Sports

The Waukon volleyball team got its 2024 season off to a split result against a pair of Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) opponents this past week, each at differing degrees as well. The Lady Indians opened the season falling at home to North Fayette Valley in a five-set war waged Tuesday, August 27 by scores of 25-16, 23-25, 10-25, 25-23 and 11-15. The net Tribe then traveled to Postville two nights later, sweeping three straight sets from the host Pirates Thursday, August 29 by scores of 25-10, 25-16 and 25-13.

The volleyball Indians were scheduled to host both Kee and Riceville Tuesday, September 3 before playing in a multi-team match-up at Crestwood Thursday, September 5. They will then return to Cresco Saturday, September 14 for their first weekend tournament action of this fall.

The 2024 Waukon volleyball team will be returning three varsity letterwinners from a squad that played to an 8-19 overall record last fall, including a 1-4 result in dual match play that placed the net Tribe in fifth place in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) team standings. A total of 13 young ladies have been listed on the early-season varsity roster for this fall’s campaign, with more than half that roster being led by a senior class of seven players.

The three varsity veterans bringing their letterwinning experience back to the court this fall include a pair of those seniors in Mari Delaney and Reese McCormick. Junior Willa Troendle adds further veteran varsity experience to the Lady Indian line-up this fall, returning for a second consecutive season with letterwinning accolades.

The 2024 Waukon football team will look to continue a trend of success that has come to be somewhat expected within the program ranks in recent years, as the grid Tribe comes off a sixth consecutive Class 2A district championship campaign and a 10th season of Class 2A State Play-Off qualification in the past 12 seasons. Helping fuel that pursuit of continued success this fall will be a collection of 17 returning varsity letterwinners who will pave the way for this season’s program of 59 players in total, with those 17 returning veterans making up nearly half of this season’s squad from the ranks of sophomores on up through seniors.

The Kee football team will look to continue its most recent trend of growth and improvement as it approaches its 2024 campaign. After playing to a season record of 5-4 and an Eight-Player Play-Off berth last fall, the Hawks will benefit from more than half of their players this fall returning with varsity letterwinning experience from last season’s efforts that resulted in winning just over half their games.

The Waukon Swim Club swam to a perfect dual meet record of 8-0 during its 2024 season, including a home meet victory over Decorah in an intense, narrow battle. That undefeated dual meet mark placed the Waukon swimmers at the top of the final Northeast Iowa Swim Conference season standings, with Decorah later edging Waukon in the final team scoring of the Northeast Iowa Swim Conference Meet to bring this 2024 season to a close.

The 2024 Waukon baseball season played out to a 12-18 overall record for the Indian diamond dwellers. That season-long mark included a 7-13 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play that placed Waukon fourth in the final six-team NEIC standings, and culminated in a second postseason tournament run to the Class 2A District Championship game in the past four seasons before having the 2024 summer season brought to a close with a rain-shortened loss at home to Denver in that Class 2A district finale.

“I was happy to see our seniors advance to another district championship game,” Waukon baseball coach Shane Schellsmidt said in reflecting on this season. “They ended their career knowing they played in two district championship games, which is not easy to accomplish, as well as recording three 15-win seasons.”

The 2024 Kee baseball season showed a step forward this season as the diamond Hawks returned all but one player from last season’s squad that played to an even season record and turned in a winning campaign of 26-11 this summer. That overall result included a 13-5 mark in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play that placed the Hawks third in the final UIC standings behind the only two teams to beat them in league play, UIC Champion South Winneshiek and UIC Runner-Up MFL/MarMac.

“We improved from a 19-19 season in 2023 to a 26-11 season in 2024,” Kee baseball coach Jim Mauss reflected. “We bring back two-thirds of our starting line-up in 2025, so I’m hopeful we can make another jump from where 2024 left off.”

The 2024 Kee softball season played out to an average overall record of 20-19, but the effort it took to get to that nearly even season mark was anything but average, as nearly half of this season’s schedule included games against larger schools, including games played against some of the state’s largest schools from Class 4A and 5A, as well as several highly-ranked opponents who played their way to every team’s ultimate destination, the State Tournament. Also well above average once again was the Lady Hawks’ Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) result, as they played to a runner-up team finish with a 14-2 record that marked the fourth consecutive season Kee softball has finished within the top three of the final UIC standings.

“We played a challenging schedule this past season which allowed us the opportunity to compete with some strong teams outside of 1A,” Kee veteran head coach Liz Hill said. “These challenges allow us to improve and help us prepare for the postseason.”

Hole-in-one by 90-year-old Marlin Knutson headlines this year’s tournament highlights

Waukon native Mike Sawyer won the Waukon Golf and Country Club 2024 Men’s Invitational held Saturday and Sunday, July 27-28. The 1986 Waukon High School graduate shot 18-hole scores of 65 and 67 for an eight-under-par total 132 strokes. It was the 21st time Sawyer has won the event.

Showing once again that golf is a game for a lifetime, Decorah’s 90-year-old Marlin Knutson “shot his age” - and then some - with rounds of 84 and 79, including a hole-in-one on the par-three second hole in Saturday’s competition. For the fifth straight year Waukon’s 88-year-old Wayne Sawyer shot his age both days with scores of 87 and 88.  Also shooting his age was Waukon’s Jim Ranum with rounds of 69 and 75.

More than 150 golfers took part in the tournament. Results of each of the eight flights are listed in the Wednesday, August 7, 2024 edition of the Standard.

The Waukon High School and Middle School football coaching staffs are planning to host the 2024 Waukon Indian Middle School Football Camp Monday through Wednesday, August 19-21. The camp will be held from 8-10 a.m. the first day, Monday, August 19, and then from 3:30-5:30 p.m. the remaining two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 20-21.

There will be an optional equipment check-out and locker assignment after camp August 19 that will take about an hour for those wishing to take advantage of that opportunity. Equipment check-out will also take place the first day of season practice after school, Friday, August 23, for those who do not take advantage of the early optional check-out time.

The camp, run by the Waukon football coaching staffs with help from current and former high school players, is a non-contact camp aimed at teaching those entering seventh and eighth grades this fall the fundamentals of offensive and defensive play for the Waukon football program.