October 2014

When doctors told Marybeth Haunty her son, Alex, wouldn’t ever walk or talk, they forgot to mention fly. They would have been wrong on that count, too.

Haunty, a 22-year-old Middleton entrepreneur, is known locally for his colorful paintings and note cards, hugs, goodwill, and loquacious conversation. But for over a year he had to keep secret his role in the Overture Center’s 10Fest Celebration, held the last weekend in September.

“Sometimes I got so excited that I let the cats out of the bag,” Haunty confessed in the speech he gave at the Overture Center private reception to honor philanthropists Pleasant Rowland and Jerry Frautschi.

The “cats” were that staff had commissioned Haunty to paint a gift of thanks to Rowland and Frautschi on behalf of the greater Madison community, Overture Center spokesperson Robert Chappell said.

Kellan Schulz might be too young to remember Fran Tarkenton or Randall Cunningham.

Johnny Manziel? That’s more up his alley.

Last Friday night, Schulz looked like a combination of all three, producing the ‘Play of the Year’ for Middleton’s football team.

In a WIAA Division 1 Level 1 playoff game, Schulz — a senior quarterback — had a memorable 55-yard touchdown run that helped Middleton down Sun Prairie, 33-10.

Schulz broke four tackles and made another handful of defenders miss on the memorable touchdown. Schulz’s huge run gave Middleton a 24-7 lead midway through the third quarter and helped put away a Sun Prairie team that was trying to claw back into the game.

“I haven’t had a run like that since sixth grade,” Schulz said. “That was sixth grade stuff.”

No, this was big boy football at its best.

Back in August, Middleton’s boys cross country co-coaches — Isaac Mezera and Cindy Bremser — talked about cracking the top-10 at the WIAA Division 1 state meet.

The Cardinal runners said those goals weren’t lofty enough. Amazingly, everything is still in front of Middleton and anything is still possible.

The Cardinals finished second at the DeForest Sectional last Saturday. And Middleton qualified for Saturday’s state meet at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids starting at 12:50 p.m.

“We get one more week to see if we can all have our best race on the same day,” Mezera said. “If we can do that, a top five finish is possible.”

The Cardinals proved at sectionals that anything is still possible.

Franco Marcos calls it “bonus week.”

While the majority of the state’s girls volleyball teams are home by now, the few and the proud march on.

Middleton remained part of that elite club, rallying for a thrilling five-set victory over host Waunakee in a WIAA Division 1 regional final last Saturday.

After dropping the first two sets, the fifth-seeded Cardinals bounced back and posted a 19-25, 22-25, 25-9, 25-14, 15-9 win over the fourth-seeded Warriors.

Middleton will now host top-seeded DeForest in a sectional semifinal Thursday at 6 p.m. The winner of that match advances to the sectional finals, which will be held at Sun Prairie High School Saturday at 7 p.m.

“Coming back and beating Waunakee like that gives us a lot of confidence,” Marcos said. “We’ve still got little things to work on, but we’re playing pretty well right now.”