Stories from Wednesday, February 22, 2017

After 1.5 years with no agriculture teacher, Spirit Lake High School has officially started a new FFA chapter and they couldn't be more excited about it. They relied on volunteers to keep the FFA chapter going. Emily Lair is the new ag teacher and FFA advisor...

Dickinson County places three wrestlers on state wrestling tournament podium

In each of his three trips to Wells Fargo Arena, Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Kolton Roth has climbed higher and higher on the Class 1A podium. After missing the podium as a freshman, and placing fifth as a sophomore, the GT/RA junior capped off his most recent appearance at "The Well" with a fourth-place finish at 132 pounds this past week...

Spirit Lake Park brought six wrestlers to the state tournament and two earned a place on the Class 2A podium Saturday night, as senior John Tuttle placed fourth and sophomore Dakoda Powell placed sixth in their respective weight classes. "I thought it was a great tournament for us as a team and us individually," Spirit Lake Park coach Andrew Lundgren said. ...

The Harris-Lake Park boys basketball team saw its season come to a close Tuesday night in the semifinal round of the district tournament in Hull, as the Wolves lost 75-63 to George-Little Rock. The Wolves got out to a hot start spearheaded by senior forward Jordan Kyle, who nailed a trio of three-pointers to give his squad an 11-8 lead. ...

Fifth-ranked Spirit Lake nearly saw its season come to an end Monday, as Spencer – led by a 28-point scoring outburst by junior Brady Kluender — twice took leads in the third quarter. However, the Indians buckled down in the final frame, knocking down 16 of 18 shots from the charity stripe to salt away a 67-49 home win in the opening round of district tournament play...

Coming off of a frustrating regular season in which the Harris-Lake Park boys basketball team finished below .500, coach Jeff Sohn said his squad was motivated as it prepared for the postseason. "This has kind of been a frustrating regular season for the Wolves basketball team," Sohn said following the Wolves regular season finale win over Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire. ...

Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire held a narrow lead for the majority of Thursday nights district quarterfinal matchup with George-Little Rock, but the Mustangs closed that gap and took control late to end the Titan's season with a 67-62 loss in George...

Spirit Lake faced a tall task Wednesday night, needing a win over undefeated and top-ranked Sioux Center to keep its season alive. Unfortunately, the Indians struggled out of the gates, and the Warriors took advantage in a 63-39 rout in the regional tournament semifinals...

After slipping past Clay Central-Everly in the opening round of regional tournament play, the Harris-Lake Park girls basketball team ran into a buzzsaw Tuesday, Feb. 14, as the Wolves fell 75-40 to fourth-ranked Newell-Fonda. The Mustangs, led by sophomores Olivia Larsen and Emma Stewart, never trailed in the contest, taking a 26-11 lead after one quarter of play and a 53-23 lead at the half. ...

Coming off a rousing 57-25 road win over West Bend Mallard in the first round of regional tournament play, the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire girls basketball team struggled to score in a 36-29 loss to Bishop Garrigan Tuesday, Feb. 14 in Algona...

Each year the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club (IGLFC) holds an early spring fishing seminar at the Hap Ketelsen Center in Everly. This is a great opportunity, because it is close to home, and the speaker is always top notch. This year’s seminar, which will be held on Thursday, March 2 will feature Cory Ewing, guide and owner of the Waubay Lake Guide Service in northeast South Dakota...

Things change: That’s true in life, and it’s true in fishing. This past open water season and recently while ice-fishing I realized some changes that I found to be interesting. Following are some of those changes. Consider Clear Lake in north central Iowa: When I was learning to fish many years ago, Clear Lake was mostly a bullhead lake. ...

Red roses, white carnations, pink gerber daisies, stargazer lilies --- in February, these mean love. Flowers have always been a classic way to say, “I love you,” but that expression can go beyond bouquets. Planting flowers in your yard can be the perfect way to express love to the Earth as well...

Johnson’s Reception Hall in Elkader hosted a standing room only crowd of hunters, landowners and area residents on Monday night, Feb. 13. They were there to learn about chronic wasting disease and then gave their thoughts on how they wanted to address it...

The 2017 spring Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop will be held April 28-30 at Honey Creek Resort State Park, in Moravia. Becoming an Outdoors-Woman is an international program aimed primarily at women, but is an opportunity for anyone 18 years or older to learn outdoor skills usually associated with hunting and fishing, but useful for many outdoor pursuits...