Posted: Jan. 27, 2010 |(0) Comments

Nicolet boys swim

Off too long and anxious to get competitive work in, the Knights were a competitive fourth in the Shorewood Invitational on Jan. 16.

"We really hadn't had a meet since mid-December (due to cancelations and schedule changes)," said Knights coach Dwight Davis. "You can do that at the college but high school, you need to keep them active, but this was still a very good meet for us. We had about 90 percent lifetime bests and because of finals week (this past week), we worked really hard. The guys were going faster than their taper times from a year ago."

Nicolet will have its parents' night dual with Cedarburg Thursday at 6 p.m.

The top individual finish for the Knights at Shorewood was a third from diver Noah Gilday (297.15). Taking fourths were 2009 state meet qualifier Ben Wynn in the 500-yard freestyle (five minutes, 17.01 seconds); the 200 free relay team of Konrad Holtz, Andrew Shuster, Wynn and Shreya Patnaik (1:35.88); and the 400 free team made up of the same performers (3:32.28).

Other top 10 efforts included the following: diving: Evan Siverhaus, 10th (232.9 points); 200 medley relay: Danny Lerner, Grant Wilkie, Chris Squire and Sean Mannion, ninth (1:56.25); 200 free: Wynn, seventh (1:54.11); 200 individual medley: Shuster, 10th (2:19.7); 50 free: Patnaik, eighth (24.23); 100 butterfly: Patnaik, 10th (1:00.63); 100 free: Shuster, sixth (52.62); 100 breaststroke: Squire, ninth (1:11.19).

Then Saturday, the Knights dropped a tough 96-90 decision to Homestead in a make-up North Shore dual. Firsts for Nicolet were taken by Wynn in the 200 free (1:58.24) and 500 free (5:21.81) and Patnaik in the 100 butterfly (59.29). Patnaik led a one-two-three finish in the butterfly as Wilkie was second and Roman Hoffmann third.

In addition, the 200 medley relay team that included Squire and Patnaik turned in a winning time of 1:49.17. Davis liked the improvement he saw from the second and third-line swimmers.

Nicolet girls basketball

Getting a push that it hadn't had in some weeks, the Knights held off a second-half surge from Cedarburg on Friday, outlasting the Bulldogs, 52-35, to maintain their two-game lead in the North Shore Conference standings.

"They were a very good defensive team," said Knights coach Corey Wolf. "We got a nice lead at the half (30-16) but then they got a little spurt and made a run at us to cut the lead to eight. It got a little uncomfortable there for a time. We had to stop their momentum, because they were by far the most physical team we've played so far."

With the win, the Knights are now 7-0 in league play and 12-1 overall while Germantown is all alone in second (5-2, 10-2). Nicolet will host Whitefish Bay (4-3, 6-6) on Friday and then will visit Port Washington (1-6, 2-9) on Feb. 2.

Cedarburg (4-3, 8-6) cut the lead to 40-29 at the end of three quarters, but the Knights held the Bulldogs to just six points in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

As usual, the Knights had balance as Ashley Green led the way with 16, while Alex Cohen came up with 13, and Brittney Fair 11.

"With just a few minor exceptions, I thought we kept our intensity up," said Wolf. "We played pretty well."

Whitefish Bay girls basketball

Taking nothing for granted in a highly competitive conference, the Blue Dukes got a lead and held it just long enough in outlasting Milwaukee Lutheran, 39-34, in a NSC contest Friday.

"Every game has a different tempo," said Blue Dukes coach Greg Capper, "and Lutheran just played a little differently than we expected. But we picked it up defensively and made a good physical effort. We needed to, because it's hard to win games in this conference. We needed to get after the boards and the loose balls."

With the win, the Blue Dukes moved into a tie for third in league play at 4-3 (6-6 overall). They will be at league-leading Nicolet (7-0, 12-1) on Friday and then be on the road again for league runner-up Germantown (5-2, 10-2) on Feb. 2.

Bay trailed 14-13 at the half against Lutheran (2-5, 3-7) but grabbed a small 25-23 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"We then got the lead up to seven or eight points and I don't think they got it inside of five," Capper said. "We had a lot of one-for-two situations at the foul line." Bay did struggle a bit at the line, hitting seven of 18 attempts.

Jessica Switzer had 13 points and Alexa Herasimchuk 11 for the Blue Dukes.

Brown Deer girls basketball

Knowing it would be an easier game, the Falcons were able to work on and refine a few things as they coasted to a 53-20 victory over a game, but still winless, Shorewood team Friday.

"We're trying to focus on ourselves," said Falcons coach Mark Busalacchi, "and trying to get better. Work hard and hope that things take care of themselves."

