Sports

Sophomore Katelyn Benzing runs to first-ever All-Conference honors in meet’s top-15

The Waukon girls cross country team managed its first All-Conference performer in six seasons in finishing fourth as a team at the annual Northeast Iowa Conference Meet hosted by the Indians Tuesday, October 10. Cool, rainy weather made for less than ideal race conditions, but Indian sophomore Katelyn Benzing ran through it all to place right on the very edge of that All-Conference top-15 to pace the Indians to 106 team points.

“In less than ideal conditions, the girls really stepped up to compete in a tough field of teams at our home conference meet,” Waukon girls cross country coach Brett Egan said. “Going into the meet, I knew we could have strong individual performances and still finish fifth as a team, so to come away with fourth place was a great achievement for the girls.”

The Waukon volleyball team brought its regular season to a complete close this past week, ending its Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) campaign without a win with both a final dual match loss and a winless final tournament effort. That final dual match loss came to Class 4A 11th-rated Charles City at home Tuesday, October 10 by scores of 14-25, 12-25 and 11-25 before the net Tribe was also swept in six matches at the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament Saturday, October 14 at Crestwood High School in Cresco. That winless NEIC Tournament result featured losses to Class 4A fifth-rated Waverly-Shell Rock, 14-21 and 11-21; New Hampton, 17-21 and 10-21; Oelwein, 10-21 and 18-21; Class 4A 11th-rated Charles City, 11-21 and 9-21; Crestwood, 14-21 and 10-21; and to Decorah, 21-23 and 18-21.

The Kee volleyball team brought its regular season to a close this past week, wrapping up its final week of regular competition against Upper Iowa Conference foes in both dual match and tournament play. The Hawks won two of a total of five matches played in that final week, first falling to South Winneshiek at home Thursday, October 12 in their final dual match of the regular season, 24-26, 24-26 and 20-25. Kee then split its four matches played at the annual Upper Iowa Conference Tournament Saturday, October 14, falling to both Starmont, 10-21 and 20-22, and Central Elkader, 11-21, 21-19 and 8-15, but also picking up a pair of wins, over Turkey Valley by scores of 21-17, 16-21 and 15-9 and over MFL/MarMac by scores of 21-7, 16-21 and 15-13.

The Kee football team brought its home schedule for the 2017 season to a close with a non-district contest against Northwood-Kensett from Eight-Player District 2 Friday, October 13. A steady rain that had fallen throughout most of Friday made for some less than ideal field conditions that helped limit the Hawks to just 159 yards of total offense in falling to the visiting Vikings by a 14-6 final result.

“It was tough for either team to get much going,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said. “With all the rain, the field got torn up pretty quickly.”

The Kee cross country teams wrapped up what is considered to be their regular season with a tough schedule of two meets in three nights this past week. Making it even tougher for the Hawks was the quality of competition at each of those meets, as well as either the threat of rain or the existence of it. The Hawks ran at the South Winneshiek Invitational Tuesday, October 3, where the Kee girls finished second and the boys placed fifth, with Kee then running at the New Hampton Invitational Thursday, October 5, with the Lady Hawks coming in third and the Hawk boys placing seventh.

“It was a good way to end the regular season,” Kee cross country coach Pat Wagner said. “Now, our most important running of the year begins with the Upper Iowa Conference Meet and our State Qualifier upcoming.”

The Waukon volleyball team played through a winless week of competition, remaining in search of its first win in Northeast Iowa Conference play. This week’s opportunity at that first league win fell short at home against Crestwood Tuesday, October 3 by scores of 16-25, 21-25 and 7-25 before the volleyball Tribe then missed out on any match victories at all for the week with three more losses at the Don Bosco Tournament Saturday, October 7.

Sophomore Katelyn Benzing breaks 21:00 mark to set new school record for 5K race

In a field featuring four teams ranked within the top five of their respective classes, the Class 2A 12th-rated Waukon girls cross country team ran to a fifth-place finish out of six scoring teams at the South Winneshiek Invitational Tuesday, October 3. Finishing behind Class 3A third-rated Decorah, Class 1A top-rated Kee and Central Elkader and South Winneshiek teams ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in Class 1A, the Lady Indians tallied 111 team points.

“The girls had another successful run at South Winn,” Waukon girls cross country coach Brett Egan said. “We faced some very strong teams in northeast Iowa with five ranked teams in the meet.”

For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.

by Jeremy Troendle

The Kee volleyball team had just one competition on its schedule this past week, hosting a successful Upper Iowa Conference dual with MFL/MarMac Tuesday, September 26. That dual got off to somewhat of a rollercoaster start with the Hawks soaring to a 25-9 first-set victory but then falling to the visiting Bulldogs by an 18-25 result in set two. Kee then took control of the match with a sweep of the final two sets, 25-18 and 25-16, to claim the match.

The Waukon volleyball team played through not only its busiest week of the season but also its most challenging, as three different days of competition featured matches against top-15 ranked teams in their respective classes. A slate such as that didn’t allow for much success in the win column, as the Indians were swept in all but one of the six matches they played this past week, posting a single match win for the week.