Sports

Sunday was just the start of the fun.

But the champs showed they’ll be awfully tough to dethrone.

Middleton’s Home Talent League team — the 2025 league champions — defeated visiting Ashton, 7-4, in a battle of unbeatens.

Middleton improved to 8-0 and sits atop the Northern Section’s East Division. Ashton fell to 7-1.

Drew Farrell was brilliant for the 29ers, working six innings in relief to pick up the win. Farrell entered in the fourth inning for starter Brady Schmitt with Middleton leading, 4-3. Farrell then worked six strong innings, allowing just one run, seven hits and one walk.

Offensively, Middleton’s Hayden Hellenbrand drove in two runs, while Andrew Zimmerman and Alden Cleary both had two hits.

Reliever Treyden Hewuse took the loss for Ashton after allowing three runs in three innings. Luke Ballweg led Ashton’s offense with a home run, three hits and two RBIs, while Dylan Carrington had two hits.

They were the finest boys golf team in state history.

They are the new gold standard for Wisconsin high school golf. They’re a group that will be talked about for years to come.

So it makes sense that Middleton’s Fab Five of seniors Sammy Forslund, Luke Weiss, Reis Von Ruden, Berrin Reiter and Aaron Gepner all received all-Big Eight Conference honors.

Forslund was named first-team all-conference and was the league’s Player of the Year. Weiss and Von Ruden were named first-team all-conference, while Reiter was named second-team all-league and Gepner received honorable-mention all-conference honors.

The Cardinals’ quintet of standouts led Middleton to its first WIAA Division 1 state championship since 2011. The Cardinals set a new state record with a two-day team score of 2-over-par, 578, and broke the single day state record with a 9-under, 279 on Day 1 of state.

Brady Schmitt and Drew Farrell were dominant on the mound.

The offense did just enough.

And Middleton’s Home Talent League team stayed undefeated Sunday with a 1-0 win over host Lodi.

The 29ers improved to 7-0 and remained tied atop the Northern Section’s East Division with Ashton (7-0). Those teams meet Sunday in Middleton at 1 p.m.

In Middleton’s win over Lodi, Schmitt threw seven shutout innings, striking out six and allowing six hits. Schmitt didn't walk a batter and threw strikes on 60 of 85 pitches (70.6%), but left with the game knotted, 0-0.

Middleton’s didn't scratch across a run until the ninth when Nolan Smith was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Pinch runner Zach Thomas went to second on a passed ball, then Michael Monson sacrificed Thomas to third.

Hayden Hellenbrand then ripped a single to left to score Thomas with the eventual game-winning run.

Middleton’s boys tennis team had a memorable year, winning the Madison Memorial Sectional and finishing second at the WIAA Division 1 state team tournament.

The Cardinals also had several players named to the all-Big Eight Conference team.
No. 1 singles player Alexander Bo, No. 4 singles player Tianmu Pei and the No. 3 doubles team of Benjamin Myers and Sullivan Watson were all named first-team all-conference.

No. 3 singles player Cam Hosfield and the No. 1 doubles team of Caden Cheng and Zander Endres were named second-team all-conference.

And the No. 2 doubles team of Lucas Bush and Ethan Yang were named honorable-mention all-conference.

Bo finished first at the Big Eight Conference meet, defeating Madison Memorial’s David Klaas in the finals, 6-3, 6-4. Pei rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Madison West’s Rafael Garcia-Dove in the championship match.

Tense. Dramatic. Heartbreaking.

These were all things that could describe the experience Middleton’s boys tennis had during the championship of the WIAA Division 1 state team tournament at Nielsen Tennis Stadium last Saturday.

The Cardinals looked to be on the verge of claiming their first-ever team WIAA Division state title, but top-seeded Whitefish Bay held on to capture a 5-2 victory.

“Overall, I was really happy with the way they competed,” Middleton first-year coach Aaron Kondrasuk said. “We knew we were going to be in the mix. Whitefish Bay is obviously a great team and we knew it was going to come down to a couple tight matches here and there and it just didn’t go our way.

“But super proud of the guys and just to get to the final is obviously an incredible achievement and there are only two teams still playing here for Division 1. So I’m really happy with how they fought.”

STOUGHTON — For 78 minutes in Middleton’s WIAA Division 1 girls soccer sectional semifinal on June 11, the Cardinals played Oregon to a draw.

Sixth-seeded Middleton took the second-seeded Panthers — also the third-ranked team in the state according to the Wisconsin Soccer Coaches Association poll — to the limit.

A major upset was brewing.

Then the Panthers got a break.

A foul was called on Middleton, Panthers’ junior Kylie Steel took the free kick from 45 yards out, and in the blink of an eye Oregon untied the match.

Senior Ava Butsic was able to get a foot on the ball in the goalie box and punch it in with 1 minute, 52 seconds remaining, ultimately giving the Panthers a 2-1 victory at Stoughton High School.

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.