Sports

The Kee girls and boys track teams got their competition season underway indoors at the annual Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) Indoor Meet held Friday, March 17 at Luther College in Decorah. No team scores were kept at this inaugural competition of the season, but the Hawk girls and boys each brought home event victories among their UIC peers, the Lady Hawks claiming three gold medals and the Hawks one as well.

Both Kee teams are next scheduled to start their outdoor season at the Tuesday, March 28 Sumner-Fredericksburg Invitational. The Hawk boys will then compete in the Waukon Early Bird Invitational March 30 and the Hawk girls will take part in the North Fayette Valley Invitational March 31 before both teams return to the track April 4.

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A total of 10 letterwinners return for the Waukon boys track team for its 2023 season, with those veteran returnees coming from all grade eligible grade levels to help headline this spring’s squad of 59 young men reporting for early-season duty. The experience that a trio those veterans brings back with them comes at the ultimate level of competition, the State Track Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.

Four of those returning veterans come from this year’s senior class, including those three State Meet competitors. Nathan O’Neill brings two consecutive years of competing in that season grand finale in individual distance races, and he also joined fellow seniors Nate Keenan and Josh Keenan in competing in the 4x800 at last spring’s State Meet as well. James VanderVelden rounds out that list of senior returning letterwinners.

The 2023 Waukon girls track team will benefit from having more than half of this season’s squad of 26 young ladies reporting for early-season duty returning with letterwinning experience. Furthering that benefit is the fact that 10 of this spring’s returning letterwinners bring back with them at least one year of State Meet experience, and in most all of those cases multiple years of competing at that ultimate level of competition.

All five of this year’s senior competitors bring back letterwinning experience, including Maggie Criswell, Paige Hansmeier, Jayden Knox and Katerina Kovarik as two-year State Meet participants and Bailey Sherman competing in that season grand finale last spring. “I look for the seniors to be the leaders on the team,” Waukon girls track coach Bob Wasson said. “All five of the seniors have run at the State Track Meet, so they know the work that needs to be done to reach that goal.”

Waukon High School senior softball player Kiana Krueger signed a letter of intent Wednesday, March 8 to play softball at Culver-Stockton College located in Canton, MO. Pictured above at that signing event are, left to right, Kris, Zenan, Kiana, Remig and Sarah Krueger. The Indian first baseman and left-handed hitter says she chose Culver-Stockton because of “where it’s located and the campus is really pretty.” She intends to study Biology there on a pre-medical track.

The Waukon boys and girls track teams got their 2023 competition season underway with both teams taking multiple competitors to compete in multiple events at their respective Dickinson Relays indoor track and field competitions hosted at the UNI-Dome on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. No team scores were kept at the meets, but both the Indian girls and boys teams each brought home one top-10  event finish in their respective competitions, with the girls meet taking place Monday, March 6 and the boys competing Tuesday, March 7 in their respective fields that each consisted of more than 100 teams from all school sizes and classes of competition.

Both the Waukon girls and boys track teams are scheduled to compete in the Northeast Iowa Conference Indoor Meet hosted at Luther College Tuesday, March 21. They are both then also slated to compete at the Sumner-Fredericksburg Invitational Tuesday, March 28.

The Kee boys track team will have a majority of this season’s squad returning as letterwinning veterans from previous seasons, as 11 of this spring’s 17 team members bring back veteran experience from the track or field events. All but one this season’s upperclassmen bring back at least one year of varsity track and field experience this spring.

Those varsity veterans include all four of this season’s seniors, Ben Franceschetti, Cota Gavin, Carter Goetzinger and Tom Troendle, and all five members of the junior class, Brendan Croft, Kaleb Drape, Cadan Evanson, Andrew Kolsrud and Jackson Schulte. Two of this spring’s sophomores also earned their first varsity letter last spring, including Jordan Cota and Brendan Jones.

The 2023 Kee girls track team will benefit from half of its team members returning as letterwinners from last year’s squad, with some of that experience being gained at the ultimate level of competition. This season’s squad of 14 young ladies will have three seniors, and two each of juniors and sophomores who come back after consistently competing for the Hawks last season at the varsity level of competition.

The Lady Hawks are slated to get their 2023 campaign underway against their fellow UIC squads in the annual UIC Indoor Meet being hosted at Luther College in Decorah this Friday, March 17. Both the Kee boys and girls will be competing at that indoor meet before the Lady Hawks will then prepare to start their outdoor season at the March 28 Sumner-Fredericksburg Invitational.

The Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame, located in Cresco, will be hosting the 21st annual Border Battle this Friday, March 10. Featuring top senior wrestlers from southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa in both boys and girls competition, the Border Battle will take place in the Crestwood High School gym at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door.

Competing for Team Iowa will be three seniors from this season’s Waukon wrestling squad. Indian 126-pounder Jakob Regan, 182-pounder Cullen Dickson and 195-pounder Corbyn Palmer will take to the mat one final time in their high school careers. Waukon head wrestling coach Mason Berns has also been asked to coach the Iowa squad for this year’s event.

This distinctive Border Battle allows one last look for fans and coaches at the area’s finest senior grapplers in competition. The event is designed to promote the growth of girls and boys wrestling, and supports the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame.
 

Waukon Park & Recreation “A” League Volleyball Champions - Swat Team 2 ...  Pictured above, Left to right - Front row: Ryan Whalen, Brigid Berns, Brock Berns; Back row: Bethany Stock, Ellie Cooper, Morgan Van Ruler. Submitted photo.
 

The sport of wrestling for girls in Waukon has certainly had its moments in history, dating back as far as 1999 Waukon High School graduate Blair Young competing in the first-ever U.S. Girls Wrestling Association National Tournament. More recently, 2022 Waukon High School graduate Meridian Snitker competed in the first-ever Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) Girls State Wrestling Tournament as a freshman in 1999, finishing as a State Runner-Up.