Sports

The Waukon boys basketball team played to a split of its two games this past week, with that split ultimately resulting in the end to the bucket Tribe’s 2023-2024 season in the semifinal round of Class 2A District 6 Tournament play in an unfortunately familiar location. After opening this year’s postseason journey with a 53-47 win at Postville Monday, February 12 in the opening round of that District 6 bracket, the Indians advanced to the Thursday, February 15 district semifinals at North Fayette Valley, a place that has not been kind to the Waukon basketball boys in recent action, and continued not to be with a 59-48 loss to the host TigerHawks that brought this winter’s campaign to a close.

The Waukon girls basketball team had its 2023-2024 campaign brought to a close in the semifinal round of Class 3A Region 6 tournament play Wednesday, February 14, having to travel to sixth-rated Dubuque Wahlert to take on a 17-5 Golden Eagle squad coached by 1978 Waukon High School graduate Kris Spiegler. Falling victim to some full-court pressure defense and strong three-point shooting, the Lady Indians found themselves in an early 7-0 hole that would gradually get bigger on the way to a 63-43 end to their season.

The Indians ended their season with a 13-9 overall record and a third-place Northeast Iowa Conference mark of 5-5. With the win, Wahlert advanced on to the Region 6 championship game Saturday, February 17, where they also handled Center Point-Urbana, 48-31, to earn a return trip to the Class 3A State Tournament in Des Moines and their third State Tournament berth in the past four seasons.

The Waukon girls basketball team played through a busy and successful week, taking on three opponents and posting wins over all three for an undefeated week that closed out the Tribe’s regular season with back-to-back victories and opened its postseason tournament trail in the same winning manner to continue the Indians’ season deeper into regional tournament play. That regular season finish on back-to-back nights at home included a 51-44 triumph over La Crescent, MN Monday, February 5 and 69-44 victory over Charles City Tuesday, February 6 in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play. After that regular season finish, the Lady Indians got their postseason off to an equally successful start with a 64-50 home win over Oelwein Saturday, February 10 in the opening round of Class 3A Region 6 Tournament play.

Senior Kale Berinobis is 106-pound District Champion; Juniors Jayden Mara and Holten Palmer also qualify as District Runners-Up at 113 pounds and 157 pounds

The 2023-2024 wrestling season came to a close for all but three members of the Waukon wrestling team Saturday, February 10 in the mat Tribe’s Class 2A District Tournament hosted by Osage High School. Needing a top-two finish in their weight class bracket to extend their season to this year’s State Tournament coming up this week, wrestlers from eight different teams were vying for those top-two qualifying finishes, with the mat Tribe earning three of those, each in various fashion, and having several others in position to do so on the way to scoring 151 team points to finish third in the final team standings.

The lone game for the Kee basketball girls this past week was a start to their postseason tournament trail, and that path turned out to result in an easy stroll when the Lady Hawks hosted a winless Starmont team in the opening round of Class 1A Region 1 play Thursday, February 8. The bucket brigade jumped out to a 15-0 headstart to outshine the visiting Stars from start to finish on the way to a 64-28 first-round triumph.

Improving their season record to 17-5 with that first-round win, Kee’s girls were scheduled to advance to the Class 1A regional tournament second round at home Tuesday, February 13 against Central Elkader, beginning at 7 p.m. The winner of Tuesday’s contest will advance to the Region 1 semifinals this Friday, February 16 to be played at Edgewood-Colesburg at 7 p.m. against either the host Vikings or East Buchanan.

It was another game and another bit of program history for the Kee boys basketball team this past week, as the Hawks wrapped up their regular season with a win at Turkey Valley Tuesday, February 5. That 75-38 triumph in Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) play not only furthered Kee’s first-ever UIC season championship and first conference title since 1983, at a 15-1 UIC record, but the win also improved the Hawks’ season record to 19-2, breaking the program’s single-season record for wins that stood at 18 within an 18-3 season mark during the 1978-1979 Kee campaign that included a 10-0 championship result in the Upper Mississippi Conference.

The Waukon girls basketball team had just two games on its schedule this past week and played to a split of those two contests as the end of this winter’s regular season schedule comes into sight. The Lady Indians opened the week playing host to North Fayette Valley Tuesday, January 30 in a non-conference battle that ended up as a 59-48 Waukon win before the bucket Tribe closed out this past week traveling to Decorah Friday, February 2 and being handed a 62-37 defeat in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play.

Mia Kurth claims sixth-place finish after semifinals injury misfortune; Kloe Hemmersbach, Makenna Kurth each start with first-round wins prior to elimination in consolation rounds

For the second consecutive season, the Waukon girls wrestling program was represented well at the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) State Wrestling Tournament held Thursday and Friday, February 1-2 at Xtream Arena in Coralville. The Indian trio that qualified for this year’s season grand finale each proved that they belonged among this year’s Iowa high school girls wrestling elite, as all three started their State Tournament journey with a win by fall before experiencing differing degrees of success that ultimately resulted in the completion of two stellar high school wrestling careers and just the beginning of one that holds the promise to be the same.

Prior to the start of the Waukon High School bowling team’s Tuesday, January 30 home dual match with Waterloo Columbus, recognition was given to the new ownership group of Grumpy’s Lanes for its latest act of generosity since becoming a recent member of the business and overall local community. That ownership group made the decision to donate back to the Waukon High School bowling program the $2,500 facility usage fee the program pays the bowling facility to use its lanes for its practices and home competitions.

The Kee girls basketball team took on the tri-state area this past week, and came out victorious in a busy final week of the regular season of three games played in five nights. The Lady Hawks began the week with a 56-32 home win over North Crawford, WI Monday, January 29 followed right away by a 59-23 home triumph over West Central Tuesday, January 30 that ended up placing the Hawks in a tie for second place in the final Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) standings. The Kee girls brought their busy week, and their regular season schedule, to a close Friday, February 2 pulling out a close battle at Spring Grove, MN by a 50-44 final margin.