Sports

Returning Siouxland Conference champion and state tournament third-place finisher Okoboji continued its assault Monday at a home meet at Emerald Hills. The Pioneers were absolutely dominant, carding a combined score of 186 to take the title by 20 strokes over the rest of the Siouxland Conference's best...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji continued its hot start to the 2019 girls tennis season Monday, earning an 8-1 Lakes Conference home win over a scrappy Storm Lake squad. "Storm Lake proved tonight that the conference has a lot more parity this season than I've seen for quite some time," SL-O coach Bob O'Hara said. "It seems like, if we don't play well, the outcome could go in our opponent's favor."...

Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji picked up a convincing road victory Monday in Storm Lake. SLPO scored one goal in the first half and tacked on two more in the second while holding the Tornadoes scoreless in a 3-0 Lakes Conference win. Annika Stecker broke a scoreless game with a goal in the 30th minute off an assist by Elle Waterhouse...

Spirit Lake-Okoboji earned an 8-1 road win over Storm Lake Monday in Lakes Conference boys tennis action. SL-O went 5-1 in singles and 3-0 in doubles on the afternoon. "Storm Lake has a nice blend of experience and young up-and-coming players," SL-O coach Dan Taylor said. ...

Spirit Lake and Spirit Lake Park athletes combined for 22 top-two finishes Tuesday night as the Indians hosted the 2019 Sheryl Maahs Relays. The Spirit Lake boys totaled 142 points to take the team title. The Spirit Lake Park girls placed second with 141 points on the night...

The Okoboji boys track team earned a runner-up finish at the 2019 Sheryl Maahs Relays hosted by Spirit Lake on Tuesday. "I thought our boys made another big step tonight," Okoboji coach Brad Peter said. "We had a large number of season and personal best performances, and I thought we really competed hard. That has been a point of emphasis in practice and talking points before meets, and it was great to see the kids take up the intensity to another level."...

Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji lost a 1-0 home contest to Sioux Center on Tuesday. The Warriors' Lainey Pomrenke scored the game's only goal in the 15th minute. "We showed some fatigue in this match after playing in Storm Lake the night before," SLPO coach Tristam Nebelsick said. ...

Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji lost a road contest Monday to fourth-ranked Storm Lake. SLPO fell 2-0 in Lakes Conference boys soccer action. According to SLPO coach Alan Ditsworth, the Tornadoes scored their first goal of the evening midway through the first half. SLPO keeper Greg Will made a save on a penalty kick, but the shooter followed it up and scored on the rebound...

Youngsters ages 6-15 are invited to take part in the annual Kids’ Free Fishing Clinic from 5-8 p.m., Wednesday, May 1, at Stolley’s Pit in Spencer. The outing, sponsored by the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club (IGLFC), will consist of seminar stations, fishing contest, supper and awarding of prizes...

Many of the places where we go fishing across the Midwest are free of ice, or, with some warmer temperatures, wind, rain, or thunder, they will soon be ice-free. For those of us that are looking forward to getting back to open-water fishing, that means it’s time to get the panfish gear together. There are lots of ways to catch panfish, and in many areas, there are lots of panfish to catch. Let’s talk about a couple of the ways we can get a bluegill or crappie to eat our bait...

Ordinarily, a slow-moving vehicle at night in the Iowa countryside spotlighting deer, raccoons or coyotes would send Iowans to their phone, speed-dialing their local conservation officer, but in this case, it may be the officer doing the shining. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) annual spring spotlight survey is underway with Wildlife and Law Enforcement staff conducting nighttime counts of all fur-bearing animals, and white-tailed deer...

In the first global test of the idea, scientists have found evidence that some woodpeckers can evolve to look like another species of woodpecker in the same neighborhood. The researchers say that this "plumage mimicry" isn’t a fluke—it happens among pairs of distantly related woodpeckers all over the world. The study, Nature Communications, was conducted by researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, SUNY Buffalo State, the University of British Columbia, and Manchester University...

Greater Prairie Chickens (Tympancichus cupido pinnatus) commonly nested in Iowa until about 1900. In the 1880s prairie chickens were the most abundant gamebird on Iowa’s prairies. Bags of 25-50 a day were common and some hunters took as many as 200 a day. ...