By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

WEST BEND—Legendary West Bend-Mallard head football coach, Koy Goodchild, passed away on Monday. Coach Goodchild was one of the best football coaches in the state of Iowa and was a special friend, coach, teacher and man to so many different people that he touched during his life.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

WEST BEND—West Bend-Mallard won their fourth straight game to close out the regular season with a 58-14 victory over the Rockford Warriors.

The purple-and-gold ended the season with a 5-3 overall record and 4-2 in the district, good for third place. The Wolverines will advance to the eight-man playoffs and will have a tall task ahead of them.

ALGONA—It took five grueling sets to determine a winner as the Algona Bulldogs edged Hampton-Dumont on Thursday, Oct. 17 in the final North Central Conference match for both squads.

Both teams concluded conference play with a 4-3 record that left them in a third place tie in the league along with the St. Edmond Gaels.

The visitors won the opening set by the score of 21-25 before the home team took the next two sets by the final tallies of 25-17 and 25-20.

EMMETSBURG—Tyra Schupbach finished in fourth place overall at the Twin Lake Conference cross-country meet on Thursday, Oct. 17 to highlight the performances of the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys’ and girls’ teams.

Schupbach crossed the finish line with her time of 21:05.2. The purple-and-gold ended up in fourth place in the team standings with a team score of 125 points.

MASON CITY—Freshman Julia Swift of Bishop Garrigan crossed the finish line in fifth place overall at the Top of Iowa Conference cross-country meet on Thursday, Oct. 17 on the NIACC campus to highlight the performances of a pair of area girls’ squads.

WEST BEND—In the final Twin Lakes Conference match of the season, Pocahontas Area topped West Bend-Mallard in four hard-fought sets on Thursday, Oct. 17.

The visitors took the opening game 25-21 before the purple-and-gold rebounded to take the second set by the final score of 25-14.

The third game was a marathon as it went to Pocahontas Area by the score of 29-27 and the red-and-black ended the match at 25-15 in game number four.

HAMPTON—The Algona Bulldog girls’ cross-country squad competed in the annual North Central Conference meet held this year on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Maynes Grove in Hampton.

The red-and-black ended up in sixth place overall in the meet with a team score of 136 points as the Clear Lake Lions were the 2024 conference champions with a team total of 34 points.

MASON CITY—The Bishop Garrigan and North Union boys cross-country teams competed at the Top of Iowa Conference cross-country meet held on Thursday, Oct. 17 on the NIACC campus as both squads did not have enough runners for a team score.

Aiden Bauer was the top place winner for the green-black-and-silver in 64^th place overall with a time of 20:38.8 as Landon Manwarren was 69^th in 20:33.2.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

INDIANAPOLIS—A former Twin River Valley graduate received a great honor on Sunday as he became the 19^th member of the Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor at halftime of the Colts game against the Miami Dolphins.

Dallas Clark joined such teammates as Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Edgin James, Jeff Saturday and Dwight Freeney in the Ring of Honor.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ARMSTRONG—North Union ended the 2024 regular season on Friday, Oct. 18 at home, but fell to Sibley-Ocheyedan by the final score of 51-7. The green-black-and-silver concluded the year at 2-6 overall and ended up 2-4 district contests.

SPENCER—The Algona swim team dropped a triangular held at Spencer on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Sioux City West won the meet with a team score of 52 as Spencer had 42 and Algona was third with 26 points.

The only winner for the red-and-black was Ella Welp in the 50-yard freestyle event in 26.29 and also was the runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke race with a time of 1:13.09.

DES MOINES—The district and regional cross-country assignments were finally released last week as area teams and runners look to advance to the state meet in Fort Dodge.

Algona was assigned to Gilbert and will compete on Wednesday, Oct. 23 with the top three teams and top 15 individuals qualifying for the state meet at the Lakeside Golf Course on Friday, Nov. 1.

ROCKFORD—For the second straight year, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bear volleyball squad pulled off an upset in the opening round of regionals, this time on Monday, Oct. 21, with a win over the Rockford Warriors in four sets.

The home team took the opening game by the score of 12-25 before the black-and-gold tied the match up at 1-1 with a 25-15 victory in game number two.

STORM LAKE—West Bend-Mallard went on the road in Twin Lakes Conference volleyball action on Tuesday, Oct. 15 against Storm Lake St. Mary’s and returned home with a match victory in three straight sets.

The purple-and-gold took the opening game with a 25-11 win before cruising to a 25-5 victory in game number two and ended the match with a 25-17 win in the third game.

MASON CITY—Mason City Newman ended the North Union Warriors’ 2024 volleyball season as the Knights topped the green-black-and-silver in three straight sets in the Class 1A regional opener played on Monday, Oct. 21.

The home team won the opening game by the score of 25-14 before taking game number two by the count of 25-18 and ended the match with a 25-13 victory in the third set.