Sports Wrapups: Feb. 24

Shorewood boys swim

A season not without its rough edges came to strong conclusion when the Greyhounds earned seven top-six medals and set two school records en route to taking fourth in the WIAA State Division 2 meet Friday in Madison.

And then the evening turned even better on the way home.

"This was a very nice way to end the season," said Greyhounds coach Rob McCabe, "especially for these seniors. The neat thing, in the van on the way home, we calculated that all the seniors on this trip have now got their names in the school record book."

Shorewood scored 182 points as McFarland won its fourth straight title with 340.5 points.

Topping the medal list for the Greyhounds was senior Stephen Meyer, who was fourth in the 100 butterfly (51.01) and then second in the 100 backstroke (51.77). He also anchored the fifth-place 400 free relay team that included Jay Tomasiewicz, R.J. Hayes and Isaac Flegel-Mishlove that broke the one-year old school mark with a 3:17.94 time.

The other record was set by the fourth-place 200 free relay team of Tomasiewicz, Mike Ross, Andrew Eder and Hayes. Their time of 1:29.88 broke a 19-year old school mark.

Other medalists included the third-place 200 medley relay team of Meyer, Tomasiewicz, Asher Kaufman and Eder (1:41.09); the sixth-place effort by Hayes in the 200 free (1:47.4); and the fifth-place showing of Tomasiewicz in the 200 individual medley (1:59.75).

McCabe was pleased for Meyer, who hopes to swim at the University of Minnesota and noted that it was great that Eder got a chance at the state meet after being a JV swimmer most of his career.

Other places by event included the following: 200 IM: Ross, 14th (2:07.12); 100 free: Hayes, eighth (49.32); 500 free: Flegel-Mishlove, 16th (5:11.66); 100 breaststroke: Ross, ninth (1:04.02); Eder, 10th (1:04.18).

"This really went as well as we could have expected it to," said McCabe. "It was a good feeling. We had some adversity this year (with personnel issues), but we were able to hold it out of the pool and succeed."

The Greyhounds, who also won their first conference title since 1943 this season, will graduate Meyer, Kaufman, Ross and Hayes.

Nicolet boys swim

Noah Gilday earned a fourth-place medal in diving to lead the Knights to an 18th-place showing in the WIAA State Division 2 meet Friday in Madison.

"It was really nice to see that after all the hard work Noah has put in," said Knights coach Dwight Davis.

Behind Gilday's effort, the Knights scored 47 points for their spot.

Gilday turned in a score of 341.15 points as Monona Grove's Trevor Sisson won with a 420.05 mark. Also competing in diving for Nicolet were freshmen Evan Silverhaus (ninth, 283.7) and Kyle Silverhaus (15th, 236.4).

"That was just great experience for them," said Davis.

In the pool, Ben Wynn took ninth in the 100 butterfly (55.23), while both the 200 free relay team of Jamie DeGraff, Grant Wilkie, Drew Shuster and Wynn (14th, 1:34.52) and the 400 free relay team of Konrad Holtz, DeGraff, Shuster and Wynn (14th, 3:29.32), turned in season bests, with the 400 team dropping three seconds.

Davis said he learned a lot in Nicolet's first season in D2.

"I took a lot of notes," he said. "There are a lot of little idiosyncrasies. I was happy that we sent the seniors out on a good note. They were an enjoyable group of kids."

Seniors included Gilday, Wynn, Shuster, Holtz, Sean Mannion and Gard Pecor. Nicolet finished the season with 43 swimmers.

Brown Deer/USM swim

The season did not end as well as the Falcons would have liked, as they had their 400 free relay team disqualified at the end of the WIAA State Division 2 meet Friday.

It was too bad, because the team had set a season best time.

The Falcons scored eight points at the meet, good for 25th as junior Collin Rice took 11th in diving (271.6 points) while Stephen Grambow was 15th in the 500 free (5:09.13).

The only senior on the state crew was relay sprinter Jim Jens.

Brown Deer wrestling

Junior 215-pounder Tory Dibb gave it all he could, but came up just short of earning a WIAA State Division 2 tournament berth in the sectional meet at Milwaukee Lutheran on Saturday.

