High School Sports

Spirit Lake is off to a hot start to the season and kicked its conference slate off with a win Tuesday, as the Indians took down the Tigers in straight sets. Spirit Lake won 25-18, 25-17 and 25-10. "Every time we play Spencer, we know it's going to be tough," Spirit Lake coach Beau Dielschneider said. ...

The Spirit Lake cross country team headed south Tuesday to compete at a meet hosted by Storm Lake at Sunrise Pointe Golf Course. The Indians battled through heat, wind and humidity to earn a ninth-place finish in the boys race and a 12th-place finish in the girls race...

Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. The rankings are according to the Associated Press. Dickinson County teams went 3-0 last week, improving their combined record to 7-2 through the season's first three games. While Spirit Lake and Harris-Lake Park have yet to suffer a loss, Okoboji picked up its first win of the season to improve to 1-2...

Okoboji rang the Titans' bell in the second half of Friday's contest, which led to them ringing the victory bell after a 22-20 come-from-behind win in Milford. The Pioneers fell behind 20-0 early, but a second-quarter touchdown gave the team momentum at the half, and the Okoboji defense held the Titans scoreless the rest of the way to collect their first win of the season...

Save a for a second-quarter lull, Spirit Lake was dominant Friday evening in a non-district home win over Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. The fourth-ranked (2A) Indians downed the Lions 42-14 in Spirit Lake. "We got out to a good start. Had some good field position," Spirit Lake coach Josh Bolluyt said. ...

Harris-Lake Park kept its record unblemished with a dominant 49-6 home win over River Valley on Friday night. The Wolves got out to a hot start and never let up while pushing their win total to three on the young season. "I thought it was a good win for our guys," Harris-Lake Park coach Lane Gunderson said. ...

Harris-Lake Park took West Sioux to five sets Thursday night, but the Wolves came up short in a War Eagle Conference loss to the Falcons in Lake Park. "We keep improving each match and playing West Sioux was the best that the team has played," Harris-Lake Park coach Sarah deVries said. ...

Spirit Lake was dominant at its weekend volleyball tournament. The ninth-ranked (3A) Indians went 6-0, dropping just one set on the day. "We were really excited for our home tournament," Spirit Lake coach Beau Dielschneider said. "We have not played at home yet this year and we had a nice lineup of tough teams attending. It was great to come away with the 6-0 record and we really had to battle for it against No. 13 Central Lyon in the championship game."...

Okoboji went 1-3 at a volleyball tournament hosted by Spirit Lake on Saturday. The Pioneers fell to North Iowa, No. 13 (2A) Central Lyon and OABCIG in straight sets. Okoboji's lone win came against West Bend-Mallard. The Pioneers fell behind after losing 21-18 in the opening set, but bounced back with a 21-17 win in set two and a 16-14 win in the third and final set...

Okoboji lost a Siouxland Conference road trip to MOC-Floyd Valley in straight sets on Thursday. The Pioneers fell 25-9, 25-10 and 25-11 to the Dutchmen. "We played scrappy defense like crazy tonight, picking up some balls we hadn't gotten in previous matches," Okoboji coach Ashley Linquist said. "We definitely had too many unforced errors causing MOC-Floyd Valley to be able to go on runs that we couldn't match. We did well on the serving line, but did not have a strong attack game."...

Harris-Lake Park dropped a War Eagle Conference road trip to Akron-Westfield on Tuesday, Sept. 10. The Wolves fell 25-8, 25-10 and 25-18 to the Westerners. McKenzie Heikens led Harris-Lake Park with five kills, seven assists and one block. She also had an ace...

Editor's Note: This is the third installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. The rankings are according to the Associated Press. Dickinson County teams have amassed a 4-2 combined record through the season's first two weeks. While Spirit Lake and Harris-Lake Park have yet to suffer a loss, Okoboji has struggled to an 0-2 start...

Okoboji and Spirit Lake cross country runners competed Tuesday at a meet hosted by Estherville Lincoln Central. The Pioneers placed third in the boys' race and the girls placed fourth. Spirit Lake placed fifth in the boys' race and the girls placed seventh...

Last year's 26-0 loss to Northwood-Kensett left a bad taste in Harris-Lake Park coach Lane Gunderson's mouth. The longtime coach could not remember the last time his Wolves had suffered a shutout (for those playing along, it was a 35-0 playoff loss to eventual state semifinalist Newell-Fonda in 2015)...

Spirit Lake sped past Forest City in a lopsided non-conference road rout Friday night. Coach Josh Bolluyt said he was unsure of how his squad would perform early on following an emotional win over rival Spencer in Week 1, but the fourth-ranked (3A) Indians wasted no time in jumping all over their hosts in a 54-6 victory...

Okoboji scored on special teams and on defense Friday night, but the Pioneers' offense was nowhere to be found in a 28-13 road loss to Sibley-Ocheyedan. Okoboji totaled just 97 yards from scrimmage while the Generals pounded the Pioneers for 310 rushing yards alone...

On a sunny and warm afternoon at Woodlyn Hills Golf Course, Okoboji boys and girls cross country teams earned a pair of exciting finishes. The Pioneers placed third in the girls race and second in the boys race Thursday. "I thought the kids competed exceptionally hard considering the warm, windy conditions," Okoboji coach Brad Peter said. "It's always great to compete in front of the home crowd, and the crowd definitely motivated our kids to really dig deep the last mile."...

