Heidemann shines as three-sport star
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Elkhorn Area High School track coach Steve Simonsen said the Elks’ Richie Heidemann might be the best three-sport athlete in the Southern Lakes Conference.
Elkhorn football coach Tom Lee said Heidemann’s athleticism and work ethic combine to make him such a terrific all-around athlete.
Elkhorn wrestling coach Ken Reynolds– who coached Heidemann to the podium this past spring at the WIAA Division 1 State Individual Wrestling Tournament – wonders if track might be his best sport.
As for Heidemann, a junior at EAHS, he most enjoys rugby.
“I get to touch the ball,” Heidemann said. “I don’t get to touch the ball in football.”
Versatility in excellence and excellence in being versatile is why Heidemann is the Elkhorn Independent’s 2015 Male Athlete of the Year.
Heidemann’s honor is not at the expense of the other young men who work tirelessly and wear the Elks’ purple and gold with pride. This year, though, Heidemann is the standard against which those young men are measured.
Heidemann’s 2015 in athletics opened with him competing at state as a sophomore wrestler and finishing sixth in the heavyweight (285 pound) division. Heidemann’s finish is the best of the seven wrestlers Elkhorn sent to state in 2015.
Heidemann lost to Badger’s Cole Mikrut 5-3 in the fifth-place match and finished 2-2 at state. He wrestled for the first time when he went out for the sport as a freshman. Fifteen months later he finished among the state’s best.
“I want to make it to state again and place higher than last year,” Heidemann said. “I want to have a better record, too. I’m hoping for a spot in the top three.”
Reynolds said he pushed Heidemann in practice and kept telling him he could advance to state.
“When we ran and worked I just told him ‘You’re going to state,’” Reynolds said. “I really kind of pushed him in the room.
“I was really proud. He answered every time I pushed him. He went right along with it. He didn’t complain.”
The wrestling accomplishments might be sufficient to crown Heidemann tops among his peers. There is more to consider.
After the 2014-15 wrestling season, Heidemann moved on track and field and won the Southern Lakes Conference title in the shot put.
“He won the conference last year in the shot put with minimal mastery of the fundamental aspects of putting the shot,” Simonsen said. “He was just a better athlete and stronger than the rest of the throwers in the conference.”
Heidemann participated in track in middle school. Simonsen labeled Heidemann a freakish athlete, and said the sky it the limit for him in track.
“I think track would probably be where I can do the most,” Heidemann said. “It’s not all about brute strength – it’s technique, too.”
Heidemann also played rubgy for the Elkhorn Demon Elk Rubgy Club, which is a club team mostly made-up of students from Burlington and Elkhorn Area high schools. The team competes in late spring.
The Demon Elks finished 15-4 in 2015 and lost 21-20 to Pulaski in the state semifinals. The Demon Elks won the Wisconsin Rugby Football Union Division 2 high school state title in 2013 and finished second in 2012 and 2014.
In football, the sport Heidemann’s played the longest, he earned Second Team All-Southern Lakes Conference honors this past season as an offensive and defensive lineman.
“I can’t say enough good things about Richie Heidemann,” Lee said. “He does everything a coach asks of him and more. He is just an outstanding young man who works hard, is dedicated and a great teammate.”
