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jrgsportsbuzz · 5 years

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Oconomowoc wins girls volleyball tourney in field of state’s best

WEST BEND – Oconomowoc’s girls volleyball team showed why it is one of the top teams in the state against stiff competition on Friday and Saturday.

The Raccoons, ranked No. 4 in Wisconsin, finished first at the Lynn LaPorte Sprawl at West Bend East/West on Saturday afternoon. Oconomowoc knocked off Arrowhead, the state’s top-ranked team, in a three-set final match of the Gold bracket of the tournament. The Warhawks won the opening set before the Raccoons took the final two, including a 15-13 thriller in which Oconomowoc scored the last two points.

“We really played well together,” Raccoons’ coach Michelle Bruss said. “When some girls were up, some other girls were down, then somebody else picked them up. We don’t rely on one person or two to make this team complete. They really do a good job going all over the place.”

Both teams traded the first four points of the final set that was a seesaw battle. Oconomowoc then scored three consecutive points, with two kills by senior Kaitlyn Bingham. Arrowhead then answered with a five-point streak, headlined by an ace from sophomore Madi Tolzman, to take a 9-7 lead. The Raccoons had four straight after that, with a kill from senior Tayler Alden and ace from sophomore Hadley Strohkirch. Later, a kill by Warhawks’ senior Aubrey Hamilton tied the game at 13. Oconomowoc then produced the final two kills, including the game-winner by Bingham.

“It was just being able to stay in it and not get emotional with the highs and the lows,” Bruss said. “We know exactly who we need to go to at big times and that was a big block for Bing, stepping up at the last swing to finish it for us.”

The Raccoons won the second set and led throughout most of it. Oconomowoc built a significant lead late by virtue of solid net play and timely kills. Arrowhead made a late push by scoring three straight points while the Raccoons were at 24, but a final kill produced a 25-19 final to even the match at one apiece.

“It’s a matter of digging into our fundamentals,” said Bruss of her team’s comeback. “Our girls are mentally strong, so we just had to refocus on what it is that we needed to execute and get after it a little bit harder.”

The Warhawks seized the early momentum in the match. They got off to a fast start and pretty much held the advantage throughout the first set. Oconomowoc made a late run to get within three, but Arrowhead scored the final two points to earn a 25-20 victory to take the early set lead.

Arrowhead earned its way to the Gold bracket by winning all three of their Pool A matches on Friday night. The Warhawks defeated Westosha 2-0, with set scores of 25-11 and 25-18. They had to go to a deciding third set vs. East Troy, but prevailed 17-15 in that set for a 2-1 set victory. Arrowhead earned its placement in Power Pool AA by beating Divine Savior Holy Angels (DSHA) 25-22 and 25-20 for a set sweep.

The Warhawks swept through Power Pool AA on Saturday morning with sweeps of Neenah (25-19, 25-17) and Waukesha West (25-19, 25-20).

Oconomowoc did not lose a set during their sweep of Pool C on Friday night. The Raccoons dominated West Bend East 25-3 and 25-14 along with Cedarburg by scores of 25-14 and 25-10. Oconomowoc then defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 25-13 before a tough 25-20 victory to complete their run.

The Raccoons won their first set in Power Pool CC on Saturday morning over Watertown 25-19 and 25-21. They had to go to a third set against Burlington after losing the first one 25-22 before coming back with 25-21 and 15-12 victories to get into the top finishers bracket.

West finished 8th at the tournament. The Wolverines were the fourth-place team in the Silver bracket after losing to DSHA and West Bend West.

Brookfield Central, the state’s second-ranked team, won the Bronze bracket for a ninth-place finish. The Lancers defeated Watertown and Neenah to claim their bracket’s top spot.

Hamilton finished 13th, Mukwonago finished 16th and Brookfield East, Menomonee Falls and Catholic Memorial took 18th, 19th and 22nd, respectively.

Union Grove, Appleton North and DSHA were the other top five finishers at the tournament, finishing 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively.

