Sports

It was one of the most amazing seasons in school history. One that will be marveled at for years to come.

Middleton boys volleyball senior outside hitter James Caldwell produced a season unlike many before him, leading the Cardinals to a Big Eight Conference title and a trip to state.

And that brilliance is why Caldwell was an easy pick as the Big Eight’s Player of the Year.

Middleton junior middle blocker Jordan Futch and senior outside hitter Andrew Gardner both received first-team all-league honors, as well. Senior setter Derek Kalvin was named second-team all-league, while freshman libero Thomas Robson and junior middle blocker Blake Sprecher were both named honorable-mention all-conference.

Caldwell was the headliner, though, for a Middleton team that overcame a bevy of obstacles and had a surprising run back to state.

Middleton’s girls volleyball team was young, inexperienced and unknown when the 2014 season began.

By the end of the year, the Cardinals were a group of battle-tested veterans capable of anything.

That’s why Middleton fared extremely well when it came time for postseason awards.

Junior outside hitter Logan Welti was named first-team all-Big Eight Conference and honorable-mention all-state.

Senior libero Amber Karn, senior setter Rachel Severson and senior outside hitter Audrey Hinshaw were all named second-team all-conference.

Verona finished with most all-conference selections (six), while Middleton and Sun Prairie tied for second (four).

The end result wasn’t what anybody had hoped for.

But there were plenty of bright spots for Middleton’s hockey team in its season-opener last Saturday.

The host Cardinals fell to Mequon Homestead, 3-2, in overtime. The Highlanders Joey Hobbs got the game-winner early in overtime.

“I definitely wanted a victory,” Middleton coach Steffon Walby said. “However we played a team that was very similar in talent as well as work ethic.

“When I made the schedule I wanted a team that was going to give us a good measure of where we were, and Homestead did that.”

After a quiet first period, Middleton’s Casey Harper scored just 57 seconds into the second period to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

“I thought that the overall game was more of a chess match than a hockey game,” Walby said. “We took the entire first period to feel each other out and to get the first game jitters out.”

Homestead scored twice in the third period and grabbed a 2-1 lead.

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.”