Every year there are dozens of major sporting achievements throughout the area. I like to break down those achievements one by one and find the 10 biggest moments from throughout the year.
State champions, broken records and unforgettable games are just some of the attributes that can earn a spot in our local Top 10 sports stories of the year. And 2018 was no different.
Without further ado, these are my selections as the Monroe Times Top 10 sports moments of 2018:
1: Black Hawk football wins the WIAA Division 7 state championship
A year after getting pummeled in the title game by Bangor, the Warriors dominated Bangor in the semifinal and then gritted their way to victory over Edgar at Camp Randall Stadium. Along the way all-state running back Colby Argall broke the school’s all-time career rushing record.
Black Hawk entered the season with question marks across the board — including a first-year starting quarterback and a lack of depth on the offensive line. But the Warriors stayed healthy and senior QB Kyle Lovelace got better each game as South Wayne welcomed its second Gold Ball in 55 seasons.
2: Black Hawk girls basketball stunned in state title, takes second
The Lady Warriors dominated opponents like few other teams in the country for the 2017-18 regular season. Led in scoring by a trio of uber-talented underclassmen, the Warriors’ smothering press defense dominated teams all season. Black Hawk was undefeated and won all but two games all season by more than 20 points.
Until the state championship, that is.
Bangor turned the ball over nearly 30 times, but Black Hawk’s shooting was left in the parking lot in the final. The Warriors shot nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc all season but instead shot a season-low 9 percent from deep and 19 percent from the field. The game was the anomaly of the season. Bangor was 6 of 11 from deep and hit 10 of 27 shots total from the field. Black Hawk also committed 26 team fouls and floor leaders Natalie Leuzinger and Bailey Butler fouled out.
3: Monroe girls basketball returns to state, Hilliard shines
The Lady Cheesemakers returned to the Resch Center for the second straight year, but couldn’t overcome New Berlin Eisenhower’s hot shooting in the first half of the state semifinal.
Ike would finish 10-for-18 from 3-point-land while Monroe tried to hang tight at 7-for-17 from deep in the 67-63 loss.
Monroe would finish the year with just three losses — including a midseason loss to eventual state champion Beaver Dam.
Leading the Cheesemakers was junior Sydney Hilliard, who would go on to be a unanimous all-state selection and set the school scoring record in just three seasons of varsity work. Before the start of her senior season in November, Hilliard signed her letter of intent to play basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers beginning in the fall of 2019.
4: Monroe track at state, 4x200 boys’ champions
Sam Kind, Anthany Hernandez, Jevon Gibson and Jordan Montgomery entered the WIAA Division 2 state track and field meet as the favorites to win the 800-meter relay. The quartet did not disappoint, topping their seed time by nearly a full second and beating second-place Ripon by 1.05 seconds for gold.
The Cheesemakers had other solid finishes around the meet. Jake Meier, Drake Ingold, Jason Koller and Jonah Tostrud finished third in the boys’ 3,200-meter relay.
On the girls’ side, Cammi Ganshert was second in the 200-meter dash and fifth in the 100-meter dash. Ganshert also teamed with Mya Waterman, Emma Sanders and Sydney Mathiason for a fourth-place finish in the girls’ 800 relay.
5: Mekenzie Hammer, swimming state champion
After winning the state title in the backstroke as a freshman, Hammer added to her trophy case during her sophomore season.
The Monroe-New Glarus swimmer took gold in the 200-yard individual medley and then finished third in the 100-meter backstroke. Her time in the backstroke (57.88) was faster than her championship swim from a year earlier.
Hammer also swam on MNG’s 200-yard medley relay team, which took eighth, and was a member of the fourth-place finishing 400-yard freestyle relay team.
6: Nolan Kicmol defeats Jackson Hauri for D2 wrestling title
Evansville-Albany’s Nolan Kicmol defeated Brodhead-Juda’s Jackson Hauri in the WIAA Division 2 state championship at 152 pounds by a major decision score of 10-2.
The match pitted the two local stars against each other. In the regional at Belleville, Hauri defeated Kicmol in overtime 10-6. Kicmol would forfeit the sectional semifinal against Mauston’s Jarrett Dolata, who would lose in overtime to Hauri.
But Kicmol, who took third in 2017 and had just four losses on the season, defeated Dolata in the state semifinal 3-2 to reach Hauri, who would go on to lose just his third match on the season in the championship.
7: Grady Rielly, state champion hurdles
The Darlington senior entered as the top seed in the WIAA Division 3 boys’ 110-meter hurdles and then took care of business. Rielly finished the race in a time of 15.23 seconds, well ahead of second-place Isaac Michels of Regis (15.59).
Rielly would finish second in the 300 hurdles race to Riley Olson of Cambridge by a half of a second. Rielly also was on the Redbirds’ 400-meter relay team, which took 10th.
8: Dempzy Foley breaks Monroe pins record
The Monroe senior reached the state tournament with a 41-5 record on the season, but along the way the 182-pound grappler would break the school’s single-season pins record.
Foley, who went over the century mark in career wins earlier in the season, finished with 30 pins on the year and nearly 90 for his career.
“His freshman — even his sophomore year — he pinned a lot of kids. But his problem when he was younger was it was either pin-or-be-pinned, which isn’t good,” head coach Tom Witt said at the time. “The last two years that’s changed. He’s totally dominated his opponents. He’s more in control of his movements and getting kids onto their backs. He’s worked hard.”
9: Sugar River reaches state in girls soccer
The Raiders went unbeaten all regular season and then gritted out one-goal sectional wins against Mount Horeb and Madison Edgewood to book a trip to the state games in Milwaukee.
In the state semifinal June 15, the Raiders would get knocked out of the tournament by eventual champion Green Bay Notre Dame, thus bringing an end to a season (18-1-1) that will be remembered for years to come.
10: Jaden Kreklow breaks New Glarus scoring, assists marks
After surpassing the 1,000-point career milestone during his junior season, the Glarner Knights’ do-everything guard continued to put up big numbers as New Glarus has found some of the biggest success in the state.
Kreklow broke the school’s all-time record for assists in late November, and then broke the career points record less than two weeks later.
A four-year varsity player, Kreklow has averaged 18.2 points per game throughout his career and has helped the Knights to a 66-15 record (.814 winning percentage) during his time on varsity.
Other notable mentions not listed include sectional runs by Monroe softball and Pecatonica baseball, Black Hawk volleyball’s unbeaten record in conference, the Darlington boys’ cross country team returning to state for the 11th straight year, and Brodhead-Juda’s Madee Harding and Cora Purdue finishing second and sixth in the 400-meter dash in the Division 2 state championship.
