EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal
Lucas Ludlum, Jr., G, Platteville boys basketball
Platteville junior Lucas Ludlum has been the engine driving the 18–3 Platteville boys basketball team all season. Last week was one of the talented guard's best week's yet in a season full of stellar performances.
Ludlum averaged 19.3 points on 61.5 percent shooting from the field (32 of 52) and 44.4 percent on 3-pointers (8 of 18), as well as 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.5 assists in four Hillmen victories in the past week.
Ludlum scored a game-high 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting with three steals in an 87–43 non-conference blowout win at Cuba City Monday, Feb. 5. He then scored a team-high 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and two steals in a 63–48 win over Prairie du Chien that helped the Hillmen clinch a second-straight SWC title last Thursday night.
Ludlum made 8 of 16 shots, and finished with a game-high 20 points and four steals in Saturday's 70–57 non-conference win at New Glarus. Monday night, he was near perfect from the field (8 of 9), including 3 of 4 on 3-pointers, to finish with a game-high 19 points in Monday's 78–37 road blowout win at Madison Edgewood.
"Lucas had a really nice night on offense (at Prairie du Chien)," said Platteville head coach Mike Huser. "Lucas Ludlum was outstanding again on both offense and defense (Saturday at New Glarus). We have been able to consistently get four scorers in double figures and Lucas, Simon (Boebel) and Davyn (Edge) took advantage of their opportunities as the game went on."
Ludlum is averaging a SWC-best 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 2.2 assists per game, while shooting 52.9 percent from the field (134 of 255), an incredible percentage for a 6'3" guard.
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Owen Callahan, Sr., 285 pounds, River Ridge wrestling
Heavyweight senior Owen Callahan finished his prep wrestling career with a fifth-place finish at Saturday's 13-team WIAA Division 3 Mineral Point Sectional. Following a first-round bye, Callahan lost his quarterfinal match to Mineral Point’s Matt Aurit, then had to fight his way through the consolation side of the bracket to secure fifth place.In his consolation semifinal match, Callahan pinned Lancaster’s Timothy Nelson in a time of 17 seconds, then won his fifth-place match over Bronson Mchone of Iowa-Grant/Highland with another pin. In his wrestleback for fourth place and a chance to go to sectionals, Callahan was defeated by Mac Neffe of Ithaca/Weston. Despite, the career-ending loss to Neffe, Callahan concluded his senior season with a record of 38–15, which gives him the school record for most wins in a single season, surpassing the mark of 37 wins set by Ben Wheeler.
Ross Crist, Sr., 190 pounds, Darlington/Black Hawk wrestling
Crist (41–4) won the 190-pound title at the WIAA Division 2 Dodgeville Regional last Saturday. Crist also picked up his 100th career victory with a quarterfinal pin of Brayden Holdorf (1:04). Crist went on to pin Fox Austin of Cuba City/Southwestern/Benton in the semifinals and beat Carson Loshaw of Belleville/Monticello/New Glarus 6–2 in the finals to win the title.
Madelyn Fisher, Sr., Prairie du Chien/Fennimore gymnastics
Fisher was named the Lisa Steger Scholarship winner at Saturday's Platteville Lisa Steger Memorial Invitational. She placed sixth in the all-around (35.075), after finishing tied for second on the vault (8.9), fourth on the floor (9.275), eighth on the bars (8.4), and 16th on the beam (8.475) for the seventh place Blackhawks (142.525).
Greenlee Krahn, Jr., G, Prairie du Chien girls basketball
Krahn had 10 points and 6 assists in the Hawks 63–37 SWC win over Lancaster on Friday Night. Then during the following night's65 –55 SWC win over Dodgeville, she scored a career high 29 points on 9-16 shooting, including 7-of-12 from 3 — which tied her sister Lily's career high for made 3's in a high school game. Krahn also had with four rebounds and two assists as the Hawks held off the Dodgers, to improve to 17–4 overall and 8–1 in the SWC with a chance to win at least a share of the SWC title with a win over Dodgeville Thursday night.
Brooklyn Murphy, Sr., Dodgeville/Highland/Iowa–Grant/Mineral Point gymnastics
Murphy finished a team-best fourth in the all-around (35.65), third on the balance beam (8.3), fourth on the uneven bars (8.125), fifth on the floor (9.275) and sixth in the vault (8.45) to lead the shorthanded Dodgeville co-op to a second-place team finish (134.75) at the 10-team Platteville Lisa Steger Invitational last Saturday.
Titus Wunderlin, Sr., Platteville/Lancaster boys swimming
Wunderlin punched his return ticket to Madison by placing second in the 100-yard freestyle and third in the 50-yard freestyle at Saturday’s D2 McFarland Sectional. Wunderlin finished second in the 100 free at 48.25 seconds, behind only McFarland’s Lyon Hall (46.41). Wunderlin placed third in the 50 free with a time of 21.72, behind McFarland’s Shane Tebeest (21.32) and Cale TeBeest (21.54). A year ago Titus Wunderlin placed 10th in the 50 freestyle (22.27) and 13th in the 100 freestyle (49.67).