Stories from Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Two years removed from a 15-year run of Lakes Conference Tournament titles, the Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls tennis team reclaimed its place atop the throne with a dominant performance Wednesday at Riverview Tennis Courts in Spencer. With four First Team All-Lakes Conference performers and two Honorable Mentions, SL-O put together one of the most memorable tournaments in the last decade...

Okoboji track athletes competed against the best the conference has to offer on Thursday, as the Pioneers traveled to Hull to compete at the Siouxland Conference Championships at Hesla Field. The Pioneer girls placed eight in the top three to seal a third-place team finish, and the boys placed three in the top three to place eighth...

With seven champions and 15 top-three finishes, the Spirit Lake boys track team lapped the competition Thursday night, cruising to a 35-point team victory and a Lakes Conference championship at Hoyt Luithly Field in Estherville. "I am so proud of our boys tonight," Spirit Lake coach Brad Travis said. ...

Coming off of back-to-back losses to Le Mars and Spencer, and battling the after effects of prom weekend, the Spirit Lake-Okoboji boys tennis team showed no signs of stress Monday in a dominant 8-1 win over Storm Lake at Speier Park. SL-O suffered just one singles loss on the day, and earned most of their match victories by substantial margins...

With two days until the state qualifying meet, the Spirit Lake boys track team brought a skeleton crew to Spencer on Monday. Still, according the coach Brad Travis, the Indians performed well, as they earned five top-three finishes on the night. "The boys who made the trip tonight ran very well and had many (personal bests) and some chances to run some races and events some of our guys have not competed in for awhile," he said. "Now, we enter districts this coming Thursday."...

The Okoboji boys golf team combined for a nine-hole score of 167 to finish nine strokes off the lead and five strokes out of second place Tuesday night, as the Pioneers placed third at their Siouxland Conference home meet at Emerald Hills. Ian Brandt carded a 39 to place fifth individually for the Pioneers. Nik Mankle carded a 41. Sean Greiner carded a 43, and Seth Feller rounded out the scoring with a 44. Non-counting rounds came from Jamison Helmers with a 46 and Michael Allen with a 53...

The Spirit Lake-Okoboji boys tennis team snapped a two-match losing skid with a win over Storm Lake on Monday, and started a new winning streak Tuesday with an 8-1 win over Cherokee despite resting some starters. "Today we chose to have some of our usual varsity singles players rest, both to keep them fresh for districts on Thursday, and to give some younger guys not eh team an opportunity to play in a varsity meet," SL-O coach Dan Taylor said. ...

The Harris-Lake Park girls golf team placed sixth overall at the War Eagle Conference tournament held Tuesday in Orange City. Kenzie Heikens carded the Wolves' low round, shooting a 102 to place 13th individually. Akron-Westfield took the team title at the meet hosted by Unity Christian...

The Harris-Lake Park boys and Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshires boys and girls track teams competed at a meet hosted by Sioux Central on Monday. H-LP earned a pair of top three finishes, while GT/RA totaled nine. Eddie Tapia earned the highest finish for the Wolves, winning the 400-meter hurdles in 58.41 seconds. Tapia also helped Trevor Gunderson, Keegan Carpenter and Cale Hellinga to a third-place time of 1 minute, 42.62 seconds in the sprint medley relay...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji clinched a decade of dominance on Monday, winning a 10th consecutive Lakes Conference dual meet championship with a 9-0 road win over Storm Lake. A streak unequalled in Lakes Conference tennis history. "It shows the kind of kids that these two schools produce," Spirit Lake-Okoboji coach Bob O'Hara said. ...

Senior Jordan Kyle carded a ninth-place round of 85 to lead the Harris-Lake Park boys golf squad to a third-place finish at the War Eagle Conference boys golf tournament in Sioux Center on Monday. The Wolves combined for a team score of 355 to finish behind Unity Christian (331) and Hinton (332). ...

Marta Asensio Povar has been a dynamic addition to the Spirit Lake girls golf program this year. The foreign exchange student from Zaragoza, Spain has been dominant in the Lakes Conference this season. That dominance continued Monday at the Lakes Conference Tournament, as Asensio Povar ran away with the individual title and helped her team to a runner-up finish at Okoboji View...

