Sports

The Waukon wrestling team brought its regular season to a close this past week, making up a final dual meet date before competing in its final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) competition of the season as well. The mat Indians fell in their final dual meet competition, a double-dual north of the border in Minnesota that included a 45-33 loss to the host school, Fillmore Central, and a 37-25 loss to St. Charles, MN. The mat Tribe then wrestled its final NEIC competition of this season, finishing sixth in the final team standings of the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament wrestled at Waverly-Shell Rock Saturday, January 27, with senior Tristan Hansmeier’s runner-up finish at 170 pounds being the Indians’ best individual finish of the day.

Bill Plein, a 1976 Waukon High School graduate and current head wrestling coach for the Columbus Community/Winfield-Mt. Union wrestling team, achieved a coaching milestone Thursday, January 18 when his Wildcat mat charges recorded a pair of dual meet victories at Mediapolis High School. In his 28th season as head coach of the Wildcat mat program, initially as Columbus Junction High School, the first of those two Thursday evening mat wins, a 56-22 triumph over Mediapolis, marked the 400th career coaching victory for Plein, making him just the 12th coach in Iowa high school wrestling history to ever achieve that standard. A 60-18 victory for the Wildcats over Wapello High School in their second dual of the evening pushed Plein’s career win mark to 401.

The Waukon bowling teams wrapped up the home portion of their schedules with a Friday, January 19 hosting of Oelwein. The end result of that final home match-up wasn’t much of a fond farewell to that home venue for the season, as the Indian girls fell by a score of 2204-1995 and the Waukon boys allowed just a four-pin opening round deficit to get away to a 2527-2464 defeat.

The Waukon girls fell victim to an Oelwein team that had all six of its players bowl well over a 200 series, while the Indians managed just half of that feat to trail by an early 1469-1226 margin. Each team had just one player roll a 300 series to lead their respective squads, Oelwein sophomore Brielle Belden rolling an event-high 321 series and junior Emma Roe leading the Indian effort with a 305 series comprised of consistent game totals of 152 and 153.

In its only competition slated for this past week, the Waukon girls basketball team had very little trouble with an Oelwein team sporting just a single win in Northeast Iowa Conference play. Having stifled the Huskies to a new school record defensive total of just 11 points the last time the two teams met, the Indians were a little more generous this time, but not nearly enough to prevent another dominating victory over Oelwein, 62-23, Friday, January 19 at home.

The Waukon boys basketball team split its pair of games this past week, falling to another non-conference opponent but continuing to hold its third-place position in the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings with another victory in league play. The Indians opened the week having a strong comeback effort fall short, 66-62, at Prairie du Chien, WI Tuesday, January 16 before bouncing back with a 65-47 victory at Oelwein Friday, January 19.

The Waukon boys basketball team played through its busiest week of the season so far, suffering its first loss of the season to a non-conference opponent to wrap up the week. The hoop Tribe opened the week with a 78-49 win at North Fayette Valley Monday, January 8 before a late back-to-back effort that ended in a split and included a 74-61 home victory over New Hampton Friday, January 12 in Northeast Iowa Conference play before falling at Class 4A Waterloo East by an 89-45 count Saturday, January 13.

The Waukon bowling teams had their first competitions following the holiday break book-end this past week, opening the week with a Monday, January 8 match at North Fayette Valley in West Union rescheduled from its previous date of Friday, January 5 before closing it with a Friday, January 12 home date with Waterloo Columbus. The Indians split their date at North Fayette Valley, the Waukon girls falling by a 1665-1578 final result and the boys pulling out a 2302-2188 victory, before both teams rolled season-high totals but still fell to Waterloo Columbus, the Indian girls by a 2105-1828 result and the Indian boys coming up just 18 pins short in a 2716-2698 final, that 2698 being the Waukon boys’ highest match score ever in its brief program history.

The Kee girls basketball team added two more wins this past week to its current streak of nine in a row, the second of those wins perching the Lady Hawks all alone at the top of the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) standings in search of their first UIC title in program history. Kee started off this past week with a 50-34 home victory over Starmont Tuesday, January 9 before squaring off against the only other team still undefeated in Upper Iowa Conference play at MFL/MarMac Friday, January 12 and using a strong second half effort to win that battle of the UIC unbeatens, 49-28, to lay sole claim to the top rung of the Upper Iowa Conference girls basketball ladder at this point in the season.

The Waukon girls basketball team put together an undefeated week on the court with a pair of victories, one each in and outside of Northeast Iowa Conference play, as well as one of each of those being at home and on the road. That week began with a 53-31 victory at North Fayette Valley Monday, January 8 before the Indians stayed within a game of the Northeast Iowa Conference lead with a 61-47 triumph at New Hampton Friday, January 12.

Former Waukon High School stand-out softball pitcher Holly Hesse will be entering her 30th year as head coach of the Missouri State University softball program in Springfield, MO with the start of the fast-approaching season. But first, she will be entering the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Hesse is among this year’s 15 selections of sports prowess in the state of Missouri who will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield, MO at a January 28 ceremony being held at the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center in Springfield, MO. This year’s inductees range anywhere from a long-time television sports director to former St. Louis Cardinals closing pitcher Lee Smith, with representation of a variety of sports realms in between, all who have helped “mold Missouri sports to what it is today,” according to the Hall of Fame’s promotional material.