Sports

The Kee volleyball team continued its brilliant postseason run and is now one match away from its first-ever State Tournament qualification after another five-set thriller Thursday, October 26 at 10th-rated Dunkerton. The Lady Hawks bolted to a two-set edge with victories of 27-25 and 25-20, but then let the host Raiders back into the match by suffering losses of 16-25 and 20-25 to force a fifth and deciding set. After another back-and-forth battle, the Hawks pulled out the 15-10 victory to earn the upset and advancement to the Tuesday, October 31 Region 5 championship match to play for a berth in the Class 1A State Tournament. Tuesday's regional championship match will now be played at Crestwood High School in Cresco - instead of at Waverly, beginning at 7 p.m. against seventh-rated Tripoli. Full details and photos of the Hawks thrilling upset will appear in the October November 1 edition of The Standard newspaper.

Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank of Waukon and Decorah recently presented a check in the amount of $1,592.25 to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club for proceeds the bank received through its 2017 Tailgate Party during Waukon High School’s Homecoming September 22. Serving hamburgers and hot dogs grilled by the Allamakee County Cattlemen, the bank accepted free-will donations for the meal with all proceeds being donated to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club. Pictured above at the presentation of those donated proceeds to the Allamakee Athletic Boosters are, left to right, Sara Miller of Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank, Bridget and Rick Ronan of the Allamakee Athletic Boosters, and Mary Jo Goodman of Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank. The Allamakee Athletic Booster Club has received $10,623.08 in donations over the eight years this event has been held. Submitted photo.

Indians will open season grand finale series this Friday at Clear Lake

For the second consecutive season, the Waukon football team was faced with a scenario of “win and you’re in” the State Play-Offs against a North Fayette Valley squad with a strong football tradition over the years. Although the situation wasn’t quite the same as last year, with last season’s undefeated TigerHawks graduating the core of their most recent success and that graduation showing itself in just a 2-6 North Fayette Valley record this season, it was still a case of taking care of business for the Indians, which they happened to do quite well in posting a 56-21 victory to earn their fourth State Play-Off berth in the past six seasons.

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The Kee volleyball season rolls on but not without leaving an Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) colleague behind and battling through a hard-fought five-set marathon to make it happen. The Lady Hawks first took care of fellow UIC netters Turkey Valley at home Tuesday, October 17 for the fifth time this season, this time in three straight sets, 25-18, 25-14 and 25-23, in the opening round of Class 1A Region 5 tournament play, but then were locked in a five-set war in the Region 5 quarterfinals at Riceville Monday, October 23, battling Northwood-Kensett in a match in which none of the sets featured more than a final five-point margin of victory for either team, but three of those sets going Kee’s way for the match victory and further postseason advancement by scores of 21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22 and 16-14.

The 2017 Waukon volleyball season was brought to a close in the Indians’ first opportunity to try and extend it, as the Tribe netters fell in three straight sets at New Hampton in Class 3A Region 5 tournament play Wednesday, October 18. Having not been able to win a set against the Chickasaws in three previous matches this season, the Indians looked to be on the verge of doing that right away in this tournament match, building a 20-9 lead in set one, but had the host Chickasaws claw their way back to not only steal away that first set, 24-26, but also go on to sweep the next two sets as well, 15-25 and 12-25, to bring the Indians’ season to a close.

The Indians wrapped up their 2017 campaign with an 8-29-2 season record that included a 0-6 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference dual match play that placed them seventh in the final standings. With the win, New Hampton advanced on to play Oelwein Tuesday, October 24 in the Region 5 semifinals.

Waukon girls scheduled to compete at 2 p.m. this Saturday among Class 2A elite

The Waukon girls cross country team was able to end a streak of 10 consecutive seasons without qualifying as a team for the State Cross Country Meet when the Lady Indians ran to a third-place team finish to earn the final qualifying spot at their Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Dike-New Hartford Thursday, October 19. Behind the strength of having all five of their scored runners place within the top 30 team-scored individuals, the Lady Indians claimed that third-place team finish with 96 team points behind third-rated Crestwood and sixth-rated Cascade.

A goal was achieved and a resurrection 20 years in the making was accomplished as the Kee girls cross country team reached every high school cross country team’s ultimate destination by qualifying as an entire team for the State Cross Country Meet for the first time since the Lady Hawks were represented as an entire team at the season grand finale in 1996. The Kee girls accomplished that goal with a second-place finish at their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet held in Solon Thursday, October 19, with that second-place finish coming to the two-time Class 1A defending State Champion Central Elkader team the Hawks had beaten in seven of eight previous meets this season.

The Waukon football team will be returning to the Class 2A State Play-Off scene after just missing out last season, entering the season grand finale series as the District 4 runner-up with a 6-1 district mark after a 56-21 home victory over North Fayette Valley Friday, October 20. The Indians were about 30 seconds away from ending up as District champions, but a touchdown by Cascade with less than 30 seconds left gave the Cougars a 28-21 home win over Union Friday night, giving the Cougars the Class 2A District 4 championship with a 7-0 district record, 9-0 overall.

Both the Kee and Waukon girls cross country teams have reached every team's ultimate destination with team qualification for this year's State Cross Country Meet to be run Saturday, October 28 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge. The Kee girls ran to a runner-up finish at their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet in Solon Thursday, October 19 and the Waukon girls claimed the final qualifying spot from their Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Dike-New Hartford Thursday as well with their third-place team finish.
The State Cross Country Meet is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. October 28 with Class 4A competition, with the Lady Indians scheduled to run in their Class 2A season grand finale at 1 p.m. and the Lady Hawks slated to run at approximately 2 p.m. Complete coverage with photos of both the Kee and Waukon girls and boys State Qualifying Meet efforts from Thursday will appear in the October 25 edition of The Standard.

The Waukon football team took a pair of steps forward toward a State Play-Off berth within the same week, as the gridiron Tribe began and ended this past school week with victories against Class 2A District 4 opponents to all but solidify a berth in this year’s Class 2A State Play-Offs. The Indians’ first step this past week got its start Friday, October 6 in a game against previously district-undefeated Union at the Upper Iowa University football stadium before storms suspended that game to Monday, October 9, when the Indians finished what they started with a 50-35 defeat of the fellow Class 2A top-10 rated Knights to leapfrog over them into District 4’s runner-up spot.