Sports

The Waukon girls basketball team battled through its toughest week of the season, falling in three consecutive games during a busy, five-night stretch. The Lady Indians began the week by falling at home to Class 3A 14th-rated Crestwood by a 49-26 result Tuesday, December 15 before ending the week with a 60-33 loss at Class 4A 12th-rated Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, December 18. In between those two Northeast Iowa Conference losses, the Indians also came up just a bit shy, 58-52, in a non-conference battle at Spring Grove, MN Thursday, December 17.
Wrapping up the pre-holiday portion of their schedule with a 3-6 season record, including a 2-4 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference play, the Indians will now enter the holiday break. They are scheduled to return to the court January 5 with a Northeast Iowa Conference battle at Decorah before hosting MFL/MarMac January 7 and Charles City January 8.

In its only game on the schedule this past week, the Waukon boys basketball team jumped to a quick start and never really looked back in opening up both its home and Northeast Iowa Conference schedule Friday, December 11 against Oelwein. The hardcourt Indians raced to a 17-5 lead after just one quarter of play against the out-sized Huskies, pushing that lead to 30-13 by the halftime break before playing the visiting Huskies to a much closer second half in securing the 57-35 victory.

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The Kee girls basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2015-2016 with a split of two games in Upper Iowa Conference play this past week. The Lady Hawks manhandled Postville in a 61-33 road victory Tuesday, December 8 to improve their early-season undefeated streak to 5-0, but then had that winning streak brought to an end in a battle of Class 1A top 10-rated teams, falling by a 41-32 final result at home against Class 1A third-rated Turkey Valley Friday, December 11.
Holding a 5-1 overall record on the season, 3-1 in Upper Iowa Conference play, the Lady Hawks were scheduled to remain within the Upper Iowa Conference again this week, playing at South Winneshiek Tuesday, December 15 before hosting Starmont Friday, December 18. The Kee girls will then play host to DeSoto, WI Tuesday, December 22 before the holiday break.

The Kee boys basketball team worked its way through another busy, three-game schedule this past week, coming out on the short end of three closely-fought battles. Just as they had a week earlier, the Hawks opened this week with another overtime battle, but this time ending up on the shallow end of a 63-59 final result at Postville Tuesday, December 8. The Kee boys then fell victim to Turkey Valley by a narrow, 48-45 margin at home Friday, December 11 before becoming a 61-52 casualty in a non-conference contest at Mabel-Canton, MN Saturday, December 12.
Falling to a 1-5 record, including a 1-3 mark in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play, the Hawks will remain in the UIC for this next week as well, traveling to South Winneshiek Tuesday, December 15 before hosting Starmont Friday, December 18. The Hawks will then wrap up their pre-holiday schedule Monday, December 21 at De Soto, WI.

The Waukon girls basketball team had just one game on its schedule this past week, riding a bit of a rollercoaster to come away with a 55-47 victory at Oelwein Friday, December 11. Jumping to a 13-7 first-quarter lead, the Indians had the tables turned on them to trail at halftime before using a 16-3 third quarter to finally pull away to victory. The Indians dialed in a season-high five three-point field goals in the contest, outscoring the host Huskies by a decisive nine points from behind the three-point arc.

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Week two of the 2015-2016 wrestling season offered a much stronger schedule for the Waukon wrestling team, as the mat Tribe had just two duals on its schedule but was matched up against a pair of black and gold perennial wrestling powers in those bouts. The Indians hosted both Waverly-Shell Rock and Caledonia, MN Thursday, December 10, the mat Tribe falling to the Class 3A 10th-rated Go-Hawks by a 68-6 count before doing likewise to the Warriors from across the border, 42-26. The wrestling Indians then placed sixth at the ten-team South Winneshiek Invitational Tournament Saturday, December 12.
The Indians will now wrap up the 2015 portion of their schedule with another home double dual with Crestwood and New Hampton Thursday, December 17 before competing in the Starmont Tournament Saturday, December 19 and then breaking for the holidays. The mat Tribe will return to action Saturday, January 2 at the Central Elkader Tournament.

The 2015 Waukon volleyball team played to a 6-28 season record this fall, winning one of its six matches in Northeast Iowa Conference play to finish sixth in the final seven-team standings. Although that win-loss record may not have offered much in the way of season highlights, Waukon volleyball coach Peyton Lapel found her own bright spots within this fall’s campaign.
“The girls were very dedicated and coachable, on many occasions girls stayed after practice to take more reps and they were always good about adjusting their technique or hitting spots to match the defense we were up against,” Coach Lapel said. “We hope to build off of those strengths to improve individual skills for upcoming seasons. The volleyball season always goes very quickly, so the off-season is the most crucial time for building the program. Strength training and court time are very important for the off-season.”

What looks like it may have been just an average season for the 2015 Kee volleyball team, with a 13-15 season record, was considerably more than that, and had the potential to be something far greater. Within that overall season record, that included another step or two up the competition level ladder this fall, was an Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) record of 7-2 that had the Lady Hawks competing for at least a share of the UIC season championship right up to their final match of the season.
It was eventual UIC champion Starmont that finally dimmed Kee’s hopes of any UIC title this season with losses dealt in both dual match and Upper Iowa Conference Tournament play. The Hawks’ only other dual match losses to a fellow UIC team came at the hands of long-time nemesis Turkey Valley, including Kee’s only other UIC dual match loss in its third-place league finish, as well as an eventual end to the Hawks’ season in Class 1A Regional Tournament play.

Long-time Mississippi River guide Ted Peck of New Albin landed a lake sturgeon from the Mighty Mississippi Wednesday, December 9 that weighed an estimated 114 pounds before he released the “river monster” back into its long-time home waters. Peck said the catch for the ages measured 72 inches long and a 32-inch girth, measurements which, when plugged into a sturgeon weight formula, revealed the estimated weight. Peck is pictured at far right with fellow river veteran Mike Myers of Beloit, WI holding up the catch before it was released back into the Mississippi. Photo courtesy of Ted Peck.
 

The Waukon boys basketball team got its 2015-2016 season off to an undefeated start with a pair of convincing wins on the road against smaller school opponents from the Upper Iowa Conference. The Indians first dominated Postville with a 67-19 triumph at Postville Monday, November 30 - setting a pair of new Waukon boys basketball records for fewest points and field goals allowed in a single game - before posting a 68-33 road win over Kee at Lansing Thursday, December 3.
Off to a 2-0 start, the Indians will have just one game on their scheduled this week, opening both their home and Northeast Iowa Conference schedules by hosting Oelwein Friday, December 11. The hardcourt Tribe will then face perhaps its toughest week of the season when the Indians take the floor against pre-season Northeast Iowa Conference favorites Crestwood and Waverly-Shell Rock in back-to-back games, traveling to Cresco Tuesday, December 15 before hosting Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, December 18.