Sports

Waukon High School senior Dylan Stegen signed his official commitment to play golf for Upper Iowa University in Fayette at a Thursday morning, March 26 signing event in the Waukon High School gym. Pictured in the photo at right submitted by Waukon High School from that signing event, seated in the front row, is Dylan (center) with his parents, Jenny (left) and Lee (right). Standing in the back row, left to right, are Dylan’s brother Vaughn and sister Grace, with older brother Connor also making an appearance by FaceTime at one point during the signing event.

In what was its only competition of this past week, the Waukon girls track and field team competed in its first full meet of its 2026 campaign as the Lady Indians competed in all 15 of the events at the newly-revamped Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) Meet held Tuesday, March 24 at Luther College in Decorah. Competing in that annual event for the first time as a new member of the UIC, the Waukon girls recorded top-three finishes in 10 of those 15 events, including one event victory and three runner-up efforts, to score 117.5 team points and win the team title at this year’s UIC Indoor.

The Lady Indians were next scheduled to compete at Sumner-Fredericksburg Tuesday, March 31. They are then scheduled to take part in the Postville Invitational Tuesday, April 7 before competing at Decorah Thursday, April 9.

The Waukon boys golf team will have plenty to look forward to for its 2026 season, as more than two dozen young men have reported for early-season duty. Within that double-dozen or more linksters lies even more to be excited about, as a full team’s worth of golfers will be coming back with varsity letterwinning experience from a squad last spring that played to a 17-7 record in dual competition and qualification for the Class 2A District Tournament for the first time in quite some time.

The 2026 Waukon boys track and field team will look to benefit from the return of a dozen varsity letterwinners from last season. Furthering the anticipation of that crew that will lead this season’s early-season collection of 54 young men reporting for duty will be the fact that half of those returning veterans bring experience with them at the ultimate level of Iowa high school competition as qualifiers for the annual State Meet, including a pair of two-year competitors at the season grand finale.

Those two-time State Meet qualifiers make up a majority of this season’s senior class of just three most veteran competitors, as Brandon Leppert and Sam Stock have each qualified for the track and field Tribe in the 4x800 relay in each of the last two seasons. Fellow senior Kelby Cahalan joined them in that event last spring, as all four of Waukon’s 4x800 State Meet competitors return, including sophomore Beckham Delaney.

The 2026 Waukon girls track and field season has gotten underway with an initial indoor schedule that has shown some strong promise for what lies ahead for the track and field Tribe, as approximately half of this season’s growing number of 44 overall team members return with letterwinning experience from last season, including experience at the highest level of competition. Guiding that familiarity in competition will be a new face at the helm of the Lady Indian track and field program, but one that is also still very familiar.

The 2025-2026 Waukon bowling season saw the girls and boys teams end up with win-loss records on differing ends of the spectrum, with the Lady Indians bowling their way to a 7-2 season record and the Waukon boys finishing their winter campaign with a 1-8 mark in dual matches. Each squad had seven or fewer participants this season, but the girls seemed to make the most of that mix of competitors from every grade level to break some records and continue to rewrite program history.

Regardless of the outcome for either squad, first-year solo head coach Jesse Peterson said the premise of success starts with making the sport enjoyable. “I feel that we had a fun environment and from that the kids worked hard on doing the basics of bowling,” Coach Peterson shared. “I believe if we can keep creating fun activities, that will help push them to be better in the future.”

Senior Brandon Leppert tops 800 meter field at 2A IATC Indoor Championships

The Waukon boys track and field team got its 2026 season underway with a pair of indoor meets this past week. The Indians had a handful of team members compete in the Dickinson Relays at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls Monday, March 9, and just one runner in the Iowa Association of Track and Field Coaches Indoor Championships on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames Friday, March 13.

The Waukon girls track and field team opened its 2026 season with a pair of indoor meets this past week. A number of Lady Indians competed in the Dickinson Relays at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls Monday, March 9, before also taking part in the Iowa Association of Track and Field Coaches Indoor Championships on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames Friday, March 13.

The Lady Indians are next scheduled to compete in the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) Indoor Meet Tuesday, March 24 at Luther College in Decorah. The Indians are then scheduled to open their outdoor season by competing in the Frostbite Open hosted by Sumner-Fredericksburg High School Tuesday, March 31.

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It had been eight seasons since the Kee girls basketball team had last played in the Class 1A State Basketball Tournament, and in that timeframe the first-round opponent the Lady Hawks faced in this season’s grand finale Wednesday, March 4 at the Casey’s Center in Des Moines had qualified to compete among that Class 1A elite in each of the last seven seasons. Returning four starters from last season’s State Tournament semifinals team and a couple seniors with four consecutive years of that State Tournament experience, the top-rated and top-seeded Algona Bishop Garrigan Bears used that experience and the many weapons in their arsenal that have gained them that experience to bring an early end to Kee’s third State Tournament appearance in program history with a 64-42 opening-round defeat.

Waukon High School senior Zach Perkins signed a letter of commitment to play football for Cornell College in Mount Vernon at a Thursday morning, February 26 signing event in the Waukon High School gym. Pictured at right at that signing event with Zach are his parents, Stefanie and Steve Perkins.

“I felt like it was a great spot where I could live the next four years of my life,” Perkins said of making his decision to attend Cornell College and play football for the Rams. “The culture there was really great, and the education program was something that I really admired. I feel as if the coaching staff are not only great coaches but really good people.”