Sports

The Waukon girls and boys bowling teams returned to action following the holiday break, hosting North Fayette Valley Friday, January 8. The bowling Indians ended up splitting those two meets by close results, the Lady Indians securing their second win of the season, 1920-1854, and the Waukon boys coming up just shy of their second victory in falling by a 2407-2458 result.

The Indians are next scheduled to travel to Waterloo Columbus this Friday, January 15 before bowling at Oelwein Friday, January 22. The bowling Tribe will then host Sumner-Fredericksburg Friday, January 29 before competing in its Conference Tournament Saturday, January 30 at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo.

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The Kee boys basketball team got its first taste of Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) action in the new year, earning a split of two games against UIC opponents this past week to not only get its first win of the new year but to also snap what had amounted to a three-game winless streak that began prior to the recent holiday break. The Hawks opened the week being held to their lowest UIC scoring total so far this season in suffering a 46-36 loss at South Winneshiek Tuesday, January 5, but bounced back quite well with their highest point total overall for this season in a 70-36 home triumph over West Central Friday, January 8.

Returning from the holiday break to add a first win of 2021 to a three-game win streak, the Waukon basketball team followed that weekend win with a split of its two games this past week, both against Northeast Iowa Conference opponents. The Indians opened this past week with a 53-47 loss at Decorah Tuesday, January 5 to end up with a season split against the Vikings but then bounced back with an 80-54 home win over New Hampton Friday, January 8.

The holiday break came to an early end for both the Waukon and Kee girls basketball teams, as the two intra-county opponents took to the court together in Lansing Saturday, January 2 to begin the 2021 portions of their schedules. The larger school Indians used their team depth and aggressive nature to build double-digit leads in each of the game’s two halves, but also had to hold off some late Hawk charges in each of those halves before coming away with the 55-42 Waukon victory.

The Waukon and Kee boys basketball teams got the new year off to an early competition start when the Indians traveled to the home of the Hawks Saturday, January 2 for a non-conference match-up to start the 2021 portions of their respective schedules. Although the host Hawks had the leading scorer in the contest, with junior Dalton Dibert pouring in 23 points, the Indians had five players finish in double figures and nine players score overall on the way to an 88-42 win over Kee.

The Waukon girls and boys bowling teams are scheduled to resume their post-holiday competition schedule Friday, January 8 by hosting North Fayette Valley. The Waukon wrestling team will get action back underway on the mat following the holiday break with a Thursday, January 7 dual at Oelwein before competing at the Crestwood Tournament Saturday, January 9.
 

The 2020 Kee cross country experienced the spectrum of emotions from start to finish this past fall. Beginning with the fear of the unknown as to whether there would even be a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has had the entire globe in its grip since the first couple months of the year 2020, the Hawks had their fall campaign end at every team’s ultimate destination and also experienced the thrill of laying claim to one this season’s ultimate prizes when junior Haley Meyer ran to her Class 1A State Championship.

The Kee boys basketball team wrapped up the pre-holiday portion of its schedule with a trip to Clayton Ridge Tuesday, December 22. The event was scheduled to be an Upper Iowa Conference girl/boy doubleheader, but the girls game was postponed until January 4. The Hawk boys played the host Eagles closely in nearly every aspect of their game, but the free throw line proved to be their undoing in suffering a 51-43 defeat.

Holding a 4-4 overall record that includes a 3-3 mark in Upper Iowa Conference play, the Hawks will remain idle until returning to action after the holidays with a Saturday, January 2 home date against Waukon. The Kee boys will then play at South Winneshiek Tuesday, January 5 before hosting West Central Friday, January 8.

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The 2020 Waukon girls cross country season was one of ups and downs, some of those simply out of the Lady Indians’ control. Throughout whatever was thrown at them, first-year head coach Tyler Scholl was pleased with how his girls worked through all of it.

The greatest challenge of the season proved to be one of those out of the Indians’ control, the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the entire globe for nearly this whole year. That virus forced some of this season’s charges to sit out of competition at certain points, including just when the season’s biggest three meets at year’s end were set to get underway.

The 2020 Kee football team played its way to a 5-4 season record, the best overall mark for the Hawk grid program since the 2014 season when the Kee gridders pieced together a 6-4 campaign and the last time the Hawks competed in a State Play-Off game. Although those two seasons seem very similar in their results from the gridiron, the one glaring difference is what else was taking place during the season, with this 2020 campaign being shrouded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While that pandemic has been impacting most things throughout the entire year 2020, and had the potential to do so without notice, the Kee boys were fortunate enough to avoid any such impact. Hawk head football coach Chad Winters realizes that wasn’t necessarily the case for all Iowa high school teams this fall, and he made sure his charges knew and appreciated that fact.