12 / 12
SPORTS
Appleton, Wisconsin Spring 2016 Vol. XXI
Issue II
Page 12
H
umans of
n
ortH
“Aviators [the wrestling club] was first created as a
Freestyle and Greco club which later morphed into all
styles of wrestling.’’ -Jason Kleinschmidt
Local wrestling club
strives for greatness
“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
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.
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 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.
“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
of,” Zilisch 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.
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.
Appleton United boy’s hockey team reflects on state win
By Megha Uberoi
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
By Maddie Clark
Photo courtesy of Jason Kleinschmidt