No comment.
And while you’re at it, check out the versions from the baseball teams at Florida and Harvard (who started this parody craze, as best I can tell). There appear to be dozens of others.
YouTube is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
(Here is the real thing by Carly Rae Jepson.)
Filed under Sports
South Milwaukee High School graduate Lauren Kleppin continues to make a name for herself as a collegiate runner.
Kleppin, a senior at Western State College of Colorado, finished second in the women’s 10,000-meters at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday. She took fifth in the 5,000 meters on Saturday.
Check out coverage on the Western State website here. From it:
Kleppin finished as the national runner-up in the 10,000-meter run for the second time in her outdoor career for the eighth All-America title in her overall career. She finished in 34:56.86, less than two seconds behind champion Rachel Patterson from Grand Valley State.
Lauren was 10 seconds off the pace in the 5,000.
Here is Lauren’s bio. She finished third in the last two NCAA Division II Cross-Country Championships.
Congratulations, Lauren!
Update: Here is a lot more detail on Saturday’s game.
The season is over for the South Milwaukee girls’ basketball team.
The Rockets fell to Oak Creek, 42-28, in a WIAA regional final Saturday night at Oak Creek.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
An 18-6 fourth quarter was the difference for Oak Creek. It was a slow first half for both teams, as the Knights held a 12-9 lead at the break.
Abby Styczynski and Morgan Kotka each finished with 14 points. Only four girls scored for the Rockets.
The Rockets finish the season 17-8.
March Madness is upon us, and the march to Madison continues for the South Milwaukee girls’ basketball team tonight against Oak Creek.
Game time is 7 p.m. at Oak Creek High School.
The Rockets are seeded third in their sectional. Oak Creek is a two seed.
The winner of Saturday’s game faces a potential matchup against top-seeded Racine Case on Thursday.
Check out the WIAA Division I bracket here.
By the way, the South Milwaukee boys’ basketball team finished the season 13-10 and lost to Whitefish Bay in the WIAA regionals March 2.
Filed under Sports
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a nice story on the legacy of former South Milwaukee football Coach Bill Spaltholz, who passed away Friday at the age of 86.
Check it out here. From it:
Like most coaches, Bill Spaltholz never completely got the game out of his system.
Years after the hall of fame football coach from South Milwaukee retired, he was still a regular at games.
“He always did enjoy football and he was always concerned with how the Rockets were doing,” said South Milwaukee football coach John Galewski, a former player and assistant coach of Spaltholz’s. …
Galewski, a 1975 South Milwaukee graduate, played running back and was a member of the Suburban Conference championship team in 1973.
Spaltholz would later hire Galewski as a junior varsity assistant coach, and Galewski spent four seasons working on Spaltholz’s staff before he retired.
“He was a great mentor,” Galewski said. “He was always willing to take time and teach things. It was just a great experience for me.”
Spaltholz’s visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. tonight at Molthen Bell & Sons in South Milwaukee. An additional visitation begins at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Grace Lutheran Church in Oak Creek, followed by the funeral.
Please continue to keep the Spaltholz family and all who knew the popular coach in your prayers.
Update: I found this old Milwaukee Journal story on South Milwaukee’s undefeated season in 1961. Check it out here.
Did you know Coach Bill Spaltholz? Did you play for him? Were you taught by him?
What will you remember most about him? What is his legacy?
Post your comments below … and let me know if you’d be interested in doing a “guest blog” about this South Milwaukee legend.
Update: Here is Coach Spaltholz’s obituary in Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. There will also be a visitation starting at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, before the funeral service.
Hall of Fame South Milwaukee football coach Bill Spaltholz — the namesake for the high school’s football field — has passed away. He was 86.
The visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Molthen-Bell & Son Funeral Home, 700 Milwaukee Ave. in South Milwaukee. The funeral is at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday at Grace Lutheran Church, 3401 Puetz Road in Oak Creek.
Please keep the Spaltholz family, and all who knew him, in your thoughts and prayers.
And learn more about the coach on the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association website here. Among his accomplishments …
What will you remember most about Coach Spaltholz? Did you play for him, or others who did? What will be his legacy? Post your comments below.
South Milwaukee NOW has a great story on South Milwaukee High School baseball and football coach John Galewski and his wife Sandy — who both will be honored by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association in February.
