April 2023

Five all-conference players return.

A gifted senior class will lead them.

And there are newcomers ready to step into key roles.

So despite playing in one of the state’s toughest conferences and sectionals, hopes will be extremely high for Middleton’s girls soccer team this spring.

“To say going to state isn’t always on my mind, I would be lying,” said Middleton coach Mary Duffy, whose team begins its new season Friday against Hudson at Otto Breitenbach Stadium at 7 p.m. “It is there. However, as I have gotten older, I realize how important these 2 ½ months are in other aspects of life.

“I hope for a season that they are proud of, a season where they came together with a group of players, fought for each other, to know that their teammate has their back, left everything on the field for themselves and for their teammates.”

Middleton has been awfully good in those areas throughout Duffy’s tenure. And she expects this spring to be similar.

Middleton senior Gavyn Hurley was named to the first-team of the The Associated Press’ All-State boys basketball team.

Hurley was previously named first-team all-state in Division 1 by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. The AP All-State team encompasses all five divisions.

Hurley was named the Big Eight Conference’s Player of the Year for a second straight season, as was also named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Hurley became the first player since Sun Prairie’s Nick Fuller (2012-2013) to win back-to-back Player of the Year honors.

“Not only was he first team, but he was the Player of the Year again,” Middleton coach Kevin Bavery said of Hurley. “And that’s not anything you take lightly.

“He’s better in all phases of the game than he was last year. He’s arguably the best player I’ve ever coached — right up there with three or four other people. The league saw Gavyn that way. He clearly earned it.”

Eight of the players that started in Middleton’s WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal last June have graduated.

Seven of those players earned all-conference honors and helped the Cardinals post an impressive 19-9 season.

But even though Middleton has holes to fill all over the diamond and will be one of the Big Eight Conference’s most inexperienced teams, expectations don’t change.

That’s why Cardinals manager Brent Jorgensen is cautiously optimistic his team can produce another solid season.

“I believe very strongly that the expectation of our program is to reload,” said Jorgensen, now in his fifth year as the Cardinals’ skipper. “Our preparation and standards remain the same from year to year and we have a large senior class that can help us meet these expectations. However, many of the players on this year's team are unproven in consistent varsity competition, so there will be a bit of a learning curve for everyone.”

MERRILLAN–Susan Margaret Thorstad, 66, of Merrillan, and formerly of Cross Plains, passed away on March 11, 2023, at her home after a recent history with heart disease. Sue was born April 17, 1956 and was raised in Racine by her parents Donald and Margaret (nee: Lurth) Pfeiffer. She attended St. John Nepomuk grade school, graduated in 1974 from St. Catherine’s High School, and attended the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Sue worked for a number of years as an office systems analyst for Sundstrand Corporation in Rockford, IL. In April of 1989 she married Thomas Carl Thorstad and they moved to Cross Plains where she was employed as a senior network engineer working in information technology and advanced communications at AAA of Wisconsin. Later, she owned and operated a landscaping and snow removal business. In 2021 she left Cross Plains and moved north to Merrillan.