Okoboji’s volleyball team dropped a Siouxland Conference home match to West Lyon on Thursday, Sept. 7. The Wildcats topped the Pioneers 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-11) in Milford.

Spirit Lake’s volleyball team dropped a home match to interstate rival Jackson County Central on Thursday, Sept. 7. The Huskies defeated the Indians 3-0 in three closely contested sets. Jackson County Central took the opening set 25-21, the second set 25-20 and the third set 26-24.

With 34 kills in her team’s home match with Central Lyon on Tuesday, Sept. 5, Spirit Lake senior Fran Travis set the school’s single-game record. The previous mark was set by Emma Loveall, who recorded 32 kills in a five-set victory over Algona on Oct. 23, 2018.

The Indians fell 3-2 to the Lions on Tuesday.

Spirit Lake’s boys cross country team — led by meet champion Brandon Hughes — earned a first-place team finish at a meet hosted by Estherville Lincoln Central on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The Indians totaled 31 team points to defeat runner-up Algona’s total of 59.

Hughes placed first individually with his time of 16 minutes, 16.48 seconds. Runner-up Parker Duitsman of ELC finished in 17:09.13.

Harris-Lake Park’s volleyball team ran into a buzzsaw Tuesday night in a War Eagle Conference road matchup with second-ranked (2A) and undefeated Hinton. The Blackhawks dominated the Wolves 3-0 (25-5, 25-8, 25-9) in Hinton.

"It was a tough night,” Harris-Lake Park coach April Buss said. “Hinton is a good team and they hit hard. We just weren't prepared. We hustled all night and attacked the ball when we could. We saw some good things we can continue to build from."

Harris-Lake Park senior Landon Greve placed 20th at a meet hosted by Sibley-Ocheyedan on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Greve finished the race in 19 minutes, 19.69 seconds.

Okoboji’s boys cross country team — led by meet champion Evan Osler — placed first at a meet hosted by Sibley-Ocheyedan on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Okoboji’s girls squad — led by fifth-place finisher Maryn Frein — earned a runner-up finish, edging third-place Alta-Aurelia by a point and finish six points behind champion Hinton.

The 2023 August Roadside Count data is out, and pheasant hunters across the Hawkeye state received excellent news relating to this year’s pheasant season.

The statewide survey showed the highest statewide counts since 2015. The survey is conducted by Iowa DNR staff between Aug. 1-15, as they drive 218, 30-mile routes on gravel roads at dawn on mornings with heavy dew.

Walleye anglers were in for a treat when they attended the Chase Parsons Fishing Seminar held Saturday, Aug. 12, at the Okoboji Blue Water Festival.

Parsons, who has been a highly successful professional walleye angler for the past 20 years, and owner of the Next Bite TV program airing on the Discovery Channel, right away told a packed crowd, “I want to talk about techniques that we can use from one body of water to another.”

Several catchable trout stockings on a few trout streams in Northeast Iowa will be delayed until this week, the week of Sept. 11, due to low flows and high temperatures.

The select streams include Buck Creek, South Cedar, Otter Creek, West Canoe (Winneshiek County), Bear Creek (Fayette County), Brush Creek (Jackson County) and Dalton Pond (Jackson County). These streams are usually not stocked in July and August and resume in September due to stream water temperature concerns.

After suffering its first regular season loss in 23 months, Spirit Lake will look to bounce back this week against heated rival Spencer.

These two squads have met 10 times since 2010. Spirit Lake has dominated the series, winning nine of those meetings by an average margin of 14.8 points. Spencer’s only victory in that time span was a 26-13 win in 2017.

The Tigers are coming off of back-to-back losses to No. 4 (3A) Humboldt and No. 9 (3A) Webster City.

After suffering back-to-back close losses to North Union and Pocahontas Area the first two weeks of the season, Okoboji hopes to get on the winning track against an MOC-Floyd Valley team that is also 0-2. The Dutchmen have dropped games to No. 10 (2A) Unity Christian and defending state champion No. 2 (2A) Central Lyon/George-Little Rock to start the year.

Harris-Lake Park rolled to its first win of the 2023 season last week and the Wolves hope to keep that momentum heading into a Week 3 matchup with Northwood-Kensett.

The Vikings are 0-2 on the season after falling 42-28 to Janesville and 44-12 to GT/RA in the first two weeks of the season.

These two teams have met just four times in the last decade. The series is tied 2-2.

From the opening kickoff, Rockford knew it was in trouble.