Sports

Middleton’s boys basketball team will host its 20th annual summer varsity tournament on Saturday at Kromrey Middle School.

The Cardinals will face Edgerton at 10 a.m., battle Muskego at noon, and play Madison West at 2 p.m.

A single gme elimination tournament begins at 3:15 p.m.

There are 16 teams competing in this year’s tournament including Waunakee, Muskego, Janesville Parker, Madison West, Badger, Marshall, Brookfield Central, Oregon, Sun Prairie West, Verona, Mount Horeb, Janesville Craig, Edgerton, Stoughton and Dubuque.

Middleton went 22-5 last season and tied for the Big Eight Conference championship with a 16-2 record.

The Cardinals defeated Janesville Craig and Waunakee to win a WIAA Division 1 regional championship, then lost to eventual state runner-up Madison Memorial in a sectional semifinal.

Just as it had in the sectional tournament, Middleton’s boys tennis team leaned on its stacked singles lineup to earn a 5-2 victory over Lake Geneva Badger in the semifinals of the WIAA Division 1 team state tournament at Nielsen Tennis Stadium last Saturday.

“I’m really happy with the way the guys came through,” Middleton Coach Aaron Kondrasuk said. “We played them in the regular season and beat them 4-3 so we knew it was going to be a close match.

“We did play them again and lost, but Alex Bo and another guy weren’t there, so it wasn’t our normal lineup. We knew it was going to come down to some close matches and I was really happy with the way they competed and got us through.”

Middleton advanced to face top-seeded Whitefish Bay in the championship match Saturday afternoon.

SUN PRAIRIE — Tyler Vogt and Joey Passaglia found each other for a hug that neither wanted to end.

Brent Jorgensen paused, multiple times, to fight back tears.

And to a man, Midleton’s baseball team took their time leaving Sun Prairie West High School, doing everything possible not to say goodbye.

That’s what happens when you get a senior class for the ages, a close knit team that was red hot, and one whose dreams of reaching the state tournament were a reality.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the end came Tuesday afternoon when Madison Memorial rallied past Middleton, 3-2, in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal at Sun Prairie West High School. The Spartans scored a run in the sixth to tie things, 2-2, then won it in the bottom of the seventh on Caleb Liggon’s bases loaded single.

MADISON — There’s no telling how things might have gone for Alexander Bo at the WIAA Division 1 boys individual state tennis tournament if he hadn’t dug deep in last Friday’s third round.

If Bo hadn’t turned in a “gutsy” effort to overcome a bad forearm cramp.

Maybe the Middleton senior would have still won.

Maybe not.

But Bo, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, exhibited the necessary toughness to move on, winning 6-2, 6-3 over 15th-seeded Augustine Luy of Green Bay Notre Dame.

Bo continued all the way to the state finals last Saturday, coming up just shy of being the Cardinals’ first state champion since 2015 and the second in program history.

Bo suffered a 6-2, 6-4 loss to top-seeded Alex Thomas, also from Notre Dame, in the championship match.

It marked the second straight year Bo was the state runner-up.

The present was filled with one magical moment after another.

The future is even brighter.

Kingston Penn, a junior sprinter for Middleton’s track and field team, had a memorable trip to the WIAA Division 1 state meet last weekend at UW-La Crosse.

Penn finished third individually in the 100-meter dash. Penn also competed in the 200-meter dash and ran the anchor leg of Middleton’s 400-meter relay team.

The highlight for Penn came in the 100-meter dash, where he ran a 10.75, which trailed only champion Trey Resch of Arrowhead (10.59) and Kevion Dickerson of Milwaukee Riverside (10.72).

Penn was fifth during qualifying in 10.90, then improved his time in the finals by nearly two-tenths of a second.

Slighted.

Disrespected.

Disparaged.

That’s how Middleton’s girls soccer team felt when it received the No. 6 seed in its WIAA Division 1 sectional.

“The girls took this miscalculation from the seeding meeting to heart,” Middleton coach Mary Duffy said. “They knew we were underrated and knew that too many in the sectional thought we would be an easier team to face.”