Spirit Lake continued its hot start to the 2019 volleyball season over the weekend, as the seventh-ranked (3A) Indians went 5-1 at a tournament hosted by Algona on Saturday. "I loved the way we competed against some high-level competition at the Algona tournament," Spirit Lake coach Beau Dielschneider said. "The girls showed great improvement throughout the day and found a way to dig out some wins in some tough games."...

After a stellar spring golf season, several Lakes Area golfers and coaches earned postseason awards. The awards continued to roll in late this summer. Harris-Lake Park sophomore Lucas Gunderson was recently named the Class 1A Boys Player of the Year by the Iowa High School Golf Coaches Association after leading his team to a state championship with his runner-up individual finish...

Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. The rankings are according to the Associated Press. Dickinson County teams started the year at home, amassing a 2-1 combined record. Spirit Lake and Harris-Lake Park both earned convincing wins, while Okoboji suffered a narrow loss...

Spirit Lake played host to a cross country invitational on Tuesday at Brooks Golf Course. The Indians had one medalist at the meet. Spirit Lake coach Tim Heinitz said he was pleased with his team's performance. "Looking back at last year's times, we ran way better tonight than last year overall, so I'm very excited about that," he said...

The Okoboji volleyball team went 1-2 at its home invitational on Tuesday. The Pioneers earned a 2-0 win over Estherville Lincoln Central, but fell 2-0 to Central Lyon and 2-1 to West Bend-Mallard. The Pioneers defeated ELC 21-8 in set one and 21-15 in set two for their first victory of the season. They fell to Central Lyon 21-10 in set one and 21-3 in set two. Against West Bend-Mallard, the Pioneers took the first set 22-20, but fell 21-14 in the second and 15-11 in the third...

Harris-Lake Park ended up on the losing end of a back-and-forth War Eagle Conference volleyball battle on Tuesday night. The Wolves fell 3-2 to Trinity Christian in Lake Park. The contest was a barnburner from the very start, as Harris-Lake Park took set one by a score of 29-27...

Entering Friday night's season-opening contest with eighth-ranked (3A) Spencer, Spirit Lake football coach Josh Bolluyt said he was excited to see how his team responded in adverse situations. After falling behind by two scores in the first half, the Indians gave their head coach exactly what he was looking for...

After a disappointing 2018 season, the Harris-Lake Park football team wasted no time making a statement in 2019. The Wolves were dominant in a 58-18 home win over North Iowa Friday night in the first game of the season. Harris-Lake Park jumped out to an early 21-point lead and never took its foot off the gas...

In an evenly-matched game Friday night, Okoboji came up a touchdown shy of a win to open the 2019 football season. The Pioneers fell 6-0 to Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in Milford. "We knew it would be a tough game," Okoboji coach Jon Allen said. "Looking at the rosters, they graduated some of their bigger seniors. ...

After going 2-1 at a season-opening tournament in Sheldon Thursday, the 11th-ranked (3A) Spirit Lake volleyball team went undefeated at a talent-rich tournament hosted by Humboldt on Saturday. The Indians defeated second-ranked (3A) Kuemper Catholic, 10th-ranked (3A) Humboldt, eighth-ranked (2A) South Central Calhoun, Emmetsburg, Fort Dodge and Grand View Christian, giving Spirit Lake an 8-1 start to the 2019 season...

The Harris-Lake Park volleyball team hit the road over the weekend, opening the 2019 season at a tournament hosted by Clarion-Goldfield-Dows. The Wolves went 1-5 on Saturday, earning a 2-0 win over Eagle Grove and losing 2-0 to Class 2A No. 6 Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, Clear Lake, North Butler, Belmond-Klemme and South Hamilton...

Spirit Lake went 2-1 at a tournament hosted by Sheldon on Thursday. The 11th-ranked (3A) Indians defeated 13th-ranked (3A) Cherokee and Sheldon but fell to fifth-ranked (1A) Gehlen Catholic. Spirit Lake earned a 2-0 win over Cherokee. The Indians won 21-17 in the first set and 21-18 in the second...

Okoboji boys and girls cross country teams both placed seventh at the season-opening meet held Thursday in Spencer. Lexi Duffy earned the Pioneers' highest finish, placing 14th in the girls' race with her time of 21 minutes, 49.23 seconds. Nevaeh Armstrong placed 23rd. Lauren Duffy placed 32nd. Shay Olthoff placed 59th. Trista Tanner placed 66th...

Okoboji played three close matches but failed to win a set while going 0-3 at a volleyball tournament hosted by Spencer on Thursday. The Pioneers fell to Manson-Northwest Webster, Spencer and South O'Brien at the Spencer Fieldhouse.

Spirit Lake opened the cross country season Thursday at Spencer. While the Indians didn't set the meet on fire — the boys placed fifth and the girls placed eighth overall — coach Tim Heinitz was proud of the way his athletes represented themselves, the team and the school...

Editor's Note: This is the first installment of a weekly series previewing prep football in Dickinson County. The rankings are according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette's preseason poll and last year's records are included in the headings. Are you ready for some football?...

The Iowa High School Sports Network (IHSSN), in conjunction with the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), is pleased to announce a new distribution plan that will allow boys state events to be viewed by a much larger statewide audience. The new network will be an over-the-air broadcast on six affiliates throughout the state for the IHSAA’s state football finals, state wrestling finals and state basketball finals. ...