Sports

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.

VERONA — It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

For Kingston Penn, that’s certainly been true.

Penn, a junior sprinter on Middleton’s track and field team, finished strong yet again at a WIAA Division 1 sectional meet held at Verona High School on May 29.

Penn, who Cardinals coach Chad Kliefoth said isn’t always the cleanest out of the blocks, raced to victories in the boys 100- and 200-meter dashes to lead a group of three individuals and two relay teams who advanced to the state meet for Middleton.

Joining Penn in La Crosse as individual qualifiers will be senior Olivia Chellevold, a winner in the girls 3,200 meters with a season-best time of 10 minutes, 58.88 seconds, and freshman Riley Kuehn, who took second in the boys 800 in 1:57.16.

The relays that made it through by finishing in the top three were the boys 400 and 3,200 relays, which both came in third.

Can baseball teams turn regular season momentum into postseason success?

Middleton sure hopes so.

The Cardinals finished the regular season on a six-game winning streak after sweeping Janesville Parker last week. The host Cardinals rolled past the Vikings, 7-1, on May 26 and won at Parker, 4-3, on May 29.

Middleton finished the regular season 17-7 and tied for third place in the Big Eight Conference at 13-5. Verona won the league title with a 15-3 mark, while Madison Memorial was second at 14-4 and both Sun Prairie East and Middleton finished 13-5.

“Really the last couple of weeks, we've started to move on from mistakes, and they've started to put it behind us and find ways to be successful,” Middleton manager Brent Jorgensen said. “So it's been really nice to see that.

Never flinch.

That phrase is often a rallying cry for coaches and teams, encouraging them to stay strong under pressure.

That’s exactly what Middleton’s boys golf team did Tuesday at the star-studded WIAA Division 1 Reedsburg Sectional.

The sectional included four of state’s top eight teams, and only the top two qualified for the state tournament. No. 1 ranked Middleton never flinched, though, and shot a 10-over-par, 298 to tie Waunakee for the sectional title.

Waunakee won the playoff, 14-16, but both the top-ranked Cardinals and No. 6 Warriors advanced to the state tournament, which will be held Monday and Tuesday at University Ridge. Third-ranked Madison West was third with a 306 and eighth-ranked Onalaska was fourth at 312.

They’re baaaacccckkkk.

Middleton’s boys tennis team is headed back to the WIAA Division 1 state team tournament after winning the Madison Memorial Sectional on May 28.

The Cardinals finished with 48 points to outdistance Big Eight Conference champion Madison West, which had 37 points. Madison Memorial and Tomah were a distant third with 22 points each, while La Crosse Logan was fifth with 21.

The Cardinals are now the No. 2 seed at the state team tournament and will face seventh-seeded Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. Whitefish Bay is the No. 1 seed, followed by Middleton, Badger, Marquette, Neenah. Franklin, Notre Dame and Hudson.

The Cardinals sent two singles players and one doubles team to the individual state tournament.

Individual state will be held June 4-6 and the state team tournament is June 12-13.

Here’s how the Cardinals performed at sectionals.

SINGLES