Sports

A goal was achieved and a resurrection 20 years in the making was accomplished as the Kee girls cross country team reached every high school cross country team’s ultimate destination by qualifying as an entire team for the State Cross Country Meet for the first time since the Lady Hawks were represented as an entire team at the season grand finale in 1996. The Kee girls accomplished that goal with a second-place finish at their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet held in Solon Thursday, October 19, with that second-place finish coming to the two-time Class 1A defending State Champion Central Elkader team the Hawks had beaten in seven of eight previous meets this season.

The Waukon football team will be returning to the Class 2A State Play-Off scene after just missing out last season, entering the season grand finale series as the District 4 runner-up with a 6-1 district mark after a 56-21 home victory over North Fayette Valley Friday, October 20. The Indians were about 30 seconds away from ending up as District champions, but a touchdown by Cascade with less than 30 seconds left gave the Cougars a 28-21 home win over Union Friday night, giving the Cougars the Class 2A District 4 championship with a 7-0 district record, 9-0 overall.

Both the Kee and Waukon girls cross country teams have reached every team's ultimate destination with team qualification for this year's State Cross Country Meet to be run Saturday, October 28 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge. The Kee girls ran to a runner-up finish at their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet in Solon Thursday, October 19 and the Waukon girls claimed the final qualifying spot from their Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Dike-New Hartford Thursday as well with their third-place team finish.
The State Cross Country Meet is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. October 28 with Class 4A competition, with the Lady Indians scheduled to run in their Class 2A season grand finale at 1 p.m. and the Lady Hawks slated to run at approximately 2 p.m. Complete coverage with photos of both the Kee and Waukon girls and boys State Qualifying Meet efforts from Thursday will appear in the October 25 edition of The Standard.

The Waukon football team took a pair of steps forward toward a State Play-Off berth within the same week, as the gridiron Tribe began and ended this past school week with victories against Class 2A District 4 opponents to all but solidify a berth in this year’s Class 2A State Play-Offs. The Indians’ first step this past week got its start Friday, October 6 in a game against previously district-undefeated Union at the Upper Iowa University football stadium before storms suspended that game to Monday, October 9, when the Indians finished what they started with a 50-35 defeat of the fellow Class 2A top-10 rated Knights to leapfrog over them into District 4’s runner-up spot.

Sophomore Katelyn Benzing runs to first-ever All-Conference honors in meet’s top-15

The Waukon girls cross country team managed its first All-Conference performer in six seasons in finishing fourth as a team at the annual Northeast Iowa Conference Meet hosted by the Indians Tuesday, October 10. Cool, rainy weather made for less than ideal race conditions, but Indian sophomore Katelyn Benzing ran through it all to place right on the very edge of that All-Conference top-15 to pace the Indians to 106 team points.

“In less than ideal conditions, the girls really stepped up to compete in a tough field of teams at our home conference meet,” Waukon girls cross country coach Brett Egan said. “Going into the meet, I knew we could have strong individual performances and still finish fifth as a team, so to come away with fourth place was a great achievement for the girls.”

The Waukon volleyball team brought its regular season to a complete close this past week, ending its Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) campaign without a win with both a final dual match loss and a winless final tournament effort. That final dual match loss came to Class 4A 11th-rated Charles City at home Tuesday, October 10 by scores of 14-25, 12-25 and 11-25 before the net Tribe was also swept in six matches at the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament Saturday, October 14 at Crestwood High School in Cresco. That winless NEIC Tournament result featured losses to Class 4A fifth-rated Waverly-Shell Rock, 14-21 and 11-21; New Hampton, 17-21 and 10-21; Oelwein, 10-21 and 18-21; Class 4A 11th-rated Charles City, 11-21 and 9-21; Crestwood, 14-21 and 10-21; and to Decorah, 21-23 and 18-21.

The Kee volleyball team brought its regular season to a close this past week, wrapping up its final week of regular competition against Upper Iowa Conference foes in both dual match and tournament play. The Hawks won two of a total of five matches played in that final week, first falling to South Winneshiek at home Thursday, October 12 in their final dual match of the regular season, 24-26, 24-26 and 20-25. Kee then split its four matches played at the annual Upper Iowa Conference Tournament Saturday, October 14, falling to both Starmont, 10-21 and 20-22, and Central Elkader, 11-21, 21-19 and 8-15, but also picking up a pair of wins, over Turkey Valley by scores of 21-17, 16-21 and 15-9 and over MFL/MarMac by scores of 21-7, 16-21 and 15-13.

The Kee football team brought its home schedule for the 2017 season to a close with a non-district contest against Northwood-Kensett from Eight-Player District 2 Friday, October 13. A steady rain that had fallen throughout most of Friday made for some less than ideal field conditions that helped limit the Hawks to just 159 yards of total offense in falling to the visiting Vikings by a 14-6 final result.

“It was tough for either team to get much going,” Kee football coach Chad Winters said. “With all the rain, the field got torn up pretty quickly.”

The Kee cross country teams wrapped up what is considered to be their regular season with a tough schedule of two meets in three nights this past week. Making it even tougher for the Hawks was the quality of competition at each of those meets, as well as either the threat of rain or the existence of it. The Hawks ran at the South Winneshiek Invitational Tuesday, October 3, where the Kee girls finished second and the boys placed fifth, with Kee then running at the New Hampton Invitational Thursday, October 5, with the Lady Hawks coming in third and the Hawk boys placing seventh.

“It was a good way to end the regular season,” Kee cross country coach Pat Wagner said. “Now, our most important running of the year begins with the Upper Iowa Conference Meet and our State Qualifier upcoming.”

The Waukon volleyball team played through a winless week of competition, remaining in search of its first win in Northeast Iowa Conference play. This week’s opportunity at that first league win fell short at home against Crestwood Tuesday, October 3 by scores of 16-25, 21-25 and 7-25 before the volleyball Tribe then missed out on any match victories at all for the week with three more losses at the Don Bosco Tournament Saturday, October 7.