Sports

A relatively young Waukon girls cross country team with a first-year head coach improved by great strides, literally, throughout this 2014 season to bring themselves to the brink of the most coveted destination at season’s end. The Lady Indian distance dandies worked through a tough season of training under first-year coach Brett Egan to finally realize the pay-off of all that hard work, finishing just one team placewinning shy of qualifying for the Class 2A State Cross Country Meet, an end result that proved to be bittersweet, but an overall pleasant surprise for all involved.

The 2014 Kee football season was brought to a close in a game where all teams desire to be Wednesday, October 29, but, unfortunately, by a less than desirable, 65-12 final result. Qualifying for every team’s ultimate destination - the State Play-Offs - for the sixth consecutive season as this season’s fourth-place team in Eight-Player District 4, the Hawks were matched up with the top-seeded team from District 3, Eight-Player’s second-rated and undefeated Janesville Wildcats, in that opening State Play-Off round. The loss ends Kee’s season at a 6-4 overall record, including a 3-3 Eight-Player District 4 record that placed the Hawks fourth and qualified them for the Eight-Player State Play-Offs for the sixth year in a row. Janesville advanced on to a Monday, November 3 second-round match-up with HLV-Victor, where they lost a 52-51 heartbreaker to have their season  ended with their first defeat.

The Kee volleyball team had its 2014 season brought to a close by an all too familiar foe in the quarterfinal round of the Class 1A Regional Tournament Tuesday, October 28. For the third time in each of the last four seasons, the Hawks have had their season ended by fellow Upper Iowa Conference team Turkey Valley, this time in three sets by scores of 15-25, 20-25 and 23-25.
The loss completes Kee’s season with an overall record of 12-17. In addition to the end of this 2014 season, the match loss also marks the end of the high school volleyball careers for seniors Sadie Hill, Val Meyer, Nicole Vinson and Molly Walleser.

The 2014 season was brought to a close for the Waukon volleyball team by one of the most dominant serving teams the Indians have faced all season. Also being the highest ranked Class 3A team the Indian netters have faced all season, the fourth-rated Independence Mustangs made themselves feel right at home by sweeping the Indians in three straight sets by scores of 17-25, 12-25 and 16-25, moving themselves one step closer to a return trip to the Class 3A State Tournament.
The loss ends the Indians’ season with a 16-22 overall record, including a 1-6 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference dual match play that placed the Indians sixth this season in the final league standings. The loss also ends the high school volleyball careers of this year’s nine seniors, including Kelsey Cota, Katie Kerndt, Katelyn Kolsrud, Hope Manning, Thea Meyer, Allie Schwartz, Sam Swartz, Callie Thorson and Jackie Welch.

Making their way back to a place their program had not been in six years, the Waukon cross country boys competed among Class 2A’s distance running elite at Lakeside Country Club near Fort Dodge Saturday, November 1. Along with the top distance runners in all of Class 2A, the Indians also battled chilly, breezy conditions to rack up 266 team points and finish in 14th place out of 15 teams in the Class 2A field.
The Indians are one of just three teams within that Class 2A State Meet scoring field of 15 teams not graduating a single runner from their seven State Meet competitors, having four juniors and three sophomores make up their top seven runners this season. Class 2A State Meet Runner-Up and top-ranked Monticello fielded five juniors, one sophomore and one freshman for this season’s grand finale, while fourth-place Garner-Hayfield has just one junior, five sophomores and one freshman on this year’s State Meet roster.

The Kee volleyball team began its Class 1A postseason tournament trail in thrilling fashion, battling a visiting Central Elkader team to the very brink of elimination before fighting back to clinch the match in five sets. Just one set away from having their season ended, the Hawks rallied back to win sets four and five by the narrowest of margins to secure advancement to the quarterfinal round of Class 1A Regional Tournament play by scores of 20-25, 25-15, 18-25, 25-23 and 17-15. The first-round victory advances the Hawks to the Class 1A Region 5 quarterfinals with a 12-16 overall record, where they were scheduled to face 10th-rated and fellow Upper Iowa Conference foe Turkey Valley Tuesday, October 28 at Jackson Junction.

The Waukon football team looked to wrap up its 2014 season playing for pride at home against Oelwein Friday, October 24 as this season’s campaign took its toll on the Indian gridiron roster and, in turn, the Tribe’s season results. An overall balanced Indian offensive effort, coupled with a determined defensive charge, played out to a pride-producing result with a 48-16 victory over the visiting Huskies.
The win completed the Indians’ 2014 grid campaign at an overall record of 3-6 that included a mark of 2-4 in Class 2A District 3 play that left the Indians in fifth place in the final seven-team standings. North Fayette Valley (8-1 overall, 5-1 in District 3), Dyersville Beckman (7-2, 5-1), New Hampton (6-3, 4-2) and Center Point-Urbana (6-3, 4-2) finished in front of the Indians, in that order, for the top four State Play-Off qualifying spots from District 3 and will begin those Class 2A State Play-Offs this Wednesday, October 29.

The Waukon volleyball team opened Class 3A Regional Tournament play Monday, October 27 at home against its most familiar foe this season, as the Indian net squad was facing the Crestwood Cadets for the fifth time on the year. The two teams had met in three weekend tournaments and once in Northeast Iowa Conference dual match play already this fall, splitting those four matches to set the table for this fifth and final showdown with the end of either team’s season hanging in the balance.

The Kee cross country team had its 2014 season brought to a close at its Class 1A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Nashua-Plainfield High School at the Nashua Town and Country Club Thursday, October 23. The Hawk boys missed out on extending their season by falling short of the top-10 individual and top-three team finishes required for advancement to this season’s Class 1A State Meet, the Hawks finishing 21st out of 22 scoring teams at the meet.
“I was pleased with the effort in a field of way too many runners,” said Kee cross country coach Gary Bottorff. “Some parts of the race the runners were almost coming to a stop on turns because there were so many runners trying to make the turns. My runners gave it their best shot. Some day they may even the districts so that the small schools have a chance to compete on the same terms as the large schools - Class 4A with eight to 10 teams per districts compared to 27-30 teams per districts for small schools.”

The Waukon girls cross country team was within just a single team placewinning of qualification for this year’s Class 2A State Cross Country Meet, the Lady Indians finishing fourth as a team at their Thursday, October 23 Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by New Hampton High School at the New Hampton Golf and Country Club. The Tribe tallied 155 points for their best overall team finish of the season, 52 points shy of the third-place finish required for State Meet qualification and earned by North Fayette Valley Thursday with a team score of 103 points.