What those teams found out was a group of angry Cardinals were a remarkably dangerous team to face.

Middleton knocked off third-seeded Verona, 2-0, in a regional final last Saturday. The Cardinals had defeated 11^th-seeded Sun Prairie West, 7-0, in a regional semifinal contest last Thursday.

The Cardinals advanced to the sectional finals, where they’ll travel to second-seeded Oregon Thursday at 7 p.m. The sectional finals are Saturday at noon at Waunakee High School.

Middleton’s Home Talent League team, the defending league champions, is off to another terrific start at 4-0.

The 29ers opened the year with a 2-1 win over Cross Plains on May 23 and followed that with a 12-2 victory over Black Earth on May 24. Middleton downed Lodi, 9-0, on May 31 and toppled Mazomanie, 9-0, on Sunday.

Here’s a recap of the 29ers’ start.

• Middleton 2, Cross Plains 1 — Brady Schmitt and Bennett O’Connor combined on a three-hitter and led the host 29ers past the Businessmen on May 23.

Schmitt gave up two hits, no runs and struck out 11 in six strong innings. Schmitt also threw strikes on 62 of 75 pitches (82.7%).

O’Connor then threw the final three innings, allowing one run, one hit and striking out two.

Drew Farrell led Middleton’s offense with two hits and an RBI, and Michael Monson had a double, walked twice and added an RBI.

Middleton’s boys lacrosse team enjoyed a memorable season and had hopes of winning a second state championship in three years.

The Cardinals’ title dreams fell short, though, when they lost to Madison Edgewood/Monona Grove, 11-6, in the state quarterfinals on June 4.

Roan Johnson had four goals for second-seeded Middleton, but the third-seeded Crusaders struck early and never trailed.

Edgewood/MG led, 3-1, at the end of the first period and 7-2 at halftime. The Crusaders led, 9-4, after the third period, before Johnson struck for two goals and pulled Middleton within 9-6 with 6:46 remaining.

The Crusaders scored twice in the final 3:15, though, ending Middleton’s season.

Griffin See had one goal and an assist, while Anderson See had one goal and caused a turnover. Oliver Wenning had an assist and caused two turnovers, and Freddie Arp had an assist and caused a turnover.

 VERONA — The WIAA celebrated its 100th boys golf state championships this week.

In that time, the lowest 36-hole score a team had ever compiled was Marquette’s 584 in 2025. The best 18-hole score came from the 2025 Hilltoppers, as well, as they shot a 284 last sea-son.

Those records were wiped away on Monday and Tuesday.

That’s because the 2026 Middleton Cardinals shattered every record in sight on their way to hoisting a championship trophy.

The Cardinals fired an eye-popping, head-spinning, opening round of 9-under-par, 279, Monday that set a new state record and gave them an 18-shot lead heading to Tuesday’s final round. There, Middleton shot a 299, finished with a new state record of 578, and defeated runner-up Kimberly (592) by 14 strokes to win this year’s crown held at picturesque University Ridge.

Siegfried & Roy are legendary magicians best known for their spectacular stage shows.

Penn & Teller, whose illusions are world renowned, are equally famous.

Those fabled acts had nothing on the duo of Brody Kalscheuer and Jackson Guerrero, though, on June 4.

Kalscheuer, a junior pitcher for Middleton, and Guerrero, the Cardinals’ senior shortstop, helped MHS pull off a Houdini-act for the ages. And that magical escape job allowed Middleton to edge visiting Holmen, 3-2, in a WIAA Division 1 regional final.

“It was incredible,” Middleton manager Brent Jorgensen said of the Cardinals’ great escape.

Middleton improved to 19-7 and advanced to Tuesday’s sectional semifinals against Madison Memorial at Sun Prairie West at 10 a.m. The other sectional semifinal features Verona and Sun Prairie East at 1 p.m., and the two winners meet at 4 p.m. for a trip to state.

Holmen finished the year 17-8.