FALL COLLEGE ATHLETES, PART 1 - Sullivan helps UWL win D-III title; Kawa, Grunwald get CC honors

FALL COLLEGE ATHLETES, PART 1

Winning championships continues to be the standard at UW-La Crosse and 2022 Medford Area Senior High graduate Joey Sullivan is right in the middle of the Eagles’ latest title run.

After being part of UW-L’s indoor and outdoor track and field NCAA Division III national championships last winter and spring, Sullivan helped the Eagles win the D-III men’s cross country championship last month. He finished 16th in the NCAA Championship race held on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Sullivan was the team’s third scorer. UW-L easily won the meet by totaling just 77 points, well ahead of runner-up Wartburg (173) and third-place Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) (182). UW-Whitewater, led by individual champion Christian Patzka, was fourth with 219 points, one fewer than New York University.

Sullivan, a junior, completed the 8K race in 24:26.7 and earned the title of All-American, an honor that goes to the top 40 finishers. He was one of four Eagles to earn All-American honors and all four did it for the first time. Junior Grant Matthai, a Wauwatosa East graduate, was third in 24:04.4, not far behind Patzka (24:01.6) and Augsburg’s Mohammed Bati (24:03.7). Twin brother Aidan Matthai was fifth in 24:11.8 and junior Jayden Zywicki, a Stoughton graduate, was 20th in 24:31.6.

The cross country national championship is the fourth in UW-L school history and the first since 2005. In track and field, UW-L has 16 outdoor national titles after last year’s win and 20 indoor titles after taking the last two natties.

Sullivan was part of the 2023 cross country team that fell one point shy of the national championship behind Pomona-Pitzer at Newville, Pa. The strong run in the championship race capped a second straight successful fall for Sullivan, a WIAA Division 2 state medalist for Medford his senior year.

He recorded his best collegiate time so far while placing sixth at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (WIAC) championships held Nov. 2 hosted by UW-Stevens Point. His time was 24:10.9 and put him on the All-WIAC team for the second straight season. Grant Matthai set a WIAC record with his winning time of 23:34.5. Also finishing ahead of Sullivan were Patzka (23:48.7), Whitewater’s Gunner Schlender (23:49.5), Zywicki (24:01) and Aidan Matthai (24:06.7).

UW-L totaled just 24 points to win its seventh straight WIAC title and 39th overall. UW-Whitewater had 55 points and UW-Eau Claire was third with 105.

From there, the Eagles won the NCAA Division III North Region meet Nov. 16 at Northfield, Minn. with 40 points, outscoring UW-Whitewater (78), St. Olaf (87) and UW-Stevens Point (158). Sullivan placed 11th out of 220 runners in 24:45.6. Bati won in 24:20.6. By placing in the top 35, Sullivan made the All-Region team.

Earlier in the season, Sullivan competed in four meets.

He got off to a bit of a slow start, finishing in 26:49.5 while taking 20th in the Ken Weidt Classic hosted by Concordia University Wisconsin on Sept. 14. He cut his time significantly in meet two, the John McNichols Invitational hosted by Indiana State in Terre Haute on Sept. 21. He placed 11th out of 467 runners in 24:39.7 to help the Eagles outscore Wartburg 52-84 for the team title.

On Oct. 4, Sullivan was 14th out of 150 finishers in the Gold Division race of the Notre Dame Invitational. His time was 24:30.2. That meet featured several NCAA Division I programs. The Eagles won easily with 41 points. Eastern Michigan, Indiana State, Central Michigan and Vanderbilt were just some of the D-I programs there.

In UW-L’s Jim Drews/Tori Neubauer Invitational on Oct. 19, Sullivan was sixth out of 279 finishers with his time of 25:12.7. Zywick was 0.4 seconds ahead of him. Bati won in 24:06.

