The start of the winter sports season is here, and if you haven't picked up our Winter Sports Preview section from Friday's edition, I suggest you find one. We give the holiday goodies on 26 local teams in the area, including rosters and schedules.
There are a lot of top story lines this year that we will try to follow, two of which are very intriguing in regard to Monroe.
Will Monroe's boys team complete the first four-peat in Badger Conference history? After graduating six players a year ago, the Cheesemakers have their work cut out for them. Only three players, Bryan Tordoff, Michael Barrett and Kevin Frint, saw significant playing time a year ago.
Also on the table for head coach Pat Murphy's group: Can Monroe complete a task just as tough and return to state for the fourth consecutive year?
Murphy's team's have a knack for surprising when least expected. In each of its first two trips to state, 2005 and 2007, Monroe had a large turnover and had many question marks in its lineup. Even last year, the thought of conference and state were optimistic at best - not at all expected.
For the Lady Cheesemakers, however, a return trip to state, as well as another Badger South title, is expected. Monroe returns all but one starter from a year ago, including all-state players Ashley Hermanson and Jamie Armstrong.
A season ago, Monroe split the Badger South with Edgewood after the Crusaders upset the Cheesemakers in the midseason.
"It is going to be our best year and we know where we want to be," Hermanson said after Monroe's first scrimmage.
Another team that should defend its conference title is Brodhead's boys team. The Cardinals graduated two starters, but return more than a handful of players who contributed a year ago. The biggest of those players, literally, is 6-foot, 9-inch junior shooting center J.J. Panoske.
The Rock Valley South has been a weaker conference over the past couple of years, and with the experience Panoske, Jake Cole and Nick Jacobson bring, Brodhead has to be the heavy favorites to repeat.
Panoske's talent alone allows any team to contend for a conference championship. There are reasons he has been scouted as a sophomore and now a junior from various mid-majors, as well as top Division I schools, like Northwestern. He is good. He can shoot, he can block shots and he is growing into his game.
Perhaps the one thing missing in his game, other than defending the perimeter, is a true inside presence. After learning to throw it down on opponents, including put-backs and one-step drops, it appears as if his game is becoming more and more mastered. All we can do is sit back and watch for these final two seasons until he is off to play in college. And those tickets are excessively more expensive that the high school ones.
My suggestion would be to come to Monroe High School tonight to watch J.J. in person against the Cheesemakers. It will be a great test for both teams.
Getting back to the questions of the season, one has to wonder if Black Hawk will have what it takes to repeat as Six Rivers East champions and get back to the girls state tournament. In the Warriors' way will be Barneveld (which never can be counted out), Pecatonica (with senior standout and UW-Milwaukee recruit Kimee Chandler), Juda (which made a surprise run in the playoffs last year) and Albany (full of juniors with gobs of talent).
On the boys side, five of the seven Six Rivers East teams have new coaches. One of those coaches is Kevin Parman, who left Barneveld just a few seasons ago and is at the helm for Pecatonica. The longest-tenured coach now in the conference is Albany's Derik Doescher, who has a task of his own - trying to find out how to replace his entire starting lineup from 2008-09.
Darlington's boys team has one of the top shooters in the state, Alex Erickson, at the helm. The Redbirds' two games against Cuba City and the all-amazing Evan Richard will be prime-time games to watch.
New Glarus also will have its hands full. With two shoo-ins for all-conference (Ryan Bright, Logan Lockard), the Knights will have to find a way to overcome Marshall for a shot at the Capitol South title.
And it just about all of it starts today.
New Glarus renews its rivalry with a boys-girls doubleheader at Monticello. Albany's girls team hosts Palmyra-Eagle, while the boys are at Beloit Turner. Pecatonica's girls travel to Wausau Newman, the Juda boys finish up at the Clinton tournament and the Juda girls close out the South Milwaukee tourney.
Wrestling starts next week, which adds a completely new mix to the winter wonderland of prep sports.
And don't forget, we at the Monroe Times will do our very best to cover as much as we can.
Change in Athlete of the Week selection
As you are well aware, every Thursday throughout the high school sports seasons we run our Monroe Times Athletes of the Week - one from Monroe, and a boy and girl from the area schools. On occasion, we will have double winners because more than one person deserves the honor.
Starting this season, we are adding an extra element - the readers. Starting this next week, fans will be able to vote for their choice in the polls.
Our sports staff will pick three choices for each of the three slots, giving reasons for each player. Votes will be tallied by a mix of reader comments as well as any e-mailed votes to Mark Nesbitt (mnesbitt@themonroetimes.com) or myself (sportseditor@themonroetimes.com). Voting will take place from Monday through Wednesday evening, with the winners being announced in the paper Thursday. In the event of a tiebreaker, Mark and I will choose the winner. Also, if someone wants to make a write-in vote, feel free to leave that in a comment on the Web, stating your reasons to do so.
On that note, I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday weekend. See you in the gyms!
