Posted: Feb. 22, 2010 |(0) Comments

Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton boys swim

Defending state diving champion Nathan Cox clipped the board on an early effort in the WIAA State Meet on Saturday, but still recovered enough to finish second in his specialty.

His effort, along with medal-earning fifths from the 200-yard medley relay team of Nick Bietz, Sean Kimmitt, Taylor Ladd and Taylor Hernikl and Kimmitt in the 100 butterfly led the senior-dominated Indians to a respectable 12th-place finish in the Division I standings.

"Nate finished the meet well but he was kind of disappointed by what happened," said Indians coach Jim Weitzer.

Cox finished with a 379.65 point total as Homestead's Erik Larsen, who had beaten Cox at an invitational earlier this winter, led wire-to-wire and won with a 406.05 score.

Cox's effort led the local co-op to a 78-point total, as Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial won with 197.

The medley relay was clocked in 1:38.45 for its spot and Kimmitt remained consistent in his butterfly, turning in a time of 52.19.

Other finishes by event for the Indians included the following: diving: Ryan Thomann, 20th (193.1); 200 individual medley: Ladd, 23rd (2:04.7); 50 free: Bietz, 16th (22.49); 200 free relay: Bietz, Hernikl, Ben Perry and Kimmitt, 10th (1:29.34); 100 breaststroke: Ladd, 17th (1:01.62); 400 free relay: Bietz, Hernikl, Perry and Kimmitt, 15th (3:18.21).

"We fell off a little bit (from the previous week's sectional effort)," said Weitzer, "but the guys were otherwise right where they needed to be. … The kids picked it up and got better."

He said that Hernikl had an excellent meet finishing up with a quick 48.38 split on the 400 free relay.

The Indians finished with 35 swimmers and will graduate much of the state team, including Bietz, Kimmitt, Ladd, Hernikl and Perry, but Weitzer still has reason for optimism as the junior varsity won the conference meet.

"We won't have as much up-top speed but we will start out next year with a bit of depth," he said.

Menomonee Falls/Germantown gymnastics

Behind Shelby Smykal's impressive win on the balance beam, the host school and short-handed Indians took sixth in the Greater Metro/North Shore Conference meet on Friday.

"Shelby had two minor wiggles but she was otherwise flawless," said coach Tracy Howard, "and that's an exercise that starts out of a 9.8 degree of difficulty. I'm very proud of her."

Smykal's score was a 9.225. The only other local placewinner was Abby Croft, who was fourth in floor exercise (9.4).

"I was dealing with a rolled ankle, a sprained ankle, and another person who had a scholarship event to attend," said Howard. The Indians turned in a 133.725 total, as Whitefish Bay defended its title with a 141.4 mark.

The Indians will now take part in the WIAA sectional meet at Arrowhead at 11 a.m. Saturday. The top two teams, the top five all-arounds and the top five performers in each individual event, will advance to the WIAA State Meet in Wisconsin Rapids, March 5 and 6.

Howard said she is looking forward to having a full team at the event.

Germantown girls basketball

The shooting eye that helped the Warhawks go 6-1 over the last three weeks since point guard Melissa Klemm was hurt failed them at a critical moment on Feb. 18, when their last-ditch effort to make it a race in the North Shore Conference fell by the wayside with a 57-47 defeat at league champ Nicolet.

"Shots we hit all season, we just couldn't hit tonight," said Warhawks coach Matt Stuve, "and I know that some of that is them (Nicolet), but we believe it's up to us to hit the shots. It's not who we play that counts, but how we play that does."

Nicolet is now 12-0 in league play with two NSC games remaining while Germantown is 9-3, also with two to play.

It was 7-0 Nicolet before Germantown closed it to 12-8 late in the first quarter, but an 11-0 run by the Knights put the Warhawks in a hole they could not dig out of. Eliza Wortman had 18 points for the Warhawks.

Stuve was pleased with tenacity of his team but noted that a few shots here or there could have helped give Germantown some badly needed momentum.

"We do have a resilient group," he said. "We competed hard all game long. Maybe we don't quite have the skill that they have, but we won't back down."

Klemm, who tried to come back in the previous game for the Warhawks, was held out of this contest and likely for the rest of the season as her injured knee continued to have complications.

"We don't want to sacrifice a potential four-year college career simply for four weeks of a high school season," Stuve said. It was the same knee Klemm hurt last season.

Rachel Hoft added 10 and Lexi Keefe had nine for Germantown.

Germantown will host Grafton (6-6, 10-9) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Menomonee Falls wrestling

One good round does not make a tourney as the Indians found out much to their dismay Saturday in the WIAA sectional at Hartford, as after winning four first-round matches, Falls could not claim another bout all day.

The disappointing finish closed out an up-and-down injury-riddled season for the Indians.

Andrew Warden at 152 (21-11 final record), Korey Kleinhans at 189 (32-9), Tony Guagliardo at 215 (21-8) and Tyler Bross at 285 (31-9) all won their first-round matches but all then lost two bouts in succession as their hopes of reaching state fell by the wayside.

Guagliardo, who made a brave, late-season recovery from an illness, was seeking his second state tournament berth.

Also competing at sectional for the Indians were Dan Stark at 103 (27-14) and Bill Steinke at 145 (5-8), both of whom lost first-round matches.

Of the sectional qualifiers, Warden, Kleinhans and Guagliardo were all seniors.

Ice Bears Hockey

The local co-op made a game effort against sectional top seed University School on Friday, but came up short in a 6-1 WIAA regional final loss.

The loss ended the season for the Ice Bears at 10-13-2 while the Wildcats (13-7-2) advanced to a sectional semifinal that was played Tuesday against Waupun.

Goalie Dan Smyczek proved to be the Ice Bears undoing as the USM netminder stopped 28 of 29 shots.

Germantown/Falls managed to cut the deficit to 3-1 at the start of the third period on a goal by Max Brudvig (Konnar Wagner assist), but then the Wildcats, who are on a 10-0-1 streak, ran off three goals in succession to end any drama. Trevor Collins (Germantown) made 30 saves for the Ice Bears.

The Ice Bears had advanced to the regional final with a 6-3 semifinal win over Beaver Dam on Feb. 16.

The team had eight seniors, including Menomonee Falls co-captain Carter Ypma who finished the season with 15 goals and 15 assists.

Menomonee Falls girls basketball

Blasting out to a 25-6 first quarter lead gave the Indians a strong leg up as they coasted to a badly-needed 62-52 win over Wauwatosa East on Friday.

"We haven't shot well all season," said Falls coach Craig Amundson, "so we went back to fundamentals. We just shot very well in that first half. We had great looks, and we sank them."

The Indians 3-9 in GMC play and 5-14 overall) will host GMC leader Brookfield Central (11-1, 14-5) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

After the big push at the start, the Indians were outscored by Tosa (2-10, 4-15) in every remaining quarter but still had enough of a cushion to ease to victory.

Post Alex Poole scored 21 points to lead Falls. Amundson said the Indians had great success on inbounds plays, scoring six or seven times off of them.

The Red Raiders closed the gap to five in the fourth quarter, but guard Kari Braatz made nine-of-10 free throws to ice things for the Indians. Braatz finished with 11 points.

"It's very nice that we can pick up a win like this late in the season, especially with such an inexperienced group," Amundson said.

 

- Steven L. Tietz