Getting into swing of it

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 22, 2014

Getting into swing of it

West’s Wanie returns from injury

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

Amanda Wanie is already in mid-season form. Well, sort of.

The West Bend West junior scored an 8.6 on uneven bars in her first varsity competition of the season. It was good for second place in West’s victory over West Bend East on Tuesday night, 135.1-127.45.

It was a season-high score for the Spartans.

Wanie has been slowed by a stress fracture in her right leg so far this season.

Last week against Hartford, she competed on uneven bars in the junior varsity meet.

“(It’s) good having Amanda back and getting her back in and doing something,” West coach Jackie Vorpahl said.

Wanie also competed on balance beam, where she scored an 8.375, but in a routine that was scaled back as she continues to ease back into full competition mode.

“It feels good,” Wanie said of her leg.

“I just don’t want to push it too hard the first time,” she added.

West’s Bailey Wagner swept the meet, winning each of the four individual events and the allaround.

Wagner scored a 9.2 on vault, 8.625 on bars, 9.05 on beam and 9.025 on floor exercise.

East’s Paige Bintz had a personal- best score on floor to take second in that event (8.55). Also for East, Zoey Roberts was second on beam (8.45) and tied for second on vault with teammate Storey Forster (8.5).

“That was amazing,” East coach Haley Neja said of Bintz’s floor routine. “I was very happy with it.”

Roberts was third in the allaround with a 32.2, behind Wagner (35.9) and West’s Katelyn Butters (32.3).

“Zoey was great tonight,” Neja said. “She was solid on every event she did. It was so nice to have solid routines on all four events tonight.

“Taking third place in the allaround, we needed that out of her. It was nice to see her step up.”

East’s team score was its second- highest tally of the season, trailing Saturday’s score at the Homestead Invitational where the Suns took ninth place out of 13 teams with a 127.725.

“They are getting better,” Neja said.

“It seems like it’s halfway through the season, but we haven’t gotten started,” she added. “I still have huge goals; still have high expectations.”

Not being able to compete was starting to frustrate Wanie, the reigning Wisconsin Little Ten Conference Gymnast of the Year.

It wasn’t until about three weeks ago when Wanie was able to start practicing. She admitted she was a bit rusty, but it felt good knowing she was getting closer to being able to help her teammates.

That was the most excruciating part about waiting for the injury to heal.

She had a big smile after Tuesday’s meet as it was a load lifted off her shoulders.

“I didn’t know I was doing varsity coming into this meet,” Wanie said. “Maybe that was a good thing because I didn’t feel like I had much time to get nervous.”

“At this point, I just really want to help my team as much as I can,” she added. “That’s my goal right now. I’ve had to watch everyone do what I want to do.”

Last week against Hartford, Wanie scored just a 6.45 on bars.

Wanie’s 8.6 on the bars Tuesday came on her first varsity event of the season. It was an impressive score, especially when it’s compared to a healthy Wanie at this time last year.

In last year’s East-West meet, Wanie scored an 8.2 on the bars. And one year ago against Waupun, she scored an 8.55. At state, she scored an 8.9 in the individual competition and 9.0 at team state.

With Wanie back in the lineup, which she and her coach hopes will be in the all-around in a week or two, the Spartans got a boost, Vorpahl said.

The plan is to hopefully add floor to Wanie’s regimen next week and then vault the next week.

Like Wanie, Vorpahl was tired of waiting, and Vorpahl challenged one of her captains.

“I decided we’re done. We’re done holding back,” Vorpahl said. “Be a leader like you’re supposed to be; you’re a captain. Step up there and do what you need to do. That’s what I told her and that’s what she did.”

And for Wanie to be ahead of last year in her first time out was a big plus.

“That’s a positive for her,” Vorpahl said. “She now knows she can do it.”

Nick's Notes: G'town still the favorite

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 18, 2014

G’town still the favorite

Well, the streak is finally over. Probably much sooner than most expected. Nonetheless, the streak is over. On Tuesday night, Brookfield Central sent a shockwave through Wisconsin high school boys basketball by beating Germantown, ending the Warhawks’ 69-game winning streak.

