NOCTILUCA Spring 2016 Vol.XXI Issue 11

SPORTS Appleton, Wisconsin Spring 2016 Vol. XXI

Issue II

Page 12

H umans of n ortH Local wrestling club strives for greatness

By Maddie Clark

them better by pushing to succeed on the mat and, ultimately, in life,” Klein- schmidt said. Two of these wrestlers, Ian Laatsch and Brock Danielski, are Appleton North students who are on the wrestling team. Ian Laatsch is a freshman who started on the Varsity team and Brock Danielski is a sophomore who has been on the Varsity team for two years. Both wrestlers quali- fied for the WIAA Sec- tional tournament this year. There are many other high school level wrestlers that Kleinschmidt has coached and alumni that have gone on to be very successful in wrestling. One alumni, Kegan Gennrich, came back to help Kleinschmidt coach. Gennrich placed at state three times in his high school wrestling career and is currently a local MMA fighter. High schoolers aren’t Kleinschmidt’s only con- nection to Appleton North. He is one of a few people that will help run the Ap- pleton North Mat Madness Youth Wrestling Tourna- ment Sunday, March 6. The

tournament is intended for Kindergarten through 8th grade age kids. Many Avia- tor wrestlers will be wres- tling at this tournament, hoping to win high places and strengthen the Avia- tors’ name. Why is the club called Aviators? “Aviators was first created as a Freestyle and Greco club which later morphed into all styles of wrestling. With the name, it was about throwing other wrestlers as I was known as a thrower while I wrestled when I was younger and enjoyed teaching throws to wrestlers who came to the club. That being said, when you throw someone they fly in the air. So I came up with the name Aviators with throwing other wres- tlers through the air like an aviator,” Kleinschmidt said. The club welcomes wres- tlers that range from be- ginners to more advanced wrestlers. If you are inter- ested in joining the club or want more information about wrestling, you can go to www.aviatorsfoxvalley. wix.com/aviators.

“I have always wanted to give back to the sport that gave me an opportunity in life and, if it wasn’t for wrestling, I would not be where I am today,” said Ja- son Kleinschmidt, a wres- tling coach for the Aviators Wrestling club. Back in 2008, Klein- schmidt started the club and now has many wres- tlers who train with the club. These wrestlers range from kindergarteners to high schoolers. The club began when Kleinschmidt moved jobs from coaching at Kaukauna to coaching at Appleton West. There were many kids who still wanted to con- tinue to train with his knowledge and passion so he started Aviators Club. Aviators is an outside pro- gram, but many of the prac- tices are held in the Apple- ton North wrestling room. “In the beginning, it was a ‘no frills’ club where many kids were determined to be better, mentally and physi- cally. “I just wanted to bring in wrestlers and make “When Matt Gruber put the second goal in it was a HUGE relief but I also knew that Hudson would pull their goalie in hopes of ty- ing the game. I noticed that we weren’t doing the little things right like we had done previously, partially because Hudson was just that good. We never panicked and with the help of our student sec- tion, we used their energy to just boost our on-ice perfor- mance,” said Phinney. After realizing they had won the game, the team rightly celebrated. Both Zilisch and Alfaro recalled the euphoric atmosphere that surrounded the team after their state win. “It was such a blur. I re- member hugging guys on the team and people congrat- ulating me. It was nothing that I have ever experienced before. We were eliminated after the first game in state, so returning this year was our way of saying that we still have stuff to take care

Photo courtesy of Jason Kleinschmidt

“Aviators [the wrestling club] was first created as a Freestyle and Greco club which later morphed into all styles of wrestling.’’ -Jason Kleinschmidt

Appleton United boy’s hockey team reflects on state win By Megha Uberoi

the games in an impressive fashion. We beat Univer- sity School of Milwaukee by a bigger deficit than we thought we would and then went on to beat a number one ranked Eau-Claire me- morial by three goals,” said Phinney. “It was kind of relieving when we scored that first goal because it was tied but we had to keep playing strong in order to win,” said Michael Alfaro, senior and defenseman on AU. Matthew Gruber, junior offenseman, ended up scor- ing the winning goal for AU. “The winning play was simply hard work. It was a two on one going into the of- fensive zone. Nathan Zilisch shot the puck low which cause a rebound and an ex- cellent scoring chance for Matt,” said Alfaro. The team knew that de- spite being in the lead they would have to continue to focus and retain their men- tality in order to win.

Every member of the Ap- pleton United Boys Hockey team had one goal this sea- son: to win state. “Our coach pointed out that each and every kid wrote down that a goal of theirs was to WIN state, not get there, but win,” said Dylan Phinney, senior and Goaltender for the AU team. Going into the champion- ship game the team had al- ready scored big victories that kept their momentum going. “Coming off of the big win the day before, we had momentum on our side. We knew we had to stay fo- cused and work together in order to win,” said Nathan Zilisch, senior and defense- man on the team. The team played Uni- versity School of Milwau- kee the first game and beat them 6-0. They then played Eau Claire Memorial who was ranked #1 in the state and beat them 4-1. “We won

The Appleton United Boys Hockey team won its first ever State Championship this past season. AU beat Hudson 2-1 to seal the state win. Photo by Alex Neumann

of,” Zilisch said.

Everyone was mentally pre- pared and to win. Our goal was to win,” said Alfaro. “My junior year I left the rink crying because of our loss and my senior year I left the building crying over the win. It was a huge mo- ment for the guys just know- ing that we made it and we can say we are the best high school hockey team in the state of Wisconsin,” Phinney said.

Finishing their ‘Unfin- ished Business’ was the perfect end to the season for many of the players, es- pecially the seniors. “The locker room was absolutely crazy. I cannot even put the feeling into words, it was absolutely surreal. Our men- tality was to finish our unfin- ished business. We wanted to dictate the game and have the other team adjust to us.