Sports

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.

The Kee girls basketball team played through its 2022-2023 campaign to produce an overall record of 5-16 this winter, with all five of those wins coming in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play to place the Lady Hawks in sixth place in the final nine-team UIC standings. Those five wins came against four different Upper Iowa Conference teams throughout the season, including a season sweep of Postville by margins of five points or less in both of their match-ups and a pair of late-season victories by just a single basket each over Clayton Ridge and South Winneshiek teams the Kee girls had lost to by double-digit margins earlier in the season.

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The Waukon Park & Recreation Department is preparing for its summer baseball and softball programs. Registration forms are being made available early this year for fourth through seventh grade participants just to get a better idea of how many kids are planning to play through the Park & Recreation system this summer since participation numbers in these grades have been declining.

As in previous years, fourth and fifth grades will practice and play in town, with hopes of having practice during the day for this age group. It is desired to have three practices a week with Wednesday night games and all of that taking place at the softball complex. Practices will tentatively start the week of May 29 and games would start the week of June 5 and run five weeks, into mid-July, with parents helping coach during the games.

A trio of young men represented the Waukon boys wrestling team where every high school wrestler longs to be at the end of their season, competing in the Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament held Wednesday through Saturday, February 15-18 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Junior Isaac Ericson and seniors Jakob Regan and Corbyn Palmer each competed among the Class 2A elite in their respective weight classes at this season’s grand finale, and even though their journeys may have ended up shy of wrestling in Saturday’s placewinning matches, they still represented a strong step forward for the Waukon wrestling program.

For the first half of play in its Wednesday, February 15 Class 3A Region 7 semifinals match-up at 10th-rated Osage, the Waukon girls basketball team provided a sense of deja vu for the Green Devils stemming back to two seasons ago when the Lady Indians shocked then sixth-rated Osage with a 60-37 upset to make their way to the State Tournament. The second half of play, however, saw the Green Devils snap themselves back to reality and pour in a 33-13 outscoring of the bucket Tribe - including a 17-4 fourth quarter runaway - to pay back that season-ending result with a 56-43 Waukon defeat.

The Waukon boys basketball team had its 2022-2023 campaign brought to a close in heart-breaking fashion in the opening round of the Class 2A District Tournament play Monday, February 13 at North Fayette Valley (NFV). Having fallen to the TigerHawks just a couple weeks earlier in regular season play, 60-51, in a January 31 home game, another fourth-quarter comeback by the bucket Tribe seemed to be on its way to a successful result in this postseason rematch, but a couple NFV three-point daggers forced an overtime period that did not go the Indians’ way at all in ending their season with a 65-56 loss.

The loss completes the Indians’ regular season with a 3-18 overall record that includes a mark of 0-10 in Northeast Iowa Conference play. The win advanced North Fayette Valley to a Thursday, February 16 District 7 semifinals match-up at Osage, where the TigerHawks had their season ended by a 50-37 loss to the Green Devils.

The 2022-2023 season was brought to a close for the Kee boys basketball team in the second round of Class 1A District 6 Tournament play, but not before the Hawks served early notice that they were going to try their best to extend this season’s campaign deeper into postseason tournament play. Playing Monday, February 13 at the home of a Wapsie Valley squad that boasted a 16-4 season record coming into the contest but had just squeaked by them at home by a 64-61 count just before the holiday break in December, the bucket Hawks sprinted out of the gate to a double-digit lead right away in the first quarter of their District 6 rematch with the Warriors, but had those tables turned on them over the next three quarters to suffer an 83-63 season-ending loss.

Jakob Regan earns third qualification for season grand finale, becomes all-time wins leader; Corbyn Palmer, Isaac Ericson qualify as District runners-up

The Waukon boys wrestling team continued to show its progress as a program by accomplishing some feats not seen within the program since the late 1990s at its Class 2A District 3 Tournament held at Decorah High School Saturday, February 11. Among those feats is the qualification by three wrestlers for this year’s State Tournament, marking the first time since the 1998 season that the Waukon wrestling team has qualified that many wrestlers for the season grand finale and the first time since 2006 that the Waukon wrestling program has qualified more than just one wrestler for that final wrestling showcase.

The Kee boys basketball team brought its regular season to a close and opened up its postseason on opposite ends of the final results spectrum at home this past week. That regular season was ended with a 53-42 loss at home to Turkey Valley Tuesday, February 7 but the Hawks then began their Class 1A District Tournament trail with much more success, a 65-35 win at home over Starmont Friday, February 10 to extend their season.

Holding a 7-14 season record that includes a 6-10 mark in Upper Iowa Conference play, the Hawks were next scheduled to play in their next round of Class 1A District 3 Tournament Monday, February 13 at Wapsie Valley. The winner moves on to a Thursday, February 16 quarterfinal match-up at Wapsie Valley, beginning at 7 p.m., taking on the winner of a first-round match-up between Waterloo Christian and Nashua-Plainfield.