The Winter Athletics Season

As the winter athletics season comes to an end, it is essential to highlight the fantastic seasons all of our sports here at Waukee had. All teams have made astounding accomplishments this year; the boy’s basketball team has three wins vs. out-of-state top-five teams, Naomi Templeman won the CIML tournament for the Waukee girls wrestling team, and Waukee boys swimming won the state championship for a third year in a row. These are just a few highlights from this year’s winter athletics season at Waukee. 

Starting off with basketball. The girls’ and boys’ basketball teams have made huge improvements this year. Although the season is still ongoing for basketball, we have already had some vast accomplishments at Waukee. Junior Lydia Smith from the girl’s varsity and JV team expressed, “This year was different because of our team chemistry. We started playing as a team, and became closer with each other on and off the court.” This shined through onto the court and they started to see a difference in how they played. They became more successful and the games felt more uplifting. The boys have also had an amazing season so far; they have won 19 out of 21 games they have played so far this season. Head coach Kanaskie said, “My favorite part about coaching is just being around the players on a daily basis.” When asked about what went well this season, senior Cade Littlefield said, “I think we all had a lot of fun as a team. We have great chemistry and love playing and being on a team together.” Overall, it is clear that our Waukee basketball teams have had amazing relationships this year which has positively impacted their playing. 

Another sport that made a ton of accomplishments this year is wrestling. Three boys, Wes Anderson, Drew Pelton, and Blake Hauck qualified for state. Wes Anderson even made it to the quarter-finals. When asked about his favorite part of the season, Wes said, “My favorite part about the wrestling season is going into the practice room and getting better every day with our amazing coaching staff!” Not only did the state qualifiers have an amazing season. But all the boys involved worked hard and progressed immensely throughout the season. The girl’s wrestling team also had a successful season. Waukee joined with three other schools; Waukee Northwest, ADM, and Van Meter, to form the Raccoon River Wrestling program. Naomi Templeman from Waukee northwest won the CIML tournament. She and our own freshman Calista Rodish qualified for the Iowa State Championships. Coach Burch was asked about the highlights of the season and he responded, “We had around fifty girls come out for wrestling 8th-12th and almost all of them were new to the sport. The majority of them stayed out for the entire season and had a lot of success. The climate of the room was very positive. Girls from each school found new friendships they wouldn’t have made without joining the team.” A large number of participants in the program was substantial, considering it was the first year of the Raccoon River Wrestling program. 

Bowling also had a good season. Girls’ bowling had a different year than what they are used to. The girl’s bowling Coach Roberts said, “What was most surprising to me was the lack of students that tried out this season.” Although they may not have had as many participants as usual, they made the best out of the situation. Coach Roberts also exclaimed, “I enjoyed watching the relationships grow between the girls…I believe that all of the girls showed improvement in some aspect of their game.” They even had two girls, Cora Ostrem, and Adria Steinmetz qualify for state. Boys bowling also had a successful season. They won multiple titles this year as a team, and as individual players; this included Trey Hanke winning the Chris Paul Celebrity Invitational, and Owen Evans winning the individual conference.  As a team, they won first at districts and qualified for the State Championships. 

The last winter sport here at Waukee is boys swimming. They had an outstanding season! Not only were they state champions, but they scored the most team points ever scored in an Iowa championship meet. Individual state champions were AJ Abram, James Coffey, Cooper Rogers, Sam Davey, and Asher Havenhill. They even made three new school records in different events. Not only did they succeed in races, but James Coffey and Cooper Rogers were named as the Senior Scholastic athletes. The Waukee boy’s swim team showed up this season and watched their hard work pay off. 

All in all, every single winter sport at Waukee worked extremely hard to make their dreams of the season a reality. The drive and passion in every student and coach are the reasons Waukee was so successful this winter season. All the hard work paid off and every team made incredible accomplishments that deserve to be recognized.