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SUPPZ.COM SWNEWS4U ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Justin Blazek
UW–Platteville senior linebacker earns a pair of All-American awards
Justin Blazek
UW–Platteville senior linebacker Justin Blazek was named to the 2022 Associated Press (AP) Division III All-America second team last Thursday. The WIAC Defensive Player of the Year was also named to the 2022 D3football All-American third team last Friday.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Boscobel Dial / Fennimore Times

Justin Blazek, Sr., LB, UW–Platteville football
PLATTEVILLE — Senior Justin Blazek of the UW–Platteville football team was named to the 2022 Associated Press (AP) Division III All-America second team Thursday afternoon. Blazek was also named to the 2022 D3football All-American third team Friday. The award is Blazek’s fourth this postseason following his impressive campaign. 

The Naperville, Ill. native earned WIAC Defensive Player of the Year honors from the before being named D3Football All-Region 6 Defensive Player of the Year and AFCA First Team All-Region in the past two weeks.

Blazek started all 10 games along the defensive front for the Pioneers and finished second in the WIAC with nine sacks and 12 tackles for loss. The senior finished third on the team with 58 total tackles, including a season-high 10 stops in a win over UW–River Falls on Oct. 15. 

Blazek recorded a pair of multi-sack games, with a season-high three coming Oct. 29 at UW–Stout. He lived in the backfield of the Pioneers opponents, tallying at least one tackle for loss in seven games and forcing a team-high 63 yards lost. Blazek also created a pair of turnovers on the season, grabbing an interception against Hardin–Simmons (Texas) on Sept. 17 before recovering a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown the following week at UW–Oshkosh. He also finished with a pair of pass breakups September 10 in a home win over Bethel (Minn.).

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Dealya Collins, 126 pounds and Kylie Rule, 132 pounds, Mineral Point wrestling 
Collins and Rule each won individual titles at last Saturday's 30-team Badger State Invitational for the Pointers. Collins finished 4–0 and secured her 126-pound title with a 4–1 win over Lomira's Makenna Hanke. Rule went 5–0 and pinned Waunakee's Katelyn Ottosen in the 132-pound title match.

Braden Crubel, Sr., G, River Ridge boys basketball 
Crubel, who was 11-of-20 from the field, including 6-of-12 from downtown, finished with a game-high 32 points, 11 points better than his average, to lead the first-placeTimberwolves (5–1, 3–0 SRW) to a commanding 66–44 win over visiting Potosi/Cassville last Friday night. Crubel also had four rebounds and a team-high three steals and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

Emma Hady, Jr., 107 pounds, Richland Center wrestling
Hady went 3–0 to win the 106-pound girls title at the 30-team Badger State Invitational last Saturday. Hady pined Aliana Rauter of Milwaukee Ronald Reagan with 15 seconds left in the title bout to become the first Richland Center girl to ever win an tournament title.

Chloe La Rue, 145 pounds, Cuba City/Benton/Southwestern wrestling

La Rue won the 145-pound girls title at the 30-team Badger State Invitational last Saturday. She went 4–0 with four pins, three in the first period. He pinned Shelly Bullman midway through the second period in the title match.

Caden Lindner, Sr., 138 pounds, and Hunter Stevens, Fr., 126, Iowa–Grant/Highland wrestling
Lindner (12–3) scored a team-high 39 points on the day with a bye and three pins. He second-period fall at the 2:40 over Jackson Blaken of G–E–T/Melrose–Mindoro) in the 138-pound championship match, was a key win that helped the Panthers clinch the team title at last Saturday's Richland Center Invitational. Stevens (12–0) remained unbeaten in his debut season going 4–0 Saturday with a bye, two pins and a 3–0 championship match victory over fellow freshman Dylan Weigel of Belmont/Platteville. Lindner and Stevens also went 3–0 last Tuesday night to led the Panthers to dual meet victories over Waterloo, 59–18, Ithaca/Weston, 66–18, and Boscobel/Wauzeka–Steuben, 78–6.

Camryn Nies, Sr., G, Platteville girls basketball
Nies scored a game-high 22 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists and two steals in a 63–38 SWC victory over Lancaster last Friday night. Nies then posted 14 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 63–38 non-conference victory at Fennimore Monday night to lead the Hillmen (7–2, 2–1 SWC) to their third-straight win.

Rachel Schauer, Jr., 165 pounds, Fennimore girls wrestling
Schauer won the 165-pound girls title at the 30-team Badger State Invitational last Saturday. She went 4–0 with a first-round bye and three pins, including a 55-second fall over Gracyn Heine in the championship match.

