Big Eight Conference title, four- and five-game winning streaks, and non-stop excitement.

That attitude nearly produced a comeback for the ages last Friday. In the end, though, Middleton fell just short.

Middleton scored two late touchdowns in a matter of just 38 seconds and pulled within 27-20 of Fond du Lac during its WIAA Division 1 second round playoff game. But Middleton couldn’t creep any closer and fell by that score in a game held at Breitenbach Stadium.

Afterwards, several Middleton players collapsed on the turf and wept for several minutes, a reaction that certainly didn’t surprise their head coach.