Okoboji’s volleyball team battled Siouxland Conference foe Central Lyon on Thursday, Sept. 26. The Lions defeated the Pioneers 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 26-24) in Milford.

Spirit Lake has been dominant over the last four weeks.

The Indians have beaten Sioux Center, Spencer, Forest City and Okoboji by a combined score of 184-20 while pushing their overall record to 4-1 and their district record to 2-0.

After suffering a setback against Dickinson County rival Spirit Lake last week, Okoboji will look to rebound this week when the Pioneers (3-2, 2-1) take on Garner-Hayfield-Ventura (1-4, 1-1) on homecoming night in Milford.

The Cardinals are coming off of a 24-14 loss to Forest City last week after earning their first and only win the previous Friday — a 21-0 victory over district foe Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.

CLASH WITH THE CARDINALS

After suffering back-to-back lopsided losses to Newell-Fonda and West Bend-Mallard, Harris-Lake Park will need to do some soul-searching ahead of a clash with undefeated rival Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire this week.

The Wolves (2-3, 1-2) and Titans (5-0, 3-0) will square off Thursday, Oct. 3 in Ruthven.

This series has been extremely close over the years with GT/RA leading 7-5 since 2008.

Spirit Lake’s cross country team competed at a meet hosted by Algona on Monday, Sept. 30. The boys placed third and the girls placed 12th at River Road Golf Club in Algona.

Okoboji’s boys cross country team earned a runner-up finish and the girls team placed ninth at a meet hosted by Algona on Monday, Sept. 30. The boys totaled 71 points and the girls totaled 261 points at River Road Golf Club in Algona.

Okoboji’s volleyball team went 2-2 at a tournament hosted by Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Pioneers picked up a pair of 2-0 win over the host Hawks and Sioux City West, but fell 2-1 to both Rock Valley and Newell-Fonda.

Okoboji opened its day by defeating Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 21-8 and 21-16.

Spirit Lake’s cross country team competed at a meet hosted by Sioux Center on Thursday, Sept. 26. The boys team placed third overall and the girls placed 12th at the Dordt University cross country course.

The Spirit Lake boys were led by Brandon Hughes and Dietrich Dirks who placed in the top three individually. Spirit Lake coach Kyle Zankowski said his team performed well overall.

Okoboji’s boys and girls cross country teams competed at a meet held Thursday, Sept. 26 at the Dordt University cross country course in Sioux Center. The boys earned a runner-up finish and the girls placed 11th overall on the day.

Okoboji’s boys team totaled 103 points to edge third-place Spirit Lake by six. Evan Osler and Trigg Heimdal led the way with their top-10 finishes. Osler placed sixth in just over 17 minutes. Heimdal placed seventh in 17 minutes, 1.68 seconds.

Spirit Lake’s volleyball team dropped a nonconference road match to No. 3 (3A) Western Christian on Tuesday, Sept. 24. The Wolfpack defeated the Indians 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-19) in Hull.

Anabel Sinz and Lauren Travis led the offense with four kills each. Kinley Dodds had three kills and Anthea Leupold had two kills. Ellie Bolluyt had a team-high nine assists.

Harris-Lake Park’s volleyball team dropped a War Eagle Conference road match to Remsen St. Mary’s on Tuesday, Sept. 24. The Hawks defeated the Wolves 3-0 in Remsen.

Habitat and weather are the two factors often tied to the pheasant population numbers. Each year, the Iowa DNR’s August Roadside Count data reflects those two variables. Since 1962, the Iowa DNR has conducted the August Roadside Survey, generating data from approximately 225/30-mile routes on Iowa’s upland game: ring-necked pheasants, bobwhite quail, gray partridge, cottontail rabbits, and white-tailed jackrabbits.

When it comes to fishing and life, it pays to be in the right place at the right time. Following are some examples from personal experience when being in the right place at the right time was extremely helpful to my fishing and fishing career.

Fish catching related: Musky expert Don Pursch and I were chasing muskies. We had been fishing all day and success was very limited. This was at a time when anglers had started to pay attention to solunar tables.  

On a recent interview with Mike Hawkins, fisheries biologist with the Iowa DNR, he and I discussed the ongoing renovation project taking place at West Swan Lake located southeast of Gruver. The project began in the fall of 2022 with the goal for the renovation to be complete and ready for restocking this past spring, but Mother Nature didn’t cooperate.

Forest City was no match for top-ranked Spirit Lake.

The returning Class 2A state semifinalists torched Forest City 56-0 to open district play on Friday, Sept. 20, outscoring the visitors 49-0 in the first half alone.