#oconomowoc #union grove #appleton #mukwonago #brookfield #Menomonee falls #watertown #burlington #westosha #west bend #high school #wisconsin #volleyball

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xoashdurham · 3 years

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Twin Lakes Senior Photography Session at White River County Park

Oh hello friends, you are in for a treat today!! Meet my new friend Lili, a recent high school grad from Westosha Central High School! I met up with Lili, her dog, best friend and her mom for Lili’s senior session at White River County Park. June is such a gorgeous time here in Wisconsin, it’s so luscious and green everywhere – and so it makes a great time for senior sessions. Even though our…

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#Dogs #Lake Geneva #White River County Park

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runningwithinfinityy · 4 years

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Tweeted

Congrats to Westosha alumnus @jaedenzackery on being named the boys basketball player of the decade by @KNSports Best of luck in the next chapter of your playing career @westoshahoops @CHS_BoosterClub @SectionWc pic.twitter.com/ejeORJBqjh

— Westosha Athletics (@WestoshaA) May 10, 2020

#IFTTT #Twitter

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Were 2 Wisconsin Brothers the Walter Whites of THC Vaping? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/15/health/vaping-thc-wisconsin.html

Vaping Bad: Were 2 Wisconsin Brothers the Walter Whites of THC Oils?

As authorities work to understand the spate of vaping-related lung illnesses, a small-town drug bust offers a closer look at the vast black market for vaping supplies.

By Julie Bosman and Matt Richtel | Published Sept. 15, 2019 Updated 4:20 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted September 15, 2019 5:43 PM ET |

BRISTOL, Wis. — The drug bust shattered the early-morning stillness of this manicured subdivision in southeastern Wisconsin. The police pulled up outside a white-shuttered brick condo, jolting neighbors out of their beds with the thud of heavy banging on a door.

What they found inside was not crystal meth or cocaine or fentanyl but slim boxes of vaping cartridges labeled with flavors like strawberry and peaches and cream. An additional 98,000 cartridges lay empty. Fifty-seven Mason jars nearby contained a substance that resembled dark honey: THC-laced liquid used for vaping, a practice that is now at the heart of a major public health scare sweeping the country.

Vaping devices, which have soared in popularity as a way to consume nicotine and THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, have been linked in the last several months to nearly 400 illnesses and six deaths. State and federal health investigators have not yet determined a cause, but authorities are focusing on whether noxious chemicals have found their way into vaping supplies, perhaps from a flourishing nationwide black market of vaping products fueled by online sales and lax regulation.

The bust this month in Wisconsin, where THC is illegal, offers an intimate look at the shadowy operations serving large numbers of teenagers and adults around the country who are using black-market vaping products, sometimes unknowingly because it is difficult to tell them apart from legitimate ones.

“When we walked in there, we were like, ‘Oh boy,’” said Capt. Dan Baumann of the Waukesha Police Department. “This is what we were looking for, but we did not know it was this big.”

Key players in the operation, authorities said, were brothers barely into their 20s, Jacob and Tyler Huffhines, who lived in a small town nearby. Both are now in custody at the Kenosha County Jail. More arrests and charges in the case are likely to follow, according to the police.

Tyler, 20, is being held on charges of the manufacture, distribution or delivery of marijuana; Jacob, 23, is being held on charges of cocaine possession and of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Authorities said that Jacob was being investigated for his involvement in the drug operation.

Across the country, public health officials are awakening to a massive underground market for illicit vaping products, both for nicotine and for marijuana. The products are sold online and on the streets, in pop-up stores and individual transactions, sometimes arranged through social media.

“I’d meet people at Starbucks, a cross street, in front of an apartment, wherever they tell you,” said a 17-year-old who was one of the people hospitalized for the vaping-related lung illness in New York state. He asked that his name not be used to guard his reputation and privacy.

“It never comes up where they source it,” he said. “You don’t ask.”

Investigators have not determined whether there is a connection between the Wisconsin operation and any of the cases of severe lung diseases linked to vaping. But public health officials across the country, including Mitch Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products for the Food and Drug Administration, say that street-made vaping products should be avoided by all consumers and pose the greatest health risk.

Vaping works by heating liquid and turning it into vapor to be inhaled. The original intent was to give smokers a way to satisfy their nicotine cravings without inhaling the carcinogens that come with burning tobacco.

But vaping devices and cartridges can be used to heat many substances, including cannabis-based oils, and some of the solvents used to dissolve them can present their own health problems.

On Wednesday the Trump administration said it planned to ban most flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods — including mint and menthol, in an effort to reduce the allure of vaping for teenagers. But the move may expand underground demand for flavored pods. And it does nothing to address the robust trade in illicit cannabis vaping products.

The Wisconsin operation is wholly characteristic of a “very advanced and mature illicit market for THC vape carts,” said David Downs, an expert in the marijuana trade and the California bureau chief for Leafly, a website that offers news, information and reviews of cannabis products. (‘Carts’ is the common shorthand for cartridges.)

“These types of operations are integral to the distribution of contaminated THC-based vape carts in the United States,” Mr. Downs said.

They are known as “pen factories,” playing a crucial middleman role: The operations buy empty vape cartridges and counterfeit packaging from Chinese factories, then fill them with THC liquid that they purchase from the United States market. Empty cartridges and packaging are also available on eBay, Alibaba and other e-commerce sites.

The filled cartridges are not by definition a health risk. However, Mr. Downs, along with executives from legal THC companies and health officials, say that the illicit operations are using a tactic common to other illegal drug operations: cutting their product with other substances, including some that can be dangerous.

The motive is profit; an operation makes more money by using less of the core ingredient, THC — which is expensive — and diluting it with oils that cost considerably less.

Public health authorities said some cutting agents might be the cause of the lung illnesses and had homed in on a particular one, vitamin E acetate, an oil that could cause breathing problems and lung inflammation if it does not heat up fully during the vaping aerosolization process.

Medium-grade THC can cost $4,000 a kilo and higher-grade THC costs double that, but additives may cost pennies on the dollar, said Chip Paul, a longtime vaping entrepreneur in Oklahoma who led the state’s drive to legalize medical marijuana there.

“That’s what they’re doing, they’re cutting this oil,” he said of illegal operations. “If I can cut it in half,” he described the thinking, “I can double my money.”

The black market products come packaged looking as the THC vaping products that are legal in some states do. Sometimes the packages are direct counterfeits of mass-market brands sold in places like California or Colorado, where THC is legal, and others just look the part.

“Someone would not recognize that this is not a legitimate product,” said Dr. Howard Zucker, commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, adding that this is a tremendous risk. “The counterfeit handbag you buy on the corner is not going to kill you but the counterfeit vaping device you buy has a chance to kill you,” he said.

In Wisconsin, the neatly packaged vaping devices had logos such as Dabwoods, Chronic Sour Patch and Dank King Louie. The police say the Huffhines operation produced close to 3,000 cartridges a day. Cartridges sell for around $35 to $40.

A lawyer for Tyler Huffhines declined to comment.

Wisconsin police say they were stunned by the scope and ambition of the Huffhines operation, and only beginning to understand how far it might have reached.

It was a teenager in nearby Waukesha whose actions eventually led the police to the operation in Bristol, a town just miles from the Illinois border.

That teenager’s parents discovered that he was vaping and brought him to the police station in Waukesha. He then told the police where he got his vaping supplies; the authorities traced the sellers step by step, and several degrees of separation later, they were led to the Huffhines brothers.

The condo in Bristol, rented under a false name, was believed to be their base of operations. But on an afternoon this past week, it appeared deserted, with the blinds inside closed tightly and a dent on the front door.

Until recently, the condo hummed with quiet activity that attracted only glancing notice from neighbors. The operation employed at least 10 people, the police said, who were paid $20 an hour to use syringes to fill cartridges with oil. The Huffhineses kept meticulous records, using timecards to note when employees worked. The cartridges were sold in packs of 100, through channels that authorities, who also seized 18 pounds of marijuana and three money-counting machines, said they did not yet fully understand.

It might have been the perfect place for a drug operation, said one neighbor, who described the subdivision as a mix of busy professionals and families who do not socialize much.

Another neighbor said she had thought that the Huffhines brothers had begun renting the place a few months ago, describing a steady stream of young men in and out of the condo, usually neatly dressed, and driving expensive cars.

“I can’t give my name,” she said, lowering her voice. “These are drug lords.”

Inside the Huffhines’ home in the nearby Paddock Lake community, a five-minute drive from the condo, investigators last week found $59,000 in cash, eight guns, 10 grams of marijuana, as well as scales and other drug-related paraphernalia.

