EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Friday morning throughout the calendar year.
Madison Kuhl, Sr., Southwestern volleyball
Kuhl is often overshadowed by her hard-hitting classmate and teammate Michelle Budden, but the Wildcats’ offense starts with their senior setter. Southwestern’s back-to-back trips to the WIAA state volleyball tournament could not have happened with out Kuhl. Last week she help the Wildcats defeat Clayton in the WIAA Division 4 state semifinals Friday morning, then led a valiant effort in a four-set loss to Wausau Newman Catholic in Saturday’s D4 championship match. For her efforts, Kuhl is this week’s Mast Water Technology Athlete of the Week.
The two-time All-SWAL selection passed out a match-high 37 assists and served up a team-high five aces to go along with eight digs, two blocks and two tip kills in Southwestern’s 25–10, 23–25, 25–16, 25–19 victory over Clayton (23–8). She added 26 assists, three digs, three kills, one ace and one block in Saturday’s loss to Newman Catholic (40–1).
Kuhl helped Southwestern compile a 27–2 overall record this fall and led the Wildcats to a share of the SWAL title. During her three years as Southwestern’s varsity setter, Kuhle led Southwestern to a 78–14 overall record and back-to-back second-place finishes at state. She finished her career with 2,138 assists, 452 digs, 187 kills and 126 aces.
HONORABLE MENTION:
Conrad Blosch, Sr., Darlington football
Blosch ran for a game-high 100 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries to lead the Darlington Redbirds' rushing attack in their 28-7 WIAA Division 6 Level 3 playoff victory over Cambridge at Martens Field on Friday, Nov. 6. Blosch ran for 85 of his 100 yards in the second half, including a 49-yard touchdown run with a 1:21 remaining in the third quarter that put the Redbirds ahead 21-0 at the times. Blosch also ran three times for 20 yards on the Redbirds other scoring drive of the second half, and he added a key first down late in the game which allowed the 'Birds to run out the game clock. Blosch is currently third on the Redbirds with 969 rushing yards and 11 TDs.
Melissa Wood, Sr., Platteville/Lancaster girls swimming
The Platteville senior finished seventh in the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 1:01.23 at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Baraboo Sectional to earn a second straight trip to the WIAA D2 state championships. Wood, the school record holder in the 100 butterfly had hip surgery in the spring and has been working all season to get back to full strength. A year ago, she won the conference title in the 100 fly and place 15th at state in 100 fly and the 200 individual medley. The D2 state finals will be held Friday at the UW–Natatorium in Madison beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Michelle Budden, Sr. and Miranda Kemp, Sr., Southwestern volleyball
The senior middle hitters helped lead the Wildcats to a runner-up up finish in Division 4 at last week’s WIAA state volleyball tournament. Both were named to the Division 4 all-state tournament team. Budden posted a team-high 49 kills and 11 blocks in two matches at state, including 27 kills and seven blocks in Friday’s win over Clayton. Kemp added 19 kills and four blocks at state, including 13 kills in Friday’s victory.
