Sports

The Waukon girls basketball team opened its 2015-2016 season with a split of two non-conference games against opponents from the Upper Iowa Conference. The Lady Indians began their season with a 56-38 home loss to Class 1A seventh-rated Kee Monday, November 23 in a game rescheduled from Friday, November 20 due to winter weather, and followed that with a 55-26 road victory at South Winneshiek Tuesday, November 24.
Off to a 1-1 start, the Indians are scheduled to play a pair of home games this week, hosting New Hampton to begin Northeast Iowa Conference play Tuesday, December 1 before doing likewise in a non-conference affair against Caledonia, MN Friday, December 4. The Tribe will then play Union at Wartburg College in Waverly Saturday, December 5 before traveling to Oelwein Friday, December 11.

The Kee girls basketball team has its 2015-2016 campaign off to a promising start with a pair of wins on back-to-back nights in early-season non-conference action. The Hawks have received a number-seven ranking in the first Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union poll, showing early evidence of that ranking with wins of 56-38 at Waukon Monday, November 23 and 50-7 (yes, just 7) at Coulee Christian in West Salem, WI Tuesday, November 24.
Off to a 2-0 start, the Lady Hawks were scheduled to open Upper Iowa Conference play at Central Elkader Monday, November 30 before hosting MFL/MarMac Friday, December 4. Kee will then play at Postville Tuesday, December 8 before hosting Turkey Valley Friday, December 11.

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The Waukon wrestling team will return seven varsity letterwinners for third-year head coach Matt Pladsen and the 2015-2016 Indian mat campaign. Those veteran returnees come back from a squad that compiled a 7-17 dual meet record last season but remained in search of a Northeast Iowa Conference dual meet victory for the fourth consecutive season.
Five seniors dominate that list of seven returnees, including Collin Cota, Joe Frieden, Carter Fuhrman, Miles Ramsey and Dawston Regan. Junior Blain Swenson and sophomore Tristan Hansmeier round out that list of experienced veterans.

The Waukon boys basketball team returns enough varsity letterwinners to fill the court come game time this 2015-2016 season, as five veterans come back from a squad that compiled a 12-10 record last season and finished in a tie for fourth place in the final Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) standings with a 5-7 league mark. Seniors Brock Berns, Haden Hammel, Peyton Hesse and Wyatt Wille headline that returning veteran group, with junior Tanner Mathis also returning to round out that list of varsity veterans.
“These guys have put in a lot of time in the gym and they have some high expectations this season,” Waukon boys basketball coach Jed Hemann said. “They have had success in other sports and they know what it takes to win. I have a lot of confidence in these guys, and I know they will set the standard for our expectations this season.”

A mix of seven varsity veterans from last season will combine with a brand new face at the head coaching helm for the 2015-2016 Kee boys basketball program, but a face that brings its own share of experience. Patrick Sullivan will take over the reins for the Hawks on the hardcourt this season, and boasts a resume fairly rich in basketball coaching and playing experience.
“This is my 18th year coaching basketball, with 12 years at the high school level, and eight years as a varsity head coach,” Sullivan said. “I played basketball for two-time Wisconsin State Championship (1988, 1992) basketball coach John Shelton at Onalaska High School from 1992-1994 and was a co-captain my senior year.”

The Waukon boys cross country team took another step or two forward this season in the recent resurgence of the program, using the return of every one of its runners from last season’s State qualifying accomplishment to not only repeat that same fate this fall but improve on it and many other team finishes throughout this season. Among those improvement steps forward was a 12th-place finish at the Class 2A State Meet, a second-place finish in the State Qualifying Meet that boosted them to that season grand finale, and the distance Tribe’s first invitational meet victory in half a dozen seasons.
Waukon boys cross country coach Tara Stein placed those season accomplishments among her team’s greatest achievements this fall. “Top of the list would be qualifying for and making a return trip to the State Meet,” she said, adding, “Winning the North Fayette Valley meet, which was our first team victory in six seasons.”

The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) announced its major football awards Thursday, November 19 for the 2015 season, and Waukon High School 2012 graduate Blaine Snitker won this season’s highest defensive honor. Snitker, a senior linebacker for the University of Dubuque (UD) football team, was named the 2015 IIAC Football Defensive Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Snitker was joined in this season’s top honors by Wartburg College senior quarterback Logan Schrader, who was named the IIAC Football Offensive Most Valuable Player. Snitker’s head coach, Stan Zweifel, earned the honor of IIAC Football Coach of the Year after coaching the Spartans to the Iowa Conference Championship with a 7-0 record in IIAC play and an NCAA Division Play-Off berth, where the University of Dubuque’s season ended this past Saturday, November 21 with a 51-7 loss to 10th-rated St. John’s University.

WHS juniors Katie Hagensick and Mason Hermeier earn qualification for State Meet season finale

A trio of senior letterwinners returns to lead the Waukon girls basketball team into its 2015-2016 season under second-year head coach Andy Sires. That trio helped last season’s squad to a 7-15 season during Coach Sires’ first season at the girls basketball helm, hoping to improve on both that overall mark and a 4-8 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference play that placed the Indians fifth in the final seven-team standings.
That senior trifecta includes Nicole Behrend, the lone returnee consistently in the starting line-up last season as a junior and the Tribe’s leading scorer from last season with an average of just over 10 points per game. Joining in that veteran trio are Madison Snitker and Bethany Stock, with fellow seniors Emily Hammel and Leah Riese rounding out this season’s list of upperclassmen leaders.

With 10 letterwinners returning from the best season in Kee girls basketball history, and half of those veterans making up the starting line-up of last winter’s 21-4 Lady Hawk campaign that was ended on the brink of a State Tournament berth, anticipation for the 2015-2016 season is running high for the Hawks. Kee girls basketball coach Danny Love knows that a rare advantage such as that can also offer its own bit of challenges, but those are challenges he’s ready and willing to face.
“We return all five starters from a team that was a game away from State,” Coach Love said. “I don’t think many teams can say that. With that comes a lot of expectations, and dealing with those is going to be something we work on every day.”
This season’s list of veteran returnees includes all three seniors on this year’s squad, along with four each of juniors and sophomores. Coach Love outlined what each of those returning letterwinners brings to the court: