Sports Wrapups: Jan. 9

Germantown boys basketball

Senior guard Zak Showalter was named ESPNHS Boys Basketball Player of the Week for the Midwest region for Jan. 4 for his efforts in leading the top-ranked Warhawks to a critical victory over third-ranked De Pere in the WBBY Classic on Dec. 28.

ESPN names a player of the week for each of the five regions of the country.

"It's a nice little feather in the cap," said father and coach Steve Showalter, who also had junior center Luke Fischer announce his commitment to Indiana University last week.

"We reminded Luke last week that he's not in Bloomington yet, that he still has a little work for us to do yet," laughed coach Showalter. Fischer had 21 points as the Warhawks came off an eight-day break and improved to 11-0 overall with a 68-36 rout of Port Washington in a North Shore tilt on Friday.

"We were really ready to get back into it," said coach Showalter, "and we were happy to be back at home again. It was only our third home game of the season and it was nice to be in there other than for a practice."

The Warhawks (5-0 in league play) outscored the Pirates (2-3, 6-6) in every quarter, taking a 15-7 first session lead and 37-18 halftime advantage.

Zak Showalter contributed 15 while his brother, Jake, had nine.

"For games like this, the motivation has to come from deep within," said coach Showalter. "I can only do so much and I know a high-level tournament game against De Pere is a little different than a Tuesday night conference game in January. We'll just keep working on the idea that the most important game is the one right ahead of us. Germantown will be at Nicolet (0-5, 2-9) on Friday.

Menomonee Falls/Germantown girls gymnastics

Liz Gilbert won the balance beam to lead the Indians to a third-place finish in the Reedsburg Invite on Saturday.

"The girls looked very good on three of the four events," Indians coach Tracy Howard said. "We are still working on mastering the uneven bars, but I have no doubt that we are headed in the right direction. The competition was very solid Saturday and the team did well. We are continuing to add quality skills to improve upon our scores."

Falls/GT scored 132.275 points as Holmen won the 10-school event with 135.125 and Stevens Point was second with 133.525.

Gilbert turned in a score of 8.75 for her victory on the beam.

The floor exercise was a big event for Falls/GT with a team high 35.95 score as Paige Lemley was second with a 9.375 while Gilbert and Aerial Holt tied for fifth (9.05 each).

Holt had a good day all-around, taking third with a 34.225 total as she was fourth on vault (9.0) and seventh on uneven bars (8.3). Lemley was seventh all-around (32.775).

Menomonee Falls wrestling

The Indians' road trip Saturday to the Sauk Prairie Invitational was a profitable one.

They not only packed the double-decker bus with close to 80 people (it was a combination varsity/junior varsity meet) but earned several solid places in claiming fourth in the 17-school event.

"It was a good day, a lot of fun," Indians coach Jim McMahon said. "It was a long day, and we're getting closer to having everyone contribute and place."

Falls, which will have a critical GMC dual at archrival Sussex Hamilton on Thursday, scored 175 points at Sauk Prairie with Mount Horeb winning with 263.

The Indians got seconds from Bill Holz at 113 (21-3 overall) and Ayoola Olapo at 182 (16-4). Olapo lost an exciting final to a state-place-winning Mount Horeb wrestler, 9-3.

Other good days were turned in by Aaron Daly at 106 (fifth, 18-7), Jeff Kleser at 120 (sixth, 10-12); Casey Crangle at 126 (third, 15-7), Austin Meyers at 132 (sixth, 13-12), Bill Steinke at 170 (third, 20-5), Mike Schwahn at 195 (sixth, 11-12).

McMahon said the team was only two seats short of filling the 81-seat bus.

Falls improved to 3-0 in league duals by also defeating Marquette, 67-10, on Jan. 5, as pins were recorded by Holz at 113, Kleser at 120, Alex Carlos at 126, Jon Haririe at 138, Zach Anderson at 152, Jake Fuiten at 160, Steinke at 170, James Dow at 195 and Matt Aili at 220.

Sam Schwabenlander claimed a 4-0 decision at 145, Olapo at 182 earned a 12-1 major decision at 182 and Daly took a forfeit at 106.

Germantown wrestling

The Warhawks went 2-3 on the day at the West Bend Duals on Saturday.

Germantown lost to Campbellsport (49-26), Ozaukee (41-36) and West Bend East (no score available) before downing Milwaukee Hamilton (78-6) and Waupaca (66-15).

