High School Sports

The Pioneers gave their faithful fans a reason to continue the homecoming festivities another week, as Okoboji dominated visiting Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union 61-7 Monday in Milford. The game was originally slated to be played Friday but, after a Royals student passed away unexpectedly early in the week, the two schools decided to postpone. Okoboji coach Jon Allen credited both schools' administrators for working to make sure the game was played Monday night despite a stormy forecast...

Third-ranked Spirit Lake looked like a high-performance car that spends a lot of time in the shop early on Friday night, as the Indians' offense sputtered to a 13-7 deficit after one quarter of play. However, the Indians connected on a 76-yard screen pass from Connor Jensen to Gavin Harms for a score just before the half to take a double-digit lead into the locker room. ...

Harris-Lake Park struggled mightily in the second half of a 39-6 loss to fifth-ranked Ar-We-Va on Friday night. While the defense was able to keep the game close for most of the first half, the Wolves' offense couldn't find a rhythm. "It was a good battle," Harris-Lake Park coach Lane Gunderson said. ...

Spirit Lake battled back from a slow start Thursday to top North Union in straight sets. The Indians defeated the Warriors 24-20, 25-15 and 25-9 in Spirit Lake. "I was very happy with the way the girls played," Spirit Lake coach Beau Dielschneider said. "They kept an aggressive mindset offensively, defensively and from the service line. I was particularly happy with how consistently we maintained that aggressiveness throughout the night."...

Spirit Lake and Okoboji cross country runners made the trip to Sioux Rapids on Thursday to compete at the 2018 Chris Smith Invitational hosted by Sioux Central. The Spirit Lake girls, led by senior Kourtney Delperdang, earned top team honors with 30 points...

Okoboji fell to Boyden-Hull Thursday in Siouxland Conference volleyball action. The Pioneers fell to the Comets in straight sets in Milford, losing 25-11, 25-17 and 25-11. Okoboji coach Ashley Linquist said the Pioneers served well, but struggled with errors...

Harris-Lake Park went 4-0 to take first place honors at a tournament hosted by Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire on Saturday. The Wolves defeated West Bend-Mallard (21-14, 17-21, 15-7), West Hancock (21-10, 21-8), and twice defeated the host Titans...

Editor's Note: This is the fifth installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. Dickinson County teams went 2-1 for a fourth consecutive week to improve to 8-4 overall on the season. Spirit Lake defeated Sioux Center at home to move to 4-0. Okoboji trounced MMCRU on homecoming in Milford to improve to 2-2. Harris-Lake Park fell to 2-2 with a loss to fifth-ranked (1A) Ar-We-Va...

Spirit Lake gave perennial power Western Christian all it could handle in the first set of Lakes Conference volleyball action on Tuesday, but the third-ranked (2A) Wolfpack handled the Indians in straight sets to remain unbeaten in the conference. Western Christian won 28-26, 25-17 and 25-22...

Harris-Lake Park came away with a five-set victory Tuesday night in a War Eagle Conference volleyball battle with South O'Brien. The Wolves took a 2-0 lead with a 25-21 win in set one and a 27-25 win in set two. The Wolverines battled back, winning 25-21 in set three and 25-15 in set four, but Harris-Lake Park put the final nail in the coffin with a 15-5 win in the fifth set...

Harris-Lake Park cross country runners Jaden Rueter and Cole Ihnen had solid performances Monday at a meet hosted by Hartley-Mevlin-Sanborn. Rueter placed 14th in 19 minutes, 24 seconds, while Ihnen finished 24th in 22:42. "Jaden ran a solid race," Harris-Lake Park coach Travis Sprague said. "He came out strong and had a strong push at the end. We can work on some stuff in the middle to improve times but overall a solid race. Cole ran the best start I've ever seen him run but that might have cost him in the middle. He battled throughout the race and was gassed but he fought thru till the end.". ...

Spencer’s swim girls traveled to the Gary Winkler Invitational Saturday, going toe-to-toe with some of the biggest schools in the state, including a Dowling Catholic team that nearly doubled up the rest of the field in the team standings with a final score of 527.5...

Spirit Lake's diverse attack was simply too much for Central Lyon/George-Little Rock to handle Friday night, as the fourth-ranked (2A) Indians remained undefeated on the season with a convincing 35-14 non-district road win over the Lions. The Indians totaled 459 yards of offense and limited the Lions to just 217 — 98 of which came on two long scoring runs...

After struggling to negative yardage in a shutout loss to Northwood-Kensett last week, the Harris-Lake Park football team bounced back with a convincing victory over River Valley in the first week of district play Friday. The Wolves defeated the Wolverines 44-6 in Correctionville...

