Posted: March 23, 2010 |(0) Comments

Nicolet boys basketball

In a season that needed adjustments from time-to-time, the Knights found their way to their most successful campaign in five years, turning in a 17-8 final mark.

"You obviously don't play unless you set goals like winning conference and getting to the state tournament," said veteran Knights coach Paul Hepp. "but at some points, you learn to adjust those goals and find other things that make it satisfying.

"Which we did.

"I think we had the toughest schedule that I've seen in 15 years. We had five wins against teams that had 19 or more wins and we beat three conference champs. Overall, we played only six games against teams with under .500 records. Almost every time out was a quality win.

"And for us to win regional and make (WIAA) sectional for the first time in five years was a big deal."

Indeed, as the Knights season only ended with a sectional semifinal loss to powerful Rufus King. Prior to that, they also won the NY2LA Sports Classic and Brookfield Central's Luke Homan Memorial Tournament. An eight-for-10 game winning stretch dominated the last half of the campaign.

The Knights achieved all these things with a senior-dominated line-up (10 all told).

"The great thing about that," said Hepp, "is that we had a lot of balance. We never had to rely on just one guy." He pointed to senior Brandon Zall as one example, who only earned a starting role midway through the season.

"He didn't care anything about individual awards as long as we won games," Hepp said.

So it was no surprise that Zall and fellow senior Jeff McClain won the Knights' best teammate award, while most improved went to Cameron Smith. The 'Mr. Defense' honor went to Clem Robinson, while 'Mr. Heart' went to Jarel James. First-team All-North Shore Conference selection Myles Henry was named MVP.

Henry led the team with a 15.3 ppg average while junior post Christian Griggs-Williams tossed in 11 ppg Robinson averaged 9.0 ppg, Tre Kinlow 7.8 and James 6.2.

"It was an enjoyable journey," said Hepp. "To coach these kids and to coach against as much talent as we had in the conference was a lot of fun. The conference had as much talent as I've seen in a long, long time."

Seniors include McClain, Zall, Kinlow, Henry, Rafael Ahrens-Dennist, James, Rashad Cummings, Smith, Robinson and Terence Bradley.

Whitefish Bay girls basketball

It was another step in the progression for the 13-11 Blue Duke girls this winter.

And coach Greg Capper can credit the mentally strong senior class for that.

"We got to 7-7 in the conference and we got to regional finals again," Capper said. "We did that last year (finals), got down big and lost big. This time, we got down big, came back and gave ourselves a chance (before losing to Grafton).

"We learned what it meant to be tough. How to come back and be resilient and how to be competitive in the sport of basketball.

"They taught the others that hard work in practice will translate into games and they spent a lot of time talking to the underclassmen in the locker room, talking about what it will be like when their turn comes."

That senior group included Kylie Davidson, Megan Palmer, Alexa Herasimchuk, Maggie Tietjen, Maggie Rice and Lauren Agnew.

Capper started working with this group in the Junior Dukes program six years ago, not knowing that he would take the varsity job a few years later.

"There were a lot of pleasing moments, just realizing how much they were enjoying themselves," he said. "They really learned how to be teammates."

Junior forward Jessie Switzer came on in the second half of the season to lead the team in scoring at 10.5 ppg, while Herasimchuk tossed in 8.5 and Rice and freshman Elisabeth Johnston 5.3 apiece. Junior Leslie Fuda came in with 4 ppg. Capper said that Switzer's potential is nearly unlimited.

"She told me that she's going to see how far she can take this if she works her butt off," chuckled Capper.

The junior varsity was 7-13 and the freshmen 13-7. Aside from Switzer, Johnston and Fuda, Capper and assistant Dave Markson will also build around other returnees like Ally Spiroff, Lindsey Agnew and Katie Sullivan.

Brown Deer girls basketball

Mark Busalacchi took the Falcons' coaching job just weeks before the season started and with some perseverance and talent, managed to coax a competitive 9-15 record out of the squad this winter.

Now he can't wait for next year.

"In a lot of ways this was a success," he said. "I think we laid the foundation for a good program and hopefully we built some continuity into things. I think we became a very competitive team by the end of the year."

The Falcons ended their season with a regional semifinal loss to Grafton. Because of Busalacchi's late start, numbers were down on both the varsity level (10) and the combined freshmen-junior varsity (eight). There was no freshmen team.

But even that combined freshmen-junior varsity found a way. It started 0-14 but then won five of its last eight games. Busalacchi said coach Michelle LaRue did a great job with the team.

"We figured out that practicing hard made us more competitive against the better teams," Busalacchi said. A good effort against Woodland Divisional champ Pewaukee told him that.

Monique Morris (5.9 ppg) was the only senior in the program. The team was led by MVP guard Chelsea Stingley (10.2 ppg), while 3-point artist and most improved award winner Mariah Weddle tossed in 9.5, and defensive MVP Ariel Kinlow 6.3.

Ariel Feiertag was the team's scholar-athlete.

"Hopefully, it'll be a word of mouth thing now," said Busalacchi, "and kids will want to be a part of it, make it something cool for them."

Whitefish Bay girls track

A distance-oriented Blue Dukes team opened its 2010 campaign with a solid effort in its own quadrangular meet on March 18.

