December 6, 2023
The Fox River Classic Conference Winter Sports Season is underway. The FRCC sponsors the sports of girls and boys hockey, boys swimming, boys hockey, and wrestling during the Winter Sports Season.
The 2022-23 season was a banner year for the FRCC as the conference claimed three WIAA State Champions and a final four finish. The De Pere Boys Basketball team completed an undefeated season going 30-0 on their way to the WIAA State Basketball Championship in Division 1. The Notre Dame Academy Girls Basketball team was almost just as proficient as they won the WIAA Girls State Basketball Championship in Division 2 finishing at 29-1. The Tritons lost to Pewaukee the first game of the season and then rattled off 29 straight wins including beating Pewaukee in the Title game. Notre Dame Academy also claimed the WIAA Division 1 State Hockey Championship finishing with an unblemished 23-0 record. The Bay Port Pirate Wrestlers were semi-finalists in WIAA Wrestling Team Competition in Division 1.
The FRCC is hoping to duplicate that success in the 2023-24 season and with many returning athletes to all the above teams the expectations are high. To the Athletes and Coaches, have a great season and good luck to all of you.
For more information on the FRCC and its history, current events and calendar visit our new website at frccathletics.com. It continues to be a work in progress and some sports have more information than others, but we hope to continue to update and make it a destination site.
Fox River Classic Conference
Boys Swimming
The Bay Port Pirates have been the dominant team when it comes to boys swimming in the FRCC. Bay Port is not just the defending Conference Champion, they are the seven-time defending Conference Champion winning every championship since 2015-16 (excluding the Covid year of 2020-21 when no conference champion was recognized). Seven teams compete in boys swimming in the FRCC: Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, Green Bay United, Manitowoc Lincoln, Pulaski, Sheboygan North and Sheboygan South.
Although the swimming teams compete in a conference dual meet season, the conference champ for boys swimming is determined at the Conference swim meet to end the season. The Pirates will look to make it eight championships in a row in 2023-24 and will also look to defend their 2022-23 Sectional Championship. Bay Port also has won 24 conference dual meets in a row going back the four seasons that I was able to find records for.
The following individuals are returning for the 2023-24 season after qualifying for last years WIAA State Swimming Championships:
Bay Port: Dominick Azzolina (500 free – 18th and 400 free relay – 12th) Toby Beatty (200 free relay – 19th) and Luka Azzolina (200 free relay – 19th)
Sheboygan North: Owen Smith (200 free relay – 13th) Trevor Graham (200 free relay – 13th and 400 free relay – 20th) Griffin Pond (400 free relay – 20th)
Wrestling
Technically, FRCC wrestling is a Co-ed sport as more and more girls are choosing to wrestle. The WIAA does not recognize a team champion in girls wrestling, but for the past two seasons the WIAA has sponsored an individual state tournament for the girls that is separate from the boys.
The eight teams that compete in FRCC Wrestling are: Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, De Pere, Green Bay Preble, Manitowoc, Pulaski, Sheboygan North and Sheboygan South.
Bay Port and Pulaski have been the dominant teams when it comes to FRCC Wrestling. The Pirates (7) and Red Raiders (6) have won 13 of the 17 Conference Championships. Ashwaubenon (3) and De Pere (1) have the others. Bay Port won five consecutive championships from the 2011/12 season to the 2015/16 season. Since then no team has been able to defend their championship. As this year’s defending champion, Bay Port will look to end that streak. The conference season for wrestling gets underway Thursday December 21 with Pulaski (Sheboygan South, Bay Port and Manitowoc Lincoln) and Sheboygan North (Green Bay Preble, De Pere, and Ashwaubenon) hosting double duals.
Brooke Corrigan returns to the De Pere program as the Girls State Champion in the 100lb weight class.