- Adam Krebs is sports editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at sportseditor@
themonroetimes.com.
There are a lot of top story lines this year that we will try to follow, two of which are very intriguing in regard to Monroe.
Will Monroe's boys team complete the first four-peat in Badger Conference history? After graduating six players a year ago, the Cheesemakers have their work cut out for them. Only three players, Bryan Tordoff, Michael Barrett and Kevin Frint, saw significant playing time a year ago.
Also on the table for head coach Pat Murphy's group: Can Monroe complete a task just as tough and return to state for the fourth consecutive year?
Murphy's team's have a knack for surprising when least expected. In each of its first two trips to state, 2005 and 2007, Monroe had a large turnover and had many question marks in its lineup. Even last year, the thought of conference and state were optimistic at best - not at all expected.
For the Lady Cheesemakers, however, a return trip to state, as well as another Badger South title, is expected. Monroe returns all but one starter from a year ago, including all-state players Ashley Hermanson and Jamie Armstrong.
A season ago, Monroe split the Badger South with Edgewood after the Crusaders upset the Cheesemakers in the midseason.
"It is going to be our best year and we know where we want to be," Hermanson said after Monroe's first scrimmage.
Another team that should defend its conference title is Brodhead's boys team. The Cardinals graduated two starters, but return more than a handful of players who contributed a year ago. The biggest of those players, literally, is 6-foot, 9-inch junior shooting center J.J. Panoske.
The Rock Valley South has been a weaker conference over the past couple of years, and with the experience Panoske, Jake Cole and Nick Jacobson bring, Brodhead has to be the heavy favorites to repeat.
Panoske's talent alone allows any team to contend for a conference championship. There are reasons he has been scouted as a sophomore and now a junior from various mid-majors, as well as top Division I schools, like Northwestern. He is good. He can shoot, he can block shots and he is growing into his game.
Perhaps the one thing missing in his game, other than defending the perimeter, is a true inside presence. After learning to throw it down on opponents, including put-backs and one-step drops, it appears as if his game is becoming more and more mastered. All we can do is sit back and watch for these final two seasons until he is off to play in college. And those tickets are excessively more expensive that the high school ones.
My suggestion would be to come to Monroe High School tonight to watch J.J. in person against the Cheesemakers. It will be a great test for both teams.
Getting back to the questions of the season, one has to wonder if Black Hawk will have what it takes to repeat as Six Rivers East champions and get back to the girls state tournament. In the Warriors' way will be Barneveld (which never can be counted out), Pecatonica (with senior standout and UW-Milwaukee recruit Kimee Chandler), Juda (which made a surprise run in the playoffs last year) and Albany (full of juniors with gobs of talent).
On the boys side, five of the seven Six Rivers East teams have new coaches. One of those coaches is Kevin Parman, who left Barneveld just a few seasons ago and is at the helm for Pecatonica. The longest-tenured coach now in the conference is Albany's Derik Doescher, who has a task of his own - trying to find out how to replace his entire starting lineup from 2008-09.
Darlington's boys team has one of the top shooters in the state, Alex Erickson, at the helm. The Redbirds' two games against Cuba City and the all-amazing Evan Richard will be prime-time games to watch.
New Glarus also will have its hands full. With two shoo-ins for all-conference (Ryan Bright, Logan Lockard), the Knights will have to find a way to overcome Marshall for a shot at the Capitol South title.
And it just about all of it starts today.
New Glarus renews its rivalry with a boys-girls doubleheader at Monticello. Albany's girls team hosts Palmyra-Eagle, while the boys are at Beloit Turner. Pecatonica's girls travel to Wausau Newman, the Juda boys finish up at the Clinton tournament and the Juda girls close out the South Milwaukee tourney.
Wrestling starts next week, which adds a completely new mix to the winter wonderland of prep sports.
And don't forget, we at the Monroe Times will do our very best to cover as much as we can.
Change in Athlete of the Week selection
As you are well aware, every Thursday throughout the high school sports seasons we run our Monroe Times Athletes of the Week - one from Monroe, and a boy and girl from the area schools. On occasion, we will have double winners because more than one person deserves the honor.
Starting this season, we are adding an extra element - the readers. Starting this next week, fans will be able to vote for their choice in the polls.
Our sports staff will pick three choices for each of the three slots, giving reasons for each player. Votes will be tallied by a mix of reader comments as well as any e-mailed votes to Mark Nesbitt (mnesbitt@themonroetimes.com) or myself (sportseditor@themonroetimes.com). Voting will take place from Monday through Wednesday evening, with the winners being announced in the paper Thursday. In the event of a tiebreaker, Mark and I will choose the winner. Also, if someone wants to make a write-in vote, feel free to leave that in a comment on the Web, stating your reasons to do so.
On that note, I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday weekend. See you in the gyms!
- Adam Krebs is sports editor of The Monroe Times. He can be reached at sportseditor@
themonroetimes.com.
