Arrowhead girls volleyball
Coronavirus may have spoiled the end of the school year for students and athletes throughout the area, but the first part of the year was pretty good.
Thirteen teams from southeast Wisconsin won state championships. Four of them – Catholic Memorial football, Homestead tennis and Muskego football and girls cross country – defended their titles. Others, such as Brookfield Central boys soccer and Shorewood boys soccer, ended long state championship droughts.
Then there were the newcomers to the champions club. Shorewood cross country, Catholic Memorial tennis, Brookfield East swimming and diving, Arrowhead girls volleyball, Lake Country Lutheran football and Hartford gymnastics hoisted the championship trophy for the first time.
And then there was Brookfield East football, which won its second title in four years.
Here is a salute to each of them.
Catholic Memorial girls tennis
The Crusaders enjoy success in a number of sports, but the heights to which they've climbed in tennis are new. In 2018 the team made its first WIAA state tournament appearance. A season later, they overcame a regular-season injury to No. 1 singles player Lauren Carson while breaking in an entirely
Homestead girls tennis
Close calls aren't new for the Highlanders. During their current run of four straight Division 1 championships, three times they won the final by a 4-3 margin. The latest came last fall when they edged Muskego for the title, winning a dual that started with three straight wins for Homestead and was followed by three for Muskego. Then the Highlanders had to come from behind in the final as senior Natalie Yang rallied from to score a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Muskego's Elizabeth Sobieski at No. 1 singles. Homestead's run of titles equals the second-longest streak in WIAA history.
The Warhawks finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association Division 1 state poll and then backed up that status in the postseason. They won five of their six postseason matches in straight sets. That included a 25-21, 25-20, 25-21 win over Oconomowoc for the state championship. Gatorade state player of the year Aubrey Hamilton finished that match with 18 kills and a .317 hitting percentage and for three matches at state hit .349 with 45
kills.
Shorewood girls cross country
For the Greyhounds, the 2019 season was about fulfilling expectations. A year earlier they finished fifth at the Division 2 state meet with a lineup that included no seniors and five runners who were sophomores or freshmen. None of the teams that finished ahead of them came close to returning that kind of experiences. It showed at state where the Greyhounds' winning score of 61 points as well as its 41-point margin of victory was the best in Division 2 in eight years. And the program might not be done. Sophomores Bella Lozier (fourth) and Annika Elliott (13th) led a lineup that had just one senior.
Muskego girls cross country
The Warriors' 2018 team was a tough act to follow, but this year's version did a pretty good job. After cruising to conference and sectional titles, Muskego won its second straight Division 1 championship with 72 points, 39 better than the second-place finisher. That couldn't match 2018 team's score of 48 points and 55-point margin of victory, but the showing still strong. Four runners finished among the top 25 overall: junior Kate Sperka (fourth), senior Brittany Helm (12th), sophomore Rachel Helm (14th) and junior McKayla Felton (23rd).
Shorewood boys soccer
In soccer, what counts isn't how many shots a team takes. It's how many shots it finishes. That was the story for the Greyhounds in the Division 2 final. They were outshot, 19-5, by McFarland but scored a 2-1 comeback victory with second-half goals by juniors Liam Martin and Hopper Planey. The victory capped an all-state season for senior Austin Gayle, who scored the winning goal for the Greyhounds in the semifinals and whose play over the course of the season helped the team overcome the loss of 11 seniors from the previous year.
Brookfield Central boys soccer
The story of the Lancers' first state championship since 1992 was one of perseverance. They were hampered by injuries and stung by a handful of close losses during the regular season. Fortunes changed in the playoffs when Central it won its final four games by one goal. In the Division 2 state final, Central scored a 2-1 shootout victory over Brookfield East. Senior Colin Szymborski, who a day earlier was carted off the field due to a possible neck injury, helped seal the win with a save of the eighth shot in the shootout. The play set the stage for sophomore George Kotsonis' winning penalty kick.
Brookfield East girls swimming
The Spartans have a long history of producing talented swimmers, however that success had never produced a state team champion until this year. The tone at the state meet was set with the first swimming event as sophomore Abby Wanezek, freshman Lucy Thomas, sophomore Callie Gregg and junior Reilly Tiltmann teamed up to break the 200-yard medley relay record with a time of 1 minute 42.54 seconds. That was the oldest record on the books and a national mark when Arrowhead set it in 2005. Tiltmann (100 backstroke) and Thomas (100 breaststroke) won individual titles.
Lake Country Lutheran football
Of all the state championship games played last fall, Lutheran's 22-13 victory over Stratford may have been the most surprising. Stratford, which had allowed just seven points all season, was the heavy favorite, an opinion that was hard to argue with after the Tigers took a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. Lutheran didn't allow a point the rest of the way, though, and scored three times in the fourth quarter. The win capped a convincing postseason for the Lightning that included two shutouts and an average margin of victory of 21 points.
Catholic Memorial football
Once the Crusaders got away from their rivals in the Classic 8, they were fine. Playing for the first time in Division 4, Memorial won its playoff games by an average of 41.4 points. The 35-0 win over Kiel in the championship game marked the third shutout for the Crusaders in the playoffs. In his final prep game, all-state quarterback Luke Fox completed 16 of 23 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 103 yards and another touchdowns in nine carries. For those counting, that was state championship No. 8 for Crusaders coach Bill Young.
Brookfield East football
Hayden Doyle got just a piece of the ball. That is how the Spartans junior explained deflecting an extra point with 8 seconds left to seal a 31-30 victory over Waunakee in the Division 2 state final, the school's second state championship in four seasons. One of the other heroes of the day was senior running back Donavan Hunt, who ran for 227 yards on 31 carries, a 6.6yard average, and scored three touchdowns. The win put East coach Ben Farley in a fraternity of five other active area coaches – Catholic Central's Tom Aldrich, Homestead's Dave Keel, Muskego's Ken Krause, Waukesha West's Steve Rux and Catholic Memorial's Young – who have won more than one state championship.
Muskego football
One year after ending Kimberly's run of five straight championship, the Warriors put together a second straight undefeated season that lifted the program into the USA Today national rankings. Led by junior safety Hunter Wohler, the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association defensive player of the year, and junior Alex Current, the Gatorade state player of the year, the Warriors extended their winning streak to 28 games. Their 21-10 victory over Bay Port in the state final capped a season in which they won by double-digit margins in every Classic 8 Conference game and 11 of 14 overall.
Hartford gymnastics
The first year of a WIAA rule designed to limit the scope of co-op teams had the desired effect. After years of large co-op team dominating in Division 1, Hartford's win marked the fifth time a stand-alone program has won the title since 2000. The Orioles scored 144.750 points to finish comfortably ahead of second-place Wilmot (142.116). Three gymnasts competed as all-around performers at team state: junior Emily Perkowski (37.05), freshman Clara Kenney (36.417) and junior Courtney Mathis (35.317).