The Spirit Lake boys golf team earned a fourth-place finish at the Lakes Conference boys golf tournament held Monday in Le Mars. Spencer won the team title and had six players earn All-Conference honors. Only eight golfers earn that recognition. No Indians were on the list...

For the second straight game, the Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji girls soccer squad earned a 6-0 victory Monday. This time in a road contest with Sioux Center. It was the third straight victory for the Indians, who were coming off of a 7-1 win over Unity Christian on Tuesday, May 2, and a 6-0 win over West Sioux on Thursday, May 4...

Okoboji sophomore Hannah Butler earned a two-stroke victory at a Siouxland Conference girls golf meet in Sioux Center on Monday. Butler, a sixth-place finisher at last year's state tournament, carded a 41 to lead the Pioneers to a third-place team finish behind champion MOC-Floyd Valley and runner-up Sibley-Ocheyedan...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire boys golf team defeated Sioux Central, Pocahontas Area and West Bend-Mallard at a quad hosted by the Rebels in Sioux Rapids on Monday. Tyson Kruse earned medalist honors for the Titans, and teammate Noah Flaherty was runner-up medalist...

Led by Marta Asensio Povar's medalist round of 77, the Spirit Lake girls golf team earned a 14-stroke win at a meet hosted by Spencer on Saturday. The Indians carded a combined score of 375 to defeat runner-up Spencer (389). "These girls keep working hard and scoring well," Spirit Lake coach Lucas Doxtad said. "It will be nice when regionals come around and we have some time to work on fine tuning."...

There was a bit of confusion at a tennis tournament hosted by Spencer on Saturday. Tournament officials announced that Spirit Lake-Okoboji had won the team championship, but later retracted that statement and named Denison-Schleswig champions upon further review...

On Saturday, the Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji boys soccer team traveled to a tournament hosted by Waverly-Shell Rock. The Indians went 1-2 on the day. SLP-O followed a 1-0 loss to Fort Dodge and a 4-1 loss to Gladbeck-Reinbeck with a 4-2 win over Clear Lake...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji boys tennis played Spencer close in several matches, but the Tigers ran away with a convincing 7-2 win in Spencer on Thursday. The Tigers picked up five singles wins and two more in doubles. "This meet was very much like the first time we played Spencer," SL-O boys coach Dan Taylor said. ...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls tennis earned its eighth win of the season easily Thursday afternoon, as the hosts swept Spencer 9-0 at Speier Park. SL-O had the win in the bag before the end of singles play, allowing the team to play a pair of reserve seniors in doubles...

Okoboji girls and boys golfers were on the road Thursday at Siouxland Conference meets in Hull and Sioux Center, respectively. The girls placed third with their combined score of 206. The boys placed fifth with their score of 167. Martha Stein led the Pioneer girls with her third-place medalist round of 45 in Hull. Hannah Butler placed sixth with her round of 47...

The Harris-Lake Park boys and girls golf teams split a home meet with Remsen St. Mary's on Thursday. The boys defeated the Hawks 178-182. The girls fell 224-248. Remsen St. Mary's Derrick Schorg earned medalist honors in the boys' meet, but the Wolves, led by Bryce Perkins' runner-up medalist round of 43, did enough to edge the Hawks by four strokes...

The Harris-Lake Park boys track team placed four events in the top five at a meet hosted by Kingsley-Pierson/Woodbury Central on Thursday. The distance medley team of Trevor Gunderson, Keegan Carpenter, Eddie Tapia and Aaron Erne led the way with a runner-up finish. The quartet finished in 4 minutes, 13.02 seconds...

The Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji girls soccer squads hosted West Sioux on Thursday. The girls earned a 6-0 victory over the Falcons. The West Sioux boys forfeited their match. In the girls contest, Hannah Poolman and Anna Ellefson scored a pair of goals. Josie Byers and Hazkhett Zeledon scored one goal each...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire boys and girls track teams competed against the Twin Lakes Conference's best Tuesday, May 2 in Sioux Rapids, coming away with a pair of conference champion relay teams. The boys sprint medley team of Nate Larson, Kolton Roth, Eric Sundall and Jake Conlon won in 1 minute, 38.4 seconds, and Roth, Conlon, Sundall and Chris Conlon won in 8:43.70. Both were school records...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji gave Le Mars its greatest test of the Lakes Conference boys tennis season Tuesday, May 2 at Speier Park, but the hosts fell short of an upset, losing 6-3 to the Bulldogs. "This was the tightest meet score-wise Le Mars has had all season, and we certainly could have come out on top," SL-O coach Dan Taylor said. ...