John will be inducted into the WBCA Hall of Fame. Sandy is the organization’s Woman of the Year.
Check out the story here. From it:
“Throughout the 25 years, the most dependable person I had was her,” said John, who nominated his wife in October. “She picks up any job I need her to do. The only thing I always knew from year to year was I’d always get help in any area I needed from her.
“It was something where I didn’t know if she’d win or not, but at least she’d find out I was thinking of her.”
John and Sandi’s relationship has always included baseball, softball or coaching. For eight years of their marriage, John played softball five days a week and on the weekends from April to October, many of those years when the couple had young children.
At times, he was coaching as many as three high school sports, including girls basketball and football.
Even today, John is South Milwaukee High School’s head football and baseball coach. But never once did Sandi issue an ultimatum and make John choose between her and athletics or coaching. As she puts it, how could she? The family loved traveling around on the weekends, taking mini-vacations to watch John play softball, and coaching, well, that brought out a special side of her husband.
“Once he started coaching, you could tell it was his passion,” Sandi said. “The passion he had for it, and how many lives of kids he’s changed, kids that didn’t have that fatherly figure … I just saw how much he loved it, and I wouldn’t want anyone to tell me I can’t do something that I loved.”
Congratulations to John and Sandy. Well deserved!
Here is the latest South Milwaukee sports and activities update from Ante Udovicic and the South Milwaukee School District …
Milwaukee Wave Senior Boys Soccer All-Star Game
Rocket standout senior Jake Eaton will be playing in the 4th Annual Wave HS Senior All-Star game this Sunday, January 29th, following the Wave game at the US Cellular Arena that begins at 3:00pm. The Rockets have been represented in all 4 all-star games, so the tradition continues with Jake.
Congratulations on the honor Jake, and have fun!!
BOYS BASKETBALL
Good luck tonight to the Rocket boys basketball team as they take their 10-4 record into a matchup with the 11-3 Cavaliers from St. Thomas More. If you aren’t going to cheer on the girls team at St. Thomas More, come on out and cheer on the boys at the SM Sullivan Gymnasium tonight at 7:30pm!
The Rockets are only a game and half out of first-place and have had some great results lately behind some stellar play from senior Austin Stueck (32 pts and 12 reb in the Rockets 60-52 win over NB Eisenhower on 1/13), senior Dominic Stanley (9-10 from the free throw line and 16 pts against Franklin on Tuesday) and the aforementioned Jake Eaton (14 pts in the Rockets 56-53 win over Franklin on Tuesday). Junior Evan Marlowe contributed a season-high of 18 pts in the 1/20 loss at Greendale.
ROCKET BASKETBALL ON TIME WARNER CABLE
Next Friday, February 3rd, the Rockets will take on the 9-3 Vikings of New Berlin West at 7:35pm. This game will be shown live on TWC Sports 32 (ch1332 in HD, ch32 in standard) at 7:30pm. We hope you will come to the game and cheer on the Rockets and set your DVR’s as well. If you do come on out, please try and wear some Red Rocket wear. Let’s have the gym look like a sea of RED!
POMS
Congratulations to the Pom squads on their performance last Saturday at Hartford HS.
The JV team place 2nd for their Pom routine. The Varsity girls placed 1st for their Pom routine and 3rd for the their Jazz routine. In addition, juniors Madi Calteaux and Nicole Kowalski placed 3rd for their duet, while junior Mary Berger took 6th in her solo performance.
Best of luck to the varsity Rockettes as they travel to Watertown HS on Saturday to compete in Regionals!
GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Rockets are 8-3 on the season, with their only 3 losses coming against teams with a combined record of 35-4, including a tough 40-39 defeat at 11-2 Oconomowoc on Tuesday. Junior Emily Pusheck led the Rockets with 13 pts, 8 reb and 4 steals, while junior Riley Budde had 12 pts and 8 rebs.
The Rockets travel to St. Thomas More tonight. Their next home game will be Tuesday, 1/31 at 7:30pm against Woodland Blue Conference leader Pewaukee. Come on out and support them if you can.
BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING
Congratulations to the boys swim team for taking 1st out of 8 with a score of 190 at the Cudahy Packer relays on Wednesday, and for taking 1st out of 8 with a score of 398 at the James Garcia Relays at Milwaukee Hamilton on 1/19.
