Sports

Players and coaches of the ninth-rated Waukon girls basketball team display their banners telling the tale of their qualification for the Class 3A State Tournament after a 55-44 Region 4 Championship victory over 13th-rated Davenport Assumption Saturday, February 16 at Marion High School. The Indians qualified for the season grand finale for the first time since the 2009-2010 season, when the basketball Tribe finished as the Class 3A State Tournament Runner-Up. They will open that State Tournament trek Monday, February 25 at 6:45 p.m. against fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad Crestwood, rated seventh in Class 3A, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. View and find out how to purchase this photo and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.

The Kee girls basketball team had its 2018-2019 season brought to a close one game shy of a familiar destination each of the past four seasons. After sitting idle for nearly two weeks with their final regular season games being canceled and their first-round Class 1A regional tournament game being postponed, the Lady Hawks got their postseason tournament trail started with a thrilling, 31-30 victory over fellow Upper Iowa Conference squad Turkey Valley Wednesday, February 13 at Waukon before having that postseason journey brought to a halt by a 49-37 loss to North Butler Friday, February 15 at North Fayette Valley High School in West Union.

Waukon wrestling senior Miles Hansmeier continued his "comeback kid" ways in the opening round of the Class 2A State Wrestling Tournament Thursday evening, February 14 in Des Moines. Trailing by a 10-5 count early in the third period against Roland Story senior Koby Hassebrock (39-3), Hansmeier scored a late takedown followed by nearfall points to tie the match at 10-10 in the closing seconds before winning it in overtime with a takedown. He will now wrestle top-rated senior Joey Busse (44-0) of Humboldt in the Class 2A quarterfinals Friday afternoon that begin at 2:30 p.m., with a win advancing him to the Class 2A semifinals Friday evening, beginning at 8:45 p.m., and a loss forcing him to the Class 2A consolation round right away that same Friday afternoon. Full coverage of Hansmeier's State Wrestling results, complete with photos, will appear in the February 20 edition of The Standard.

The final moments of the first round and the opening moments of the second round clinched a first-ever State Tournament berth for Waukon wrestling senior Miles Hansmeier at the Class 2A District 5 Tournament hosted by Independence High School Saturday, February 9. Hansmeier pulled off a five-point move in the final seconds of his opening match of the tournament against Independence junior Brady Webb to make his way to the 145-pound championship match, and even though he would lose in that title bout, a pin by Webb in his third-place match guaranteed that Hansmeier would not have to compete in a wrestleback to secure his second-place District Tournament finish and qualification for this week’s Class 2A State Tournament in Des Moines.

The Waukon boys basketball team brought its regular season to a close this past week and was scheduled to get its postseason journey underway, but had that first-round Class 2A District 4 game postponed a day due to winter weather. That match-up at and against New Hampton scheduled for Monday, February 11 was postponed to Tuesday, February 12, to begin at 7 p.m.

Prior to that postseason postponement, the Indians closed out their regular season with three final losses in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play, falling at Waverly-Shell Rock, 67-48, Monday, February 4 in a game rescheduled from January 25 before also falling at home to Decorah, 70-68, Tuesday, February 5 and to New Hampton, 68-63, Friday, February 8.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) will be welcoming seven inductees into its Wrestling Hall of Fame during this year’s State Wrestling Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 will include two coaches and five wrestlers inducted Saturday, February 16 during the high school wrestling season’s grand finale.

Indian girls will host North Fayette Valley this Wednesday in regional semifinals

The Waukon girls basketball team wrapped up its 2018-2019 regular season and got its postseason tournament journey underway in fairly successful fashion this past week. The Indians split their final two regular season games, falling at Class 4A fifth-rated Waverly-Shell Rock Monday, February 4 in a game rescheduled from Friday, January 25 by a 54-40 final result before completing their regular season with a 60-35 victory at Decorah Tuesday, February 5. The basketball Tribe then got regional tournament play underway in dominating fashion, blasting Oelwein at home Saturday, February 9 by a 67-41 final result to advance down the postseason road.

The Kee boys basketball team brought its regular season to a close this past week and was scheduled to get its postseason underway, but the threat of winter weather postponed the Hawks’ first-round Class 1A District 5 Tournament game vs. Starmont at East Buchanan from Monday, February 11 to Tuesday, February 12. Details of Kee’s postseason possibilities appear in a shaded box elsewhere on this same Sports page in the February 13 print edition and e-edition of The Standard.

Prior to that postseason postponement, the Hawks were able to put together their season’s first win streak as the regular season wound down, winning at Riceville, 44-42, Monday, February 4 and following that up with a 52-33 triumph at Coulee Christian in West Salem, WI Friday, February 8. The Kee boys wrapped up their regular season with a 61-57 loss at home to North Fayette Valley Saturday, February 9 in a game rescheduled from Thursday, February 7.

After a week without school and nearly a week without basketball competition, the Waukon girls basketball team completed a busy final weekend of the regular season, playing a pair of Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) contests and adding them both to the win column. The Indians first handled a winless Charles City team with relative ease, 66-27, at home Friday, February 1 before doing likewise at Oelwein Saturday, February 2, 52-22, in a game rescheduled from January 18.

The Kee boys basketball team had a busy scheduled start to this past week, instead, turn out to be a busy end to it, as two games early in the week had to be postponed due to winter weather. The Hawks finally opened the week’s competition with a 64-52 home loss to MFL/MarMac Friday, February 1 before also falling in a Saturday, February 2 road date at Turkey Valley, 61-43, in a game rescheduled from both January 22 and then Monday, January 28. Kee’s Tuesday, January 29 home game with North Fayette Valley was postponed to this Thursday, February 7.