View from the cheap seats
A weekly perspective on sports
There were lots of firsts accomplishd by high school varsity sports teams and individual athletes in The Record-Review
coverage area in 2019.
The biggest first, by far, is the Stratford baseball team winning its first state championship in school history in its first ever appearance in the state tournament. Last spring, Chandler Schmidt tossed a complete game 9-4 win against Markesan. Schmidt will play college baseball at Divison 2 Winona St. following this spring’s high school baseball season.
Athens High School’s sports teams also experienced some firsts in 2019. The boys basketball team won the first regional championship in school history after beating Rib Lake, 50-43, on the road. Bluejays center Cameron Ford, who is now a senior this season, scored over 1,000 career points in the regional title victory.
The Athens boys cross country team won its first conference championship in school history last fall. Senior Johnathon Nowacki was the team’s No. 1 runner, and he made it on the podium for the first time in his high school career at the state cross country championships at the end of October.
Edgar senior Marissa Ellenbecker became, what many people believe, is the first girls cross country runner in Marawood Conference history to win four individual conference titles.
Three Stratford wrestlers won their first individual wrestling championships at the end of February 2019. Junior Max Schwabe won the 132-pound Division 3 title, while junior Trevor Dennee took first at 170 and Dylan Schoenherr at 285.
Madison Wagner-Durr became the first ever Athens athlete to compete in a high school sports co-op team. She is a goalie for the Wisconsin Valley Union girls hockey team.
Marathon junior hockey goalie Katrina Fredrickson had 42 saves, which ties a state hockey tournament record, during the Central Wisconsin Storm’s 3-2 loss in four overtimes to Hudson in early March of 2019.
Edgar native David Kornack, while throwing shot and discus at UW-Eau Claire, won first place in the shot put at the Division 3 indoor track and field championships on March 9. Kornack’s shot put throw of 65 feet, 3/4 inches set the NCAA Division 3 indoor meet recod, and it’s also the second longest shot put throw in Division 3 history.
Marathon senior track and field athlete Leah Zemke won first place in the discus throw at the WIAA Division 3 state championships last spring in La Crosse. Nowacki also made the podium with his sixth-place fnish in the twomile run.
The Stratford football team broke the state record for shutouts with 12. The Marathon girls cross country team competed in the state championships for the first time in school history.
