Gary Seymour, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Gary Seymour Bonduel High School senior basketball players Lexi Reinke, left, and Jen Dowden, who led the Bears to a 22-2 season, were unanimous all-CWC-8 selections and will play for the North squad in an all-star game June 19 in Wisconsin Dells. They were among the student athletes honored Monday at the school’s winter sports awards banquet.
Leader Photo by Gary Seymour Bonduel High School wrestlers, from left, Dan Tauchen, Austin Siolka and Travis Wollenberg were among the main components of a team that went 15-4 in dual meets and sent five competitors to the WIAA Division 3 state finals. They were among the student athletes honored Monday at the school’s winter sports awards banquet.
Awards, laurels and well-wishes were in surplus Monday night at Bonduel High School, in recognition of the achievements of the Bears’ winter sports programs.
And a cursory peek at the registry of feats authored by the girls and boys basketball teams, the wrestlers and the hockey team revealed what an exceptional season it was across the board at Bonduel.
Athletic Director Roger Toole presided over the ceremony, thanking the booster club, the coaches, parents and fans of the Bears for their unwavering support, and finally “to recognize the athletes. … You are the pride of Bonduel.”
Girls basketball
The sting of a premature exit from the postseason was mitigated by the overwhelming success of the senior-led group that went 22-2 and won an outright Central Wisconsin Conference-8 championship.
Also making the job of coaching special for Missy Dowden was overseeing the improvement of her daughter, Jen Dowden, who en route to being named conference Player of the Year also garnered honorable mention all-state honors.
Jen Dowden, a 6-foot center, demolished numerous school records in leading the Bears to a 75-22 mark over the past four seasons. She became the school’s all-time leading scorer when she surpassed Bill Uelmen’s old mark of 1,322 career points, finishing with 1,397.
She also broke three other girls career records: rebounding — her 789 eclipsed the previous standard of 663, blocked shots (180) and two-point field goals (469, bettering the old record of 302).
Jen Dowden and guard Lexi Reinke were unanimous first-team all-CWC-8 selections and will represent the North team in a Division 4 all-star game June 19 in Wisconsin Dells. Missy Dowden will coach the North all-stars.
“I’ve spent so much time with this group since 2007 that when the season ended and the practices stopped, it felt like we got a divorce,” Missy Dowden joked. “This group got their first first-place finish when they were in fourth grade. You could see back then the impression that it made on them and how they wanted to do it again, to keep winning. This was a very special group who had an extremely successful season.”
The coach also noted the play of senior point guard Deanna Zernicke, a second-team all-conference pick, and junior forward Taylor Weier, who was honorable mention all-conference.
The senior group was special, and despite their having played their last game in a Bonduel uniform, the future looks promising. In addition to Weier returning next year, sophomores Emily Sorenson, Hayley Sorenson and Kailee Pedersen will be back. Emily Sorenson was named the team’s most improved player and shared the team’s strongest defensive player award with Pedersen.
Wrestling
Five wrestlers qualified for the state finals, with 160-pound Dan Tauchen and 170-pound Mitch Sokolski both bringing home fourth-place hardware. Travis Wollenberg (138 pounds) and Garrett Siolka (126) also qualified and broke the career 100-win mark along the way. Freshman 106-pounder Jason Boldt was the other state qualifier.
Sokolski ended his career at Bonduel with 99 victories, prompting coach Chris Rank to quip, “When he found out he finished with 99, he wanted to wrestle me to get his 100th.”
Rank’s Bears went 15-4 overall and 7-2 in conference, where Tauchen was named the CWC-8 Wrestler of the Year. Tauchen’s bid for a state title suffered a major setback when he broke his right index finger at the sectional meet. Bonduel, which ended the season ranked No. 5 in Division 3, finished second in conference, third at regionals, sixth at the 64-team Oshkosh on the Water tournament, 5-0 at the Seymour Multi-Dual Tournament and third at both the Shawano and Oconto Falls tournaments.
Tauchen, one of the team captains along with Sokolski, and Siolka were named the team’s most valuable wrestlers. Isaiah Griesbach and Brandon Novitsky were most improved wrestlers, and Wollenberg and Austin Siolka, whose 23-5 season was drawn to an early close due to an illness, won the coach’s award.
“Travis pulled some heroics to get to state,” Rank noted. “Winning by one point with a takedown almost at the buzzer … and Dan had just an amazing career — a 44-4 record, he wanted to be the best wrestler he could be. He’s just like his brothers, who had great wrestling careers here. It’s been an incredible journey and a lot of fun coaching all of these guys this year. There’s no place in the world I’d rather be than watching these guys participate.”
Boys basketball
The visceral satisfaction in proving your critics wrong came to Bonduel in the fourth game of the season and continued on throughout the 2014-15 campaign, where the Bears went 17-7 and finished third in the CWC-8.
Bonduel was picked to finish fifth in the league — a prognostication that went by the wayside on Dec. 12 when the Bears traveled to eventual conference champions Amherst and won, 56-52.
The Bears, led by junior all-CWC-8 center Peyton Czarapata and seniors Connor Rosin, Colton Dobratz and Hunter Vanderlinden, played their best game of the year Feb. 20 when they drummed a very good Pacelli team 55-44.
“It was a huge motivator for us, getting picked to finish fifth,” coach Duke Copp said. “I’m proud of the way this team played hard all year. It was an outstanding group. I’ll remember them as people, and not just basketball players. That’s as important as any wins and losses.”
Rosin was named the team’s most valuable player. Vanderlinden was Mr. Defense, Czarapata was Mr. Rebounder and senior guard Hunter Berry won the Sixth Man award. Rosin and Dobratz were second-team all-conference choices, and senior reserve guard Garret Riemer finished the season with the distinction of having made every field goal and free throw he attempted.
Hockey
Coach Bryon Lammers lauded the effort and the play of center Blake Stoss, who he called the most dedicated player on the Bonduel/Shawano co-op team. The hockey team’s main problem has not been a dearth of talent, but the scant number of players on its roster. Lammers noted that during a game against a deep, talented Rhinelander club, Rhinelander had more players ineligible than Bonduel/Shawano had on its entire team.
He drew one of the bigger laughs of the night when he observed, “Blake Stoss and Nick Bordman are the two best centers in Shawano County … they’re the only two centers in Shawano County.”