At Westosha Central High School, which the Huffhines brothers had attended, they were seen as ambitious and privileged, living with their mother, a real estate agent, and grandfather in a quiet neighborhood overlooking a lake.

Students leaving school Thursday afternoon described a system of easy access to vaping devices that contain nicotine or THC, despite strict penalties from administrators if they are caught.

Students frequently vape in the bathrooms, they said, and obtaining vaping devices is as simple as asking someone for a contact.

News about deaths and injuries from vaping has been spreading throughout school, a 16-year-old said.

“People are scared of getting caught,” he added. “Now they’re scared of getting sick, too.”

New York Moves to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes by Emergency Order

The state would become the second in the nation, behind Michigan, to outlaw sale of the fruity flavors popular with children and teenagers.

By Jesse McKinley | Published Sept. 15, 2019 Updated 4:20 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted September 15, 2019 |

Amid a surge of vaping-related illnesses and deaths, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced on Sunday that he would pursue emergency regulations this week to quickly ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.

The governor’s action comes days after President Trump announced an effort to ban similar vaping products on a federal level. If New York does ban flavored e-cigarettes, it would become the second state to do so, following Michigan, which issued a prohibition earlier this month.

Speaking from his office in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Cuomo described a growing “health crisis,” likening it to past illnesses related to traditional tobacco products.

“Vaping is dangerous. Period,” the governor, a third-term Democrat, said, outlining a variety of potential health concerns associated with the practice, including encouraging nicotine addiction. “No one can say long-term use of vaping — where you’re inhaling steam and chemicals deep into your lungs — is healthy.”

Under the plan outlined by Mr. Cuomo on Sunday, the state’s Public Health and Health Planning Council, a little-known regulatory body, would be convened by the health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker. The council would then issue an emergency regulation to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes, rules that would be effective immediately.

State and federal actions on the flavored e-cigarettes come as health officials around the country continue to grapple with an outbreak of a severe lung disease linked to vaping. At least six deaths and hundreds of hospitalizations have been reported. Many of the cases have involved vaping T.H.C., the high-inducing chemical in marijuana.

Dr. Zucker said New York State had 64 cases of the lung disease linked to vaping and that the numbers were continuing to grow. “We need to tackle this as fast as possible,” Dr. Zucker said, adding, “We don’t need to repeat history.”

Tobacco and menthol-flavored products would not be covered by the ban, the governor said, citing evidence that those menthol products could assist in helping people to stop smoking traditional cigarettes.

The decision not to include menthol on the list of potentially banned products drew a sharp rebuke from the American Lung Association, which said Mr. Cuomo had missed “the opportunity to take decisive action.”

“While today’s announcement was well-intentioned, it will drive our youth to use menthol-flavored products in even greater numbers,” said Harold Wimmer, the association’s president, calling on the state Legislature to pursue a broader ban on all flavored tobacco products.

Austin Finan, a spokesman for Juul Labs, which dominates the e-cigarette market, said that the company was reviewing the governor’s announcement but agreed “with the need for aggressive category-wide action on flavored products,” saying it had already stopped selling flavored pods in “traditional retail stores.”

The company “will fully comply with local laws and the final F.D.A. policy when effective,” Mr. Finan added.

#us politics #u.s. politics #u.s. news #CDC #public health #health #health & fitness #vaping #top news #news #tech news #fda regulations #fda warning #us fda #new york #wisconsin

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wausaupilot · 1 year

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Newman Catholic volleyball finishes 4-3 at Kettle Moraine Invite

Sobloewski has 58 kills, Guld 90 assists to lead the Cardinals in the two-day tournament over the weekend.

Wausau Pilot & Review WALES – The Newman Catholic volleyball team finished 4-3 at the Kettle Moraine Invitational on Friday and Saturday. Newman Catholic defeated Westosha Central 2-0, Kettle Moraine 2-1, Whitefish Bay Dominican 2-0 and Racine Lutheran 2-1, and lost to Onalaska 2-0, Wauwatosa East 2-1 and Racine Lutheran 2-1. Camille Sobolewski had 58 kills, 40 digs and eight blocks, Lily…

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biofunmy · 5 years