Brookfield Central went into the game as the state’s second-ranked team in the Division 1 coaches poll. Obviously, Germantown was No. 1. After Tuesday night, Brookfield Central will likely assume the top spot in next week’s state rankings.

Germantown started the 2011-12 season No. 1 and has been there ever since.

The 69 games in a row led the nation and broke a state record that stood for more than 30 years.

Germantown won in a variety of ways. In most of the games, the Warhawks crushed their opponents. They also showed it can win the close games, the high-scoring games and the low-scoring games.

In last year’s state championship game, they beat Mukwonago without scoring 60 points, but allowed less than 30.

Germantown has four college prospects on its team, including three headed to Division I schools next season.

While the Warhawks may not have much satisfaction for what they accomplished right now, it’s an accomplishment worth celebrating. But we’re not going to overlook what Brookfield Central did, either. It took a special kind of team to beat a special kind of record and that’s what happened.

Brookfield Central is indeed a special team with a ton of talent and deserved to win the game by all accounts. Now we’ll get to see how good Brookfield Central can be. Come March, Germantown will re-emerge as the top team in the state and win a third straight state championship.

Which team is the best is still up in the air. Best and top are different from each other. Top just means a team is at the top of its game or, in this case, the state polls.

What needs to be kept in mind here is the game was at Brookfield Central, which automatically gives the edge to the Lancers. If the game was at Germantown or on a neutral floor, Germantown would’ve won.

A big victory like this could be the turning point of both teams’ seasons. Can Brookfield Central maintain the momentum it has built? How will Germantown respond?

Germantown has balance and toughness. The Warhawks have one more thing in their favor and it is the most important: experience.

Germantown knows how to win the big games. Brookfield Central hasn’t done that just yet. This was a big victory in a big game. It’s just one, though. Next time around, you can almost be assured that Germantown will have revenge on its mind and have that chip on its shoulder. Last time that happened, a lot of teams in this state found out how relentless the team can be. The pressure is now off of Germantown. In the season the Warhawks won the first of their back-to-back state championships, even though they spent the whole season ranked No. 1 in the state coaches poll, they weren’t the favorites.

Madison Memorial was the favorite and with good reason. The Spartans had been to state nine straight years.

What did Germantown do to Madison Memorial? Blew them out, winning 81-43 in the state semifinal. That was the first time Germantown was thrust into the spotlight. And it was brilliant in the twoplus years with it on it.

Now it’s Brookfield Central’s turn. Germantown won’t be too far out of the spotlight, though.

Comeback Bears

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 16, 2014

Comeback Bears

Germantown rallies from 3-goal deficit in 3rd period

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

All they needed was one. One goal to sneak past the big and talented Tommy Laken, goaltender for the Kenosha Thunder.

When the one goal came for the Germantown Ice Bears, the rally was on.

The Ice Bears pulled off a stunning comeback Wednesday night at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center, beating the visiting Thunder, 4-3, in overtime.

The Ice Bears (9-9) trailed 3-0 with 7:49 left in the third period.

“Truthfully? No,” Ice Bears coach Russ Wanta said when asked if he believed his team could make a comeback.

“The reason why is (Kenosha’s) goaltender is one of the best in southeastern Wisconsin,” he added. “He’s a big kid and covers a lot of the net.”

The Ice Bears miraculously found a way, a sign of the hopefully changing times with the Ice Bears, who are now one victory away from reaching double figures in the wins column for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

This one will be hard to forget.

Peter Schmidt scored the gamewinning goal with 1:19 left in the overtime, but not before Alec Fieldhack tied the game with one second left in regulation.

“We knew we could score on him,” Schmidt said. “We just had to get one and we did.”

Asked if he and his teammates were trying to figure out how they won the game, Schmidt said yes.

“It’s kind of a shock,” he added.

