By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ARMSTRONG—North Union senior running back Landon Hagedorn spent the past two seasons as the led blocker for two-time all-stater Bryce Prochniak.

On Friday, Aug. 25, Hagedorn got his opportunity to tote the football and made the most of his chance by rushing 42 times for 224 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead the green-black-and-silver to a 26-20 season-opening victory over the Okoboji Pioneers.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

FORT DODGE—St. Edmond scored the last 16 points of the game in the final six minutes to capture a 42-34 season-opening football victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears on Friday, Aug. 25.

The home team got on the scoreboard just 1:40 into the contest on a 35-yard pass play for an early 7-0 advantage in the battle of the two longtime rivals.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

NEWELL—West Bend-Mallard’s powerful running attack rushed the football 56 times for 314 yards to control the clock in a convincing 44-16 season opening win over the Newell-Fonda Mustangs on Friday, Aug. 25.

Quarterback Landon Montag rushed 22 times for 147 yards while teammate Cole Fehr contributed 25 rushes for 143 yards and Logan Grimm added 24 yards in his nine carries.

BELMOND—Opening their Top of Iowa Conference schedule on the road, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears’ volleyball lost three straight sets to the Belmond-Klemme Broncos on Thursday, Aug. 24.

The final scores of the match were 25-12, 25-19 and 25-22. The black-and-gold connected on 45 of 52 serves for 86.5 percent with one ace as a team during the evening.

MILFORD—Opening the 2023 season in impressive fashion, the Algona Bulldogs’ volleyball squad went 3-0 on the night at the Spencer Early Bird Invitational on Tuesday, Aug. 22

The event was moved to Okoboji High School after the hot, humid day made the specious Spencer Fieldhouse very hot and not a very comfortable environment for the six teams involved.

WEBSTER CITY—In their season opener on Monday, Aug. 28,  a young Algona Bulldog girls’ cross-country squad finished in third place with 83 points at the Lynx Invitational.

Every young lady that placed for the red-and-black on Monday competed in their first high school cross-country meet.

Freshman Mara Davis led the way for the Bulldogs in fourth place overall in 22:00.16 while classmate Hayden Kuhlmann was 17th with her time of 25:03. 21.

Modifieds—1. Jeremy Mills, Clear Lake 573; 2. Cody Knecht, Whittemore 549; 3. Nick Meyer, Whittemore 517; 4. Todd Stinehart, Waseca, Mn. 500; 5. Sam Hoffman, Spencer 389; 6. Kelly Shryock, Fertile 263; 7. Gerald Curry, LuVerne 210; 8. Zane DeVilbiss, Farmington, NM 138; 9. Mike Jensen, Spencer 127; 10. Brandon Beckendorf, Danube, Mn. 112

Sam Hoffman  ▪  Spencer

Modifieds

How many years have you been racing: 8 years

Who is the biggest influence or person that got you started racing: I had some friends in high school that raced

What is your most memorable racing moment: My first win felt pretty good in 2022 at Galva Speedway

What is your favorite food at Kossuth County Speedway: Cheeseburgers

Alex Smith  ▪  Algona

Sport Mods

How many years have you been racing: 7 years

Who is the biggest influence or person that got you started racing: My dad

What is your most memorable racing moment: Winning a feature here in Algona on June 1

What is your favorite food at Kossuth County Speedway: Steak sandwiches

What driver in Algona do you like to watch: Jeremy Mills

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—In the final evening of dirt track racing at the Kossuth County Speedway in 2023, six champions were crowned on Thursday, Aug. 24 to highlight a night of exciting racing.

The car count was light with a total of 43 cars signed in for the evening as the hobby stock class once again had the biggest car count with 12 followed by 10 stock cars and nine sport mods were at the track.

FORT DODGE—Despite showing improvement during the day, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears’ volleyball squad went 1-4 on the day at the St. Edmond tournament played on Saturday, Aug, 26.

The black-and-gold’s lone match victory of the day came against the host school as they defeated the Gaels by the score of 21-19, 10-21 and 15-12.

WEST BEND—West Bend-Mallard opened 2023 Twin Lakes Conference volleyball play with an impressive win over the Sioux Central Rebels on Thursday, Aug. 24 in three straight sets.

The final scores of conference season opening match were 25-17, 28-26 and 25-15 as the purple-and-gold started the year on a positive note.

GARNER—North Union opened the 2023 volleyball season on Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Garner tournament and compiled a 2-2 record during the day.

The green-black-and-silver defeated Mason City Newman 21-13 and 21-17 plus West Fork 21-8 and 21-15 but lost to North Iowa 21-9 and 21-19 along with Garner-Hayfield/Ventura by the scores of 21-18 and 21-10.

The Warriors were successful on 128 of 140 serves as a team during the day for 91.4 percent and served a total of 22 aces.

PERRY—Freshman Ella Welp was a double winner to highlight the performances of the Algona swim team on Thursday, Aug. 24.

Welp’s two wins were the red-and-black’s only victories as the Bulldogs fell to the Perry Bluejays by the final score of 105-59.

Welp won the 50-yard freestyle event in 26.99 and also took the 100-yard freestyle race with her winning clocking of 1:00.90.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

I was asked by a reader of our fine newspaper to write a feature story on all the conferences that I remember in my playing sports in high school, coaching basketball and writing careers over the years.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided that it could be an interesting story so I started doing a little research into the matter so here is what I came up with.