NOTE: Each week, the sports editors of swews4u.com; A.J. Gates (Grant County Herald Independent), Jason Nihles (Platteville Journal), Tom "Gunner" Gunnell (Republican Journal) and Erik Olson (The Richland Observer) combine to nominate our "Prep Performers of the Week".
PERFORMERS OF THE WEEK (Nov. 30-Dec. 7)
BOYS BASKETBALL - PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Corey Vaassen, 6-4, F (Cuba City, sr.) – scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first half of last Thursday's game against Darlington. His effort led the Cubans out to a 24-20 halftime lead on the Redbirds, then Jerry Petitgoue's team used a 34-13 second-half run to blow away the Redbirds in their season opener. These two teams have tied for the SWAL title the past two seasons. Vaassen then scored 14 points in the Cubans’ 90-34 victory over Pecatonica this past Tuesday.
HONORABLE MENTION
Hunter Leibfried, 6-2, G (Potosi, jr.) – had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists in Potosi’s 56-37 win over Riverdale last week. This past Monday the junior guard had 14 points, five rebounds and four steals in 61-39 win over Wauzeka. Potosi is 2-0 on the young season.
GIRLS BASKETBALL - PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kailee Kamps, 5-8, G (Belmont, sr.) – netted 20 points in Belmont's 52-34 victory over Southwestern on Saturday, Dec. 3, to become the first female in school history to go over the 1,000-point mark for her career. Kamps, who already owned the school's scoring record, topped the 1,000-point mark on a 3-point basket in the third quarter.
HONORABLE MENTION
Leigh Drury, 5-7, G (Highland, so.) – led the undefeated Cardinals (3-0) to a pair of narrow non-conference victories over Pecatonica last Friday and Monticello this past Monday. The sophomore guard scored 16 points in a 50-47 victory over Pec, then scored a game-high 23 points in a 48-46 win over Monticello.
Amy Jorgenson, 5-6, F (Amy Jorgenson, sr.) – scored 21 points, to go along with six rebounds, six steals and four assists in Darlington's 67-51 season opening victory over SWAL rival Southwestern on Friday, Dec. 2. Jorgenson then scored a game-high 21 going on Tuesday to lead Darlington to a 63-39 victory over Argyle.
Blaire Lutes, 5-7, G (Benton/Shullsburg, sr.) – scored six of her game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter last Monday night to snap a tie and lead the Zephyr-Miners over visiting Argyle, 64-61, in a wild non-conference girls' basketball game that featured 20 lead changes.
Sam Steines, 5-8, F (Cuba City, sr.) – scored a game-high 9 points in 62-50 win over state ranked Richland Center on Tuesday night. She also had 8 points in easy 72-19 win over Riverdale for 3-0 Cubans
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
Scott Digman, 152 (Cuba City, sr.) – Digman opened the season with five pins in five matches at Saturday’s Boscobel Invitational. Digman was one of four Cubans that went undefeated on the day (Jared Donar (145 pounds), J.J. Donor (113) and Brett Wilson (160) as Cuba City went 4-1 and finished tied for second at the six-team tournament.
HONORABLE MENTION
Dusty Jentz, 170 (Platteville, sr.) – became just the third wrestler in the 25-year history of the Black Hawk Invitational to earn a fourth individual title after winning the 170-pound weight class at the tournament in South Wayne on Saturday, Dec. 3. After an opening round bye, Jentz registered a 42-second pin, then posted back-to-back technical fall decisions over a pair of Division 1 wrestlers to finish first in the class.
Luke Nowak, 126 (Iowa-Grant, fr.) – opened his high school career with four straight victories last week. Nowak scored a 4-2 decision of Riverale’s Ingalls in the Panthers’ 54-12 SWAL dual victory, then recorded three pins in three matches Saturday to win the 126-pound weight class at the Dubuque Invitational. Nowak and the Panthers finished second as a team behind five-time defending champion Western Dubuque.
Marcus McCauley, 132 (Weston/Ithaca) – went 4-0 with four falls in the dual meet tourney at Reedsburg last Saturday. McCauley’s wins came over wrestlers from Racine Horlick, Monroe, Lancaster and Sparta as Weston/Ithaca went 3-1 and finished third as a team at the seven-team tournament.
SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
Ryan Heberlein, (Lancaster, jr.) – was on Platteville/Lancaster's second-place 100-yard freestyle relay and 1,000 freestyle crescendo relay, and the third-place 200 freestyle relay helping the Hillmen finish second out of seven teams at last Thursday's relay-only Southern Lakes Conference Relays.
TEAMS OF THE WEEK
Lancaster Wrestling – Loaded with a young squad of talented sophomores and freshmen, the Lancaster wrestling team came away from Saturday's Reedsburg Duals with a record of 4-1 and the tournament's second-place finish. Lancaster's lone loss was to a loaded Sparta team, but the Arrows collected victories over Oregon (54-19), Reedsburg (47-19), Weston (48-36) and Monroe (54-19). Going a perfect 5-0 on the day were freshman Cole Martin (113 pounds), and sophomores Kyle Mezera (126 pounds) and Trenton Cornell (145 pounds). Freshman Tyson Wolf (106 pounds), sophomore Dan Rice (138 pounds) and junior Trae Mezera (160 pounds) all went 4-1.
Fennimore Girls Basketball – The Golden Eagles improved to 3-0 with a lop-sided 85-33 win over Iowa-Grant last Friday night, led by with three girls in double figures in scoring; Breland Prochaska (24 points), Alexi Needham (17) and Allison Klug (15). Nine of the 10 players on Fennimore’s roster scored in the game.