Okoboji hoped to add to its win total Friday night after a narrow victory over Sibley-Ocheyedan the previous week. However, the Pioneers simply didn't have the size to matchup with former 8-Player powerhouse Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Aysrhire, as the Titans topped the Pioneers 30-7 in Graettinger...

Make that five straight for the Spirit Lake volleyball team, as the Indians clinched yet another first-place finish at their home tournament held Saturday. Spirit Lake defeated Sheldon, West Bend-Mallard, Estherville Lincoln Central and North Union twice. The Indians' lone loss came to North Iowa, as they went 5-1 on the day...

Okoboji boys and girls cross country teams, both ranked seventh in Class 2A, faced stiff competition Saturday in Holstein at the Tim Thomas Invite hosted by Ridge View. "I thought both our girls and boys teams had a tremendous day competing on Saturday," Okoboji coach Brad Peter said. "Both races were loaded with ranked schools from 2A, 3A and 4A. To come home with both teams finishing in the top 7 and three top-10 finishes on the day is incredible."...

The Okoboji volleyball team fell to Rock Valley in five sets Thursday, as the Rockets won three straight sets to top the Pioneers in the Siouxland Conference opener in Rock Valley. "Overall, we played well and did a great job serving," Okoboji coach Ashley Linquist said. "We did a lot better job of moving the ball around to all hitters. We struggled with short serve receive and tips, but will continue to practice that."...

The 12th-ranked (1A) Harris-Lake Park volleyball team dropped a War Eagle Conference road trip to unranked Akron-Westfield on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The Wolves fell behind 2-0 with a 25-13 loss in set one and a 25-23 loss in set two. They bounced back with a 25-20 win in set three, but fell 27-25 in the fourth and final set of the night...

Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. Dickinson County teams went 2-1 for a third consecutive week to improve to 6-3 overall on the season. Spirit Lake defeated Central Lyon/George-Little Rock on the road to move to 3-0. ...

Harris-Lake Park's rough start to War Eagle Conference play continued Tuesday, as the Wolves fell to second-ranked (1A) Gehlen Catholic in straight sets. The Wolves lost 25-10, 25-7 and 25-16 in Lake Park. Wolves senior Taylor Meyer had five kills, three assists and seven digs on the night...

Competing against six ranked teams and 13 ranked individuals in Storm Lake on Tuesday, Spirit Lake cross country runners held their own. The Indian girls placed sixth and the boys placed fifth. "I was very pleased with our performances tonight in a very tough meet with many ranked teams and individuals," Spirit Lake coach Tim Heinitz said...

Spirit Lake made quick work of Lakes Conference rival Spencer on Tuesday night. The Indians topped the Tigers in straight sets, winning 25-8, 25-15 and 25-12 in Spencer. Junior Emma Loveall led the charge with 10 kills, six digs, two blocks and an ace...

Competing against three ranked teams and five ranked individuals, Harris-Lake Park cross country duo Jaden Rueter and Cole Ihnen ran well at a meet hosted by West Lyon Monday evening. Rueter, a junior, placed 31st in 21 minutes, 5.71 seconds. Ihnen, a sophomore, placed 39th in 23:09.19...

It took a 16-0 first half and a ton of heart Friday night, as Okoboji picked up its first win of the football season with a 16-14 win over Sibley-Ocheyedan in the Pioneers' home-opener. "That game was all heart and very little head," Okoboji coach Jon Allen said. ...

Coming off a thrilling road win over rival Spencer in the first week of the football season, Spirit Lake showed out in front of the hometown fans Friday night, as the Indians routed Forest City, 42-0. "I felt like we did a lot of positive things both offensively, defensively and on special teams," Spirit Lake coach Josh Bolluyt said. ...

Northwood-Kensett ran 60 plays to Harris-Lake Park's 34 and outgained the Wolves 239 yards to −1 in a 26-0 shutout in Lake Park on Friday. The Wolves, who were coming off of a 34-12 win over North Iowa in the opening week of the season, could not get off the field against the Vikings' power rushing attack...

Magan Christopherson and Lexi Duffy led the Okoboji girls to victory Thursday at the Pioneers' home invitational at Woodlyn Hills. The Pioneers, rated seventh in the latest Class 2A rankings, combined to edge previously ranked Emmetsburg 34-49. Christopherson, the seventh-ranked runner in Class 2A, finished in 21 minutes, 32.73 seconds to take top honors at the meet. Duffy, a freshman ranked 27th in the latest poll, followed in second place with her time of 22:15.17...

