Sports

Junior Michael Sweeney rewrites single-season scoring record set three decades ago by Scott Sawyer

The stripes on the floor proved to be the difference in the Waukon boys basketball team having its season ended or moving further down the postseason tournament trail, as the Indians survived their Class 2A District 7 semifinals match-up with Jesup with a 59-56 escape Thursday, February 15. Playing to an initial 20-6 lead after just one period, the Indians had to fend off a methodical comeback effort by the visiting J-Hawks that cut that lead to just a single point in the final seconds.

The Waukon girls basketball team knew its postseason road would involve a climb through the pinnacle of the Class 3A rankings when top-rated and undefeated Crestwood was released as part of the basketball Tribe’s Region 4 bracket. That realization came Wednesday, February 14 in the Region 4 semifinals at Crestwood, but little did anyone know it would also involve season-high scoring efforts from the Cadets’ two leading scorers coupled with a defensive effort that would lead to a season-low scoring total for the Indians in a 67-30 defeat that brought the Tribe’s 2017-2018 campaign to a close.

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Waukon sophomore finishes 15th at season grand finale

History was made when the Waukon bowling teams competed in their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet at Oneota Lanes in Decorah Tuesday, February 13, as Waukon boys bowling sophomore Matt Rozzell bowled his way to the first-ever State Meet qualification in the two-year history of the program. Rozzell claimed the fifth and final at-large qualifying spot of non-championship Class 1A performances from across the state of Iowa.

The Monday, February 19 Class 1A regional championship game for the Kee girls basketball team vs. West Hancock has been postponed to Tuesday, February 20, still with a 7 p.m. start, at New Hampton High School. The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union said it will continue to monitor the weather situation and may further postpone that and many other games to Wednesday, February 21 should the forecasted icy weather come to reality.

A second consecutive three-game schedule for the Waukon boys basketball team went a bit better than its predecessor, the Indians winning two of their three contests this past week to wrap up their regular season. The week began with an 82-62 loss at Decorah Tuesday, February 6 that could prove to be the difference between a lone or shared third-place finish in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings pending the Vikings’ final NEIC game at Crestwood February 13. The Tribe bounced back from that loss to finish the week with a 90-71 home win at South Winneshiek Thursday, February 8 before closing out their NEIC and regular season with a 63-55 win at New Hampton Saturday, February 10 in a game postponed by weather from the previous evening.

Waukon High School seniors Abe Schwartz and Mitchell Snitker signed their respective National Letters of Intent Wednesday, February 7 to take their football talents to the NCAA Division II level of play. Schwartz inked his commitment to Concordia University-St. Paul in St. Paul, MN, while Snitker committed to Winona State University in Winona, MN. Having played together on the same team throughout their middle school and high school careers, and ultimately helping lead the Indians to the Class 2A State Championship this past fall, the two could actually take the field together again, but on opposing teams, as both Concordia-St. Paul and Winona State play in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and are on each other’s schedule each year, with Upper Iowa University in Fayette also belonging to that same conference and being an annual opponent of each squad as well.

The Waukon girls basketball team both ended its regular season and began its postseason in victorious fashion this past week. That final win of the regular season, a 49-21 home domination of Decorah Tuesday, February 6, clinched a second-place tie for the Indians in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings with Class 4A 14th-rated Waverly-Shell Rock, a team the Indians split with during the regular season. The Indians then opened Class 3A Region 4 postseason tournament play Saturday, February 10 with a 51-32 win at home over North Fayette Valley.

For brothers that likely grew up doing a lot of the same things together, being just a year apart, qualification for the State Wrestling Tournament in Des Moines together just wasn’t in the cards for Waukon wrestling siblings Tristan and Miles Hansmeier. Having each qualified for the Class 2A District 5 Tournament held at Independence High School Saturday, February 10, the two each experienced opposite results in their two matches at the tournament, senior Tristan ultimately finishing second at 170 pounds and earning his first-ever State Tournament berth and junior Miles ending up third at 138 pounds to have his season brought to a close.

Tristan Hansmeier to open State Tournament this Thursday against familiar foe from NEIC

The Waukon bowling team wrapped up its dual meet schedule for the 2017-2018 season by traveling to Tripoli to bowl against Denver Friday, February 2. The Indians earned a split in that final head-to-head battle, the Waukon girls falling by a 1909-1754 final result but the Waukon boys picking up another win, 2593-2217.

The Friday split wraps up the Indians’ dual meet season with the Waukon girls ending with a 1-8 season record and the Indian boys compiling a record of 5-4 for the season. The two teams are scheduled to bowl in a conference tournament hosted by Waterloo Columbus Saturday, February 10 before beginning Class 1A postseason tournament play Friday, February 13 at Decorah.

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The Waukon boys basketball team book-ended its past busy week of three games with a pair of losses at home, sandwiching a road win in between those two losses. The basketball Tribe’s busy week began with a split of back-to-back nights of competition against non-conference opponents, first falling at home to Spring Grove, MN, 75-64, Monday, January 29 before reversing that fortune, 79-48, for a win at MFL/MarMac Tuesday, January 30. The Indians wrapped up the week with an 84-69 loss at home to NEIC-undefeated Charles City Friday, February 2. Adding to the list of losses for the basketball Indians this past week was the confirmation that senior Mitchell Snitker will not be available for the remainder of the season due to a knee injury.