Sports

Waukon football junior Mitchell Snitker was recognized with postseason honors for his efforts on the football field during this 2016 season, helping the Indians to a 6-3 season record, including a third-place finish in Class 2A District 4 with a 5-2 record. Snitker was named to the Class 2A All-State Second Team by the Iowa Newspaper Association as a defensive back, and was also named to the Des Moines Register’s Class 2A All-Iowa Team as a defensive back. Snitker picked off a team-high six interceptions this season, a total which ranked third in Class 2A this fall, returning one of those for an 81-yard touchdown. He also compiled 45 tackles, including 31 solo stops, totals that ranked fourth and second, respectively, on this season’s team. He also paced the Indian offense this season with 1,318 total yards that included 856 yards on 126 rushes and 462 yards on 34 catches, furthering his team lead with 19 touchdowns.
 

The Waukon wrestling team completed a busy end to this past week, hosting a home double-dual before competing in another weekend tournament. That Thursday, December 8 home double-dual saw the mat Indians pick up their first win in a Northeast Iowa Conference dual meet since the 2010-2011 season with a 42-33 victory over Oelwein before falling to Class 2A top-rated New Hampton, 69-6, in the nightcap. The wrestling Tribe then battled to an eighth-place team score finish out of 10 squads at the South Winneshiek Tournament Saturday, December 10.

The Waukon girls basketball team secured its first Northeast Iowa Conference win of the season in splitting its two games this past week on back-to-back nights. The Lady Indians suffered a 67-52 non-conference loss at Caledonia, MN Thursday, December 8 but bounced back to score a 56-30 home victory over Oelwein Friday, December 9.

Now holding a 2-3 season record, 1-1 in Northeast Iowa Conference play, the basketball Tribe is scheduled to host Class 3A sixth-rated Crestwood Tuesday, December 13 before Waverly-Shell Rock comes to town Friday, December 16. The Indians will then wrap up the 2016 portion of their schedule by hosting Clayton Ridge Monday, December 19 prior to beginning the holiday break.

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A slow start to the ballgame eventually played out to a good start to the season for the Waukon boys basketball team, as the Indians opened their 2016-2017 campaign with a 76-43 home win over Postville Monday, November 28. Finding themselves in a 12-0 hole after nearly five scoreless minutes to open the contest, the basketball Indians finally found their offensive groove to outscore the visiting Pirates by a 15-2 count through the final three minutes of that opening frame and then post a 24-10 outscoring of Postville in the second quarter to bolt to a 39-24 halftime advantage on the way to the non-conference victory.

The Waukon bowling team hit the lanes for the second time this season, hosting Tripoli Friday, December 2 and showing some improvement over its inaugural outing more than a week ago. That improvement resulted in the program’s first win for the girls team, a 1857-1158 triumph over the visiting Panthers. The boys team was matched up against yet another strong opponent in falling to Tripoli by a final score of 1798-2658.

The bowling Indians will next hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to Buffalo Center this Friday, December 9 to bowl against North Iowa. The Tribe will then remain on the road the following week, competing at Decorah Friday, December 16 before heading into the holiday break.

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The Kee girls basketball team kept its early-season roll headed in a very positive direction with two more wins this past week, finding success both at home and on the road against Upper Iowa Conference foes. The Lady Hawks handled Central Elkader with relative ease, 50-29, at home Tuesday, November 29 before pulling away in the second half in a somewhat tighter battle at Starmont Friday, December 2 for a 56-45 victory.

Off to a 3-0 start, including a 2-0 headstart in Upper Iowa Conference play, the Kee basketballers are next scheduled to play back-to-back home games to end next week, hosting West Central Friday, December 9 and Houston, MN Saturday, December 10. The Lady Hawks will then play at fellow UIC powerhouse, Class 1A second-rated Turkey Valley, in a battle of top-five ranked squads Tuesday, December 13 before another back-to-back pair, at home against South Winneshiek Friday, December 16 and then at Decorah against Spring Grove, MN Saturday, December 17.

Dr. David Schwartz, family medical practitioner at Mayo Clinic in Waukon, was honored with one of two Sports Medicine Awards presented by the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) during halftime of the Iowa High School Class 3A Football State Championship game played in the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls Thursday, November 17. With over 23 years of medical experience, Dr. Schwartz was nominated by the Waukon High School football program for serving as the team doctor for football and many of Waukon High School’s other athletic programs. Pictured above at the award presentation are Dr. Schwartz’s daughter, Allie; his son Sam’s special friend, Shelby Bodley; his son, Sam; Dr. Schwartz; his son, Abe; his wife, Joan; and his son, Joe. Photo by Tucker Photography, LeMars.
 

The 2016 Waukon volleyball team played to a season record of 9-24-1 under the direction of first-year head coach Madison Wagner. Making that transition a bit easier for the first-year head coach is the team she inherited that was paced by a group of seniors that made up about half of this season’s squad.

“The girls made this an easy first year for me,” Coach Wagner said. “They accepted me the moment I stepped foot into the gym. They were very coachable and always wanting to learn more; they wanted to get better and be the best they could be. No matter the role they were given, they played it to the best of their ability.”

Coach Wagner knows that success, whether from this past season or for the future, would not be possible without the support of what takes place beyond the court, as well as on it. “I just want to thank this year’s group of girls, coaches and parents for making this a pretty amazing first year coaching here at Waukon!” she shared.

History unfolded at Odie’s Place in Waukon Tuesday, November 22 as Waukon High School hosted its first-ever high school bowling meet. The inaugural-season bowling Indians played host to Waverly-Shell Rock, an experienced team that brought with it an established high level of success and got this 2016 season off to another successful start by sweeping both the girls’ and boys’ match-ups from the Indians by scores of 1,639-2,464 in the girls’ meet and 1,779-2,699 in the boys’ contest.

“Scott Oder (of Odie’s Place) was a tremendous help in making sure things ran very smoothly,” Coach Keenan said. “There is a lot of work that goes into making sure that happens.”
The bowling Indians will next host Tripoli Friday, December 2 before traveling to Buffalo Center Friday, December 9 to bowl against North Iowa.

The 2016-2017 Waukon wrestling team will benefit from the return of six varsity letterwinners from a squad that finished with a 7-16 season record last winter. Half of those returning letterwinners will be from this year’s senior class, which features five seniors who return with this season’s most experience. This year’s senior group includes Nathan Benzing, Chance Cota, Andrew Dickson, Kyle Gordon and Blain Swenson.

“Another great group of senior leadership,” fourth-year Waukon head wrestling coach Matt Pladsen said of his five veteran upperclassmen. “They come to the wrestling room every day and work hard and encourage and push the underclassmen. This group of seniors, in my mind, will go on in their future endeavors to be great individuals.”