Brown Deer, which has now won three of its last four, is 4-7 in Woodland Blue play and 5-8 overall. The Falcons will be at South Milwaukee (4-6, 6-8) on Friday and then host St. Francis (6-5, 10-5) on Feb. 2.

Against Shorewood (0-11, 0-13), Brown Deer took care of things in a hurry, grabbing a 29-2 first half lead without allowing the Greyhounds a field goal.

Mariah Weddle had 19 points, including five 3-pointers for the Falcons while Ariel Kinlow had 11 and Jasalyn Lee 10. The Greyhounds were led by Margaret O'Brien with eight.

"We wanted to stay aggressive as long as necessary, and I thought it worked out well," Busalacchi said. "She (Weddle) is really starting to figure out things."

Whitefish Bay girls gymnastics

The Blue Dukes set another season best of 139.1 in taking second in the Arrowhead Invitational on Saturday.

"It was a good meet," said Bay coach Mary Liniewski. "We wanted to reach 140 today, but it was another season best and one thing I've learned over the years, is that we don't want to peak too soon."

Liniewski, whose team will host Cedarburg/Grafton at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, said that she'll be focusing on conditioning and flexibility work this week to try and remedy a lot of little aches and pains the team is going through.

"It'll help us keep our confidence," she said.

The Blue Dukes trailed only Kenosha (140.85) in the competitive six-team Arrowhead meet.

Margaret Anderson won the vault with a 9.2 score. Anderson was also second on beam (9.3) and third in the all-around (36.25).

Kelly Danek also had a fine meet, taking fifth in the all-around (34.875) while earning sixth in vault (8.8) and on bars (8.775).

Liniewski said the floor exercise and vault went very well and that the bars were nearly on goal, but noted that the Blue Dukes struggled on balance beam this day.

"It was still a good team meet," she said. "A little more nerve-wracking than we needed it to be."

Whitefish Bay boys basketball

A first quarter ankle injury to guard John Johnston and late game foul-outs to post Jamie Schneck and others put the Blue Dukes on the wrong end of a 75-69 overtime decision to Milwaukee Lutheran on Friday and dropped Bay out of a tie for first place in the North Shore.

"It's a tough loss," said Blue Dukes coach Kevin Lazovik, "but it was still positive to see us lose Johnny and still play hard the whole game. Even though it was a loss, there were a lot of positives."

The Blue Dukes went into this week at 5-2 in league and 9-3 overall while Port Washington took sole control of first place (6-1, 11-1). Bay will host Nicolet (3-4, 9-5) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and then will have a nonconference game at Hartford on Saturday (TBA).

As of last weekend, Lazovik did not know Johnston's long-term status.

The injury came at a bad time, as Johnston helped the Blue Dukes to a 23-14 first quarter lead over the Red Knights (4-3, 8-4) on Friday. They still had a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but then both Schneck (11 points) and back-up point guard Alex Jamerson (six points) fouled out, leaving Bay perilously short-handed.

Lutheran's all-state guard Chim Kadima, who hit 16 free throws on the night, hit the second of two attempts with two seconds left in regulation to force the overtime at 62-62.

The Red Knights then grabbed the lead in OT on a 3-pointer and never looked back.

Kadima finished with 28 points as Bay was led by Ron Patten with 20 and Paul Davis with 12.

Lazovik thought that Gabe Aleman, Davis and Paul Anton all stepped up and played well.

Homestead boys swim

Using its depth and a final strong surge by its 400-yard free relay team, the Highlanders eased past Port Washington, 99-86, in a North Shore Conference dual Jan. 21.

The Highlanders led the Pirates, 89-82, going into the 400 relay, but the crew of Ben Sjulson, Erik Erlandson, Kyle Welna and Gordon Goetz, beat their Port counterparts by more than five seconds in winning 3:34.52.

Other firsts for Homestead included Sjulson in the 200 free (1:49.93) and the 100 butterfly (59.06), Erlandson in the 50 free (24.15) and the 200 free relay team of Sjulson, Erlandson, William Schlageter and Goetz (1:34.99).

The Highlanders also earned a sweep of diving as Erik Larsen (267.25 points), Reece Howell (185.75) and William Klingbeil (160.15) took the top three spots. Erlandson led a sweep in the 50-yard free as Welna (24.68) was second and Goetz (24.95) third.

In their 96-90 win over Nicolet on Saturday, the Highlanders got a one-two-four effort in the 100 backstroke from Max Timm (1:04.18), Drew Miller (1:06.42) and Michael Foulkes (1:07.53), respectively, to pull into a tie and then a win from the 400 free relay team of Ben Sjulson, Erik Erlandson, Kyle Welna and Cody Burkard (3:29.95) to claim the meet victory.

