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
Tanner Simmons, Sr., Belmont boys basketball
BELMONT — Senior Tanner Simmons scored a career-high 36 points in an 87–78 win at Shullsburg last Tuesday night, then poured in 35 points in a wild 93–92 overtime win over visiting Pecatoncia Friday night. Simmons, who entered last week’s win at Shullsburg averaging 13.3 points per game, made 13 of 17 field goal attempts, including all four 3-point tries, and made 6 of 7 at the free throw line en rout to his career-high 36 points. He also added six rebounds and four assists. Freshman Thomas Freeman added 17 points, 10 boards and 7 assists, and freshman Wyatt Temperly finished with 16 points and eight assists.
Simmons then had 35 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals to lead five Braves in double figures Friday night. Freeman (18 points, 12 rebounds), Logan Kress (15 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists), Temperly (13 points, 8 assists) and Josiah Ruiz (12 points) combined for 58 points to offset a game-high 45 points from sophomore Griffin Noll. Coach Beau Buchs’ Braves earned the No. 6 seed and will host No. 11 Juda (4–19) when the WIAA D5 regional playoffs begin Tuesday.
Faith Hoffman, Jr., Dodgeville co-op gymnastics
HAZEL GREEN — The Dodgeville/Mineral Point/Iowa–Grant/Highland co-op gymnastics team capped its perfect regular season with a first-place finish at Thursday’s Southwest Wisconsin Conference Championships at Southwestern High School. After going 4–0 in SWC duals the Dodgers won last week’s conference meet with an impressive combined score of 139.075.
Junior Faith Hoffman won the all-around title after tying teammate Keira Haser for first on the balance beam, finishing second behind teammate Maddy Klein on the uneven bards, finishing second on the floor exercise and fourth on the vault to lead the Dodgeville co-op.
“This team has worked so hard all season, pushing themselves to improve every day,” said Dodgeville co-op head coach Julia Oellerich. “Their dedication, resilience, and teamwork have been incredible to watch, and we are beyond proud of each and every one of them.”
Platteville/Belmont/Lancaster finished second at 134.445, followed by the Southwestern co-op (133.7), Prairie du Chien/Fennimore (117.025) and River Valley/Barneveld (116.3).
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Kylee Johnson, So., G, Boscobel girls basketball
Boscobel’s Kylee Johnson scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Bulldogs to a 66–60 comeback victory at Iowa–Grant Thursday night in the regular season finale for both teams. Johnson made three 3-pointers, went 10 of 15 at the free throw line and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (4–20, 1–13 SWAL), who outscored the Panthers 32–13 over the final 12 minutes to rally from a 47–34 deficit to snap an 11-game losing streak.
Greenlee Krahn, Sr., G, Prairie du Chien girls basketball
Krahn hit three 3-pointers and and made four straight free throws in the closing seconds to lead the #5-ranked Blackhawks to clutch 53–48 Southwest Wisconsin Conference victory at #7 Platteville last Thursday night. Krahn finished the night with a team-high 15 points to help PdC (22–2, 9–1 SWC) earn a share of this year's SWC title with the Hillmen (20–4, 9–1).
Lexie Lathrop, Sr., 235 pounds, Boscobel/Wauzeka–Steuben girls wrestling
Boscobel/Wauzeka–Steuben senior Lexie Lathrop went 3–1 to finish second at Friday’s WIAA Girls Prairie du Chien Sectional to become the program’s first female state qualifier. Lathrop (15–16) pinned Hazel Corbit in 1:30 to advance to the semifinals where she sufferd an 18–2 loss to top-seeded senior Kalie Davis (42–1) of Belmont/Platteville. Lathrop then pinned Sugar Rivers’s Nora Christensen in 28 seconds before pinning Monona Grove/McFarland’s Emily Karls midway through the third period (4:56) to make BWS history by becoming the program’s first girls wrestling state qualifier. Lathrop’s pin of Karls (20–6) avenged a first-period pinfall loss to Karls a week earlier in the second-place match at the WIAA Girls Mineral Point Regional. The top two finishers in each weight class advanced to this week’s WIAA Girls State Championships at the Kohl Center, which began Thursday afternoon.
Chloe LaRue, Sr., 145 pounds, Cuba City/Benton/Southwestern girls wrestling
LaRue (40–1) booker her third ticket to the Kohl Center by winning the 145-pound sectional title at last Friday's WIAA Girls Prairie du Chien Sectional. LaRue used a 14-second pin of Briella Granger of Ithaca/Weston, a 12–5 victory over Fennimore's Cadence Freymiller and in the championship match dominated Sophia Paulson of La Crosse Aquinas, 16–0. La Rue finished second at state at 145 pounds both as a freshman and sophomore in 2022 and 2023, before missing all of last season with an injury. LaRue is the No. 4 seed in her 16-girl bracket at this year's Girls State Tournament, which began Thursday afternoon.
Grant Matthews, Jr., 285 pounds, Riverdale wrestling
Matthews (49–2) cruised to the 285-pound title at last Saturday's WIAA Division 3 Westby Sectional with one of his best tournaments of the season. Matthews also picked up his 100th career victory by pinning Iowa–Grant/Highland senior Bode Brokopp, the #2-ranked heavyweight in D3, in the 285-pound championship match. Matthews enters this week's state tournament as the No. 1 seed in his 12-man bracket looking to close out his junior season with a state title.
Jaxson Wendhausen, Sr., G/F, Mineral Point boys basketball
Wendhausen made six 3-pointers and erupted for a career-high 33 points in a 91–59 blowout victory over Southwest Wisconsin Conference champion Platteville (17–7, 10–0 SWC) last Monday night. He then scored a team-high 22 points and had six rebounds and four assists in a 82–30 SWAL win over Riverdale as the Division 4 #2-ranked Pointers (23–1, 13–1 SWAL) wrapped up the outright SWAL title last Friday night. He the scored a game-high 23 points in 69–43 win at Marshall Saturday and chipped in 10 points in Monday's 63–43 rout of New Glarus this past Monday night.
