Okoboji’s girls golf team placed fourth at a Siouxland Conference meet held Monday, April at Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City. The Pioneers carded a combined round of 223 on the day. MOC-Floyd Valley won the team title with a combined score of 195.

Lily Miller carded Okoboji’s low round with a 52. Morgan Elwood carded a 54. Kahla Peters carded a 55. Jaelyn Jostand carded a 62. Addilyn Larsen carded a 68.

Wow! Can Mother Nature ever throw things off. Just look at the late ice, the short ice fishing season and the early ice out! Then the warm weather faked out our trees, and they started to bud…wham, the freezing weather returned.

Then last week, I talked about the northern pike fyke netting that began at the end of March and it took until April 9 to finally get finished! Geez!

Most anglers, when they think back about memorable catches, remember the technique that was being used when that memorable catch took place. I consider myself very fortunate to have quite a few of those memories. Some of the most memorable catches occurred while we were employing what many consider to be a very simple technique: We were using slip bobbers.  

Iowa Department of Natural Resource (DNR) foresters are receiving reports of moderate to severe winter burn damage to arborvitae and white pine trees across Iowa, along with other trees experienced frost damage to their newly emerging blooms or shoots.

CONIFER UPDATE

Breeding Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) disappeared from Iowa in the mid-20th Century. Peregrine falcons historically nested on cliff ledges, but have also adapted to nest on human-made structures like tall buildings and bridges.

After suffering a lopsided loss to rival Spencer to open the girls soccer season, Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji bounced back with a 6-1 home win over Le Mars on Thursday, April 4.

“It was great to come back and have a decisive win,” SLPO coach Erick Turner said. “The girls flushed game one and got laser-focused on Le Mars. I saw a lot of growth out of our girls in Week 1 of the season.”

The Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls tennis team kicked off its season with a convincing home win over Cherokee on Thursday, April 4. SL-O defeated the Braves 6-3 at Speier Park in Okoboji.

“Our team's inexperience showed today, especially in doubles,” SL-O coach Bob O’Hara said. “We kept letting Cherokee back in matches but had moments of very good play.”

In singles, SL-O picked up wins from Izzie Wycoff, Cambrie Kleckner, Sydnee Struecker and Sally Androski.

The Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji boys soccer team suffered a third consecutive loss to start the season after dropping a 6-1 home match to Le Mars on Thursday, April 4.

“Our quality of play is insufficient,” SLPO boys soccer coach Alan Ditsworth said. “Rather drab atmosphere (around the team) right now. We need to continue searching for an identity. We have limited depth and now some injuries.”

The Spirit Lake-Okoboji boys tennis team dominated Lakes Conference rival Cherokee in its first time out for the 2024 season on Thursday, April 4. SL-O defeated the Braves 9-0 in Cherokee.

In singles, Alex Profit, Luke Schneider, Evan Beck, Bennett Stecker, JD Schneider and Philip Partello each earned convincing wins.

The Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji girls soccer team earned a second consecutive win following a dominant performance against Sheldon on Friday, April 5. SLPO dominated the Orabs 10-0 at Okoboji High School in Milford.

SLPO sophomore Claire Turner led the offense with seven goals. She also had an assist.

Freshman Anabel Sinz scored two goals and had one assist. Junior Lexie Powers had one goal and two assists. Senior Brooklyn Ferguson dished out two assists.

The Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji boys soccer team fell to 0-5 on the year following a narrow loss to Sheldon on Friday, April 5. The Orabs defeated SLPO 2-1 in Sheldon.

“We continue to struggle to score goals,” SLPO coach Alan Ditsworth said. “It was a winnable game, but could not finish opportunities.”

Harris-Lake Park’s girls track team placed fourth at a meet hosted by Western Christian on Friday, April 5 in Hull. The Wolves earned six top-four finishes and totaled 44.5 points on the day.

Harris-Lake Park’s boys track team placed seventh at the 2024 Western Christian Invite held Friday, April 5 at A.R. Hesla Field in Hull. The Wolves earned six top-five finishes and totaled 32 points on the day.

“I feel that our boys put together some gutsy performances in several different events,” Harris-Lake Park coach Matt Barnhart said. “I can see improvement across the board and I think the boys are seeing the results of the work we've been putting in.”

Harris-Lake Park’s boys and girls golf teams hosted War Eagle Conference foe Hinton Thursday, April 4 at Silver Lake Country Club in Lake Park. The Harris-Lake Park boys defeated the Blackhawks 185-196 and the girls fell 211-245.

“Golfers played well for the first meet out and not a lot of practice time outside due to the weather and course conditions,” Harris-Lake Park coach Tyler Vaudt said.

Okoboji’s girls golf team placed third at its home meet held Thursday, April 4 at Emerald Hills Golf Course in Arnolds Park. The Pioneers — led by sixth-place medalist Kahla Peters’ round of 49 — carded a combined round of 223 to place third overall.