November 2014

This is the ideal time of the season to be peaking.

The perfect time to be performing at your best.

That’s exactly what’s happening for Middleton’s girls swimming and diving team. And now, the possibilities appear endless.

The Cardinals finished second at the Beloit Memorial Sectional last Saturday.

Verona-Mount Horeb finished first with 348 points and outdistanced runner-up Middleton (326). But the Cardinals entered the meet as 40-point underdogs based on pre-match seeds, and were encouraged by the progress they made.

“This was a great meet for our team,” Middleton coach Lauren Cabalka said. “Although winning the meet was a team goal of ours, the ultimate goal was to qualify as many swims and dives on to the state meet as possible.”

The Cardinals did just fine there, earning qualifying spots in 13 of the 18 events.

The postseason certainly didn’t go as planned.

The regular season was a rousing success, though. And because of it, Middleton’s boys soccer team had seven players named to the all-Big Eight Conference team.

Senior defender Roger Waleffe and sophomore forward Braden Allen were first-team all-league selections. Senior midfielder Devin Ott was named second-team all-conference.

And senior forwards Ivan Khamenka and Nicolas Bilodeau, senior defender Jordan Grapentine and senior midfielder Alba Jonuzi were all named honorable-mention all-conference.

Middleton finished the year 11-5-3 overall and tied for third in the Big Eight Conference at 6-2-1. The Cardinals then lost in the first round of the WIAA Division 1 playoffs.

“The Big Eight has become an extremely competitive conference,” Middleton coach Ben Kollasch said. “Picking the all-conference honorees has become a much more difficult process given all the talent and parity in the conference.” 

It was Thursday afternoon, and Middleton boys volleyball coach Ben White stopped by his parents’ house shortly before his Cardinals hosted Kettle Moraine in a WIAA sectional final.

White has been in his share of rodeos while turning Middleton into one of the state’s elite programs. This time around, though, the Cardinals’ leader was a little uneasy.

“I told my Mom I was nervous,” White said. “Usually I’m not, but this is the most fun I’ve had in years. These guys are a bunch of goofballs and they make me laugh more than any team I’ve had in a long time. I just didn’t want it to end yet.”

Turns out, the anxiety was all for naught.

Thanks to the continued brilliance of senior outside hitter James Caldwell and the emergence of junior middle blockers Blake Sprecher and Jordan Futch, the Cardinals toppled the Lasers, 3-1.

Shall the City of Middleton Storm Water Utility be permitted to charge customers of the Storm Water Utility an annual charge up to $15.00 per equivalent runoff unit for each property for maintenance of existing storm water management facilities without reducing the levy limit for the charges of the Storm Water Utility?