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Written by Steve Ostermann
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Wednesday, 29 September 2010 17:56 |
Staying with the front-runners has become a way of life for the Port Washington girls’ cross-country team this season.
However, the Pirates hadn’t raced to top honors until last Saturday, when they grabbed a championship in the large-schools division at the Reedsburg Invitational.
Led by sophomore Bianca Benkley, Port scored 29 points, well ahead of runner-up Baraboo, which had 52 in a 12-team field.
Benkley took third with a 4,000-meter time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds, to pace a pack of six Pirates who finished in the top 11.
Port’s other scoring efforts came from Ashley Hilton in fourth (16:10), Diana Seer in fifth (a season-best 16:20), Payton Greisch in eighth (16:43) and Bonnie Allen in ninth (16:44). Allison
Hilton was 11th (16:47).
“It was a good, challenging course,” Port girls’ coach Joe Adamak said. “The girls all ran hard and did well.”
The team title was the first in five meets for the Pirates, who had a second, two thirds and a fourth in their previous outings.
Another highlight for Port came from its junior-varsity girls’ team, which placed first with a perfect score of 15 points.
Freshman Abby Kotecki won the race in 18:19, as the Pirates swept the top five places.
In the boys’ portion of the varsity meet, the Pirates placed fourth out of seven teams in the large-schools field with 102 points.
Baraboo won the title with 23 points, and Portage (58) and Wisconsin Dells (101) were second and third, respectively.
Port coach Mark Pasten gave his top runners a break from the meet, instead using a lineup of runners taking their first crack at varsity competition.
Sophomore Jack Skelton-Miller led the Pirates with 13th-place time of 18:54 in a 5,000-meter race that included 47 runners.
Among his teammates, Adam Laessig took 16th (19:00), Joe Bartolotti was 19th (19:25), Matt Froelich was 22nd (19:39) and Eric Ross was 32nd (20:27).
“All things considered, I was happy with our finish,” Pasten said. “It was a good experience for these runners. They did well.”
This week, the Port boys will return to their regular lineup for the Badger Invitational in Madison on Saturday. The Port girls do not have a meet.
Both teams will then run at the annual Port Invitational on Oct. 7 at Tendick Park in Saukville.
Lundgren, Ducheny lead Hawks
The Grafton cross-country teams had mixed results at the Len Nikolai Invitational in Manitowoc last Saturday.
Senior Stefan Lundgren led the boys’ squad with a 64th-place time of 18:15, as the Black Hawks finished 17th out of 18 teams.
Grafton had 423 points in a meet won by Stevens Point with 49.
The Hawks’ other finishes were Patrick Tobianski in 73rd (18:25), Adam Kahmann in 92nd (18:59), Josh Wimmer in 94th (19:04), Michael Knapik in 100th (19:28) and Justin Tomashek in 111th (20:06).
“The guys ran OK,” Grafton coach Kevin Kriegel said. “They’ve been maintaining their times, but what we’re looking for now are time drops.”
Tobianski, a freshman, showed the most improvement by trimming 40 seconds off his previous-best time.
Michael Larson of Stevens Point won the race in 16:12.
The Grafton girls, who had an incomplete lineup, were paced by sophomore Amber Ducheny, who finished eighth with a personal-best time of 15:37, the fourth-fastest in team history.
“It was really nice to see her run that well in a big meet,” said Kriegel, who noted Ducheny’s previous-best time was 16:02.
The Hawks’ other finishes were Kylie Longoria in 66th (a personal-best 17:00), Jamie Karrels in 85th (17:17) and Emily Volkmann in 87th (17:18).
Haley Johnson of Plymouth won the girls’ race in 14:49.
This week, both Grafton teams will run at the Owl Invitational in Slinger at 4 p.m. Thursday. |
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Written by Steve Ostermann
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Wednesday, 22 September 2010 15:41 |
 Re-energized by Giles, CG-B football team bounces back from defeat by rolling past Random on Parents Night
With the sting of an upset loss at Ozaukee the previous week still fresh in their minds, members of the Cedar Grove-Belgium football team had a simple goal last Friday: redemption.
Bolstered by a huge game from a sophomore running back, the Rockets had little trouble steamrolling Random Lake in a 33-7 win that re-established their footing and evened their Central Lakeshore Conference record.
Alex Giles, a transfer student whose family moved to the Cedar Grove-Belgium district from Manitowoc, provided most of the spark by rushing for 180 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries. His prolific effort in a Parents Night game fueled a ground attack that piled up 264 yards.
Giles’ performance also helped offset the absence of junior back Hunter Buechler, who was sidelined with an injury.
“Alex did a phenomenal job,” said Rockets coach Chris Zablocki, whose team improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in CLC play.
“He’s an extra-hard worker who’s started to get comfortable with our system. He reads his blocks well, runs hard and is capable of making big plays.”
Cedar Grove-Belgium wasted little time shackling the usually tough Rams. Giles’ first touchdowns — on runs of 44 and 54 yards — gave the Rockets a 13-0 lead in the opening period.
The advantage ballooned to 33-0 by halftime after Giles added two more scores, on runs of three and nine yards, sandwiched around a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown by Nick Peterson.
Cedar Grove-Belgium’s defense, which allowed just 122 yards, pitched a shutout until the fourth period when Rams quarterback Brady Schmidt threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tim Grimes.
“I was anxious to see how our kids would respond after losing to Ozaukee,” Zablocki said. “Random Lake has played us tough in the past, so I wasn’t expecting it to be like this. But the kids came out and took care of business.”
Mental mistakes, turnovers and missed tackles plagued the Rockets against Ozaukee, which handed them their first conference loss since 2007. However, Cedar Grove-Belgium cleaned up its act against the Rams, committing only one turnover and playing penalty-free football.