The 15th-ranked (3A) Spirit Lake volleyball team went 5-1 at a tournament hosted by Algona on Saturday. The Indians defeated No. 12 (2A) Lake Mills, Sioux Center, Algona and North Union, but fell to Webster City. Spirit Lake picked up a 2-1 win over Lake Mills in the premier matchup of the tournament...

Editor's Note: This is the third installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. Dickinson County teams went 2-1 again in Week 2 and will look to improve on that effort with several interesting match-ups in the third week of the football season. ...

Two days after falling to unranked West Sioux in five sets and dropping from No. 8 to No. 12 in the Class 1A Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union rankings, the Harris-Lake Park volleyball team earned a conference road victory over Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union on Thursday...

Eighth-ranked (1A) Harris-Lake Park fell to West Sioux in five sets at home Tuesday, Aug. 28 in War Eagle Conference volleyball action. The Wolves fell 25-21 and 25-22 in the first two sets before knotting the score at 2-2 with a 25-17 win in set three and a 25-13 win in set four. The comeback was stymied, however, as the Falcons took set five 15-5 to win the match...

A 26-13 loss to Spencer in Week 4 was the beginning of the end for Spirit Lake last season, as the Indians finished the year 5-4 and out of the playoffs for the second straight season after winning the 2A state championship in 2016. On Friday, the Indians exacted some revenge with a 27-13 road win over the Tigers in the 2018 season-opener...

After giving up a 47-yard rushing touchdown early Friday night, the Harris-Lake Park football team — comprised mostly of sophomores and juniors — responded with 34 points in a 34-12 season-opening road victory over North Iowa. "I thought our guys really competed well," Harris-Lake Park coach Lane Gunderson said. ...

Okoboji struggled in all aspects of the game Friday night in the Pioneers' season-opening road loss to Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. The Hawks pounded the Pioneers for 409 rushing yards in a 66-0 win. "Going in, we knew it would be a tough matchup for us," Okoboji coach Jon Allen said. ...

The13th-ranked (3A) Spirit Lake volleyball team went 2-0 to win the Okoboji Invite Thursday in Milford. The Indians defeated both Estherville Lincoln Central and Okoboji on the night. Spirit Lake coach Beau Dielschneider was pleased with his team's progress from the Saturday's tournament in Humboldt, where the Indians went 4-2...

Three-time state meet qualifier Kourtney Delperdang kicked off her final prep season with a win at Spencer on Thursday, Aug. 23. Delperdang earned back-to-back top-10 finishes at state before finishing 57th in Class 3A last season as a junior. Following the 2017 state meet, her coach, Tim Heinitz, said he expected his star runner to bounce back quickly...

Spirit Lake senior Kourtney Delperdang won her second straight individual title of the 2018 cross country season on Tuesday. Delperdang, who ran away with first place at Spencer the previous week, dominated the field once again, this time at Brooks Golf Course...

Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. Dickinson County teams went 2-1 to start the season last week. Spirit Lake and Harris-Lake Park both picked up convincing road victories, while Okoboji suffered a 66-0 loss at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. ...

The Spencer girls swim team traveled to Sioux City on Tuesday to start the 2018 season. The Tigers came away with eight top-five finishes, including four runner-up finishes and two third-place finishes. Emma Ver Steeg earned three runner-up finishes. She placed second in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.69 seconds, the 50-yard butterfly in 29.36 seconds, and the 50-yard backstroke in 28.54 seconds. Ver Steeg also placed fourth in the 100-yard individual medley in 1 minute, 9.60 seconds...

The Okoboji volleyball team kicked off the 2018 season at a quad in Spencer on Thursday. The Pioneers went 0-3 against Spencer, Manson-Northwest Webster and South O'Brien. Okoboji fell 2-1 to the Cougars, winning 21-17 in the opening set before dropping the second (21-15) and third (15-6) sets...

The eighth-ranked (1A) Harris-Lake Park volleyball team went 4-2 at a tournament hosted by Clarion-Goldfield on Saturday. The Wolves defeated Clear Lake (2-1), Belmond-Klemme (2-0), Eagle Grove (2-0) and North Butler (2-0). They fell to Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (2-0) and South Hamilton (2-1)...

The 13th-ranked (3A) Spirit Lake volleyball team went 4-2 at a tournament hosted by Humboldt on Saturday. The Indians' losses came to the host Wildcats (2-0) and top-ranked (3A) Kuemper Catholic (2-0). They defeated South Central Calhoun (2-0), Fort Dodge (2-0), Emmetsburg (2-0) and Grand View Christian (2-0)...