Stories from Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Snow lingered on the ground outside, but more than 200 people at the Sami Center in Spirit Lake turned their thoughts to a steamy July night in 2014. Almost two months have passed since Okoboji was announced as an overnight stop for the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa...

If you haven't had a chance yet this week, please take a moment to visit dickinsoncountynews.com. Right next to our main headlines, there's a chance to enter a 2014 bracket challenge featuring local prizes and a chance to win $1 million. Yes, we said "bracket." It's NCAA Tournament time. ...

Iowa Lakes Community College technicians and the founders of YouTube shared a common goal in mid-February 2005. Both groups were trying to get their groundbreaking innovations online. Needless to say, we still use the video-sharing website to watch cats playing piano -- and we still use energy created by the first wind turbine installed at Iowa Lakes Community College...

Spirit Lake Park wrestler David Trucksess signed a letter of intent to wrestle for Northwestern College on Tuesday. The 2014 State Tournament qualifier said he chose Northwestern because of its campus atmosphere as well as the coaches. "It's a really nice school," he said. "I went to quite a few different ones and I really enjoyed the atmosphere at Northwestern and I liked coach Rik Dahl. He's a really nice guy."...

The 2013-14 girls basketball season was full of excitement and intrigue, as each Dickinson County team finished the year with a winning record and one earned a conference championship. In the postseason, all four squads lasted until at least the semifinal round of their respective regional tournament and two teams were a win away from a state tournament berth. For their effort, a total of 14 area athletes earned All-Conference honors. Below is a quick recap of how each team fared this year:...

This past weekend, the Iowa Lakes Community College men's basketball team fell a three-pointer shy of a second consecutive NJCAA National Tournament berth, as the Lakers fell 71-69 to No. 7-ranked Des Moines Area Community College on Saturday in the final round of the regional tournament. Entering the contest, however, the Lakers looked strong after besting Southwestern Community College and Kirkwood Community College on their way to the final...

Rosters have been finalized for the Dordt College Defender Gold Club/American State Bank High School Basketball All-Star games to be held on Saturday, March 22. The evening begins with the girls game at 5 p.m. and will be followed at about 6:30 p.m. with the boys game. A three-point shooting contest will be held at halftime of each game. All activities will take place at the De Witt Gym on the campus of Dordt College in Sioux Center...

On March 22, the Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji boys soccer team will be collecting redeemable cans and bottles for the start of their year fundraiser. This is following St. Patrick's weekend and items can be donated early or scheduled for pick up beginning March 18. ...

With spring on the approach -- hopefully -- it looked as though Spirit Lake and MOC-Floyd Valley were each preparing for the upcoming track season in Friday night's Class 3A District 2 boys basketball tournament final as the two teams sprinted up and down the hardwood in a thrilling postseason contest...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire boys basketball team's postseason run came to an end Tuesday, Feb. 25 when the Titans fell in a back and forth battle with Boyden-Hull in the semifinal round of the Class 1A District 2 tournament, 61-49. G-T/R-A took an early 16-12 lead thanks to the scoring of Andy Geelan and Connor Sturgill, but found the going much tougher in the second quarter, as Boyden-Hull outscored the Titans 19-9 to take a 31-25 lead into the locker room at halftime...