Sports

The Waukon boys track team got its first taste of competition for the 2019 season, taking part in the annual Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) Indoor Meet Tuesday, March 19 at Wartburg College in Waverly. No team scores were kept at the meet, and the Indians claimed nine top-five event finishes, including two each of event victories and runner-up finishes.

The two event victories both came in sprint events, including the Tribe’s lone individual win recorded by sophomore Brady Behrend in the 400 meter dash, as he edged out the victory by one-hundredth of a second with his clocking of 57.49 seconds. The other victory by the track Tribe came in the 4x200 relay, where the combination of juniors Dawson Baures and Brock Hatlan, and sophomores Creed Welch and Ethan O’Neill claimed a win by just two-hundredths of a second with a time of 1:38.57.

The Kee boys track team got its 2019 season of competition underway indoors at the annual Upper Iowa Conference Indoor Meet held Friday, March 22 at Luther College in Decorah. Led by five event finishes within the top two, including three event victories, the Hawks racked up 77 team points to finish within the top half of the nine-team UIC field in fourth place.

TEAM SCORES
North Fayette Valley 119.5; South Winneshiek 105; Clayton Ridge 105; KEE 77; Turkey Valley 55; Postville 39; Central Elkader 28.5; West Central 23; MFL/MarMac 12

The Hawks are next scheduled to compete outdoors for the first time this Thursday, March 28 at Waukon. The Kee boys are then slated to travel to Edgewood-Colesburg Tuesday, April 2 and then to Postville Thursday, April 4.

The Kee girls track team made an early statement in pursuing defense of the first-ever Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) track and field team championship the Lady Hawks won last spring. The early-season indoor version of that meet this spring ended with the same team result for the Kee track girls, as they ran, jumped and threw their way to another first-place team finish at the Upper Iowa Conference Indoor Meet held Friday, March 22 at Luther College in Decorah behind the strength of six event wins that fueled the Lady Hawks to 103 team points.

TEAM SCORES
KEE 103; North Fayette Valley 89.5; Central Elkader 86; South Winneshiek 78; Clayton Ridge 71.5; Turkey Valley 49; West Central 33; MFL/MarMac 21; Postville 9

The Lady Hawks are scheduled to compete outdoors Thursday, March 28 at West Delaware High School in Manchester. The Kee girls will then travel to Postville Tuesday, April 2 and then to Starmont Thursday, April 4.

The Waukon girls track team has had 42 young ladies report for early-season duty to begin its 2019 campaign, with more than half of this season’s squad made up of varsity letterwinners returning from last spring’s squad. Among those 22 veterans are five of six Lady Indians who competed at every high school track and field athlete’s ultimate destination last season, the State Meet.

The Waukon Park & Recreation Youth Soccer Program is for boys and girls in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Basic fundamentals of soccer will be taught along with team participation.

Teams will be grouped together as follows: Kindergarten is alone, first and second graders will be together, third and fourth graders will be together, and fifth and sixth graders will be together. Different size fields and balls will be used to accommodate the lower ages and skill levels. All players must wear shin guards and they must be covered by socks or pants. Cleats are optional.

The games will be played Saturday mornings starting April 13 and will run for five weeks. There will not be games April 20 due to Easter weekend. The dates will be as follows: April 13, April 27, May 4, May 11 and May 18. The make-up date will be Tuesday, May 21, if needed.

Taya Duehr, Waukon High School 2019 graduating senior, is pictured above signing her letter of intent to attend Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids on a cheerleading scholarship. She will be attending Mount Mercy University this fall to pursue a Bachelor of Nursing degree. The daughter of John and Jane Duehr of Waterville, Taya cheered with the Waukon High School varsity cheerleading squad and participated in competition cheer throughout her high school career. Pictured above at the letter signing are: Left to right - Front row: John, Taya and Jane Duehr; Middle row: Waukon High School Cheer Coaches Lexie Bieber and Amy Bieber; Back row: Mount Mercy Cheer Coach Dax Cox. Submitted photo.
 

Waukon wrestling 145-pound senior Miles Hansmeier works to control fellow senior Brody Olson of Stewartville High School out of Minnesota in their middleweight bout at the 18th annual Iowa-Minnesota All-Star Border Battle dual meet held Friday, March 8 at Crestwood High School in Cresco. Hansmeier pulled out a 7-6 victory in the match, but the squad of top senior wrestlers from southeast Minnesota edged their mat counterparts from northeast Iowa in the All-Star event by a 42-39 final team result. Olson also wrestled another match in the dual, pinning North Fayette Valley senior Gunner Rodgers in 3:58 to help his Minnesota squad to the team victory. The event is sponsored by the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame housed in Cresco. The dual meet win by the Minnesota squad evens up the interstate mat series at nine wins for each team. Photo courtesy of Nate Troy, Cresco Times-Plain Dealer.
 

Waukon High School girls basketball senior Maddie Ahlstrom has been selected as one of 63 Iowa high school senior girls basketball players to be honored as a member of the 2019 Iowa Girls Coaches Association (IGCA) Academic All-State Girls Basketball Team, along with fellow senior teammate Aubree Cota. Selection to that team requires a senior varsity contributor to post a minimum ACT score of 27 in addition to a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.75. Having also been named Academic All-State by the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA), Ahlstrom received even further All-State honors, being named to the IGCA Class 3A All-State Second Team and also to the Class 3A All-State Third Team by the Iowa Print Sports Writers Association. Ahlstrom was also named to the Iowa Girls Coaches Association Class 3A Northeast All-District Team, as well as the IBCA Class 3A Region 4 All-Region Team.

Defeats Crestwood, 48-37, falls to runner-up North Polk, 65-49; Headington chosen All-Tournament

The old saying goes that all good things must come to an end, but for the Waukon girls basketball team that good thing came to an end at a great place where 60 of this season’s other 63 Class 3A teams would love to have been. Playing their way to the State Tournament for the first time since the program’s Class 3A State Runner-Up finish to cap off the 2009-2010 season, the basketball Lady Indians played their way to Class 3A’s “final four” teams at this season’s grand finale held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines February 25-March 2, splitting the two games they were able to play before bowing out in the semifinal round of the Class 3A eight-team bracket.

Allamakee Community School District resident Nancy Reiser (far right in photo above) waves to the Waukon fan base as she was announced as Waukon High School’s representative for the Sportsmanship Award presented by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and the Iowa Farm Bureau prior to the start of the Waukon girls basketball team’s first-round Class 3A State Tournament game against fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad Crestwood Monday, February 25 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Prior to the start of each first-round game at the Iowa High School Girls State Basketball Tournament, a fan supporting each participating team is honored after being nominated by their respective school. Along with each honored fan receiving a certificate, each represented high school also receives a $250 award to its scholarship fund in the name of the honored fan.