Cyle Steffl, Jr., G, Iowa–Grant boys basketball
Steffl scored a career-high 32 points to lead Iowa–Grant to a 78–76 non-conference victory over previously undefeated Ithaca (6–1) in the night-cap of a girls–boys doubleheader at Just A Game Field House in Wisconsin Dells last Saturday. Steffl scored 17 of the Panthers 35 first-half points to help IG close the half on a 21–4 run to take a 35–25 lead. He also made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to help close out the win.

SUPPZ.COM SWNEWS4U ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Belmont/Platteville's Kadyn Davis
Davis returns from injury to win 175-pound title, score team-high 27 points to help Belmont/Platteville advance to Team Sectionals
Kadyn Davis
Senior Kadyn Davis went 4–0 and won the 175-pound title to help Belmont/Platteville finish second at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Dodgeville Regional and earn the program’s second trip to WIAA Team Sectionals. Davis also recorded his 100th career victory on Saturday. (photo by Heather Olson / Dodgeville Chronicle)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial

Kadyn Davis, Sr., 175 pounds, Belmont/Platteville wrestling

DODGEVILLE — The  Belmont/Platteville boys wrestling team produced a historic performance at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Dodgeville Regional tournament.

Senior Kadyn Davis returned from injury to win the 175-pound title, and junior Dylan Weigel was the champion at 138, as the BP co-op scored 193 points to finish second, just ahead of #2-ranked Evansville (190) to qualify for team sectionals for just the second time in program history.

The Belmont/Platteville co-op, which advanced to team sectionals two years ago, also qualified a program record eight individuals for Saturday’s WIAA D2 Westby Individual Sectional.

Fennimore, which was moved up to Division 2 this year, after winning three-straight D3 Team State titles, won the regional title with 242 points.

Fennimore and Belmont/Platteville were back in action Tuesday night at the D2 Prairie du Chien Team Sectional, along with GET/Melrose–Mindoro and Lodi. The winner of Tuesday’s PdC Team Sectional will advance to the WIAA Team State Tournament Saturday, March 8 at the UW Field House. 

“Getting second at the toughest regional in the state says a lot about this team,” said BP head coach Emeric Williams. “I know there weren’t too many people that saw us getting out of that regional, and right fully so seeing as the No. 2 (Evansville) and No. 5 (Fennimore) ranked teams in the state were there along with Prairie du Chien. But we knew what we had going in, and knew it was possible for us to do.

“It was preached to take care of business individually and the team part of it will follow the individual success, and that’s what happened.”

Davis (26–5), who had not wrestler, since placing ninth at the Bi-State Classic Dec. 27–28, scored a team-high 27 points, which also included his 100th career victory, and Weigel (49–4) added 25.5 points with his title, but none were more important than BP’s final match of the day.

Senior heavyweight Rusty Wruck (24–11)  pinned Edgerton’s Sean Allison in the 285-pound fifth-place match to secure crucial team points for Belmont/Platteville.

“Having the team score come down to a fifth place match says a lot about the character that Rusty Wruck has,” said Williams. “Even though that match wasn’t going to qualify him for sectionals, he still went out and got the fall for us to take the second place team in the team standings.”

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Eli Langmeier, Sr., C, Platteville boys basketball
The 6-foot-7  Langmeier  dominated the smaller Arrows in the paint all night, posting his best game of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds in last Thursday's 77–71 victory at Lancaster. The win helped the Hillmen (15–6, 8–0 SWC) clinch a third-straight Southwest Wisconsin Conference title. “I believe everyone was excited for Eli on his big night,” said Platteville head coach Mike Huser. “He has been coming on in the last several games and to see it all come together on Thursday evening was really good to see.  He has worked hard at continuing to get better in all areas, so the scoring was a bonus, but he was also very active rebounding and defending; all around great effort.”

Thomas Freeman, Fr., C; Wyatt Temperly, Fr. G, and Jacob Kress, Jr. G, Belmont boys basketball
Six-foot-3 Belmont freshman Thomas Freeman dominated the smaller Lancaster Flying Arrows to the tune of 24 points and eight rebounds in a 73–68 non-conference win last Tuesday night at LHS. Freeman (10–12 FG) had his way in the paint against Lancaster, which was without leading scorer and rebounder junior forward Zach Hermsen (15.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg), but his biggest shot of the night was an unexpected 3-pointer that gave the Braves a 66–60 lead with 2:12 left in the game.

Lancaster (12–7) led 60–55 with four minutes left, but freshman Wyatt Temperly’s 3-pointer to ignite an tide-turning 14–3 Belmont run, and junior Jacob Kress gave the Braves a 61–60 lead on a 3-pointer with 3:28 left to play, then put the nail in the coffin with his fourth triple of the night to make it 69–63 with 1:35 left. Temperly finished with 17 points and six assists, and Kress had 16.