Bay, which will take part in the North Shore Indoor at Homestead on March 31, got firsts from Camille Schwartz in the 60-yard high hurdles (10.04 seconds), Mady Vicker in the 440 (1:05.97), Megan Palmer in the mile (5:21.53), Meredith Zoltan in the long jump (14-6 3/4 ), and Frankie Carroll in the high jump (5-0).

In addition, the mile relay team of Palmer, Ally Spiroff, Arden Stewart and Kenzie Vicker (4:26.3); and the four-lap relay team of Monica Mitchell, Emily Garcia, Jayda Watkins and Katie Troast (1:37.4), were also victorious.

In an early season showdown, Germantown's state 800-meter runner-up Lizzie Wendt, edged the Blue Dukes' state 3,200 champ Kenzie Vicker in the 880 in a tightly fought race. Wendt was clocked in 2:35.32 while Vicker was clocked in 2:35.34.

Whitefish Bay boys track

The Blue Dukes showed off some good talent in its season-opening quadrangular on March 18.

Bay, which will also take part in the North Shore indoor on March 31, got firsts from state 400 meter qualifier Davontae Johnson in the 60-yard dash (6.8), Casey Easterday in the two-mile (11:02.0), Mike Camirelli in the 880 (2:20.67), and the four-lap relay team of Johnson, Robert Courtney, Brandon Threats and James Stecker (1:18.45).

Johnson missed out on making state finals in the 400 last spring by just 0.07 of a second. Threats was second in the 60 dash at 6.94.

Homestead girls track

Defending state 100-meter high hurdle champ Marissa Savitch showed she is ready to defend her title, by dominating the field in the 55-meter high hurdles at the 28-school Nelson Daniels Invite at Whitewater on March 20.

Savitch, whose efforts led the Highlanders to a tie for fourth was clocked in 8.4 seconds well ahead of a finisher from Cary-Grove (Ill.), who was timed in 9.24 seconds. Lauren Holtz also won the 1,600 in a tough stretch run with a girls from Niles West (Ill.) with a 5:19.88 clocking.

Those efforts led the Highlanders to a 34-point total, which tied with Janesville Craig as Arrowhead won with 62.5.

Other places by event for Homestead included the following: 400: Kacie Kelly, seventh (1:04.87); 800: Keali Bjork, third (2:24.86); 3,200: Kelsey Boyle, fifth (11:50.48); long jump: Savitch, eighth (15-6); and 1,600 relay: eighth (4:26.27).

Homestead will co-host the North Shore Indoor on March 31.

Shorewood girls track

Led by Emily Bacchuber's victory in the 1,600-meter run as well as a win by the 3,200 relay team, the Greyhounds took seventh in the 22-team Division 2 of the Nelson Daniels Invite at Whitewater on Friday.

Bacchuber was clocked in 5:37.87 for her victory, while the relay won by five seconds in a 10:48.76 effort. Her effort led the Greyhounds to a 27-point total as Lake Mills won with 70.

Other places by event for Shorewood included a fourth from the 1,600 relay team (4:27.69) and a seventh from Sydney Cross in the 400 (1:06.96).

Bacchuber was a state qualifier in both the 800 and 1,600 meters last season

Shorewood boys track

Returning state place-winners Peter Drews and Ben Tyler started their spring well by tasking seconds in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, respectively, in the Division 2 competition of the Nelson Daniels Invite on March 19.

Drews was clocked in 4:25.48 for his slot in the 1,600 while Tyler was timed in 9:49.47 in the 3,200. Drews was third in the state D2 1,600 last spring while Tyler was the same in the 3,200. Tyler lost this race to defending state 1,600 and 3,200 champ John Luterbach of Catholic Memorial (9:40.91).

The Greyhounds 3,200 relay team was also second (8:45.07) while Aidan Mazur was eighth in the 800 (2:10.88). Tyler, Drews and Mazur all helped the Greyhounds win the state D2 cross country title last fall.

Brown Deer boys track

The Falcons got a second out of Lawrence Rabon in the 55-dash (6.74) as they finished in a tie for 13th in the Division 2 competition of the Nelson Daniels Invitational on March 19.

Rabon lost only to Fred Willis of Brookfield Academy (6.63). Other places for the Falcons included a fourth from Evan Naber in the 55 high hurdles (8.62) and a sixth from the 800 relay team (1:39.92).

Monona Grove won the 25-team competition with 54 points.

Brown Deer girls track

Asia Cheeks edged out Denay Hering of team champion Lake Mills to win the 55-meter high hurdles as the Falcons took sixth in Division 2 of the Nelson Daniels Invite in Whitewater on Friday.

Cheeks, who was fifth in the 100 high hurdles in the state D2 meet last spring, was clocked in 9.30 while Hering was timed in 9.35.

Other places for the Falcons included the following: 55 dash: Ariel Kinlow, third (7.57); Tahtyana Peer, sixth (7.78); 400: Kinlow, fifth (1:06.16); high jump: Cheeks, fifth (tie 4-8); and 800 relay: sixth (1:59.58).

Nicolet girls track

Roni Thompson took second in the long jump (16 feet-4 inches) to lead the Knights in the Division 1 portion of the Nelson Daniels Invite at Whitewater on March 20.

The only other Nicolet place was a seventh by Lauren Cunningham in the 1,600 (5:41.27).

Nicolet finished 20th in the meet with 10 points as Arrowhead won with 62.5.

 

- Steven L. Tietz