Facing an improved Le Mars squad for their second meeting of the season, the Spirit Lake-Okoboji girls tennis team's progression was also evident as the squad earned a second 8-1 victory over the Bulldogs to sweep the season series on Tuesday, May 2...

The Okoboji boys track team earned four top-five finishes Tuesday, May 2 at the Hackbarth Relays in Algona to place ninth overall. Freshman Joe Stein led the way, going sub 7 seconds in the 100-meter dash to win with a final time of 10.97 seconds, and finishing second in the 200-meter dash in 23.02 seconds...

The Harris-Lake Park boys track team competed at the War Eagle Conference track meet Tuesday, May 2 in Marcus. The Wolves were led by a runner-up finish from Eddie Tapia, who finished the 400-meter hurdles in 59.75 seconds. Tapia also helped Trevor Gunderson, Keegan Carpenter and Aaron Erne to a fourth-place finish in the distance medley. The quartet finished in 4 minutes, 6.1 seconds...

The Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji girls soccer team bounced back in a big way Tuesday, May 2, outscoring Unity Christian 7-1 in a home victory over the Knights. The Indians had struggled to score in back-to-back matches with MOC-Floyd Valley and Spencer, but junior Hannah Poolman sent four into the back of the net to lift the Indians to victory...

I’ve been a boat owner for over 40 years and for the most part have enjoyed my boating experiences. At the same time, along the way I have witnessed and been part of mistakes that have certainly affected those experiences. Some have been laughable, some what I would call “stupidity at its height” and some that could have become extremely serious. ...

A new fishing season is underway. Some anglers commit themselves to trying new baits and techniques every new season. They feel that trying new things makes them a more complete, versatile angler, and they’re right. If you’re one of those curious people who wants to catch more fish, and if you haven’t already done so, a fishing tool that you should try is a planer board. ...

On Monday, May 8, Mark Peterson of Underwater Solutions docked his new commercial mechanical vegetation harvester at the Highway 9 public dock to show members of the East Okoboji Lakes Improvement Corporation. The harvester will help combat the curlyleaf pondweed that will soon reach the surface and cause a full mat of vegetation. The machine will be used to create 20-foot wide traffic lanes on the north end of East Okoboji north of the narrows...

Iowans are always concerned about the weather and what the upcoming seasons are as far was water is concerned. For the first time in almost a year, none of Iowa is shown in any form of drought or dryness in the latest Water Summary Update.  Conditions in Iowa continue to improve, especially in the areas of southeast Iowa that had been dry over the winter. ...

The Iowa DNR Air Quality Bureau (DNR) invites the public to provide informal comments on a draft rulemaking proposal. The purpose of the proposed airy quality rule changes is to: Rescind unnecessary rules and update other rules to provide regulatory certainty and flexibility. The draft rules will implement a portion of the Iowa DNR's 5-year rules review plan to accomplish the requirements of Iowa Code section 17A.7(2). ...

As we learn more about air pollution’s effects on human health, it makes sense to do everything we can to keep our air clean and our communities healthy. Saving energy cuts air pollution, plus it saves money. Tips one to five are easy to do. Tips six to nine deal with cars, a big source of pollution...

Seven Iowa Lakes Community College Softball athletes were named to the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Division II Softball All-Region teams.   Named to the first team were sophomore catcher Deanna Gerrard and sophomore infielder Lauren Hein. Gerrard, from Southey, SK, Canada, finished the season with a .471 batting average, .536 on base percentage, and .813 slugging percentage. ...

Iowa Lakes women's basketball player Lauryn Smith signed her letter of intent to continue her collegiate career at Augusta University, a Division II institution located in Augusta, Georgia. Lauryn will also continue pursuing her academic career in Athletic Training/Physical Therapy...

