Posted: Oct. 20, 2009 |(0) Comments

Falls girls volleyball

With setter Dayna Sammons back in the fold after a long break due to illness, the Indians came close to defending their Greater Metro Conference title, dropping a tough 18-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-22 decision to DSHA in the title match Oct. 17.

"And we had our chances," said Indian coach J.C. Bruns. "In the third game, there was a questionable call on game point and we were up 20-16 in the fourth game but we couldn't close it out."

The Indians earned the third seed in the WIAA Waukesha West sectional. They will host Milwaukee Madison in a regional semifinal Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. and will likely advance to a regional final back at home on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. against the winner of Arrowhead and Waukesha South.

Sectional semifinals will be Oct. 29 at Watertown, which is the top seed in the sectional. North Shore Conference champ Nicolet is the second seed.

To advance to the finals of the GMC Tournament, the Indians (8-2 in conference and 32-11 overall) scored impressive wins over Wauwatosa East (25-11, 25-6, 25-16) and Brookfield East (25-16, 25-17, 25-23).

Sammons had played snippets of the earlier matches but her effort against DSHA was her first full match in more than a month. Bruns said that as a result of having the veteran back in the lineup, the offense looked much smoother. Attacker Becca Fuchs was praised for her efforts.

Germantown boys soccer

The Warhawks' season came to a quiet competitive close when they lost 1-0 in overtime to North Shore rival Homestead in a WIAA regional semifinal on Oct. 13.

"I think in a one-off tournament format like this, that it's very important to take advantage of your opportunities when you have them, and we didn't do that," Warhawk coach Steve Sperl said. "And with them being a team we know so well, it was truly all bets were off. We were confident, but things just didn't fall our way."

The loss ended the Germantown season at 8-10-1 while Homestead (9-9-2) went on to lose to Greater Metro Conference champion Brookfield Central, 2-0, in a regional final Oct. 15.

The Warhawks had the better of play for quite a bit of the first half against Homestead and missed on several good chances, especially close to the end of the session where Highlander goalie Chris Browne had to make three good saves, including one right at the buzzer.

It was a bit more even in the second half before heading into OT, when Homestead forward Carson Francis, who scored in three successive games, got loose right in front of the goal mouth. He slipped one defender and then banged the ball into the left side of the net past a diving Germantown goalie Andrew Schlitt at the 87:39 mark in overtime.

Germantown had beaten Homestead 3-2 in a regular-season game just a week earlier.

"It was one of those tough ones that you hate to see the kids to lose," Sperl said.

The good news for Germantown is that it was a relatively young team with just six seniors, including starters captain Travis Sheridan, Tim Pupak, Sean Kimmitt, Michael Scherer and Robert Huss. Also graduating will be Chris Sberna.

Germantown girls cross country

Knocked down by illness, the eighth-ranked in state Warhawks had to settle for a solid third in the North Shore Conference cross country meet at Tendick Park in Saukville on Oct. 17.

"(Top runner) Caitlin Dillon was out with walking pneumonia and we had about eight to 12 other kids in the program struggling with one kind of illness or another," said coach Nancy Pietrowiak. "It was a good thing we didn't focus on this meet that hard, because even though we were short-handed, I still thought we raced well."

The Warhawks will put their focus on the WIAA sectional race on Oct. 24 at Arrowhead (11 a.m.). The top two teams and first five individuals not on those teams will advance to the state meet Oct. 31 in Wisconsin Rapids.

Pietrowiak is looking for a second state team berth in three years for her senior-laden team.

In the conference meet, Germantown scored 94 points, as top-ranked in state and defending state champion Whitefish Bay beat second-ranked Homestead, 29-43, for the title.

Lizzie Wendt was fourth to lead the Warhawks on the 4,000-meter layout in 15:09 while Mackenzie Erdmann was 11th (15:42). Other scoring runners included Amanda Brittain in 25th (16:18), Andrea Sielicki in 28th (16:26) and Andrea Brown in 33rd (16:54).

Also running were Becca Rasmussen in 35th (17:04), Michelle Siegl in 39th (17:21) and Steph Gasper in 51st (17:50).

Germantown girls volleyball

It was not the best day for the Warhawks in the North Shore Conference Tournament on Oct. 17, as the Warhawks had to settle for a fourth-place finish.

