As a new school year kicks off, a wide array of Shorewood athletics have begun their seasons. With practices beginning in August, the seasons of boys soccer, football, girls and boys cross country, and volleyball are already well underway.
The boys soccer team has many aspirations for the upcoming year, working towards the ultimate goal of taking home State.
“The main thing we want to do is have a fun season and have everybody feel like they’re contributing,” said Kyle Konkol, the varsity boys soccer coach. “The guys have made it a point of emphasis to make sure that they get along well even when things are not going well.”
With the season just beginning and more games on the horizon, the varsity team has already taken home some gold.
“We won our first home game in our East Side Cup tournament that got us into the championship game the next day,” Konkol said. “Everybody got to play, and [we] started out our season [with everyone] contributing.”
Konkol highlighted some key matchups that the team will participate in this season.
An intense game against Shorewood’s rivals, Whitefish Bay resulted in . “Then we play Arrowhead at home on September 28 for homecoming,” Konkol said. “Then we have, hopefully, what will be the conference championship game here at Shorewood in October.”
Suffering the loss of last year’s seniors, the team has gained new additions, allowing them to push through their season with success.
“You know, it’s one thing to be a good individual player, but then when you can be a part of helping a whole bunch of people become a team,” Konkol said.
Konkol emphasizes the significance of student support at the games.
“Our student participation at games, with students showing up as fans, has grown bigger and better every year,” Konkol said. “I can’t express enough how much that means to the guys and the atmosphere it creates at home. I want them to keep coming because it’s going to help us out this year.”
Meanwhile, boys cross country Coach Dominic Newman and his team are gearing up for the rest of their season.
“[The season] just started, and we had a two-mile scrimmage at Hart Park,” Newman said. “It was not scored, but the athletes ran to get a time so us coaches can get a good idea for writing workouts and to see where they’re at.”
Newman has high hopes for the team, hoping to continue the success of years prior.
“I hope that we win another conference title within the Woodland Conference this year,” Newman said. “I’d like to get our team to State.”
Although the goal is to win the Woodland Conference once again, tensions rise with new WIAA rules potentially shifting the division rank.
“WIAA calls [it] competitive equity, you earn points based on your performance on getting to state and how you do at state. You get six points in a three year period, then you move up a division,” Newman said. “We’re already at six points in two years.”
Regardless, there are high expectations for the team and Newman expressed his gratitude for the current upperclassmen’s quick leadership skills.
“Our seniors are stepping up—Cody McKenna, Reuben Keuler, Johan Bannink, Alex Dimick and Charlie Bodendein,” Newman said. “When you have [runners] who have set the bar high and have been on the state championship team, graduate, it’s hard, but these guys want to step up, and they are definitely doing that.”
As a tight knit community, the girls swim team has focused on team bonding to further success in their season.
“The team is small, but we’ve had so much fun in August getting to know the girls and their personalities. We went horseback riding last Saturday and that was a blast,” said Cassie Rodriguez, varsity swim coach. “They spent August training really hard and we’re excited to get into the competition part of the season to see what they can achieve.”
With the building excitement for the first home meet, Rodriguez expressed more of her admiration for the team.
“This group is awesome,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been fun to watch them create different memories everyday.”
For Rodriguez, setting goals is important for each swimmer to see significant improvement by the end of the season.
“I would love to see everyone progress in their swimming, whether it’s getting faster times, trying new events or scoring more points than they did in previous seasons,” Rodriguez said. “Success is measured in so many ways, I think it’s really good to focus on all of them.”
The team competed in their first meet Saturday, September 9 placing third with 294.5 points at Nicolet. September 13 marked the first home meet, this time against St. Thomas and St. Francis winning by a score of 125-26