Okoboji’s boys golf season ended Wednesday, May 10 at the Class 2A sectional tournament played at Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City.

Western Christian won the team title with a combined score of 303 and Alta-Aurelia placed second with a 320.

Okoboji’s girls golf team wrapped its regular season slate Tuesday, May 9 with a Siouxland Conference meet at Landsmeer Golf Club in Orange City. The Pioneers carded a 193 to place third on the front and a 200 to place fourth on the back.

Zoey Smith-Stecker, Karli Fife and Kahla Peters each carded rounds of 48 on the front nine. Morgan Elwood shot a 49 to fill the team score. Lily Miller shot a 57 and Jaelyn Jostand shot a 60.

Harris-Lake Park’s boys golf season came to a close at the Class 1A sectional tournament held Tuesday, May 9 at Primghar Golf & Country Club in Primghar. The Wolves carded a combined round of 397 to finish last among the seven teams present.

The open water fishing season of 2023 has arrived! A good number of anglers live in regions where it’s open water fishing season year ‘round, but many others don’t. A lot of anglers who live where lakes get iced-over enjoy ice fishing, but warm weather and open water gets us excited about casting or trolling a lure instead of dropping it through a hole in the ice. And we have high expectations for open water fishing.  

There’s a pretty good chance that, in the next several weeks, Northeast Iowa will be visited by a few wandering black bears coming down from Minnesota and Wisconsin ahead of the breeding season. It’s been an annual occurrence in this region each spring since 2014.

Spirit Lake’s boys track team, last year’s Class 2A state champions, proved to be the class of the Lakes Conference for a third consecutive season after winning yet another conference crown Thursday, May 4 at Estherville. The Indians totaled 163 team points on the day, besting runner-up Spencer by more than 43 points, to collect the 11th Lakes Conference boys track championship in program history.

Despite a several-day weather delay, Okoboji’s boys track team was dominant in securing a Siouxland Conference championship this past week. The Pioneers totaled 130 team points – 37 more than runner-up Central Lyon — at the 2023 Siouxland Conference Championships which began Thursday, May 4 and finished Monday, May 8 at West Lyon High School in Inwood.

Spirit Lake’s girls track team earned a runner-up finish at the 2023 Lakes Conference Championships held Thursday, May 4 at Estherville Lincoln Central High School in Estherville. The Indians totaled 96 team points on the day to finish 26 points behind conference champion Spencer.

It took an extra day to wrap up due to a weather delay, but Okoboji’s girls track team put together a solid showing at the 2023 Siouxland Conference championships which began Thursday, May 4 and finished Monday, May 8 at West Lyon High School in Inwood. The Pioneers placed sixth overall and had seven top-three performances.

Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji’s boys soccer team earned a thrilling home victory over Unity Christian on Monday, May 8. SLPO defeated the Knights 2-1 in sudden victory at Okoboji High School in Milford.

“What an incredible finish,” SLPO boys coach Alan Ditsworth said. “This was a wild one to say the least.”

After trailing 1-0 at halftime, SLPO fought back to knot the contest at 1-1 with a second-half goal by Kaleb Lee.

Spirit Lake’s girls golf team earned a fourth-place finish at the Lakes Conference tournament held Monday, May 8 at Okoboji View Golf Course. The Indians combined to shoot a 406, finishing six strokes out of second place and 54 strokes behind tournament champion Spencer.

The Tigers took first place with a round of 352. Runner-up Estherville Lincoln Central and third-place finisher Cherokee both carded rounds of 400. Storm Lake carded a 438 to place fifth.

Spirit Lake’s boys golf team earned a third-place finish at the Lakes Conference tournament held Monday, May 8 at Cherokee. The Indians combined to shoot a 345, finishing three strokes behind runner-up Storm Lake and 22 strokes behind champion Spencer.

Spirit Lake-Okoboji’s boys tennis team competed at the Class 1A district singles and doubles tournament held Monday, May 8 at Carroll. The squad did not advance a singles player or doubles team to the next round.

In singles, Caleb Frostestad fell to Kuemper Catholic’s Mason Reicks and Connor Cunningham fell to Ballard’s Caden Miller.

Spirit Lake’s boys track team rested most of its athletes, but put together a solid showing at a boys meet hosted by Spencer on Monday, May 8. The Indians placed fifth overall and had eight top-three finishes at their final regular season meet of the year.