Germantown claimed the fifth seed in the WIAA's Waukesha West sectional and will host 12th-seeded Waukesha North in a regional semifinal Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. If they win, they advance to a regional final at 7 p.m. Oct. 24, more than likely at North Shore rival and sectional fourth seed Homestead, with whom they split this last week.

"I didn't think the seeds were right until we lost to them in the tourney," said Warhawk coach Diane Harrod.

Sectional semifinals will be at top-seeded Watertown on Oct. 29 with sectional finals at West on Oct. 31.

In the NSC tourney, the Warhawks beat Port Washington and Milwaukee Lutheran but then fell to Homestead. In the crossover playoffs, they then lost successive matches to eventual champion Nicolet and Cedarburg.

Setter Brittany Baxter was praised for her work along with the Warhawks' three Taylors, Johnston, Neinfeldt and Edmonds.

Germantown had beaten Homestead in four games on Oct. 13 in the final league dual meet of the season.

Falls cross country

Behind top efforts from Nate Paulson and P.J. Weyer, the Indian boys were a sound fifth in a very fast Greater Metro Conference meet at McCarty Park on Oct. 17.

"The race was just smoking," Indian coach Jim Geisthardt said, "and our kids ran fine. We had 21 of them going and 16 of them got PRs. The JV kids really ran their hearts out. They've been a real joy to work with this season."

Falls will host its own Meet of Future Champions at 3 p.m. Oct. 22 with the varsity heading over to the WIAA Arrowhead sectional on Oct. 24. The girls will run at 11 a.m. and the boys at 11:45 a.m. The top two teams and first five individuals not on those teams will advance to the WIAA State Meet in Wisconsin Rapids on Oct. 31.

Paulson will lead the charge, as he took ninth in the GMC race in 16 minutes, 39 seconds with Weyer taking 15th (personal best 16:50). Both were second-team all-league. Other scoring runners included Dan Hyde in 35th (17:43), Josh Richie in 36th (17:43) and Ryan Birschbach in 42nd (17:55).

Birschbach was running his first race in several weeks after suffering a foot injury. Also running were Tyler Wittmann in 49th (18:16), Ben Bartos in 55th (18:39) and Dom Thomas in 57th (18:43). State power Marquette dominated the meet with 26 points.

The Indian girls were eighth with 205 points as Mikayla Robertson was 30th (16:37) and Kelly Koier 36th (16:56). Brookfield East won with 45 points.

Germantown girls swim

Marin Thompson's fourth-place showing in the 100-yard butterfly paced the Warhawks to a solid 10th of 21 teams in the powerhouse Homestead Highlander Invitational on Oct. 17.

Germantown scored 97.5 points as defending state champion Arrowhead dominated the field with 417 and Madison Memorial was a distant second with 261.5. The meet is seen as a talented preview of state.

Thompson was clocked in 1 minute, 0.42 seconds for her spot. She was also eighth in the 200 individual medley (2:17.54). Other top 10 finishes for the Warhawks: 200 medley relay - Shannon Miller, Abby Schabel, Thompson and Kelly Theis, seventh (1:58.15); 50 free - Miller, sixth (25.63); 100 butterfly - Schabel, seventh (personal best 1:01.59); 100 free - Miller, 10th (56.45).

In a dual meet loss to Cedarburg, coach Sara Petric praised the efforts of Tess Van Hecke, Emily Riesterer and Kayla Peplinski. Miller won two events while Thompson claimed the butterfly and Theis the 200 free.

Falls/Hamilton girls swim

All three Indian relay teams were in the top 10 of the talent-laden Highlander Invitational on Oct. 17, helping the team to a sound 11th of 21 schools.

Falls scored 82 points for its spot.

The top finish was a sixth by the 400 free relay team of Amanda Siehs, Briana Botros, Haley Lucas and Grace Devine (3:47.54); the 200 medley crew of Sommer Semanek, Dana Kucharski, Lucas and Siehs was ninth (1:59.14); and the 200 free unit of Semanek, Botros, Emily Blackwell and Devine was 10th (1:47.3).

The best individual finishes included a 10th from Lucas in the 100 fly (1:02.57) and 11ths from Devine in the 200 individual medley (2:20.06) and Siehs in the 50 free (26.22).

 

- Steven L. Tietz