Sports

The Waukon baseball team was scheduled to get its 2024 campaign underway with a busy stretch of four consecutive nights of games but had a Tuesday, May 21 home contest with North Fayette Valley postponed to July 2 by stormy weather. The remainder of that busy initial week continued, however, with the diamond Tribe able to post a single win in four games played over three nights, including a 3-0 loss at Starmont Wednesday, May 22, a split of a home Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) doubleheader with Waverly-Shell Rock Thursday, May 23 that included a 6-4 loss and a 5-2 win, and an 11-1 loss in five innings at Sumner-Fredericksburg Friday, May 24.

The Indians were next scheduled to play a Northeast Iowa Conference doubleheader at Decorah Tuesday, May 28, play at Kee Wednesday, May 29 and play two games at Charles City Friday, May 31. They will then host New Hampton Wednesday, June 5 before playing at Edgewood-Colesburg Thursday, June 6.

In its only game played this past week, the Waukon softball team opened its 2024 season with a short trip to New Albin to take on the Lady Hawks of Kee Thursday, May 23 in a game that also proved to be short, a 13-0 mercy-rule win in just three innings of play. Senior pitcher Cameron Johnson threw a one-hit shut-out at the host Hawks, allowing just one walk while striking out five of the 11 batters she faced in the complete-game silencing.

The softball Indians are now slated to open their Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) schedule Thursday, May 30 at home against Decorah before playing in the North Fayette Valley Tournament Saturday, June 1. They will then host Central Elkader Monday, June 3 and South Winneshiek Wednesday, June 5 before playing at New Hampton Thursday, June 6 and at Charles City Friday, June 7.

The Kee softball team opened its 2024 campaign facing some larger and/or highly-ranked opponents, ending up on the short end of all three games on its schedule this past week. The Lady Hawks opened the season at home hosting Class 3A Waukon and falling by a 13-0 result in three innings Thursday, May 23 before falling to a pair of ranked opponents in two games played at the Jesup Tournament Saturday, May 25, including a 7-0 loss to Class 1A fourth-ranked North Linn and a 14-2 defeat to the Class 2A 12th-rated host J-Hawks in a mercy-rule three innings.

The Lady Hawks were scheduled to host Crestwood Tuesday, May 28 before playing in the North Fayette Valley Tournament Friday and Saturday, May 31-June 1. The Kee diamond dwellers will then host Central Elkader Wednesday, June 5 and play in the Riceville Tournament Saturday, June 8.

The Kee baseball team played a total of five games this past week, book-ending that full schedule with a split of a pair two-game stints on each end of that week. The Hawks first split a home doubleheader with Decorah, falling in game one, 2-0, and recovering with a 3-2 victory before recording a 4-0 win over Hampton-Dumont Wednesday, May 22 in a game played at Riverfront Stadium, the home of the Waterloo Bucks. Kee’s diamond dwellers then hosted their own Shooky Fink Tournament Saturday, May 25, splitting two games that included a 6-2 loss to Class 1A eighth-rated Wapsie Valley before bouncing back with a 3-2 win over Northeast.

The 2024 Waukon baseball season will see a dozen varsity letterwinners return for head coach Shane Schellsmidt as he enters his sixth year at the diamond Tribe helm following a 15-19 campaign last summer. Half of those varsity veterans come in a senior class that will provide the team’s greatest amount of leadership for a squad of 21 players nearly evenly split between all high school grade levels, with the exception of having just one member from the junior class.

“I’m very optimistic about this season,” Coach Schellsmidt said in looking ahead to his 2024 campaign. “This group has worked extremely hard in our preseason practices. I believe the competition for opportunities leading up to week one will provide future success on the field. I feel our line-up will be filled with competitive at-bats, but we need a few younger pitchers with limited varsity time to learn as they go on the mound. It should be exciting to see the growth heading into July.”

The 2024 Waukon softball team will return enough varsity letterwinning experience from previous seasons to nearly field an entire team, as eight young ladies will return to the field this summer as varsity veterans from a season ago. As it turns out, the newest face on the Waukon softball totem pole this year will come at the top, as Dustin Rounds takes the reins of the Lady Tribe diamond program as head coach.

Although new to the role of head coach, Rounds certainly is no stranger to the Waukon softball program, as he has helped with off-season and other work in a volunteer capacity in recent years. The 1999 Waukon High School graduate and current owner of Rounds Chiropractic has also played a great deal of “ball” in his lifetime, including for the Waukon Indian baseball team during a couple of State Tournament seasons for the diamond Tribe.

Senior Ethan Kelly wins three State Championships in new Para Ambulatory division

The 2024 Iowa High School State Track and Field Meet held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18 proved to be a strong showcase for the Waukon boys track and field team, with the Indians competing in a total of nine events at the season grand finale and having five of those result in top-five finishes and two more end up on the very brink of a top-10 finish among the elite in their respective divisions of competition. Among those top-end finishes were a trio of events that ended at the very top of their respective fields, and two others that claimed fourth-place finishes and resulted in the Indians scoring 10 team points and placing in a tie for 26th in the final team scoring field of 57 Class 2A teams.

Hemmersbach is double medal winner in throwing events, Johnson finishes in high jump top-10

The Waukon girls track and field team took a total of six events to this year’s ultimate high school track and field destination. Throughout the course of that three-day showcase of talent at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18, half of those Lady Indian events brought home results within the top 10 of their respective Class 2A elite fields, including a pair of medal-winning efforts.

Much like they’ve done all season, the senior leadership pair of Kloe Hemmersbach and Cameron Johnson recorded those track Tribe highlights. Each of them were making another multi-year return trip to the season grand finale, and each of them continued to prove they belong there with finishes among the top-10 individuals in their respective field event specialties.

Sophomore Addison Winters places fifth among Class 1A’s 100m hurdle best, claims 10th in long jump

Represented well by having six events competing at the Iowa High School State Track and Field Meet held Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, the Kee girls track and field team and its five members who competed in those six events also represented well among Class 1A’s elite in those events. That representation saw half of those events end up among the top-15 of Class 1A’s best, including a pair of top-10 finishes that garnered four team points for the Lady Hawks and placed them tied for 46th out of 58 scoring teams in this year’s Class 1A State Meet field.

Waukon High School senior Mia Kurth signed a letter of commitment to compete for both the women’s cross country team and women’s wrestling team at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, beginning this fall. Kurth says she plans to study Exercise Science and Kinesiology at Hawkeye while competing for the Red Tails, with future plans to possibly complete her wrestling or running eligibility at Wartburg College in Waverly and further her education in pursuit of a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. Pictured above at her Tuesday, May 7 signing event are: Left to right - Seated in front row: Hawkeye Community College wrestling coach Dan Lovell, Mia Kurth and Hawkeye Community College cross country coach Kellin Loch; Standing in back row: Waukon High School girls wrestling coaches Dani and Wade Bucknell, and Waukon High School girls cross country coach Tyler Scholl.