Sports Wrapups: April 11

Menomonee Falls girls softball

A veteran infield, a good pitcher and motivation to get back to the top of the Greater Metro Conference will pace the Indians this spring.

"This group has some very high goals this spring," Indians coach Wendy Wolff said. "They're looking at the big picture, and we're trying to get them focusing on doing all the little things because you never know what one play will determine the outcome."

Falls will be led by senior returning all-state shortstop and UW-Green Bay recruit Hailey Mohrfeld and senior NOW All-Suburban catcher Hailey Wilson.

Wolff will work with an infield that returns everyone including senior first baseman Aleah Van Horne, junior second baseman Nicole Weggen and sophomore third baseman Jamie Ertl.

Senior Nicole Zywiec returns for her second season as starting pitcher.

The outfield is more in flux but will be anchored by returning first team All-GMC outfielder Rachel Defnet.

"We're going to have a good mix offensively," Wolff said. "We'll have good power, and with some of the new additions that we have, it'll be fun figuring things out."

The Indians split their two GMC games, beating DSHA, 10-0, on April 5, but falling to West Allis Hale, 2-1, on April 7. It's all part of a very competitive GMC, said Wolff, as her team looks to compete against defending champion Brookfield Central, Brookfield East and Hale for the league crown.

Falls is in the midst of a chaotic seven-game week, including the three-game Germantown Invite on Saturday. The Indians will challenge Muskego in a 1 p.m. quarterfinal game.

They host West Allis Central in a league game at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Willowood then host nonconference foe Waukesha West in another 4:15 p.m. tilt on Friday.

Germantown girls soccer

A lingering injury to all-state candidate Carly Vogel hasn't slowed the youthful Warhawks just yet as they are off to a 3-1-1 start.

"We're young and very talented," coach Paul Sikinger said. "This is not like any other freshmen class I've seen. They can get the job done. We have 13 freshmen and sophomores on the team and we're starting nine of them, but our problem is that we seem to have a new injury every game."

The Warhawks have beaten Sussex Hamilton, 2-1, fallen to Arrowhead, 2-1, tied with Hartford, 1-1, defeated Kenosha Tremper, 3-0, and beaten Pius XI, 2-0.

Vogel is still recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered in the first game of the season. The senior midfielder is a co-captain with fellow seniors defender Samantha Wallace and forward Erin Warren.

Germantown has just four seniors on the team.

Other key performers include juniors Jennifer Teeters (midfielder/forward), Brooke Ward (midfielder) and Haley Challoner (defender); sophomores Lauren Meyer (goal), Sarah Cantwell (midfield/forward), Rashida Beal (defender), Vanessa Schneider (midfield) and Jamie Karch (midfield/forward); and freshmen Madeline Tetzke (forward), Amy Flasch (defender), Kayla Schlosser (midfield) and Paige Blankenheim (defender/midfielder).

Tetzke has made a huge impact already, scoring six of Germantown's goals while Schlosser looks to be a physical playmaker.

"On the defensive side of the ball, most of the goals we've given up have been mental mistakes," Sikinger said. "We're hoping that the young kids grow up quick. Already, a lot of them have because several of the freshmen are already playing like seniors."

The Warhawks have a big nonconference game at Brookfield Central at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Germantown boys track

Ben Holcomb was second in the 55 hurdles and the 800-meter relay team of Alec and J.R. Richmond, Alec Zoern and Dylan Krivoshein turned in a fifth place, season best of 1:34.76 to highlight a sound effort by the Warhawks at the USTFA State Indoor meet at UW-Whitewater on Saturday.

"The day as a whole went pretty well," Germantown coach Jared Foerch said. "We hit the training pretty hard last week and then backed off a little bit."

Germantown, which opens its outdoor season at the West Bend Invitational on Friday, scored 13.5 points for an 11th place showing in the meet that featured 40 schools. Green Bay Preble won with 45.

Holcomb, the North Shore hurdles champ, bettered his personal best twice in turning in a runner-up time of 7.87 as Appleton North's Brandon Zarnoth won in 7.74.

North Shore rival Whitefish Bay won the 800 relay in 1:32.38.

Other places for the Warhawks included an eighth by Pete Winarski in the pole vault (12-6) and a tie for eighth by Dane Collins in the high jump (6-0).

Adam Schueller narrowly missed out on a place, taking ninth in the 800 with a personal best of 2:02.22.

Menomonee Falls girls track

The short-handed Indians, without the services of state place-winning jumper Mikayla Robertson, still managed to get a first out of high jumper Alex Poole and earn fifth in the Greater Metro Conference Indoor meet on April 6.

Falls scored 62 points for its spot as defending champion Brookfield Central outdistanced city rival East, 160.5-131.5 for the title.

Poole cleared 4-10 and won on the basis of fewer misses over a rival from Central. Teammate Becca Fuchs was third at 4-8. Poole was also third in the shot put with a toss of 30-7 and fifth in the long jump (15-3 1/4 ).

Falls also got a second out of its six-lap relay team (2:27.1).

Other top spots for the Indians included Jessica Robinson seventh in the 200 (28.8), a fourth from Katie Smalley in the 400 dash (1:05.35), a pair of sixths from Emma Lodl in the 55 high hurdles (9.97) and 55 low hurdles (9.74), a sixth from the four-lap relay (1:35.31), a fourth from the 1,600 relay (4:43.43), a fourth from Fuchs in the triple jump (33-6) and a sixth from Haley Precia in the high jump (4-6).

The Indians were at the Brookfield East Spartan Invitational to open their outdoor season on Wednesday and compete at the West Bend Invitational at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Menomonee Falls boys track

Matt Christensen's second place finish in the 200 dash highlighted a tough day for the Indians thinclads as they finished eighth in the Greater Metro Conference Indoor on April 5.

Christensen was clocked in 24.49 as a Marquette performer was caught in 24.29 for the victory. Christensen was also fifth in the 400 (55.07).

Falls was missing a few performers for this meet, including top distance runner P.J. Weyer.

The Indians scored 30 points for their spot as Brookfield East dominated the event with 215, way ahead of runner-up Hamilton (77).

Other places included Chris Jones eighth in the 55 high hurdles (9.3) and Justin Johnson, seventh in the 55 low hurdles (8.52). The 3,200 relay team was fifth (9:03.32), while Rob Gardner was sixth in the high jump (5-8), while Ndiva Malafa was sixth in the triple jump (39-8 1/2 ).

Falls competes at the West Bend Invitational at 4 p.m. Friday.

- Steve L. Tietz