Dibb (25-11 on the season) lost a third-place wrestleback to Pewaukee's Kent Girmscheid by a narrow, 6-4 decision.

Earlier in the tournament, Dibb had won by technical fall over Evan Seibel of Winnebago Lutheran, lost a on a pin to Chilton's Ross Groeschl and then pinned Catholic Memorial's Matt Groehler.

Two other Falcons competitors lost first-round matches at the tournament. They included Alex Russell (12-6) at 160 pounds and Brad Dziadosz (24-17) at 189.

Varsity seniors for the Falcons included Justin Naber at 152 and Tony Rheinschmidt at 285.

Homestead wrestling

The season came to a quiet end for the Highlanders when all six of their WIAA sectional qualifiers lost quarterfinal matches Saturday in the meet at Hartford.

Jason Findling at 112 pounds (26-10), Spencer Bold at 125 (29-11), Nick Weyker at 130 (30-8), Conley Brown at 152 (14-18), Taylor Ruffin at 160 (29-12) and Ryan Greve (31-9) all ended their seasons at the tourney.

Greve had the best effort, losing a tough 11-7 decision to Wisconsin Lutheran's Eric Zeitler (33-10).

Seniors out of this group included Brown, Findling and Greve.

Homestead boys basketball

In a wildly chaotic turn of events, the 1-2 effort of the Highlanders last week did not totally disappoint the Highlanders and may have left them in prime mental shape as they head into the regular season closer at Germantown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with the chance to play kingmaker for the second time in less than a week.

The Highlanders (11-10 overall), can knock the Warhawks (15-6) out of a share of the North Shore championship with a win. They defeated Germantown last month in the old Homestead gym.

Homestead had prepped for that effort with an 82-77 win over Port Washington (16-4) on Friday, which dropped the Pirates into a share of the league lead with Germantown.

Then this past Monday, they had powerhouse nonconference opponent and Greater Metro champ Menomonee Falls (18-3) on the ropes before falling 74-71.

"I think this game set a gauge for us," coach Ray Curry said after the Falls tilt. "There were a lot of good basketball minds in the house tonight. Scouts and people from our sectional. We showed them that we're better than an eight seed (in the sectional). Our guys were a little ornery about that and they played that way.

"We felt that we deserved better than that (seeding) and we showed what were really capable of. We have to clean up the turnovers (24 for the game), but that was a really good team we played."

John Laihinen had 21 points before he fouled out late in the game, and Dominic Wilder contributed 16.

Against Port Washington, Coy Smith had 27 and Laihinen 20 as the Highlanders built a 15-point halftime lead and then hung on for dear life. The Pirates got to within three late before Lamonte Moore hit Andrew Debbink with a length of the floor pass against a Port press for an easy layup.

Homestead, as mentioned, got the eighth seed in its sectional bracket and in what is becoming a regular occurrence, will host Cedarburg in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The winner of that game will advance to a regional final at top sectional seed Arrowhead on March 6.

The Highlanders, who had great fan support for the Falls game, are hoping for another big crowd against Cedarburg.

"We're really happy for the support," said Curry. "I can't say enough about our student section. I'm really proud of those kids."

Shorewood boys basketball

The Greyhounds picked up some momentum right in front of the WIAA tournament as they beat Cudahy, 57-51, in a Woodland Conference game Feb. 18.

"We are happy with any conference victory," said Shorewood coach John Hoch, "and to be able to get one on the road is another nice step for this young team. Senior Cam Hood continues to amaze me as an undersized post (6-0). His nine rebounds and solid defense were key.

"I also thought that Austin Malone-Mitchell did a nice job running the point and keeping the team calm when Cudahy made a run late (they chopped a 15-point lead to four with about 1:30 to go)."

The Greyhounds hung on to beat the Packers with help of 17-of-24 free throws. Alex Najieb had 16 points, Malone-Mitchell 14 and Deion Jackson-Body 12.

Shorewood earned the fifth seed in its WIAA Division 2 regional bracket and will visit fourth-seeded Young Coggs Prep in a regional quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The winner of that game will advance to a regional semifinal at top seeded Port Washington on March 4.