Going into the game, Laken had just a 4-8 record, but had a 2.72 goalsagainst- average, a 93.8 save percentage and three shutouts.

It looked like he was going to get a fourth shutout. Then it went bad for the Thunder (3-12), who were averaging just 2.6 goals per game, in a hurry.

Nate Breckenridge scored at the 9:11 mark of the third period to make it 3-1. Breckenridge scored on a rebound from the initial shot by Mitch Kinnunen.

The Ice Bears finally had the confidence they could score on Laken. From there, the Ice Bears picked up the pressure and continued to apply it relentlessly.

In the third period, the Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 23-2.

“We got outworked; bottom line,” Kenosha coach JR Litkey said.

The Thunder got on the board with a pair of goals in 4:56 during the first period. Both goals came off turnovers by the Ice Bears in their own zone.

Kenosha got the third goal when the Ice Bears couldn’t clear the puck during a power play. That goal came with one second left on the power play.

“I was frustrated,” Wanta said. “I was frustrated by the little things we were doing. We had double-digit number of icings, which just means our guys are not moving correctly through the neutral zone.”

Down 3-0, Wanta had to make a decision.

“‘Do I readjust and play this one out?’” Wanta recalled thinking after the Thunder’s third goal. “I don’t know how we come to those decisions, but for whatever reason I said no. I’m going to try to let these seniors try to fight back into this thing.

“They rose to the occasion.”

Jake Tweten drew the deficit to one goal with a power-play goal with 27 seconds left in regulation.

Still, the odds were against the Ice Bears. But Wanta said he has a group of players that don’t like to quit.

Joe Kandel shot the puck on goal with the seconds winding down. Laken turned aside the shot. The puck bounced onto Schmidt’s stick who quickly shot the puck at point-blank range to just beat the buzzer. In the overtime, the Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 6-0. The Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 49-12, for the game. “I feel terrible,” Litkey said about Laken. “He had a shutout going. With under eight minutes left, we just couldn’t do it. We got outworked.”

The Ice Bears have won five of their last seven games. They are also 4-0 in overtime games this season.

“All year long, win or lose, our kids refuse to quit,” Wanta said. “That is one characteristic of this team that I’m so proud of.”

“All I’ve got to say is, ‘Don’t take the Ice Bears to overtime,’” he added with a smile.

Hartford freshman shines on uneven bars, West wins dual

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 15, 2014

Hartford freshman shines on uneven bars, West wins dual

Spartans open conference with victory

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

Halli McCauley’s 8.3 on the uneven bars was a bit of a shock.

Then she got an even bigger shock: She can do better.

McCauley, a freshman on Hartford Union’s gymnastics team, won the bars event in Tuesday night’s Wisconsin Little Ten Conference dual against West Bend West.

The Spartans won the dual, 129.25-120.675, and it was both teams’ first conference meet of the season.

“We saw some things get better, some things get worse, but overall they just looked tired,” West coach Jackie Vorpahl said.

West’s Bailey Wagner won the all-around with a 34.85. The senior was also first on vault (9.05), balance beam (9.025) and floor exercise (8.7).

“They were consistent,” Vorpahl said of Wagner’s scores. “We want to get the bars up. That needs to come up. The others were pretty good.

“There was a little bobble at the end of her floor routine, otherwise she would’ve had three 9s tonight.”

In addition to McCauley’s score on bars, her teammate, Megan Maloney, took second on the apparatus with an 8.125.

“That’s exciting against West,” Hartford coach Mary Scherr said.

“I think overall we did OK,” she added.

Wagner took third on bars (8.075).

“Oh, really?” McCauley asked with a smile when she was told she had won the bars event.

Maloney was also second on floor with an 8.525, which was a personal best. In backto- back meets, Maloney, a senior, has broken a personal best. In Saturday’s West Bend Invitational, Maloney scored an 8.825 on beam.

“She’s made a ton of improvements since last year,” Scherr said of Maloney. “It shows in her performance. She’s been working hard. It’s nice to see it pay off.”