Iowa Lakes women's basketball player Tristyn Dunivant signed her letter of intent to continue her athletic career at Nebraska Christian College (NCC), an NCCAA Division I institution located in Papillion, NE. Tristyn will also continue pursuing her academic career in Human Development and Psychology at NCC...

Iowa Lakes Community College softball coach Katie Larson announced the signing of Lexi Pallisco to the 2017-2018 recruiting class. Lexi is the daughter of Jane Pallisco and played for Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado.   “We welcome Lexi Pallisco and her family to Iowa Lakes softball today,” Larson said. “Her work ethic and love for the game are the traits that we want future Laker softball players to exemplify as well.” ...

Iowa Lakes Community College softball coach Katie Larson announced the signing of Kacie Salazar to the 2017-2018 recruiting class. Kacie is the daughter of Jerry and Jane Salazar and played for the Ridgeview High School Wolfpack.  "We are very excited to welcome Kacie and her family to our Laker softball program," Larson said. ...

Purdue Northwest University has signed an Iowa Lakes Community College men’s soccer player. Renato Silva, midfielder, appeared in 12 games for the Lakers.  He registered nine goals in his sophomore season – third highest scorer for the season – with two of his goals being game winners. He also added four assists to his statistics...

Spirit Lake continued it's hot start to the girls golf season despite facing wet, cold and windy weather at a home meet on Friday. The Indians, led by foreign exchange student Marta Asensio Povar, carded a combined score of 187 to earn a nine-stroke victory over Lakes Conference foe Spencer and a 21-stroke win over Sheldon...

After scoring 15 goals in four wins to start the season, the Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji girls soccer team has struggled to score in losses to Western Christian, Waverly-Shell Rock and, most recently, Spencer on Thursday, while falling to 6-3 overall. The Indians showed promise in a 6-0 win over Clear Lake at a weekend tournament in Waverly late last month, but have gone 1-1 since with a 1-0 win over MOC-Floyd Valley and a 3-0 road loss to the Tigers...

Okoboji hosted some of the area's best boys golfers Saturday at Emerald Hills. The Pioneers' Black squad placed second behind tournament champion Boyden-Hull. Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire placed third and Spirit Lake finished in a tie for fifth on the day. Okoboji's Maroon team placed eighth...

Spirit Lake sent a pair of relay teams to the 2017 Drake Relays and came away motivated to make a deep run in the quickly approaching postseason. Competing against the best squads in the state, most of it under cloudy and rainy conditions inside Drake Stadium in Des Moines the 4x800-meter relay team of Mason McCaffery, Adam Skopec, Ryan Maris and Zach Renken placed 14th with a time of 8 minutes, 12.39 seconds, and the shuttle hurdle relay team of Brock Jungjohan, Mat Moody, Dawson Ahrenstroff and Renken placed 50th in 45.18 seconds.. ...

The Spirit Lake Park girls track team played host to the 32nd Sheryl Maahs Relays Tuesday in Spirit Lake, placing second in the team standing behind champion Algona. The Bulldogs won with a total of 142 points in the five-team meet, topping the Indians (94), Emmetsburg (63), Okoboji (60) and Estherville Lincoln Central (27)...

The Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire boys golf team hosted East Sac County, South Central Calhoun and Sioux Central at Hillcrest Golf Course in Graettinger Tuesday. The Titans carded a 180 to finish behind champion East Sac County (164) and runner-up South Central Calhoun (166). Sioux Central placed fourth with a combined score of 191...

The Spirit Lake boys golf team lost a home meet with Lakes Conference foe Estherville Lincoln Central on Tuesday afternoon at Brooks Golf Club. The Midgets edged the Indians by 15 strokes, 161-176. Spirit Lake's Cameron Dau and Ryer Donkersloot carded the Indians' low rounds on the day, as the duo finished with matching scores of 42...

Adrian Martin carded a 41 to earn medalist honors and lead the Harris-Lake Park boys golf team to a15-stroke home win over Akron-Westfield at Silver Lake Country Club Friday. Despite playing in extreme cold and wind, the H-LP freshman was clutch for the Wolves, who defeated the Westerners 169-184...

