Wano’s stingy defense, timely offense earns him a top WIAC honor
A South Elgin graduate stuck with it, and it paid off …
A season to remember
Wisconsin-Platteville senior soccer player Alex Wano (South Elgin) was named the defensive player of the year in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
While he had been a regular, after starting 8 games in three seasons at Platteville, Wano through Friday played in 16 games and started 15, helping the Pioneers go 13-1-3.
Wano is part of a Pioneers’ defensive unit that has allowed 0.53 goals a game, best in the WIAC. Wano has also scored 6 goals, second on the club, on 15 total shots entering Sunday’s WIAC Tournament championship.
Eau Claire junior defender Carson Kowalski (Mundelein), also earned all-WIAC honors for the 14-1-4 Blugolds. He has 6 goals with 3 assists entering Sunday’s WIAC tournament final.
All-WIAC women
Wisconsin-Whitewater senior midfielder Emily Thill (St. Francis) earned her third straight all-WIAC first-team selection after scoring 6 goals with 7 assists and leading the Warhawks with 1,678 minutes played. Right behind her in minutes was all-conference senior defender Juliana Madonia (Conant), who earned her second first-team nod in three seasons.
Wisconsin-La Crosse senior midfielder Chelsea Gale (Prairie Ridge) earned her first all-conference honor. Helping the 16-3-2 Eagles to a third straight WIAC tournament title on Saturday, Gale scored 20 points on 8 goals and 4 assists, with 4 game-winning goals. She opened the scoring with an unassisted goal in La Crosse’s 2-1 win over Platteville for the WIAC tourney title.
La Crosse teammate Jillian Sawadski (Prospect), a sophomore forward, led the Eagles in scoring with 25 points and 11 goals including a hat trick Oct. 29 against Concordia-Wisconsin. A first-time all-WIAC pick, Sawadski was in the league’s top-three in goals, points and game-winning goals.
Shannon Walsh (Maine West), a sophomore defender at Oshkosh, was named to the WIAC all-sportsmanship team.
Big time
We wrote about his accomplishment last week, but on Nov. 4 the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named University of Wisconsin graduate student Bob Liking (St. Charles East) its national athlete of the week.
On Nov. 2 at the University of Illinois’ Orange and Blue Golf Course, Liking won his fourth straight Big Ten Conference men’s cross country title. While setting a new meet record, Liking became one of just four men to do that, and joined Illinois’ Craig Virgin as the only ones to win it four straight years.
Freshman of the year
Another Wisconsin athlete previously highlighted, soccer forward Dean Boltz (Fremd) was named the Big Ten’s freshman soccer player of the year. In October, Top Drawer Soccer named him the nation’s No. 1 freshman in its “Midseason Top 100.”
Boltz led the Badgers with 10 goals and 24 points, the first Wisconsin player with that many of each since 2017. Boltz tied for the Big Ten lead in goals with Indiana senior Tommy Mihalic, out of Niles North.
Fittingly, Boltz scored Wisconsin’s last goal of the season in a 1-1 tie with Michigan on Nov. 3. Boltz made second-team all-Big Ten and was on the all-freshman team along with Wisconsin and Sockers FC teammate Matthew Zachemski (Lake Park).
With a bang
Another freshman, and another former St. Charles East athlete, Ohio State’s Ben Davino earned this season’s first Big Ten freshman of the week award in wrestling. He won his first collegiate event, the Clarion Open in Pennsylvania, with a 5-0 record that included victories over two 2024 NCAA qualifiers.