Burkard won the 200 IM (2:13.58) and the 100 breaststroke (1:05.88) and Sjulson the 50 free (22.4) and the 100 free (50.2).

Brown Deer/University School swim

Behind seven wins in 11 events, the Falcons overpowered visiting Cudahy, 101-64, in a Woodland Conference crossover dual meet on Jan. 20.

Chris Mysczewski took first in the 100 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke while Andrew Burant won the 100 freestyle, Matt Daniels the 500 free and Michael Short the 100 backstroke.

The Falcons swept both the backstroke and breaststroke races as in the backstroke Nick Ott and Dan Backer were second and third, respectively and in the breaststroke Colin Tubbs was second and Daniels was third.

BD/USM went one-two in all three relay races, too. The Falcons will be at the State Small Schools Invite in Plymouth on Saturday.

Nicolet wrestling

On the surface, the Knights sixth-place showing in division I of the Sheboygan North Golden Raider Invite on Saturday does not look all that impressive, but coach Gus Kaufmann would like to put it in perspective.

"Last year, we only scored 17 points here and had only one place-winner," he said. "Today, we got three guys to the semifinals. Of the nine guys we took, seven of them placed (in the top eight overall). I'm happy with where we are heading into the home stretch."

The Knights will host Cedarburg at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and then close out the dual meet portion of their season on Monday when it hosts Homestead in a make-up of a previously postponed dual (also 7:30 p.m.).

Nicolet scored 89.5 points as Brookfield East won the nine-team division with 156.5.

Earning the fourths were Chris Morrell at 103 pounds (2-2 on the day, 15-5 overall); Ethan Klein at 112 (2-2, 26-5); and Bobby Herrick at 145 (2-2, 20-10).

Taking fifths were Tamir Klein at 119 (4-1, 23-10) and Dakota Mitchell at 130 (4-1, 23-6). Matt Dineen was sixth at 135 (2-2, 18-11) while Wilhelm Fehlhaber was seventh at 160 (3-2, 6-10). Kaufmann is pleased with Fehlhaber's progress.

"We know we have some work to do, but this was a good look at a higher level of competition," Kaufmann said.

Whitefish Bay wrestling

The Blue Dukes also made progress at the Golden Raider Invite, taking sixth in division 2 with 48.5 points.

"We needed this tournament," Blue Dukes coach Dale Loebel said. "You have to lift your level of competition or you can't expect to step up in the conference or regional meets."

The Blue Dukes will host Milwaukee Lutheran in their North Shore Conference closer at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. There will also be a memorial ceremony for the late Nate Potter, a former Blue Dukes grappler who died tragically last fall.

Random Lake won division 2 of the Raider Invite with 146.5.

Bay was led by Logan Schwenker at 160 (2-2, 10-6) and Jake Beckert at 171 (2-2. 22-5), both of whom earned fourths. Joey Davey (3-2, 15-15) fought his way to sixth at 103 while Austin Hill at 285 (2-3, 5-3) was eighth at 285.

On another sad note, Andrew Reidy (13-11), who was just coming into his own at 125, broke his ankle at the meet and is done for the season.

"It really stinks," said Loebel. "All the guys were really behind him."

Homestead wrestling

The Highlanders were seventh in their own varsity invitational Friday (see column).

Best efforts for Homestead included a third by Taylor Ruffin at 160 (4-1, 22-8) and fourths from Nick Weyker at 130 (3-2, 25-5); Pat Farrell at 189 (2-3, 13-10); and Ryan Greve at 215 (3-2, 24-5).

Spencer Bold was fifth at 125 (2-2, 23-7), while sixths went to Jason Findling at 112 (1-3, 22-6); Brad Devereux (3-2) at 125; and Michael Kress at 171 (2-3, 17-13).

The Highlanders also held their own against long-time North Shore champ Port Washington, dropping a tough 43-27 decision Jan. 21.

Wins for Homestead were earned by Findling at 112 (pin), Bold at 125 (9-2 decision), Weyker at 130 (pin), Mike Kress at 171 (6-2), Farrell at 189 (pin) and Greve at 215 (5-1).

"A well-wrestled dual for us," coach Barry Bernstein said.

Homestead will be at Germantown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and at Nicolet for a make-up dual at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Homestead gymnastics

The Highlanders got a first from Katelyn Wright in the floor exercise (9.5) as they took fourth (133.475) in the Arrowhead Warhawk Invitational on Saturday. Kenosha won the meet with a 140.85 score.

They will be at Nicolet for a dual meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

 

- Steven L. Tietz