Sports

MADISON — The glass was half full.

Things didn’t go quite how Middleton’s girls golf team hoped they would during Monday’s first round of the WIAA Division 1 state tournament, but Tuesday was a new day.

And the Cardinals refused to return to University Ridge in a sour mood.

“Last night, we were all talking, we were like, ‘Guys, we have nothing to lose now. We know we’re in fifth — let’s go out there and do our best,’ ” MHS senior Annika Jafferis said. “We had nothing to lose.”

Not only that, the Cardinals remembered how things went a year earlier, when they were in second place after day one only to see Prescott erase a nine stroke deficit and eclipse them for silver by a stroke.

“So our 10 shots behind second place coming into today,  they didn’t see that as something that was hard to (overcome),” Cardinals coach Becky Halverson said. “We agreed that little by little, anything can happen. 

Daunting.

Formidable.

Demanding.

The sectional for Middleton’s boys soccer team is all that — and even more.

But the Cardinals, who have won back-to-back WIAA Division 1 state championships, are as battle-tested as it gets. And Middleton is excited for the challenge that awaits.

The Cardinals received the No. 3 seed in their sectional and host 14^th-seeded Kettle Moraine in a regional semifinal Oct. 21. If Middleton wins there, it would host either sixth-seeded Badger or 11^th-seeded Madison Memorial in a regional final Oct. 25.

The sectional semifinals are Oct. 30 and the sectional finals are Nov. 1.

Madison West, the No. 1 ranked team in Division 1, is the top-seed in the sectional. Beloit Memorial is the No. 2 seed, while Middleton, Madison East and Verona round out the top five seeds.

“As always, our sectional is brutal,” Middleton coach Kevin Pauls said.

Middleton’s girls tennis team had its string of five straight trips to the team state tournament snapped last week.

But the Cardnals are sending three players to the individual state tournament, which will be held Oct. 16-18 at Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

Madison West won the Sun Prairie West Sectional with 38 points and earned a trip to the state team tournament, which will be held Oct. 24-25. The Cardinals were sixth at sectionals with 22 points.

Mira Russo, Middleton’s No. 1 singles player, and the No. 1 doubles team of seniors Sophie Shi and Sarah Li did earn trips to the individual state tournament, though.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ performances at sectionals.

SINGLES

• No. 1 — Junior Mira Russo won her first match at sectionals, defeating Onalaska’s Mara Klein, 7-6 (1), 6-4. Sun Prairie West’s Milena Halberg then defeated Russo, 6-0, 6-0.

Six down.

One to go.

Middleton’s football team routed Madison La Follette, 56-7, last Friday, and took one more step towards its first Big Eight Conference championship since 2015.

The Cardinals improved to 6-0 in the Big Eight Conference and can win the outright league title with a win over Madison West. That game will held Thursday at 7 p.m. at Mansfield Stadium.

The WIAA postseason assignments will then be announced Saturday at 10 a.m.

Middleton quarterback Joey Passaglia had a big night, completing 16-of-20 passes for 179 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Senior Chase Rogers was Passaglia’s favorite target, with seven receptions for 91 yards and two touchdowns.

Jackson Guerrero had four catches for 43 yards, and Reed Falk had a 14-yard touchdown reception, as well as a 15-yard TD run.

Middleton’s girls swimming team finished its dual meet season with an impressive 110-60 win over Madison Memorial on Oct. 10.

“I thought we did an excellent job of rising to the occasion against a good team,” Middleton coach Andrew Cotton said. “I love how we are continuing to focus on the process as we build towards championship season.”

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ top-three finishes.

FIRST PLACE

• Middleton’s 200-yard medley relay team of Jane Garlock, Rian Jost, Brynn Sundell and Sulia Miller finished first.

• Abigail Frommelt was first in the 200-yard freestyle.

• Brynn Sundell won the 200-yard IM and the 500-yard freestyle.

• Garlock won the 50-yard freestyle.

• Middleton’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Miller, Frommelt, Clara Kiehl and Garlock finished first.

• Jost won the 100-yard backstroke.