Returning Wrestlers who made the podium at last year’s WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament:
Bay Port: Boys: Alois Schlumpf (4th 113)
De Pere: Boys: Mycahy Beckett (2nd 106) Girls: Brook Corrigan (State Champ 100)
Manitowoc: Girls: Emjay Neumann (2nd 120)
Pulaski: Girls: Marna Andre (6th 235)
Boys Hockey
Five teams comprise the FRCC in Boys Hockey: Ashwaubenon Co-op (Pulaski), Bay Port, De Pere Co-op, Notre Dame Academy, and Sheboygan Co-op (North and South)
The conference Champion is determined by a Conference Tournament at the end of the season. Teams are seeded for the Conference Tournament according to their conference record in the regular season. Since that format was implemented in the 2016-17 season, Notre Dame Academy has been the only FRCC team to claim an FRCC championship. The Tritons will look to not only defend their FRCC Championship from a year ago, but also defend their WIAA State Division 1 Hockey Championship from last year. Notre Dame went 23-0 en route to that championship. Notre Dame is also under new leadership as Mike Szkodzinski has replaced Cory McCracken as the head coach. McCracken went to Minnesota State as an Assistant Coach in the off-season.
The FRCC Hockey program only consisting of five teams means a four game regular season within the conference. Ashwaubenon defeated Sheboygan 4-1 on November 24th to open conference play this season. Conference play will conclude prior to the Conference tournament which will be held at Cornerstone Community Ice Center January 18, 19 and 20.
Girls Basketball
The Notre Dame Triton Girls Basketball Team, the team to beat in the FRCC this year, is not only looking to defend their conference championship of the last two years, the Triton girls are also in pursuit of their fourth consecutive WIAA Division 2 State Girls Basketball Championship. (The FRCC did not recognize a conference champion in the 2020-21 season because of covid, but the WIAA did sponsor a state championship series)
Dethroning the Tritons will be a tough task as Notre Dame returns four starters from a year ago including first team all-conference and player of the year Gracie Grzesk, first team all-conference player Trista Fayta and second team all-conference players Syd Whitehouse and Peyton Musial. Notre Dame currently owns a 41 game conference win streak dating back to the 2019-20 season when they were last beaten in conference play by Pulaski 48-41.
Other players to watch in the conference include Sophe Hafeman of De Pere and Addie Pytleski of Green Bay Southwest who garnered 2nd team all-conference honors last season.
Conference play is underway with all teams playing at least one conference game. A full slate of conference games will take place on Thursday, December 7.
Coaching changes in girls basketball for the 2023-24 season include: Corey Girdaukas replacing Tony Lee at Green Bay Southwest, Mike Radue replacing Nicky Van Laanen at Ashwaubenon and Adam Lemorande replacing Dennis Gladwell at Bay Port.
Boys Basketball
Just like Notre Dame is the odds on favorite to repeat as Conference Champions in girls basketball, the De Pere Redbirds are the odds on favorite to repeat as Conference Champions in boys basketball. The Redbirds are the two-time defending champions in the FRCC and after a win over Green Bay Preble on Tuesday, Dec. 5 they currently hold a 23 game conference win streak. De Pere also made history last year in the state of Wisconsin by being the first team to win 30 games in a season as they laid claim to the WIAA Division 1 State Basketball Championship with a 30-0 overall record.
Will Hornseth will lead the Redbirds as the only underclassman to be voted First Team All-Conference in 2022-23. Zack Kinziger, a Second Team selection, also returns.
Ashwaubenon may be the team that can challenge De Pere for the 2023-24 title as they return a lot of experience, including Second Team All-Conference selections Drew Tomashek and Jayden Schoen.
Full slate of conference games is scheduled for Friday, December 8.
Some notable coaching changes took place in the FRCC for boys basketball this off-season. John Polkowski stepped down as the head coach at Green Bay Southwest and was replaced by Rodney Owens. Owens has many years under his belt as an assistant coach and was most recently the head coach for a season at Sturgeon Bay. Polkowski’s time away from the game was short lived as an opportunity opened up in Pulaski after Dave Shaw stepped down early in the school year. A resident of the Pulaski school district, Polkowski has gotten off to a good start leading Pulaski to three straight non-conference wins to open the season. Lastly, after a year off from Coaching, Rick Rosinski has taken over the Green Bay Preble program after Andy Bubholz stepped down after last season. Rosinski brings 20 plus years of experience with him having been the coach at Green Bay East previously.
