Sports Wrapups: Sept. 7

Whitnall girls cross country

With four runners in the top 11, the Falcons won the seven-team Southeastern Invite at Sheridan Park for the fourth consecutive year Saturday

Dana Steffen led the way with her second-place time of 15 minutes, 35 seconds, behind only Kenosha Bradford's Abigail Bullmore (15:12).

Steffen's teammate Mary Erickson was third in 15:49, Leah Windt was seventh in 16:28 and Katherine Crivello was 11th in 16:49. Freshmen Jennifer Bahling (16th) and Alyssa Woo (19th) were also solid.

Franklin cross country

Two top-15 times helped the Franklin girls take fourth at the West Allis Central Bulldog Invitational at McCarty Park on Friday.

Allie Fons, who was working on running in a pack, came on strong late and ran 11th in 16:06. She helped teammate Jenny Eickhorst run 15th in 16:22 and Katelyn Salzburger take 32nd in 16:55.

The Franklin boys ran 10th of 14 teams at the same meet as Will Campbell was 17th in 17:34, shaving 51 seconds off his previous best time, and Nikolia Grabowski ran a personal-best 18:11 in 34th.

Greendale cross country

The 1-2 punch of Hayley Serketich and Chelsey Heiden were at it again in the season-opening Bulldog Invitational on Friday.

Serketich and Heiden, the Panthers' top runners a year ago, finished sixth and seventh, respectively in 15:40 and 15:48.

"We had sectionals here last year and these two girls where just a few seconds slower this time," Greendale coach Corey Binnebose said. "They have seven weeks to get better."

Those times helped Greendale to ninth of 15 teams.

The boys were also ninth as Cody Hough took 40th in 18:41.

"Our top seven guys were only 40 seconds apart, which is good, but they each need to cut about 45 seconds for the team to move up in the standings," Binnebose added.

Oak Creek cross country

Tony Rodriguez, Ryan Clementz and Seth LaBodda's top-20 times paved the way to a fifth-place finish for the Knights at the Bulldog Invitational on Friday.

Rodriguez led his team's pack with a 12th-place time of 17:20, followed closely by Clementz's 17:26 (15th) and LaBodda's 17:37 (19th). Jake Schmidt also ran well, taking 23rd in 17:42.

For the girls, Noelle Posda ran 49th in 17:18 as the Knights were 14th of 15 teams.

Franklin tennis

The Sabers won three of four singles matches to beat Oak Creek, 5-2, on the road Aug. 31 and improved to 2-1 in Southeast Conference duals.

Amy Hennen won a three-set match at second singles, as did Abby Kass at fourth singles.

"Abby Kass and Amy Hennen each won 6-0 third sets to clinch the victory," Franklin coach Jon Vogt said. "Although there are few things more enjoyable in high school athletics than beating your rival, it made it even sweeter how Amy and Abby finished it off for us."

The Sabers also went 1-2 and took fourth of eight teams at the Wauwatosa East Invite on Saturday.

Franklin defeated Green Bay Preble, 5-2, but lost to Pius XI, 5-2, and the host school, 4-3.

Kat Donovan earned her first win at first singles, a 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 victory over Brooke Weyenberg of Green Bay Preble, and the first doubles team of Liv Lampone and Kayla Plath ran their winning streak to five consecutive matches.

Greendale soccer

Mitchell Placek's second goal of the match came in the 98th minute of the second overtime and gave his team a 3-2 victory over host New Berlin Eisenhower on Sept. 1.

The win improved the Panthers to 2-0 in Woodland play.

Placek tied the match at 2-2 in the 62nd minute and Brandon Cook got Greendale on the board with a goal in the fifth minute.

The Panthers opened the league season with a 3-0 win at Cudahy/St. Francis two days earlier. Jake Sisler, Will Kivlin and Andrew Dejna scored one goal each.

In the Catholic Memorial Quad Friday and Saturday, Sisler, Placek and Alex Radmanovic scored goals in a 3-0 win over Racine St. Catherine's before the Panthers lost, 3-0, to the host school.

Greendale tennis

The first doubles team of Alyssa Brunelli and Molly McCormick were among the winners in both duals as the Panthers opened the league campaign with a 6-1 win at South Milwaukee on Aug. 31 and a 5-2 victory at New Berlin Eisenhower two days later.

Whitnall soccer

Robert Hansen's assist on a pass up the middle to Bryan Nagy resulted in the game-winning goal for the Falcons in their 2-1 nonconference victory over Waterford on Sept. 2.

The Falcons, who entered this week 2-6 overall, trailed 1-0 when Waterford's Ethan Christiansen scored in the 12th minute. But Whitnall later responded when Danny Miskov was taken down in the box and Quinn Dombrowski drilled the resulting penalty kick.

The victory came one day after the Falcons dropped to 0-2 in the Woodland Conference with a 4-1 loss at Brown Deer. Dushan Marinkovich (Dombrowski assist) scored in a losing effort.

Franklin golf

The Sabers' shot at winning the SEC title took a hit with a 173-189 loss to Kenosha Tremper at South Hills Country Club on Sept. 2, but not before Taylor Chase was the medalist with a 41 in her team's 173-245 win over St. Thomas More on Aug. 30, also at South Hills.

Whitnall swimming

Sarah Arteaga won both the 100-yard freestyle and 100 breaststroke in Whitnall's nonconference dual-meet loss at Franklin on Sept. 2.

Whitnall's Samantha Wesel was first in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.

Also victorious for the Falcons were Laura Sullivan in the 200 individual medley and Rachel Stave in diving.

The win came after Whitnall opened the season with third-place efforts at their own Fountainwood Invitational on Aug. 21 and the Racine Park Invitational on Aug. 28.

Franklin girls volleyball

The reigning WIAA Division 1 champion Muskego Warriors are not as loaded as they were a year ago, but don't tell that to the Sabers.

Franklin fell, 25-11, 25-9, 25-17, to host Muskego in the SEC opener for both teams Sept. 2.

"We ran into a big buzz saw," Franklin coach Ken Huber said. "We were nervous for the first two sets and played that way. In game three, we were much more competitive and actually were tied at 14, trailed, 16-15, and then Muskego scored six straight points on that rotation."

Rachel Ambroch led Franklin with six kills and six digs while Katie Babula had 12 assists and Allie Tome blocked three shots.

Whitnall tennis

Sarah Houle at first singles and Kristin Kowaleski and Sami Zacher at first doubles were among the Falcons' winners in their 5-2 home victory over Wauwatosa West on Sept. 2.

The league win came two days after Whitnall was shut out, 7-0, at New Berlin Eisenhower in the league opener.

Oak Creek girls volleyball

The Knights opened the SEC season with a 25-16, 25-19, 25-6 road win Sept. 2.

Oak Creek tennis

Katie Sweetman's 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Franklin's Kat Donovan was one of two flight victories for the Knights in their 5-2 home loss Aug. 31.

Franklin soccer

The Sabers scored twice in the first half and held on for a 2-1 win over visiting Racine Case on Aug. 31 to improve to 1-1 in the SEC.

- David Cotey