• Addy Hynes won the 100-yard breaststroke.

The Big Eight Conference cross country meet will be held Saturday morning at Sheehan Park in Sun Prairie.

The Verona Sectional then follows on Oct. 25.

So when Middleton went to the Wisconsin Lutheran Invite on Oct. 9, it wanted to be sure its varsity runners were well-rested for the postseason.

That meant the Cardinals took primarily JV runners to the meet, and that group performed extremely well.

Middleton’s boys were sixth out of 17 teams, while the Cardinals’ girls were 11^th out of 14 teams.

“Overall, it was a great team showing with strong times all around on a day that finally felt like fall,” Middleton boys coach Brian Finnel said.

Middleton junior Zach Tang, who’s been managing a lingering knee issue this season, had a terrific race and finished seventh individually, completing the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 8.90 seconds.

Middleton’s boys volleyball team continued its terrific season last week with a pair of convincing wins.

The Cardinals downed Madison East, 25-7, 25-9, 25-17 on Oct. 6.

Middleton then rolled past Madison La Follette, 25-9, 25-16, 25-23 on Oct. 8.

The Cardinals, ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 2 in the country by MaxPreps, improved to 29-0 overall and 7-0 in the Big Eight Conference.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ two wins.

• Middleton 3, Madison East 0 — Vance Ferry and Jonah Johnson both had five kills, while Bryce Stuttgen had 17 assists to power the Cardinals to an easy win.

Johnson and Will Schmitt both had four aces, and Middleton had a whopping .348 kill percentage as a team.

“We came out extremely strong in the start of the match,” Middleton coach Dylan Griffith said. “We had not seen East at all this season, so we didn't know what to expect.

The postseason is just around the corner for Middleton’s girls volleyball team.

And the Cardinals feel like they’re trending in a positive direction.

Middleton completed an up and down week with a solid showing at the Westosha Central Invite last Saturday.

The Cardinals went 2-2 against a sensational field in Westosha and are now 17-11 overall. Middleton also finished Big Eight Conference play 6-3, which was good for fourth place in the league.

Here’s a recap of the Cardinals’ week.

BIG EIGHT CONFERENCE

• Sun Prairie West 3, Middleton 1 — The host Wolves rolled to a 25-11, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18 win on Oct. 7.

“It was their Senior Night and they came out to play right away,” Middleton coach Ben White said.

Ruby Clooten and Sadie Newcomb led Middleton with 10 kills each, while Veda Gear had six kills. Andrea Wipperfurth had 26 assists and seven digs, Kelsey Peterson had four aces and Elyssa Ross had 14 digs.

‘The Streak’ is impressive, remarkable and astonishing all rolled into one.

And most importantly, ‘The Streak’ is still alive.

Middleton’s girls golf team won the DeForest Sectional on Tuesday and clinched a spot at the WIAA Division 1 state tournament for the 14^th straight year.

The Cardinals fired a 323 at Lake Windsor Country Club and edged host DeForest (328) for the sectional championship. Madison Edgewood (345), Waunakee (347) and Oregon (372) rounded out the top five.

Only the top two teams qualified for state, which will be held Monday and Tuesday at University Ridge.

“It means so much to our team to be heading back to state,” Middleton coach Becky Halverson said. “The girls have worked incredibly hard all season, and this is a great reward for their consistency, teamwork, and determination.”

CROSS PLAINS — It was an event that Evan Kratochwill would have loved to compete in, albeit without the 80-degree temperatures.

But the fourth annual Evan Kratochwill Memorial Invitational last Saturday drew not only a competitive cross-country field that featured several state-ranked teams, but also hundreds of supporters who turned out on a sun-splashed October morning to honor the spirit of the late Middleton runner.

“Most of the girls have ‘For Evan’ written on their legs. We’re running for him today,” said Middleton senior Olivia Chellevold, who won the varsity girls 5,000-meter race to lead the host Cardinals to a runner-up finish.

“They’re doing this meet in his memory. We put on a great fun run meet this morning and cheered really, hard for that. It really means a lot that we can run in his memory.”