The regional final will be March 6 at Cedarburg.

"The seeding turned out pretty much as we expected," said Hoch. "We don't know much about Young Coggs Prep yet, but we will be prepared when next Tuesday rolls around."

Whitefish Bay girls basketball

The Blue Dukes improved their win streak to five games last week with a pair of solid wins.

They knocked off area nonconference rival Brown Deer, 37-24, on Feb. 16 and then rolled North Shore opponent Homestead, 45-34, on Friday. The twin wins lifted Bay to 7-5 in the North Shore and 11-8 overall.

"Homestead gave us all we could handle," said Blue Dukes coach Greg Capper. "They were ahead 24-22 at one point, but then we outscored them 23-10 the rest of the way. We could have folded, but instead we buckled down on defense and found good shots."

They will host Cedarburg (8-4, 13-7) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

A 12-4 first quarter outburst gave the Blue Dukes the lead for good against Homestead (2-10, 4-14). Bay used balance to earn the win as eight different people scored, including Alexa Herasimchuk with 11 and Maggie Rice with eight.

Hannah Young led the Highlanders with 15 while Siena Mitman had 12.

Defense was the name of the game against Brown Deer (6-13) as the Blue Dukes outscored the Falcons every quarter including a decisive 8-4 count in the third quarter that increased the lead to 26-16.

Jessica Switzer had 11 points while Herasimchuk had seven and Elisabeth Johnston six for Bay. Chelsea Stingley led the Falcons with 12. The two teams combined for only 11 fouls and four free throws on the night.

Brown Deer boys basketball

The Falcons got a badly needed win when it overpowered area rival Shorewood, 82-62 in a Woodland Conference game Feb. 16.

Brown Deer, which closed out its regular season against Cudahy on Wednesday, earned the third seed in its WIAA Division 2 regional bracket and will host sixth-seeded Messmer at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The winner of that game will get the victor of second-seeded Whitefish Bay and winless Grafton on March 4 in a regional semifinal (TBA). The regional final will be at Cedarburg at 1:30 p.m. on March 6.

Against Shorewood, the Falcons shot out to a 27-18 first quarter lead only to see the Greyhounds surge back and take a 35-34 advantage into the half.

Brown Deer pushed back hard in the third, however, outscoring the Greyhounds 28-13 to take control for good.

Jamon Jackson-Wilson had 24 points to lead Brown Deer while Joziah Mallett had 18, Kierre Ogbonna 16 and Danny Korpela 10.

Whitefish Bay boys basketball

After pulling out a harrowing 54-53 win over Homestead on Feb. 16, the Blue Dukes fell flat against Cedarburg on Friday, falling by a 57-42 count.

"Cedarburg contested our shots well," said Blue Dukes coach Kevin Lazovik. "We didn't shoot well as a team and you can attribute that to their defense."

The Blue Dukes earned the second seed in their Division 2 regional bracket and will host winless Grafton in a 7 p.m. regional quarterfinal on Tuesday. If they win, they will host the winner of Brown Deer and Milwaukee Messmer in a regional semifinal March 4.

"We were hoping for a two or a three (seed)," said Lazovik. Port Washington is the top regional seed.

It was still a two-point game going into the fourth quarter against Cedarburg but then the Bulldogs outscored the Blue Dukes 23-10 to take control. Jamie Schneck had 13 points to lead Bay.

Against Homestead, the Blue Dukes built a 25-15 halftime lead and then held on against the high-powered assault of Highlanders guard Coy Smith (29 points). Bay was not in any danger of losing, however, as a 3-pointer by Smith at the buzzer provided the final margin.

Schneck had 16 points while John Johnston had 11 and Jevontae Merriwether 10.

Homestead girls basketball

After tough losses to Kettle Moraine Lutheran and Whitefish Bay earlier in the week, the Highlanders showed enough character to hold off Wilmot in a 41-39 nonconference decision Saturday.

The score was tied at the end of three quarters.

Homestead had a balanced attack with Siena Mitman scoring 10 points, Natalie Sperling nine and Hannah Young eight.

Wilmot's Jackie Herman led all scorers with 22.

The Highlanders will visit Port Washington at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

- Steven L. Tietz