At Cudahy, the 200 medley relay of Jake Polakowski, Andrew O’Neill, Michael O’Neill, and Mark Czarnezki took first (1:56). The 900 free relay with James Janka, Bart Brzezicki, Brian Rewolinski, and Noah Gear took first (10:15). The 300 Backstroke Relay with Dan Wimmer, Joey Fischer, Louis Christensen, and Jake Polakowski took first (3:23). The 300 Breaststroke relay with Brian Hofer, Andrew O’Neill, Noah Gear, and Dan Wimmer took first (3:40). Our diving relay took first with Michael O’Neill and Brian Hofer. The 300 butterfly relay took first with Brian Rewolinski, Michael O’Neill, Brian Hofer, and Joey Fischer (3:33). The 200 free relay with Kody Kaszuba, Louis Christensen, James Janka, and Bart Brzezicki took third (1:50). The 400 IM Relay took first with Mark Czarnezki, Noah Gear, Andrew O’Neill, and Dan Wimmer (4:38). The 100 Medley relay took first with Louis Christensen, James Janka, Kody Kaszuba, and Bart Brzezicki(1:01). The last relay, our 100 free relay with Joey Fischer, Brian Rewolinski, Mark Czarnezki, andJake Polakowski received second place (48.04).
Great job Rockets and good luck at the Woodland Conference Meet at Greenfield HS on Saturday, February 4th!
WRESTLING
The Rockets are fresh off of a 57-13 dual meet win against Cudahy/St.Francis on Wednesday. The JV wrestlers are competing at Cudahy HS on Saturday while the varsity is off. The next competition for the Rockets will be Saturday, February 4th at Greenfield HS for the Woodland Conference Tournament.
Filed under Sports
Here is the latest installment of Rocket Update from the school district’s athletics and activities department … congratulations to the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams for their hot start!
Good morning everyone,
Here is another quick update. If you have a TV near you, try to turn on TMJ4 to catch a glimpse of the Madrigal Choir. They are singing until 7:00am on their local morning show this morning.
MADRIGAL CHOIR
The madrigal singers are currently at the TMJ4 studios, singing Christmas songs as they have for several years running and are doing a fantastic job under the direction of first-year choir teacher Emily Buckner and student leader senior Lexie Bartell. They deserve a lot of credit for sounding so good this early. The bus picked them up at 3:50am!!
BOYS BASKETBALL
The Rockets are off to a fast start with a 6-1 record, despite a slew of injuries to a number of starters. Senior Austin Stueck has led the way, averaging over 20 points a game, despite a pretty bad high ankle sprain limiting him in practice. Senior Dominic Stanley also has a fractured ankle and was the team’s second leading scorer and is out at least another week or two. Senior Sam Stojsavljevic has taken his turn filling in nicely, scoring 18 pts in their 49-29 win over St. Francis on Tuesday, and senior Jake Eaton has been solid averaging over 12 pts a game.
The Rockets next game is at Concordia University in Mequon as they take on the Neenah Rockets in the Wisconson Yearbook Classic on Tuesday, 12/27 at 8:00pm. Tickets are $5 for the game.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Like the boys, the Rocket girls team is off to a super start with a 5-0 record, despite a rash of injuries. Returning all-conference guard Mallory Wesley is a week away from returning after a foot injury that has kept her out for 3 weeks after a strong first week of the season. The Rockets have been led by a contingent of juniors who have just played fantastic basketball seemingly alternating big games. In their win against St. Francis, junior Riley Budde led the way with 13 pts and 10 reb. In their win over Shorewood last Friday, junior Emily Pusheck led the way with 15 pts and 10 reb, and against Greenfield, junior Ellie Pusheck led the way with 12 pts and 9 reb. Junior Sam Page has also been among the contributors, playing solid defense and passing the ball well averaging over 2 steals and 4 assists a game.
The Rockets next play on Tuesday, January 3rd @ Wauwatosa West.
WRESTLING
The Rockets are a very young squad with several freshman in the mix at the varsity level, but that has not stopped them from starting off the winter strongly. They defeated New Berlin at home on 12/4 with 8 pins out of 14 total matches. At the prestigious and stacked Stech Tournament in West Allis, the Rockets did a great job taking 9th place out of close to 20 teams, with juniors Tom Mitchell (182 lbs) and Tom Wawrzyniak (285 lbs) taking 2nd place in their respective age divisions.