The Spirit Lake boys golf team carded a combined round of 194 to fall to Sheldon and Spencer at a meet hosted by the Tigers on Friday. Facing cold and wind, the Indians struggled to keep up with the pace set by the Orabs, who carded a 156 to edge Spencer by six strokes...

Okoboji and Harris-Lake Park boys and girls track athletes competed at the Nighthawk Relays hosted by Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley Friday in Hull. The Okoboji girls earned third-place finish while the 'Boji boys placed sixth and the H-LP boys placed ninth...

Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire boys and girls golf teams hosted Emmetsburg and West Bend-Mallard on a windy and cold Friday evening at Hillcrest Golf Course in Graettinger. The Titan boys carded a team score of 166 to earn a one-stroke win over the E-Hawks and a 68-stroke win over the third-place Wolverines...

The Spirit Lake Noon Kiwanis Club will sponsor the 2017 Live Healthy Iowa Kids Track Championships, slated for Tuesday, May 16. Registration begins at 3:30 p.m. and field events begin at 3:45 p.m. All area boys and girls ages 7-12 are invited to participate. Students from surrounding communities enrolled in these school districts are invited to attend. Winners in the meet will advance to the state championships in Marshalltown on Saturday, June 10, 2017...

The Boji Bay Ice Arena will host an informational meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 3 to talk about its summer roller hockey program. Adults play Sunday evenings May 7-Sept. 3. Youth play Wednesdays May 10-Aug. 2. For more information, or to register for the whole season, visit www.bojibayice.com...

For the past 15-20 years, open water and ice anglers have headed to northeast South Dakota, where wet year after wet year have turned sloughs, marshes and lakes have turned into world class fishing lakes. Huge walleyes, perch and crappies have become the norm, and anglers come from all over the country to try their luck...

The fishing season in several states across the Midwest will be opening soon. n areas where seasons are open year ‘round, anglers are already out there chasing walleyes, northern pike, bass, and panfish. The next few weeks and months are the most popular times for an angler to get on the water in search of fishing action. If those anglers keep the next few ideas in mind, they will be more successful in that search...

As anglers, we have a profound influence on fisheries. We catch, release, and, sometimes, harvest fish. Our footsteps may crush aquatic and terrestrial plants.  The seeds from those plants, though, become lodged in our pants only to be released downstream just a piece. There, they take root and become the next generation. Our actions help to shape the fishery...

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke with the National Park Service recently announced the awarding of $26.9 million in historic preservation grants to every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, and partnering nations, in addition to $5.7 million in grants to more than 160 native tribes for cultural and heritage preservation projects on their tribal lands...

Ducks Unlimited (DU), a leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation, looks forward to working with David L. Bernhardt, who was nominated by President Trump today to serve as the new Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the department in charge of managing and conserving public land and natural resources in the United States. Bernhardt will serve under recently appointed Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke...

Down 2-1 with 10 minutes to go, the Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji boys soccer squad surrendered three consecutive goals to visiting Spencer on Thursday night, as the Tigers topped the Indians 5-2 in Spirit Lake. "For 70 minutes, I thought it went real well," SLP-O coach Mike Davis said. ...

Jac Radcliffe carded a 42 to lead the Spirit Lake boys golf squad to a runner-up finish at a home meet against Estherville Lincoln Central and Le Mars Thursday at Brooks Golf Club. Radcliffe recorded a pair of birdies on the afternoon to help the Indians to a total of 183, edging Le Mars by five strokes and finishing 27 strokes off the pace set by ELC...

The Okoboji boys and girls golf teams competed at Siouxland Conference meets hosted by George-Little Rock and Rock Valley Thursday. The Pioneer boys placed third at Rock Valley and the girls placed sixth at George. In the boys meet, Nik Mankle and Seth Feller both carded rounds of 41 to help Okoboji to a team total of 172...

Tyson Kruse earned runner-up medalist honors with his low round of 39 to help the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire boys golf team to a runner-up finish in Gowrie on Thursday. Kruse, a freshman, carded five pars and four bogeys during his round. Teammates Josh Petrich and Treyton Cacek shot rounds of 43 to tie for fourth at the meet. Brady Rosacker carded a 45 to place seventh and round out the scoring...