Sports

The Waukon boys basketball team both began and ended its postseason tournament journey this past week, ultimately having its 2024-2025 campaign brought to a close in the process. The Indians opened their Class 2A District 5 Tournament road with a 59-50 home win over New Hampton Monday, February 17 but then fell victim to a 70-50 loss at ninth-rated Aplington-Parkersburg in the District 5 Semifinals Thursday, February 20 to have their season brought to completion.

The Waukon girls basketball team faced a formidable task in seeking to continue its season, traveling to the home of a Forest City team that had just a single loss on the season and a number-four ranking among the Class 3A elite Wednesday, February 19 for a Class 3A Region 3 semifinals match-up against another squad of Indians. For three and a half quarters, Waukon’s Tribe paid little heed to the ranking or record of its fellow Indian opponent, trading leads with Forest City throughout the first half and trailing by just four points with two minutes left to play, but those final two minutes belonged almost entirely to the host Indians, as they finished the game with a final 8-3 surge to finally shake the visiting Tribe and end Waukon’s season with a 50-41 defeat.

The differing ends of the spectrum for the Waukon boys wrestling team at the Class 2A State Tournament ended up yielding the same result for the two Indian matmen who qualified for this season’s grand finale held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines Wednesday-Saturday, February 19-22. The debut for freshman 120-pounder Kaden Mitchell and the return of senior 157-pounder Holten Palmer among the Class 2A elite in their respective weight classes were each cut short with losses in both matches the Tribe mat pair wrestled at the tournament.

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The postseason road for the Kee girls basketball team looked to have some curves in it this past week, as the Lady Hawks’ Class 1A Region 5 Tournament matched them up, first, with a co-champion of the Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) they had just lost to about a month earlier and, then, took them to the home of one of Class 1A’s highest regarded teams. But Kee’s girls ended up sitting firmly in the driver’s seat in navigating both of those projected curves. The Hawks hosted fellow UIC foe Turkey Valley in a regional quarterfinals contest Tuesday, February 18, leaving little doubt in fully deciding a regular season split with the UIC co-champs by handing them a 46-28 drubbing in this third match-up that had much more riding on it than just win-loss bragging rights.

For the second consecutive year, 1973 Kee High School graduate Ray Burroughs of Waukon created and sold an “Awesome Rides” classic car calendar to benefit all extracurricular activities in the Eastern Allamakee Community School District (EACSD). Pictured above, Burroughs (right) presents a $7,100 donation check to Eastern Allamakee Community School District PK-12 Principal Donna Thomas (left) during halftime of the Kee girls varsity basketball game of the Friday, February 7 boys and girls basketball doubleheader with MFL/MarMac. That donation amount is nearly double the $3,700

Burroughs was able to donate last year, and he said this year’s amount would not have been possible without the 36 sponsors who helped defray the costs of printing and creating the calendars. “The sponsors are what made this year’s larger donation possible, so please go see them for anything you might need, and tell them Ray the Calendar Guy sent you.”

The Waukon girls basketball team played through a busy week with undefeated results this past week, bringing its regular season to a close and opening its postseason tournament trail with consecutive wins over fellow Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) squad Crestwood to clinch sole possession of second place in the final NEIC standings and also take a first successful step forward in the Class 3A Region 3 Tournament. The Lady Indians opened the week with a 46-42 win at home over La Crescent-Hokah out of Minnesota Monday, February 10 before the week’s initial win over Crestwood, 43-35 at home, Tuesday, February 11 in their final regular season game. A second match-up of the week - and third of the season - with Crestwood, Saturday, February 15 at home, advanced the bucket Tribe further into postseason play while ending the Cadets’ season with a 44-40 Waukon victory in the opening round of Class 3A Region 3 tournament play.

The continuation of the 2024-2025 season was on the line for the Waukon boys wrestling team when the Tribe competed in its Class 2A District 9 Tournament at New Hampton Saturday, February 15. Needing an individual championship or runner-up finish in their respective weight classes in order to earn continuation of the season with qualification for the Class 2A State Tournament, the Indians had a pair of matmen wrestle their way to that accomplishment and make their way into this week’s State Tournament that begins this Wednesday, February 19.

Those two State qualifiers included freshman Kaden Mitchell winning the district title at 120 pounds and senior Holten Palmer wrestling his way to a runner-up finish at 157 pounds. That qualifying pair was part of nine out of 13 Indians competing in the tournament who grappled to top-four placewinnings to help the mat Tribe compile 117 team points and finish fifth in the eight-team final standings.

The Kee girls basketball team both ended its regular season and began its postseason in successful fashion this past week, continuing what has now become an eight-game winning streak to also continue its season further into the Class 1A Region 5 tournament bracket. The end to the Lady Hawks’ regular season featured a 53-41 home win over Spring Grove, MN Tuesday, February 11 before Kee’s bucket brigade began regional tournament play Thursday, February 13 with a 58-30 dominance of fellow Upper Iowa Conference (UIC) squad Clayton Ridge.

The two games the Waukon boys basketball team had on its schedule this past week were different in that one was played at home and outside the Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) and the other was on the road and played within its NEIC schedule. The similarities, however, were all too unfortunate, as both games came down to a final shot attempt at the buzzer, and both games ended up as three-point losses for the Indians when those final shots missed their mark, including a 71-68 loss at home to Central Elkader Monday, February 3 and a 66-63 NEIC loss at Charles City Friday, February 7.

The Waukon girls basketball team hosted a pair of non-conference opponents this past week, splitting those two contests for an even week on the court. The Lady Indians first secured a 50-32 home win over Central Elkader Monday, February 3 but had those tables turned Thursday, February 6 when Class 1A fifth-rated Riceville traveled to Waukon, as the Tribe fell by a 53-37 final tally.

Now holding a 12-7 season record, including a 3-2 mark in Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) play, the Lady Indians were next scheduled to host La Crescent-Hokah, MN Monday, February 10 and then against Crestwood Tuesday, February 11 to close out their regular season schedule. They will then host that same Crestwood team again to open their Class 3A Regional Tournament schedule this Saturday, February 15.