Sports

As the girls varsity cross-country runners crossed the finish line at the Bay Conference Meet on Saturday at Shamrock Heights Golf Course in New London, it was apparent that Shawano was going to put up a solid team score.

When the final results were revealed, the Shawano girls team made history, posting a team score of 35 to win its first ever conference title. Xavier was a distant second with 81 points.

“Twenty-one years, we have fought to try and get the girls some recognition because the boys have always dominated cross-country in our school,” said Shawano coach Steve Stomberg, who was referencing his 21 years as the coach of the program. “I said we were going to some day get there. I told them I believe in them — we got the girls out there who wanted to do it — and they did it.”

BOYS SOCCER

Shawano 7

Green Bay West 4

The Hawks opened the Bay Conference Tournament with a win over the Wildcats on Thursday.

Michael Klement led the way in the win, scoring goals in the 47th and 64th minutes while also assisting on three scores. Wyatt Theis, Mitchell Jung, Seth Westphal, Will Bergner and Keenan Raddant all added one goal.

Goalie Collin Buerman made 14 saves to preserve the victory and help the Hawks improve to 3-12-2 overall.

VOLLEYBALL

Tigerton 3

Almond-Bancroft 0

Fresh off learning it had earned a top seed in the postseason, the Tigers cruised to a Central Wisconsin Conference crossover win over the Eagles. Tigerton won by scores of 25-14, 25-12, 25-8.

Kelly Logue is taking over the head Pulaski High School girls soccer coaching position, a job she previously held from 2000-2004 but left to raise her family.

In the meantime, she’s taught soccer as part of her job as a physical education teacher at Pulaski Community Middle School and in local rec programs.

Logue takes over from Clete Gerhartz, who held the position five years and led the team to several trips to the WIAA state tournament.

“We are excited to have Kelly Logue take over as our head girls soccer coach at Pulaski,” said PHS athletic director Janel Batten. “She has been both a head coach and an assistant in the program in prior years and has great perspective and a clear direction to move the program forward.”

Logue, a Mayville native, was a student-athlete at Carroll University, where she played basketball one year and soccer four years while earning an education degree with an emphasis on physical education.

Athlete: Jared Wondra

Sport: Cross-country

School: Bonduel High School

Year: Senior

A season ago, the Bonduel boys cross-country team made a surprise run to state led by junior Jared Wondra. Now in his senior season, Wondra has the Bears eyeing the same finish to the season and is leading the team towards that lofty goal.

Bonduel runners most recently took part in the Central Wisconsin Conference Meet on Thursday. Wondra took fifth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 42.6 seconds, helping the boys team to a second-place finish. In the meet before that, he finished second at the Don Chase Relays in Weyauwega, posting a time of 17:40.

Q: When did your interest in cross-country begin?

A: I began to really enjoy running the summer before seventh grade.

Q: What’s your favorite part about a cross-country meet or the cross-country season?

A: The last mile of races and the bus rides.

With cross-country sectionals closing in, Central Wisconsin Conference runners took part in the conference meet at the Navarino Nature Center on Thursday looking to build up confidence.

Both Bonduel teams enjoyed strong finishes, with the boys placing second with 67 points and the girls coming in third with 86 points.

“Our conference is packed with super teams that frequent the state meet. That strong competition only helps our runners,” said Bonduel coach Diane Schnell. “Our goal was met last night with every runner improving their time over the last time they ran the difficult hills in Navarino.”

True to season form, Kara Troxel again paced the girls team, finishing the course in 19 minutes, 59.59 seconds. Weyauwega-Fremont’s Abby Bartel won the race in 19:32.81 while Iola-Scandinavia’s Jada Beacom posted a time of 19:52.03.

Troxel was thrilled with her finish but remains determined to keep improving.

Name a few of the greatest inventions in the past 100 years or so. Computers? Cell phones? Microwave ovens? Gravy in a jar?

One of the slickest inventions for hunters, trappers and other sportsmen just might be the replaceable-blade knife.

A few weeks ago, I filled my crossbow tag when I used an expandable broadhead to harvest a 3-point buck. The deer’s rack won’t land in any record book, but the tender yearling will be delicious eating.

Both mechanical and fixed-blade broadheads of nearly all brands and designs now rely on replaceable blades. Although some can be resharpened (like we did in the early days of bowhunting with Bear Razorheads and Ben Pearson Deadheads), most blades are simply replaced with fresh, razor-sharp new ones.

Bonduel 50

Pacelli 20

The Bears continued their impressive play on the gridiron by cruising past the Cardinals on Friday. Bonduel caps the regular season with a 6-3 record and 5-2 mark in the Central Wisconsin Conference-Large Division.

Parker Bohm threw for 112 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Bears’ offense. Isaac Garside caught four passes for 36 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Isaac Boldt rushed for 117 yards and another score.

Bonduel will learn its playoff opponent this weekend.

Clintonville 28

Green Bay West 12

The Truckers earned their first win since Oct. 13, 2017, with a win over the Wildcats on Friday. Clintonville finished the season 1-8 overall and 0-8 in the North Eastern Conference.

Bailey Tate and Talon Streich each scored a rushing touchdown for Clintonville. Brock Smejkal picked off a pass and returned it 25 yards for another score.

Hoping to upset New London in the season finale, things did not go according to plan for the Shawano Community High School football team on Friday.

The Hawks turned the ball over five times, allowing the Bulldogs to chew up clock and wear down the Shawano defense. In the end, New London (7-2, 6-2 Bay) came away with a 35-7 victory.

“It was frustrating, because we emphasized that (taking care of the ball) in practice,” Shawano coach Alan Tomow said. “We knew coming in that New London was very opportunistic, they turn teams over and then they use that momentum to score touchdowns off of it and that’s what good teams do.”

Shawano was also celebrating senior night on Friday. The Hawks have a week 10 matchup scheduled against Wittenberg-Birnamwood but Shawano does not plan to play any seniors and will instead get a look at the future leaders of the team.

During the course of a high school volleyball season, most teams endure their fair share of ups-and-downs. If there are snags along the way, teams try and work the issues out before the postseason rolls around.

Local teams now are down to just a few more practices and matches to try and work out the final kinks as the WIAA girls volleyball tournament brackets for all four divisions were recently announced.

Shawano Community High School recently capped off the Bay Conference season with a loss to Xavier but still has the conference tournament to play in before thinking about the postseason.

The Hawks have posted a 28-7 record so far and also has been an honorable mention in the last two Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association polls.

Yet Shawano was handed a No. 4 seed at the Division 2 level. Shawano will host 13th-seeded Marinette, which is winless in the North Eastern Conference.

Here is a look at some of the top performances in the area over the past week:

Brayden Dickelman — Shawano football

The junior scored five touchdowns to help Shawano to its first win of the season on Friday against Green Bay West. Dickelman rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns while also returning a pair of punts for scores.

Madi Hanson — Shawano/Bonduel swim

The senior swimmer placed first in a pair of events to help the Shawano/Bonduel co-op earn a dual win over Wittenberg-Birnamwood on Tuesday. Hanson won the 100-yard breaststroke (1 minute, 23.2 seconds) and 50 freestyle (29.88). She was also on the second-place 200 medley relay team and 200 freestyle relay team.

Ashton Cox — Menominee Indian cross-country