EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.
Kayci Martensen, Fr., Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton girls cross country
Kayci Martensen’s dominance of area cross country courses continued Saturday morning as the Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton freshman blew away the competition at the 51st annual Dick McKichan Invitational that was held at Platteville High School this year.
Martensen finished first out 148 runners, completing the two-lap, 5,000-meter course in a blistering time of 17:43.5 to win the overall and large schools titles. She finished nearly 1:30 ahead of overall runner-up and small schools individual champion Lydia Murphy (19:10.5), a senior from Lancaster. Brodhead/Juda sophomore Madelynn McIntyre (19:22.9) finished a distant second place in the large schools division.
The Wildcats finished 12th out of 13 teams in the girls large schools division with 275 points. Martensen will look to win another individual title at Saturday’s Riverdale Invitational.
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Ty Bausch, Sr., RB/LB, Potosi/Cassville football
Bausch recorded a team-high 19 tackles to lead the Chieftains, who were without leading tackler Cyrus Siegert, and rushed for 100 yards on 15 carries in Potosi/Cassville’s 21–6 non-conference upset of second-ranked Bangor (6–1) last Friday night in Cassville’s Homecoming game. Bangor is the defending WIAA Division 7 champion and had a 20-game winning steak and had not lost a regular season game since 2013 prior to Friday night’s defeat.
Lauryn Bunn, So., Fennimore girls cross country
Bunn smashed her own 5,000-meter school record with a time of 19:52.92 to finish seventh out of 214 runners in Division 3 at Friday’s Nightfall Cross Country Classic at Spring Brook Golf Course in Wisconsin Dells. Bonn’s record-setting run helped the Fennimore girls place 15th out of 20 complete teams in Division 3.
Riley Christiansen, So., RB/LB, Belmont football
Christiansen rushed for 163 yards and three TDs on 24 carries to lead the Braves (1–6) to a 40–0 non-conference victory over visiting Wonewoc/Weston, Belmont’s first victory of the season.
Payton Heinberg, Sr., Darlington boys cross country
Heinberg won the boys’ small schools individual title at the Platteville Dick McKichan Invitational for the third year in a row Saturday to lead the Darlington boys to the small schools team title for the 11th straight year. Heinberg covered the 5,000-meter course in 16:21.2 to finished second overall out of 150 runners.
Roslynn Johnson, Sr., OH/MH Richland Center volleybal
Johnson slammed 11 kills and had 14 digs and three blocks to lead Richland Center (23–7, 6–2) to a 3–1 victory over first-place Platteville last Tuesday night. Two days later she had nine kills, nine digs and three blocks as the Hornets swept Dodgeville. Saturday at the Portage Invitational, Johnson tallied 28 kills and 16 digs to lead Center to a 4–0 record and split of the title (shared with River Valley).
Carter Lancaster, So., WR/DB, Darlington football
Lancaster caught five passes for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Redbirds’ (2–5, 1–3 SWAL) 37–0 victory at Southwestern (1–6, 0–4) last Friday night.
Lydia Murphy, Sr., Lancaster girls cross country
Murphy finished first in the girls’ small schools division and second overall out of 148 runners to lead the Flying Arrows to the small schools team title at last Saturday’s 51st annual Dick McKichan Invitational at Platteville High School. Murphy crossed the finished line at 19:10.5.
Colton Schraepfer, QB, Pecatonica/Argyle
Schraepfer completed 9 of 16 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for a game-high 122 yards on 11 carries to lead the second-place Vikings (6–1, 5–1 Six Rivers) to a 27–0 victory over visiting Shullsburg last Saturday afternoon.
