8th Grade boys basketball

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The Greendale 8th grade boys’ basketball team participated in the Wisconsin State Invitational Championship Tournament in Marshfield and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, on March 26 and 27, 2011. This was the community’s very first ever appearance in the 11 year history of the event. The tournament, which was organized by The Great Northwest Basketball League, brought together 106 of the top community-based 8th grade boys’ basketball teams from across the State of Wisconsin. State champions were crowned in four divisions: Division 1, Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4/5, based on the enrollment of the high school into which each team feeds.

The Greendale 8th grade boys’ team played in Division 2, finishing in 5th place overall out of 30 teams. The results of Greendale’s six games where the first 4 games were played on Saturday March 26th and the final 2 games were played on March 27th are as follows:

Pool Play

Greendale 61, Reedsburg Area 44

Greendale 52, Milton 37

Greendale 62, Waunakee 47

Round of 16:

Greendale 53, Stoughton 50

1st-8th Place Quarterfinals

Rice Lake 52, Greendale 48

5th Place Game

Greendale 46, Ashwaubenon 27

West De Pere defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 61-49 to win the Division 2 Championship.

The Greendale team was coached by Jim Joehnk, Head Coach and Keith Ringelberg, Assistant Coach. The individual players on the Greendale 8th grade team were Matt Bemis, Jordan Hoppe, David Wood, Josh Michaels, Braxton Joehnk, Cody Kmetz, Josh Ringelberg, Chris Carloni, Jack Ringelberg, Zach Miller, and Nick Dalton. All players participated and contributed in various degrees both offensively and defensively in order to attain the 5th Place finish. In so doing, the team played remarkably well in this State tournament to withstand the mental and physical rigors of playing six games in one and a half days, yet achieving team consistency in scoring points and to limit opposing team’s ability to do the same. Congratulations Greendale on a job well done! In addition, there were several players from Greendale that received votes for the All-Tournament Team and Josh Ringelberg was selected as one of 16 players from all Division 2 teams.

In the other three divisions, Sun Prairie defeated Oak Creek 41-33 to win the Division 1 Championship; in Division 3 Kettle Moraine Lutheran defeated Poynette 65-49; and Laconia defeated Regis 35-20 to win the Division 4/5 Championship.

The Wisconsin State Invitational Championship Tournament is an annual event for 5th through 8th grade boys and girls teams held in late February, March and April of each year. The tournament is organized by size of communities, much like the WIAA state high school tournaments, so that top community-based teams that are selected to play can compete on a level playing field with other programs of similar size.