Sports

Headington places third among Iowa’s shot put elite

The Waukon girls track team got its first taste of competition for the 2020 season, with just a handful of team members competing at the annual Dickinson Relays held at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. The high school girls competition took place Monday, March 9, with the Lady Indians competing among the state of Iowa elite in five different events that included four individual events and one relay effort.

Topping that list of event results for the Waukon girls was a top-three finish recorded by junior Annika Headington in the shot put. She launched the shot put 39’1.25” to finish third in the event, the top Class 2A finisher in the huge field of 180 competitors. The event was won by senior Grace Tobin of Class 4A Mason City with an effort of 41’8.5”, with junior Kendal Clark of Class 3A Humboldt finishing second with a heave of 40’3”.

Northeastern Swim Team (NST) age group swimmers completed in the 2020 Iowa Swimming Age Group Championship Meet in Des Moines held February 20-23. Registration will soon be available for the NST Long Course and Spring season on the team’s website (NortheasternSwimTeam.com) and practices will resume in April.
In the 10 and under age group in Des Moines, the Boys 10 & Under 200 Free Relay team of Weston Cote, Garret Vobr, Bentley Hager and Dane Roberts swam to a third-place finish and a place on the podium. The Boys 10 & Under 200 Medley Relay of Dawson Irons, Bentley Hager, Dane Burns and Weston Cote also earned a fifth-place finish.

In their individual events, Weston Cote dropped four seconds in the 200 Yard Freestyle and earned eighth place. He also placed ninth in the 50 Yard Freestyle and 50 Yard Fly, 10th in the 100 Yard Back and 50 Yard Breast, 11th in the 100 Yard Breast and 12th in the 100 Yard Individual Medley and 50 Yard Back.

The 2019-2020 Waukon bowling teams each played to their best records once again this season, earning some first-time accolades in the process. The Waukon girls bowled to a second consecutive 4-5 season mark that is the best in the program’s young history, but within that overall record is a 4-1 effort that earned the Lady Indians a share of the Eastern Division championship in their North Central Bowling Conference. Likewise, the Indian bowling boys rolled to their best season ever with an 8-1 season record that included an undefeated, 5-0 mark that gave them the outright championship in the Eastern Division of their North Central Bowling Conference.

The Kee girls basketball team played its 2019-2020 campaign to a 15-8 season record, but this season won’t likely be remembered so much for that season record as it will be for all the other records set by this winter’s Kee bucket brigade. In addition to that overall record that included a 10-6 mark that placed the Lady Hawks fourth in the final Upper Iowa Conference standings, there were also a great number of individual records set by several of this year’s players that will likely make this season one to remember for a long while.

The Waukon boys basketball team played its way to a 13-9 season record despite a slow start to the season. After having the beginning of their 2019-2020 campaign delayed by the extension of their State Runner-Up football season, the Indians muddled through a 2-4 start to the season before coming together to finish the season with 11 more wins in comparison to just five more losses.

“This year’s team started out 2-4,” Waukon boys basketball coach Jed Hemann said. “The guys kept great attitudes, stayed positive with each other, and continued to push each other. They turned their season around to finish the regular season 13-8.”

“As our defense and rebounding improved this season, our record improved,” he explained. “We will have some talented offensive players returning next season. We will need guys to make a commitment on the defensive end and on the boards to reach our potential for next season.”

The Iowa Girls Coaches Association has announced that it is partnering with the Klinge family to offer an annual scholarship in memory of Gene Klinge, the winningest coach in Iowa high school girls basketball history. The value of this scholarship will be $500 and must be used to pay expenses of a college/university of the recipient’s choice. Deadline for applications for the scholarship is April 1 of each calendar year.

Klinge accumulated the greatest high school girls basketball coaching record in the state of Iowa, which also ranks 10th nationally. In 52 years of coaching high school girls basketball that included 41 years at West Central of Maynard and his final 11 years at Waukon, Klinge compiled a record of 1,009 wins against just 252 losses. His career included 16 State Tournament appearances, highlighted by a Class 3A State Championship in just his first year coaching at Waukon High School in 2004. Klinge passed away January 16, 2019 at the age of 82.

The Kee boys basketball team played to a 9-13 season record during its 2019-2020 campaign, including an even 8-8 mark in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play that placed the Hawks in fifth place right in the middle of the league’s final nine-team standings. The Hawks couldn’t quite get past a win streak of more than two games, reaching that mark on three occasions this season, but they also never lost more than three games in a row, falling to that fate just a couple times.

Kee’s season was brought to a close in the Class 1A District 4 quarterfinals with a 68-54 loss to Janesville, who eventually fell to Kee’s fellow UIC colleague, Turkey Valley, in the district finals. The Trojans then took their postseason road to the brink of State Tournament qualification, falling to Lake Mills in the Class 1A Substate 2 championship game.

The Waukon Park & Recreation Youth Soccer Program is for boys and girls in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Basic fundamentals of soccer will be taught along with team participation. Teams will be grouped together as follows: Kindergarten is alone, first and second graders will be together, third and fourth graders will be together, and fifth and sixth graders will be together.

Different size fields and balls will be used to accommodate the lower ages and skill levels. All players must wear shin guards and they must be covered by socks or pants. Cleats are optional for foot apparel.

The games will be played Saturday mornings starting April 18 and will run for five weeks as follows: April 18, April 25, May 2, May 9 and May 16. The make-up dates will be Monday, May 18 or Tuesday, May 19, if needed.

The Waukon wrestling team battled to a 5-15 dual meet record during its 2019-2020 campaign. That season mark included a winless result in its six Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) dual meets that placed the mat Tribe in seventh place in the final NEIC standings, the same standing the Indians finished with at this year’s NEIC Tournament as well.

This season’s results were mainly a product of a line-up that was oftentimes only half filled throughout the season. A good portion of those vacancies were the result of injuries that sometimes left only six Indians competing in a 14-weight line-up.

The 2019-2020 season came to a close for the Kee boys basketball team in its Class 1A District 4 quarterfinal match-up Thursday, February 20, but not without showing some fight against a team with twice as many wins and a third as many losses as the 9-12 Hawks battled a 17-4 Janesville team at Nashua-Plainfield High School to determine postseason advancement. The two teams played to an early draw, but a single-digit second quarter for the Kee boys proved to be too much to completely overcome in falling by a 68-54 final result.