Sports

For the second consecutive season, the Waukon girls wrestling team will be sending a trio of young ladies to the Girls State Wrestling Tournament sanctioned by the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union (IGHSAU) this Thursday and Friday, February 1-2 at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. Competition will begin at the season grand finale Thursday morning at 10 a.m. and will take place on eight different mats through 3 p.m. and include the first two rounds of competition on the championship side of the bracket, as well as the first round of wrestlebacks on the consolation side of each of 14 weight class brackets that will each feature 32 wrestlers competing for State Tournament honors.

Mia Kurth is 100-pound champ, Kloe Hemmersbach is 190 runner-up to earn senior return trips; Freshman Makenna Kurth takes third at 110 pounds for first qualification

The only competition for the Waukon girls wrestling team this past week was a big one, as it meant the difference between continuing the season or having it ended at the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union Region 8 Tournament held in Mason City Friday, January 26. For three of this season’s young ladies their 2023-2024 campaign will continue on as they each claimed a top-four placewinning required at the regional tournament to earn qualification for this year’s Girls State Tournament to be held in Coralville later this week.

The busiest week of this season for the Kee boys basketball team saw the Hawks play four games over a span of six days and ride a rollercoaster of success along the way. Three Upper Iowa Conference games were all added to the win column by varying degrees to guarantee the Kee bucket brigade at least a share of its first-ever season championship in the Upper Iowa Conference, as the Hawks posted wins of 69-49 in a January 12 make-up game at Central Elkader played Monday, January 22, 58-51 at home against South Winneshiek Tuesday, January 23 and 62-35 at Postville Friday, January 26. That busy-enough week got even busier with a recent addition to Kee’s schedule of a Saturday, January 27 home game with Class 3A Charles City, with that end to the four-game stretch resulting in the Hawks’ second loss of this season, 62-46.

The Waukon boys basketball team played through a winless week of three games this past week, having two of those games get away by narrower results in non-conference play early in the week before falling a bit harder to the leading team in the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC). On back-to-back nights to start the week, the Indians first fell at Independence, 66-61, in overtime Monday, January 22 before coming up a bit shy, 51-47, at home against Prairie du Chien, WI Tuesday, January 23. They then had Class 4A third-rated and NEIC-undefeated Waverly-Shell Rock pull away in the second half to an 85-62 defeat at home Friday, January 26.

After its first loss in nearly three weeks to start this past week, the Kee girls basketball team’s competition slate got consistently better as the week wore on, as the Hawks of the hardcourt won two of their three ballgames this past week. Beginning with a 47-42 loss in a January 12 make-up game at Central Elkader Monday, January 22 that snapped a four-game win streak and knocked them out of the share of the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) they had earned in the week prior, the Kee girls went back to work to remain in contention for a high-end UIC finish, starting with a 56-31 home win over

South Winneshiek Tuesday, January 23 followed by a 47-15 road rout at Postville Friday, January 26.

The Kee girls basketball team played through a busy week of three games this past week but took some huge strides in winning all three of those games to launch itself into a current three-way tie in the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) team standings. In a pair of home games against the two teams who each own one of the Lady Hawks’ UIC losses this winter and previously stood in front of them in those league standings with just single UIC losses coming into each game, the Kee girls first avenged an early-season loss to North Fayette Valley with a 38-37 triumph Tuesday, January 16 before doing likewise in another home match-up with MFL/MarMac Thursday, January 18 by a 52-47 final margin. The Lady Hawks ended the week with a 60-39 victory at Clayton Ridge Friday, January 19.

After an idle week due to winter weather and an empty start to this past week, the Waukon girls basketball team’s competition schedule picked up steam as the week drew to a close with three consecutive days of basketball. The Lady Indians put all of those three consecutive weekend contests in the win column, including a 70-55 win at Houston, MN Thursday, January 18, a 60-52 triumph at home over New Hampton Friday, January 19, and avenging an earlier season loss with a 51-40 victory at Crestwood Saturday, January 20 in a game made up from Friday, January 12.

Sophomore Colton O’Neill sets new single-game record for steals with nine at Crestwood

The Waukon boys basketball team competed in one of its busiest weeks of the season with a trio of games this past week, landing all three of those in the win column. The bucket Tribe started the week pulling out a 58-55 non-conference win at South Winneshiek Tuesday, January 16 before sweeping back-to-back games in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play,  74-58 at home against New Hampton Friday, January 19 and 71-50 in a Saturday, January 20 game at Crestwood made up from a January 12 postponement and featuring a new program record for steals in a single game set by sophomore Colton O’Neill with nine.

After a week of being completely idle due to winter weather, a busy week of three games saw the Kee boys basketball team ride a bit of a rollercoaster in taking more control of its current lead in the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) standings but also having its season-long undefeated streak brought to a close. The stronger grip on the Hawks’ UIC reign came Tuesday, January 16 when they handed second-place North Fayette Valley just its second UIC loss of the season in completing a season sweep of the TigerHawks with a 69-56 home triumph. Coming off that fateful UIC win two  nights before, the Hawks had to make up a January 9 home game with MFL/MarMac Thursday, January 18 in a rematch with the defending undefeated UIC champion Bulldogs that again went right down to the wire before the Hawks ended up on the short end of a 57-54 final result for their first loss of this winter’s campaign.

Looking to find their first win of the new year, the Waukon boys basketball team traveled to MFL/MarMac Monday, January 8, a team riding a four-game win streak dating back to mid-December. Riding an early rollercoaster to a 23-22 lead early in the second quarter, the bucket Tribe fell off that early pace to score not much more than that total for the game’s reminder while the host Bulldogs tripled up their total in that same remaining timeframe to deal the Indians a 76-51 defeat.