The Rockets next home meet is Wednesday, January 4th (in the Middle School Gym) at 7:00pm.
POMS
At the recent Milwaukee Bucks competition, the JV Poms took 1st place overall in their division, while the Varsity Rockettes took 3rd in the Pom division and 5th in the Jazz division.
BOYS SWIM & DIVE
The Rockets took 2nd place at the Milwaukee Hamilton Invite on 12/13, just narrowly being edged out for 1st place. The 200 freestyle relay with Andrew O’Neill, Bart Brzezicki, Brian Rewolinski, and Michael O’Neill took second, and the 400 freestyle relay with Brian Rewolinski, Dan Wimmer, Mark Carnezki, and Jake Polakowski took second. The 200 freestyle relay with Andrew O’Neill, Bart Brzezicki, Brian Rewolinski, and Michael O’Neill took second, and the 400 freestyle relay with Brian Rewolinski, Dan Wimmer, Mark Carnezki, and Jake Polakowski took second. In the 100 free Matt Verstegen too second with a time of 55.22. In the 500 Free Mark Czarnezki took second with a time of 6:08. In the 100 free Matt Verstegen too second with a time of 55.22. In the 500 Free Mark Czarnezki took second with a time of 6:08.
The Rockets next home meet is Wednesday, January 4th (in the Middle School Pool) at 5:00pm.
POWERLIFTING
The powerlifting team started off their season well qualifying seven lifters for State, including senior Devin Dettmann who lifted an astounding 1100 lbs without any equipment. The Rocket Varsity girls took 1st place and the Rocket Varsity boys took 2nd place overall.
CHEER
At the Oak Creek Cheer Invitational, the Rockets did a fantastic job, taking 2nd place in the competition.
ROCKET REVUE & THESPIANS
On 12/16, a number of students (and a few alumni) performed in the PAC in a variety of singing acts, raising money for the Thespian Scholarships and did a fantastic job. Over a dozen student actors also did their annual elementary school tour performing the children’s classic story, “The Mitten,” before student audiences at each of the four elementary schools. The performers did great, but so did each of the elementary audiences!
PERSIAN MARKET & ART HONOR
Congratulations to HS Art teacher Rick Cartwright and his Art Honor students, including senior Alaina Totka for raising over $1,100 in scholarship money through their Persian Market fundraiser. Many people bid on some fantastic items, raised some good money and enjoyed themselves.
Stay tuned for a really good alumni update coming soon!
Filed under Sports
The South Milwaukee football team staged a strong comeback but fell to Wilmot, 23-20, in the first round of the WIAA playoffs on Saturday.
Check out the box score and highlights here.
Mat Tagye had another 100-yard rushing game in the loss and tallied a one-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, as South Milwaukee battled back from a 23-7 deficit with 13 points in the quarter.
South Milwaukee finished the season 6-4 overall and 5-3 in the Woodland Conference.
Filed under Sports
The WIAA playoff-bound South Milwaukee football team plays Wilmot at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Wilmot, in western Kenosha County.
Learn more about the game, including information on a fan bus, in this week’s Rocket Sports Update.
The update also includes information on the other fall sports, and there is plenty of good news when it comes to South Milwaukee sports:
Go Rockets!
Filed under Sports
The South Milwaukee football team is headed back to the playoffs.
The Rockets needed to beat winless St. Thomas More to ensure a postseason berth, and they did so — easily — Friday night. The final? 68-6.
Mat Tagye rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns in the win, which pushed South Milwaukee’s record to 6-3.
Check out the box score here.
I’ll keep you posted as to playoff pairings and times.
And go Rockets!
Filed under Sports
Griddlers Cafe — which replaced the South Milwaukee George Webb’s Restaurant last month — is holding its official grand opening.
Learn more in this Journal Sentinel story.
And check out these other headlines of local interest:
Also, South Milwaukee school Athletics, Activities & Recreation Coordinator Ante Udovicic has published a new Rocket Update, providing a good round-up of Rocket sports. Check it out here.
And State Sen. Chris Larson has published a new Larson Report. See it here.
South Milwaukee Blog 