FORT DODGE—Freshman Mara Davis of Algona earned first-team all-conference honors on Tuesday, Oct. 10 by finishing as the runner-up at the annual North Central Conference cross-country meet held at the Lakeside Golf Course.

Davis crossed the finish line with a season-best clocking of 20:17.19 to place second, a time that was bested only by champion and sixth-ranked Addison Doughan of Clear Lake in 19:15.31.

MASON CITY—A trio of area girls’ cross-country runners earned all-conference honors on Thursday, Oct. 12 at the Top of Iowa Conference meet held on the campus of NIACC.

Two North Union runners earned first-team all-conference honors while a Bishop Garrigan competitor earned second-team all-conference status.

The Warriors ended up in seventh place in the team standings with 162 points as the black-and-gold did not have enough runners for a team score.

FORT DODGE—Isaac Wilson and Gavin Weber both earned all-conference honors as the Algona Bulldog boys’ cross-country team finished as the runner-up at the 2023 North Central Conference meet held Tuesday, Oct. 10 at the Lakeside Golf Course.

Wilson ended up in seventh place overall with his time of 18:09.72, just ahead of Weber in eighth place for the red-and-black in 18:10.17.

HUMBOLDT—Humboldt continued to be the Algona Bulldogs volleyball squad’s biggest nemesis in the North Central Conference as the Wildcats defeated the red-and-black in three straight sets on Thursday, Oct. 12.

The victory was the 12th straight match win for the Wildcats over the Bulldogs and blue-and-gold has won an incredible 32 straight sets between the two rivals separated by just 30 miles.

WEST BEND—Improving to .500 in Twin Lakes Conference matches, the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines’ volleyball squad cruised past Storm Lake St. Mary’s in three straight sets on Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The purple-and-gold is now 5-5 in the league and is 19-20 in games played in those 10 Twin Lake Conference matches.

The home team won the opening set by the score of 25-10 before taking the next two games by identical scores of 25-8.

SPENCER—North Union went on the road to end the 2023 regular on Tuesday, Oct. 10 and returned home with a non-conference volleyball victory in four sets over the Spencer Tigers.

The green-black-and-silver won the first two games by the scores of 25-21 and 25-19. The home team took the third set 16-25 before the Warriors ended the match with a tight 25-23 win in the fourth game.

SIBLEY—North Union scored twice in the final three minutes to earn a 19-18 non-district football victory over the Sibley-Ocheyedan Generals on Friday, Oct. 13 in the regular season finale as both teams head into the playoffs.

The two squads scored 24 points in the final four minutes of the game as they only managed a total of 13 points in the first 44 minutes of the contest.

WEBSTER CITY—At least it did not snow. That would have been the only thing that would have made the weather worse on Friday, Oct. 13 for the Algona Bulldogs’ football team.

The Friday the 13th nightmare at Webster City featured a heavy driving rain for the first three quarters making the field a slippery, sloppy, muddy mess.

ALTA—Tyra Schupbach finished in third place overall to highlight the performances of the West Bend-Mallard boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams at the annual Twin Lakes Conference meet held on Saturday, Oct. 14.

Schupbach came across the finish line in 19:22.29, a time topped only by Alta-Aurelia’s Nora Peterson with a clocking of 19:03.27 and Manson Northwest Webster’s Alyssa Richman’s time of 19:06.92.

WEST BEND—For the third time this season, the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines’ volleyball squad defeated the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Titans in three straight sets on Monday, Oct. 16.

The purple-and-gold took the opening game by the score of 25-14 before taking set number two by the count of 25-13 and ended the match with a 25-15 victory in the third game.

BUFFALO CENTER—Bishop Garrigan and North Iowa played twice during the regular season with each volleyball squad winning once.

The black-and-gold won in four sets on Sept. 19 in the Top of Iowa Conference match while Lady Bison won in three sets at the Bishop Garrigan tournament on Sept. 23.

So the two teams met in rubber match on Monday, Oct. 16 in the opening round of the Class 1A regional tournament and the Golden Bears rallied twice late to win in three straight games.

POCAHONTAS—In the regular season finale for both teams, Pocahontas Area topped the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines in four sets in a Twin Lakes Conference volleyball match played on Thursday, Oct. 12.

The home team took the first two games by the scores of 19-25 and 16-25 before the purple-and-gold took the third set 25-22. But Pocahontas Area ended the match with a 15-25 victory in game number four.

ALGONA—In their final action of the regular season, the Algona Bulldogs’ volleyball squad went 3-2 at the Algona Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 14.

The red-and-black defeated Spencer 21-13 and 21-17; topped Emmetsburg 23-21 and 21-13 and St. Edmond by the score of 21-13, 17-21 and 15-12.

The Bulldog losses came at the hands of Forest City by the score of 17-21 and 18-21 and a 17-21 and 13-21 loss to the Lake Mills Bulldogs.

MARSHALLTOWN—Reese Taylor of the Algona swim team traveled to Marshalltown on Saturday, Oct. 14 to compete against 29 other divers in the “Bobcat Dive Meet” held at the Marshalltown YMCA.

Taylor scored a total of 369.00 points on her dives during the day to finish in eighth place out of the 30 young ladies competing on Saturday.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—A strong northwest wind slowed down the potent Algona passing so the red-and-black used a heavy dose of the rushing game to hand the Humboldt Wildcats a key Class 3A 34-17 district football loss on Friday, Oct. 6.