"We wrestled tough against Campbellsport, but lost," coach Casey Gabrielson said. "I felt we wrestled the best for the day against them. I felt we out-worked and out-wrestled someone for the first time in a long time. They just have a stronger team and won the matches on pure talent and age. They came into the tournament 9-1 and we were 7-7. They ended up winning the tournament and went 5-0 on the day."

Gabrielson was disappointed with the effort against East as Germantown had a lead, but then lost six bouts in a row. He said the team needed to show more leadership.

"But they responded in the last two meets," he said. "… I was proud of their effort and the 'team' part of the equation was very apparent. If we can keep that mindset we'll have a good finish to the season."

Leading the way for Germantown were Danny Krause at 152 (5-0, four pins), Tyler Baran 160 (5-0), Mike Knippen 195 (5-0), Hunter Higginbotham at 285 (5-0) and Steven Asmondy at 182 (4-1).

Menomonee Falls/Germantown Hamilton boys swim

The Indians earned four third-place event finishes to take a strong fourth in the Greater Metro/Classic 8 Conference Relays on Jan. 5 at Brookfield East.

The local co-op, which also took 12th in the Marquette Gator Invite on Saturday, scored 87 points in the relays as Arrowhead dominated the meet with 133.

The Indians got their thirds from the 200-yard freestyle relay team of John Seiler, Brad Kruppe, Matt Ciolkosz and Michael Spankowski (1:35.94); the 500 crescendo relay of Sam Piette, Kruppe, Spankowski and Sam Neale (4:49.09); the 400 free team of Ciolkosz, Neale, Spankowski and Seiler (3:34.41) and the diving team headed by Ryan Thomann.

Fourths went to the 400 individual medley relay team of Nick Siebenaller, Evan Foht, Cal Weber and Ciolkosz (4:12.38); the 300 backstroke crew of Sam Green, Kruppe, Neale and Ciolkosz (2:56.74); and the 300 breaststroke unit of Ryan Litzau, Siebenaller, Foht and Green (3:36.28).

At the Gator, the Indians got a second from Thomann in diving with a 363.1 score as they turned in a 61-point effort in the 19-school event. Arrowhead won again with 409.

Falls/GT/Hamilton turned in several season best times at the event. The 200 medley relay team of Kruppe, Siebenaller, Seiler and Spankowski was 15th (1:50.37); while Ciolkosz was 13th in the 200 individual medley (2:06.72), Seiler 15th in the 50 free (22.95), and the 200 free relay team of Litzau, Ciolkosz, Spankowski and Seiler was eighth (1:34.45) and the 400 free relay team, made up of the same people as the 200 free, was 11th (3:29.95).

Menomonee Falls girls basketball

The Indians took a 26-15 lead at the half and coasted to the finish line in a 44-36 nonconference win over Catholic Memorial on Jan. 3.

With the win, Falls entered Friday's first-place GMC showdown with Hamilton (see separate story) at 3-0 in league play and 10-1 overall. Hamilton entered the game at 3-0 and 7-0, respectively.

The Indians held a 15-12 advantage at the end of one quarter against the Crusaders (2-7), but an 11-3 second quarter gave Falls a solid cushion. The Indians had a huge advantage at the foul line, going 17 of 22 on the night as opposed to just three of five for Memorial.

Mikayla Robertson had 13 points and Erin Crownover 11 for the Indians, who will visit West Allis Central (1-2, 1-8) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Menomonee Falls boys basketball

The Indians ran their winning streak to three games in a more-difficult-than-it-needed-to-be 55-52 nonconference decision at Plymouth on Jan. 3.

During the game, senior shooting guard C.J. Malone broke the school record for career 3-pointers. After the loss to Hamilton on Jan. 5, he now has 92 (see note at end of Hamilton story). Malone would lead Indians scorers with 19 points, including three, 3-pointers while J.P. Tokoto had 18 and Zach Murray eight.

The Indians fell behind 43-40 at the end of three quarters but rallied for the win despite faulty free-throw shooting (one for eight in the final minutes of the fourth quarter and eight for 20 in the game) made it hard for them to put away the pesky Panthers (7-2 on the season).

In the Brandon Jennings' Classic tilt Saturday against Lake Central (Ind.), the Indians were overmatched by Glenn Robinson III, the son of former Milwaukee Bucks' standout Glenn Robinson, as he poured in 33 points in a 73-47 decision.

Tokoto did the best he could with 28, but after Malone's eight points, no one had more than four for Falls. Lake Central had nine 3-pointers to the Indians' two.

Tokoto now has 1,407 career points, just 20 behind all-time leader and two-time NOW All-Suburban Player of the Year Brad Christianson who graduated in 1993. Falls hosts West Allis Central on Friday.

- Steven L. Tietz