“We had a few missed tackles, but not many,” Zablocki said. “We were determined to get back to basics and executing fundamentals, and we did that.”
Besides Giles’ big night, the Rockets got workmanlike efforts from running backs Andrew Brisley (28 yards on six carries) and Justin Keller (35 yards on 13 rushes). Quarterback Travis Obbink complemented the ground game by completing six of nine passes for 58 yards.
More importantly, the win kept Cedar Grove-Belgium in the thick of the conference title chase, one game behind co-leaders Ozaukee and Oostburg (both 2-0).
“It’s a wide-open race that anyone can win,” Zablocki said. “We’re going to take it step by step, week by week.”
The Rockets’ next step will be this Friday when they travel to Sheboygan Lutheran for a 7 p.m. contest.
ALEX GILES pulled away from a Random Lake tackler as he found an opening in Cedar Grove-Belgium’s 33-7 win last Friday. Giles, a sophomore, finished the night with 180 yards and four touchdowns on 16 carries. Photo by Sam Arendt |
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News
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Written by Steve Ostermann
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Wednesday, 22 September 2010 15:35 |
Port can’t duplicate 2009 championship but still finishes solid 3rd at home invitational
After winning its own Pirate Invitational last year, the Port Washington girls’ swimming and diving squad had high hopes of duplicating its lofty finish this fall.
Although the Pirates fell short of top honors, they still turned in a strong showing in the 11-team meet last Saturday.
“It was a nice finish for us,” Port coach Maureen Jajtner said of her squad’s third-place performance. “I was pleased with how the girls did against tough competition.”
Plymouth cruised to the championship with 517.5 points, well ahead of runner-up Germantown (332) and Port (226).
West Bend West and Oak Creek shared fourth place with 208 points, followed by Manitowoc (202.5), West Bend East (197), Wauwatosa West (177), West Allis (170), Kiel (72) and Milwaukee Lutheran (14).
Plymouth won five events and used its depth to dominate the meet.
Port’s best finish was second place from the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Alex Anderson, Tori Klotz, Kelsey Zeman and Mary Nuedling, who combined for a time of 4 minutes, 5.1 seconds.
Medals were awarded to the top six finishers in each event.
Also earning medals for the Pirates were fourths by Klotz in the 500 freestyle (5:41.2) and the 200 freestyle team of Anderson, Klotz, Dana Grady and Nuedling (1:52.3) and fifths by Klotz in the 200 freestyle (2:08.3), Hayley Seitz in diving (274.8 points) and Anderson in the 100 butterfly (1:06.5).
Jajtner said her swimmers are continuing to lower their times.
“The girls are talented and hardworking,” she said. “Since the season started, they’ve continued to improve.”
Pirates 2nd in Plymouth meet
A pair of victories by Klotz led Port to runner-up honors in a triangular meet at Plymouth on Sept. 16.
Klotz, a senior, won the 200 freestyle (2:08.8) and 500 freestyle (5:44.15).
The Pirates also got a first-place finish from Claire Kinzer in diving (185.9 points).
Plymouth won the meet with 164 points, followed by Port (100) and Two Rivers (55).
Placing second for Port were Nuedling in the 50 freestyle (28.3) and 100 freestyle (1:01.45), Anderson in the butterfly (1:04.9), Seitz in diving (178.4 points) and Zeman in the 100 breaststroke (1:26.0).
“Tori really came into her own at this meet,” Jajtner said. “She and a lot of other kids had solid meets for us.”
Jajtner also singled out Anderson, a junior, for a personal-best time in the butterfly and a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley, and Seitz, a sophomore, for her effort in diving.
Hawks race to 3rd at conference relays
A trio of winning performances paced the Grafton girls’ swimming and diving team to third-place honors in the North Shore Conference relays Sept. 14 at Whitefish Bay.
Coach Adan Burgos’ squad was fifth in the standings with one event left but moved up two spots by winning the finale, the 100 freestyle relay.
“It worked out pretty well for us,” said Burgos, whose team finished with 65 points, one more than fourth-place Nicolet.
“We tried to score at least 60 points, and we got a few more. It was exciting to be able to come back and win the last race and vault up two places.”
Lisa Borden, Katelyn Gallun, Katelyn Brooks and Stephanie Haebig combined for a winning time of 51.5 in the finale.
The Black Hawks trailed only champion Homestead (95 points) and Whitefish Bay (74) in the standings. Following fourth-place Nicolet were Cedarburg (63), Germantown (54), Port
Washington (34) and Milwaukee Lutheran (11).
Grafton’s other victories came from the 100 medley team of Haebig, Anna Hauer, Kelsi Chesney and Gallun (57.4) and 300 backstroke team of Chesney, Borden, Gallun and Haebig (3:06.35).
The Hawks’ next-best finish was a third by the 300 butterfly team of Haebig, Brooks, Hauer and Chesney (3:20.6).
Port was led by three fourth-place finishes — from the 800 freestyle team of Anderson, Klotz, Nuedling and Zeman (9:00.5), 300 butterfly team of Nuedling, Julia Buddenbrock, Zeman and Anderson (3:31.7) and diving duo of Kinzer and Seitz.
This week, Grafton took on Nicolet in a North Shore Conference meet Tuesday while Port faced Whitefish Bay. On Saturday, both local teams will participate in the Plymouth Invitational.
In 6 p.m. NSC meets Sept. 28, Grafton will host Whitefish Bay while Port hosts Milwaukee Lutheran.
PORT WASHINGTON’S Kelsey Zeman came up for air during the breaststroke race at Saturday’s Piraet Invitational. Photo by Sam Arendt |
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