ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Jason Buss

Freeport driver repeats as Modified class points championships

Jason Buss finished fifth out of 19 cars in Saturday's season finale championship night race to win a second straight points championship in the modified division at the Lafayette County Speedway.

buss car — Jason Buss finished fifth out of 19 cars in Saturday's season finale championship night race to win a second straight points championship in the modified division at the Lafayette County Speedway.

Thomas Gunnell

Updated: Aug 13, 2015, 8:30 PM

Published: Aug 13, 2015, 8:49 PM

EDITOR'S NOTE: The SWnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a new web-only feature that will publish each Friday throughout the calendar year.

Freeport's Jason Buss is the SWnews4u.com Athlete of the Week for the week of Aug. 3–Aug. 9.

The 2015 racing season at the Lafayette County Speedway reached the checkered flag on Saturday, Aug. 8, with all four classes point leaders hanging on to win titles on the Season Championship Race Night.

Buss in his #32J finished fifth out of 19 cars in Saturday's season finale chamionship night race at the LCS to repeat as champion in the Modified class points standings at the track for the for the second year in a row.

Buss took home the Modified crown with 340 points easily out-distancing runner-up Rick Hammer’s #43, which finished with 313 points. Rounding out the top-five in the class were “Bone” Jeff Larson in the #B1 in third (287), Wade Steinmann in the #7 in fourth (274) and Sean Rupp in the #15 in fifth (262).

Kyle Hoffman in the #14 cruised to the title in the Sport Modified class, along with Eric Beau in the #23 car in the 4-Cylinder class and Travis Fecht in the #02 truck captured in the Sportsman Truck class.

Hoffman, Beau and Fecht each won their race during Saturday’s season finale event to hold onto the top spot in their respective divisions. It was Beau’s second championship crown in three seasons at the track, while Hoffman improved on a third-place finish a year ago and Fecht moved up from a seventh-place finish last season.

SUPPZ.COM SWNEWS4U CO-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Tri-State Homeschool's Ruah Franzmann-Simmert and Isaac Harkness

TSHS athletes compete at Houston Junior Olympics

Ruah Franzmann-Simmert finished fourth in the 1,500 and eighth in the 800 at the recent AAU Junior Olympics in Houston.

Ruah Franzmann-Simmert Houston — Ruah Franzmann-Simmert finished fourth in the 1,500 and eighth in the 800 at the recent AAU Junior Olympics in Houston.

Updated: Aug 8, 2025, 3:15 PM

Published: Aug 8, 2025, 3:02 PM

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal

Ruah Franzmann-Simmert and Isaac Harkness, Tri-State Homeschool track and field
HOUSTON — A pair of Tri-State Homeschool track and field athletes recently returned from the AAU Junior Olympics in Houston.

Ruah Franzmann-Simmert medaled in both of her 17–18-year-old age division events.

Franzmann-Simmert, who has been a standout for the Falcons in both cross country and track and field the past two years, finished fourth in the 17–18U 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:41.55. She also placed eight in the the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.50.

TSHS teammate Isaac Harkness also qualified for this year’s Junior Olympics and finished 38th in the boys 15-16-year-old 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:26.49.

The AAU Junior Olympics, the largest youth sporting event in the country, welcomed nearly 16,000 athletes to Texas this year.

Athletes this year faced temperatures approaching 100 degrees, with very competitive track and field events from July 26–Aug. 2.

Several Tri-State Homeschool athletes also competed at AAU District and Regional competitions earlier this summer, with Franzmann-Simmert and Harkness advancing to Houston for the championships.

HONORABLE MENTION
Brock Henkel, Sr., OF, Fennimore U19 American Legion baseball
WESTBY — Brock Henkel hit a clutch two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to give Fennimore a 4–2 lead in an elimination game last Sunday at the eight-team double-elimination American Legion 19U Class A State Tournament.But Viroqua tied the game on a wild pitch and a bases loaded walk in the top of the seventh, then scored three in the top of the eighth to end Fennimore’s summer season.

Henkel finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored, and earned a spot on the 18-player All-Tournament Team after batting .600 (6-for-10) with a double, two homers, eight RBI and four runs scored. He also homered and drove in five runs in Fennimore's 14–4 victory over Lomira (16–3) on Saturday. Henkel finished the summer batting .300 (12-for-40) with one double, a team-high three home runs, 11 RBI, nine runs scored and posted a team-best .550 slugging percentage and a .954 OPS in 14 games.

Henkel and the Railers finished the summer season 11–8 overall after going 1–2 to finish tied for fifth at the state tournament.

Tyson Starkey, Sr., SS/P, Fennimore U19 American Legion baseball
Starkey also earned a spot on the 18-player American Legion Class A State Tournament team after batting . 400 (4-for-10) with two RBI, four runs scored and two stolen bases. He also struck out six and allowed just one unearned run over six innings in Fennimore's 1–0 opening round loss to St. Mary Springs last Friday. Starkey finished third on the summer club batting .312 (19-for-61) with three doubles, one triple, five RBI, 14 runs, five walks and a team-high 10 stolen bases, and played all 19 games this summer. Starkey was also the ace of the staff, posting a 5–3 record on the mound with a 2.48 ERA and a team-high 44 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings of work.