By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—Senior Owen Murphy scored three touchdowns and had another 79-yard kickoff return called back due to a penalty to help lead No. 2 ranked Bishop Garrigan to a 62-15 romp over the Tripoli Panthers on Friday, Oct. 25 in the opening round of the eight-man playoffs.

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

HAMPTON—Junior running back Will Weichert scored three touchdowns to help No. 4 ranked Algona to a 31-6 district football win over Hampton in the “Battle of the Bulldogs” on Friday, Oct. 25.

Holding a 14-6 advantage at intermission, Algona held the home team scoreless in the second half as they wrapped up the runner-up slot in the district behind champion Humboldt.

HOLSTEIN—For the third straight season, West Bend-Mallard’s Tyra Schupbach will be running at the Class 1A state cross-country meet in Fort Dodge.

The purple-and-gold junior qualified for the state meet for the third consecutive year by placing seventh overall in 21:00.47 at the Class 1A regional meet held on Thursday, Oct. 24.

MANLY—Bishop Garrigan freshman Julia Swift qualified for the Class 1A state cross-country meet to highlight the performances of a pair of area girls’ cross-country squads at the regional meet held in Manly on Thursday, Oct. 24.

The black-and-gold youngster crossed the finish line in fourth place overall in a season-best clocking of 19:35.1, a new school record, to qualify for this week’s state meet.

GILBERT—Algona junior Gavin Weber qualified for the Class 3A state cross-country meet after his sixth place showing at the district meet held on Wednesday, Oct. 24 to highlight the performances of the red-and-black squad.

Weber crossed the finish line behind five Gilbert runners to take sixth place overall in a season-best clocking of 16:04.20 to make the state meet for the first time in his high school career.

Friday, Nov. 1

11:15 A.M.

Class 3A Boys

Gavin Weber, Algona

Saturday, Nov. 2

10:30 A.M.

Class 1A Girls

Tyra Schupbach, West Bend-Mallard

Julia Swift, Bishop Garrigan

By Greg Grabianowski, Sports Editor

ALGONA—The Algona swim team hosted their third and final home meet of the season on Thursday, Oct. 25 by entertaining the Decorah Vikings as the visitors prevailed by the final score of 106-70.

The red-and-black won four individual events during the evening, including a new school record from Ella Welp in the 100-yard breaststroke with a winning time of 1:09.38. The old record was a time of 1:11.25 by Jessica Anderson in 2016.

HULL—Defending Class 3A state champion Hull Western Christian ended the Algona Bulldogs’ volleyball season as the Wolfpack topped the red-and-black in three straight sets on Thursday, Oct. 24 in the Class 3A regional semi-finals.

The home team jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening game and extended their advantage 10-2 and 13-4 before going onto a 25-14 victory in the opening set.

REMSEN—Fourth-ranked Remsen St. Mary’s exploded for 20 points in three minutes in the third period to break open a 14-0 contest at halftime and went onto a 42-8 victory over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines on Friday, Oct. 25 in the first round of the eight-man playoffs.

GILBERT—The Algona Bulldog girls’ cross-country squad ended their 2024 season at the Class 3A regional meet held on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

The red-and-black squad finished in 12^th place in the 13-team field in the team standings with 280 points. The three teams qualifying for the state meet at Fort Dodge were Sioux Center, Gilbert and MOC/Floyd Valley.

BUFFALO CENTER—North Iowa prevailed in three straight sets over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines in a Class 1A regional semi-final in a contest between two teams having their best season in the past 10 years on Monday, Oct. 28.

The purple-and-gold finished the year with an overall match record of 18-10 and went 53-35 in games played in those 28 matches while the Lady Bison continued their dream season by taking a mark of 28-5 to a regional final against Saint Ansgar.

WEST BEND—West Bend-Mallard opened Class 1A regional volleyball tournament play on Monday, Oct. 21 at home with  a win over the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Titans in three straight sets.

The purple-and-gold were dominant all evening long as they won the opening game by the score of 25-12 before taking the second set by the count of 25-10 and ended the match with a 25-14 victory in game number three.

SPIRIT LAKE—Algona opened Class 3A regional volleyball play on Tuesday, Oct. 22 on the road and came back home with an impressive victory in three straight sets over the Spirit Lake Indians.

The opening game was tight early before Algona eased out to a 12-7 lead. Spirit Lake slowly chipped away at the lead and finally drew even at 18-18 and then took a 21-18 advantage.

MASON CITY—Mason City Newman ended the North Union Warriors’ volleyball 2024 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.

MANLY—The 2024 season came to an end for the West Bend-Mallard Wolverine boys’ cross-country team at the Class 1A district meet on Thursday, Oct. 24 as the purple-and-gold had just two runners and no team score.

The three teams that advanced to the Class 1A state cross-country meet this week for that district were Ogden, Sioux Central and Sibley-Ocheyedan.