View from the cheap seats
A weekly perspective on sports
Casey Krautkramer Reporter The Record-Review
The neat aspect about covering high school sporting events during the holidays is I’m able to catch up with local college athletes who are home attending their alma mater’s games.
Stratford graduate Mason Kauffman was the first college athlete I saw at Stratford’s home dual match win against Chequamegon on Dec. 19. He compiled an amazing 133-0 match record while wrestling during his Stratford High School career. He finished as a two-time individual state champion after achieving a 34-0 record during his senior high school season.
Kauffman received a college wrestling scholarship from Division 1 Eastern Michigan, where he competed for one season before the college shut down its wrestling program. He then transferred to Division 1 Northern Illinois and he’s currently in his second season wrestling for the Huskies. His college major is Kinesiology.
I then saw Marathon graduates Nathan Stoffel and Carter Hanke at the Marathon High School boy’s basketball game at Mosinee on Dec. 27.
Stoffel was a college redshirt freshman this past fall during his second season in the Division 1-FCS South Dakota football program. Stoffel, listed at six-feet, five inches tall and 230 pounds, should see more time playing tight end for the Coyotes next season.
Hanke is a six-feet, three inches tall freshman reserve guard on the UWEau Claire men’s basketball team this season. Hanke is averaging three points and 1-1/2 rebounds in his limited playing time thus far this season.
He will need to keep working hard in practices and patiently wait for an oppportunity to crack the Blugolds’ starting lineup in the future. Hanke sank both his three-point attempts in UWEau Claire’s 70-58 road win against St. Norbert College on Dec. 14.
UW-Eau Claire improved to 10-2 and 1-0 in the WIAC after beating UWWhitewater, 66-59 on Jan. 4 at home.
Congratuations to Stratford senior
Max Schwabe on making his college committment to wrestle for the Division 2 Minnesota State University Mavericks.
Many members of Stratford’s talented senior class of athletes are planning on extending their careers beyond high school. The list of Tigers playing college sports after they graduate high school this spring includes Ben Barten, Easton Kilty, Chase Flink, Oscar Telschow and Schwabe.
Straford’s boys basketball team is ranked No. 2 behind Cuba City in this week’s wissports.net Division 4 coaches poll. Stratford’s wrestling team is ranked No. 3 in this week’s Wisconsin Wrestling Online Division 3 poll. Coleman is ranked No. 1 and Fennimore is No. 2. Athens is honorable mention.