Women’s CC

Medford 2021 graduates Alicia Kawa and Ellee Grunwald again crossed paths several times during the cross country season. Kawa competes for Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) and Grunwald competes for St. Norbert College. Both are NCAA Division III programs.

At the Wisconsin Private College Championship, hosted Oct. 19 by CUW, the CUW Falcons won the 11-team meet with 31 points, while St. Norbert College was third with 63, five more than secondplace Carthage. CUW had the top three finishers in the race, including Kawa, who took third in 22:57.2, just behind Ainara Sainz De Rozas (22:20.6) and Melanie Arvis (22:47.7).

Grunwald was the fifth scorer for the Green Knights in the meet, placing 18th out of 94 finishers.

Two weeks later at the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Championship, held at the Northwestern Medicine Cross Country Course in Geneva, Ill., CUW won its second straight conference title in fairly dominant fashion, totaling just 26 points to outscore Aurora (43) and St. Norbert (63).

Both Kawa and Grunwald received All-NACC honors with their performances in this meet. Grunwald was 12th in the field of 106 and was St. Norbert’s third scorer with a time of 24:24.01. Kawa was fourth overall and third on her team at 22:51.66, which was her collegiate personal best. Aurora’s Deyanneira Colon won the race in 21:41.95, while Sainz De Rozas, a Wisconsin Rapids Assumption graduate, was second in 22:14.98 and Arvis was third in 22:46.64.

Finally, both senior runners and their teams competed in the NCAA Division III North Region championship Nov. 16 at Northfield, Minn. CUW placed eighth and St. Norbert was 17th out of 31 scoring teams.

Kawa ended her season with a 40thplace time of 23:12.6, while Grunwald was 92nd out of 222 runners.

To start the season back on Aug. 31, CUW was second and the Green Knights were fourth at St. Norbert College’s Tom Barry Invitational, won by the Division I squad from Milwaukee. The Panthers totaled 36 places, CUW had 79, Green Bay, another D-I program, had 88 points and St. Norbert had 101 in the 10-team meet.

Kawa placed sixth out of 126 runners in the only 5K race of the season with a time of 19:35.93, while Grunwald was 20th in 20:31.59.

Grunwald posted a season-best 6K time of 24:07.7 while finishing 61st out of 165 finishers in the third annual Green Bay Phoenix Open on Sept. 6. St. Norbert placed 10th against a variety of teams from all three divisions. Grunwald was the Knights’ second scorer in that meet.

Grunwald was the team’s third scorer while placing 48th out of 282 finishers in the Sept. 21 St. Olaf Invitational, where St. Norbert was seventh out of 22 scoring teams. Her time was 24:44.6. She was 65th out of 193 finishers and the team’s fourth scorer in the Oct. 4 UW-Eau Claire Invitational where St. Norbert was seventh out of 13 scoring teams. Her time on the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax was 24:25.1.

In her second race of the fall, Kawa placed fourth out of 153 finishers at CUW’s Ken Weidt Classic on Sept. 14. Her time of 23:41.2 only trailed Sainz De Rozas (22:40), Lawrence’s Cristyn Oliver (23:14.1) and Arvis (23:31.6).

The Falcons also competed in a unique night race on Oct. 4, the Rose Hulman DIII Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., which featured many of the top D-III teams in the country. CUW placed 17th out of 44 scoring teams. Kawa was a solid 88th out of 389 finishers in the women’s race in 23:06.52.

Ellee Grunwald

Alicia Kawa

Members of the Medford PeeWee Hockey team took a memorable trip to Madison Friday for the Wisconsin Badgers men’s hockey game against Michigan State. The Badgers beat the top-ranked team in the country 4-0. Afterwards, the youth hockey players had the honor of meeting Medford native Sawyer Scholl, who is now in his second season with Wisconsin. Scholl had an assist on UW’s first goal of the game. Scholl has one goal and three assists so far this season for the Badgers, who are 6-9-1 overall and 4-6 in the Big Ten. SUBMITTED PHOTOS