Stories from Monday, September 14, 2015

The Spirit Lake Fire Department always has one mission in mind -- to save lives and property. This year, the community fire department celebrates 125 years of firefighting, pancake feeds, parades, and dances. Since the department's creation on Feb. 23, 1890, there have been 375 members. The first official crew featured 21 Spirit Lake residents. The 2015 department has 30 members...

Since taking over the Harris-Lake Park volleyball program in 1998, coach Daryl Meyer has experienced the ups and downs of coaching a small school program. But one thing has always remained steady: his passion for the game. "Daryl has a very good relationships with the athletes and he has high expectations," H-LP activities director Ashley Fisher said. ...

After demolishing then No. 4-ranked Central Lyon/George-Little Rock 42-8 at home on Friday, the Spirit Lake football team saw no movement in the latest Associated Press rankings released on Monday. The Indians stayed steady at No. 2, garnering three first place votes, behind top-ranked Albia in Class 2A...

Blake Lineweaver and Mari Stein continued to lead the Okoboji boys and girls cross country teams, respectively, as the Pioneers ran at the 2015 Tim Thomas Classic held in Holstein on Saturday. Lineweaver earned a 14th-place finish to pace either Okoboji squad with a time of 17 minutes, 27.44 seconds, and Stein had the highest girls finish with her 25th-place time of 21:03.08...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire volleyball team went 0-4 at a tournament hosted by Emmetsburg over the weekend, as the Titans fell to the E-Hawks, Bishop Garrigan and twice to Storm Lake on Saturday. The Titans lost to the Tornadoes, Golden Bears and E-Hawks in straight sets before squaring off with Storm Lake once more in the consolation round...

The Iowa Lakes women's soccer team was blanked 9-0 in a home contest with Iowa Western on Wednesday. The Lakers were shorthanded with two players out with concussions and another with a sprained ankle, so they attempted a defensive shell to start the match with all 11 players holding in the defensive end of the field...

Harris-Lake Park put the pedal to the metal in a home contest against War Eagle Conference rival Gehlen Catholic on Thursday, but in the end, the No. 13-ranked Wolves ran their tanks empty in a five-set loss to the No. 5-ranked Lady Jays. It was a back-and-forth affair from the opening serve, as H-LP opened with an emotional 25-22 win in the opening set before a heart-breaking 27-25 loss in the second. ...

The Okoboji volleyball team fought well, but ultimately fell to Class 1A No. 4-ranked Central Lyon on Thursday, as the Lions topped the Pioneers in four. Okoboji lost a narrow opening set 25-23 before bouncing back to knot the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 win in the second set...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire volleyball team was swept in a Twin Lakes Conference road trip to Storm Lake, as the Titans fell to St. Mary's 25-22, 25-10 and 26-24. "Tonight was a step in the right direction for this team even though we didn't get the result that we wanted in terms of the win," GT/RA coach John Fulton said. ...

The Iowa Lakes volleyball team earned a four-set victory over visiting Southwestern Community College on Wednesday night. After dropping the opening set 25-21 to the Spartans, the Lakers stormed back to win 25-14 in the second, 25-18 in the third and 25-20 in the fourth and final set to win the match...

Spirit Lake freshman phenom Kourtney Delperdang continued her dominance over the rest of northwest Iowa on Tuesday, as the first-year runner cruised to her third consecutive victory of the season at a meet hosted by Estherville Lincoln Central. Delperdang, in just her third varsity race, won by more than 20 seconds as she crossed the finish line in 20 minutes, 37.31 seconds to beat runner-up Morgan Roberts of Spencer (20:58.58)...