Scherr added Maloney appears to have more motivation this season, which bodes well for the Orioles.

McCauley had a strong day at the West Bend Invitational as she finished on the medal stand (top six) in two events. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise, however.

McCauley, while she may be a freshman, was in club gymnastics at LaFleur’s Gymnastics in Germantown the past six years. Last year, she competed at Level 7 and had one of her best seasons in the process.

She was the state champion at her level on bars and vault, and in the all-around.

“Our team has been kind of toward the bottom (of the conference), so I’m hoping we can get more up there,” she said about what she hoped to bring to the team this season.

McCauley was shocked to find how she had won the bars routine Tuesday, mostly because she took out a skill because she hurt her ankle in practice Monday when her foot hit the bar during a skill.

Plus, it was against West and a gymnast in Wagner who will likely challenge for the WLT Gymnast of the Year honor.

“It’s really awesome,” McCauley said. “I really wasn’t expecting much.” When asked if her score could improve, she looked at her coach who promptly said yes.

“I guess I can,” McCauley said with a big smile.

Scherr said she believes McCauley could get to as high as 9.0 with the bars routine.

“She’s got a lot of capabilities,” Scherr said. “There’s still some things she’s missing with her requirements and things that she can still work on cleaning up in her routine.

“There’s still room for improvement and so that’s exciting to see her scoring this well to start out with, knowing those scores can jump up.”

Nick's Notes: Pat on the back for WFCA

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 11, 2014

Pat on the back for WFCA

In a time when the most common image that comes to mind when it comes to football coaches is them screaming at the top of their lungs at a player or a team, what the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association has done deserves a round of applause.

This week, Dan Brunner, former football coach at Hartford Union and the president of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, revealed the plan which is now in front of the WIAA’s Board of Control.

The plan puts restrictions on preseason practices designed to protect the student-athletes during the heat of summer. In a time when football is perceived as a tough guy’s sport, for the coaches association to step up and say this is something that needs to be done to protect the kids deserves a lot of praise. In short, practices during the preseason camp can’t exceed two consecutive hours without a 30-minute break. Then they are allowed one hour max after the break. On every other day, teams can do a walkthrough practice, lasting no more than an hour and in helmets only, after a three-hour break.

In addition, there was a modification to the plan on getting players acclimated to the equipment. Instead of being able to wear full pads after three days, players have to wait five days before they can wear full pads and start full-contact activities. The plan is designed to minimize injuries and help teams get through the preseason as healthy as possible, which in turn, could help teams retain players once the season starts.

Area coaches said it is getting harder to keep players interested in football for an entire season, especially if a player quits because he or she struggles with the intense heat and practice demands.

The increased awareness of concussion or head injuries and heat exhaustion have prompted the WFCA to take a stand and make a statement aimed at parents saying they have the kids’ best interest at heart.

A loss of a game can’t and won’t measure up to the loss of a child.

For Wisconsin to be one of the pioneers in doing this, it speaks volumes to the type of coaches this great state has in football.

Other states have rules like these in place, but not until pressure from the governing association. The WFCA said it didn’t want to wait. It wanted to make a change and take a stance and potentially save the life of a child.

How can one not be appreciative of that?

Southern states like Texas and Florida, where high school football is viewed on the same level as college or even pro football in some cases, don’t have any rules like this in place. And the weather is far more humid and strenuous than it is here.

Many coaches in Wisconsin are already doing this, but the proposal by the WFCA, which appears destined to be passed by the WIAA and the state’s athletic directors in the coming months, just makes sure it becomes mandatory. You just can’t be sure if there is one bad egg out there who will do everything he or she can to get the advantage. The coaches in high school sports, especially in football, put so much time and effort into the sport with very little reward.

To put something like this in place and make it mandatory is a great step in the right direction. If it protects a life, how can you not be on board with it? Otherwise, we’ll sit here regretting not making the move sooner and wondering: what if ?