Sports

Competing for the first time in five seasons as an entire team at the destination where all Iowa high school cross country teams strive to be, the Waukon girls cross country team exceeded the expectations of many in running to a 12th-place team finish at the Class 2A State Cross Country Meet held at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge Saturday, November 2. Ranked 13th among this year’s Class 2A distance elite heading into the season grand finale, the young Lady Indian squad without a senior on its State Meet crew finished one spot higher than that ranking, tallying 238 points to finish 12th in that 15-team Class 2A field, with that team total being just three points out of cracking the top-10 in those final team standings.

It’s been a quest five years in the making, and the Waukon girls cross country team made it happen by nearly the narrowest of margins at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Monticello Thursday, October 24. Competing in a 14-team field that featured five teams ranked within the top-20 of all Class 2A squads in the state of Iowa, the 12th-rated Lady Indians were tied even with the 13th-rated Monticello squad hosting the event through four scored runners, with the distance Tribe’s number-five and final scored runner finishing just ahead of the host Panthers’ final two scored runners, helping provide the Indians’ 85 team points that edged out Monticello’s 87 points for the third and final State Meet qualifying team finish.

In a field of 15 teams featuring four rated within the top-15 of Class 2A, at least one of those four was going to have its 2024 season brought to a close at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by 15th-rated Monticello Thursday, October 24. Running in the lowest team scoring pack time spread of all four of those teams (1:11.8 between their first and fifth runners), the Waukon cross country boys made sure their string of State Meet qualification would extend to a fifth consecutive year, as the 10th-rated distance Tribe tallied 63 team points to finish in second place behind second-rated Denver and ahead of 12th-rated Tipton, with those host school Panthers missing that final qualification cut by a seven-point margin.

For all but the final 1:19 of its Friday, October 25 first-round State Play-Off match-up at eighth-rated Anamosa, the Waukon football team looked to be on its way to shaking up the Class 2A State Play-Off picture with a rare four-seed upset of a top-seeded team. However, after - literally - running away to a 32-12 halftime lead behind a strong ground game and holding a 40-18 lead as the third quarter neared its halfway point, the 3-5 Indian grid squad watched that upset bid of 7-1 Anamosa erode away to a 28-0 outscoring of the Tribe over the game’s final quarter-and-a-half, including the final dagger that came with 1:19 left to play that gave the host Blue Raiders their first lead of the game that would stand as a 46-40 end to the football Tribe’s 2024 campaign.

The Kee volleyball team had its 2024 campaign brought to a close Monday, October 21 in the opening round of its Class 1A Regional Tournament at the home of a fellow Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) net squad. The Lady Hawks traveled to Turkey Valley for that opening postseason match-up, taking on a Trojan squad that had swept them by scores of 25-7, 25-9 and 25-10 earlier this season. Although Kee’s net squad opened the match with a much stronger effort against its fellow UIC foe, the Hawks still fell victim to a three-set sweep by Turkey Valley by scores of 25-16, 25-7 and 25-9.

Indians to open Class 2A State Play-Offs at 10th-rated Anamosa this Friday

Much more was at stake in the Waukon football team’s Friday, October 18 final regular season game at home against New Hampton than just another win or loss in the two teams’ recent rivalry of close games late in the season, as the game winner would earn qualification for the Class 2A State Play-Offs, while the losing team would see its season come to a close at the end of its regular season schedule.

The Kee volleyball team brought its regular season schedule to a close this past week with one final opportunity to secure its first Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) match win of the season when the Lady Hawks hosted Clayton Ridge Tuesday, October 15. With five of the visiting Eagles’ seven match wins this season being in UIC action, the match ended up continuing each squad’s conference fate in league play, as the Hawks fell in three consecutive sets.

The volleyball Hawks were next scheduled to begin their Class 1A regional tournament trail Monday, October 21 at and against fellow UIC squad Turkey Valley.

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Hawks travel to fifth-rated Gladbrook-Reinbeck to start Eight-Player postseason

The Kee football team knew it was going to have its hands full in wrapping up its regular season at undefeated Edgewood-Colesburg (Ed-Co) in a non-district clash Friday, October 18. Unfortunately, the Hawks made the host Vikings’ hands full as well early in the contest, as four of Kee’s first five drives of the contest filled Ed-Co’s hands with three interceptions and a fumble recovery that gave an already potent Viking offense many more opportunities the host squad didn’t miss out on in scoring on all but two of its nine possessions on the night while the Hawks were held to their lowest scoring total of the season in suffering a 49-6 defeat.

The Waukon volleyball team played in its final competition event prior to postseason tournament action, taking part in what is destined to be the last-ever Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) Tournament Saturday, October 19 hosted by Crestwood High School in Cresco. Having played through the NEIC dual match season without a match win and just a single set win against their four fellow NEIC foes, the Indian netters remained without a match win in their four matches at Saturday’s NEIC finale, being swept by Charles City, Crestwood, Decorah and New Hampton in two sets each to end up in fifth place in the final tournament team results.

A final regular season home game and final match-up in Eight-Player District 3 resulted in the Kee football team wrapping up both those aspects of this season’s schedule in victorious fashion, further solidifying automatic State Play-Off qualification in the process for a second consecutive season. With the Hawk defense turning in its second consecutive shining effort without an offensive touchdown - its third such defensive result of this season, Kee head coach Chad Winters felt his team’s offensive effort could have been even brighter than it was in what ended up being a 44-0 Hawk victory.