NEWTON — For the first time in its nearly 50-year history, the Iowa State Dance Team Association will hold a qualifying round for the state solo championships. On Oct. 27 and 28 more than 970 soloists from dance teams and color guards across the state will descend on Newton High School for the first-ever ISDTA State Solo Qualifier.

FORT DODGE — Adrian Carrillo left his mark on Dodger Stadium in Fort Dodge as he and his Spencer Tiger teammates rolled their hosts and sophomore Division 1 prospect 45-0 Friday night. Sending the seniors out in style, the effort concluded a three game win streak to conclude the season which saw the Tigers outpace their opponents, 175-6.

SHELDON — The Spencer High School Tigerettes Dance Team attended Radiate Dance Summit at Sheldon High School, Saturday. The team received first place in the team pom category and first place in team kick. Their team routine also received third overall.

ORANGE CITY — Sioux Central will send four Rebels to the Class 2A State Cross-Country Meet Saturday — two boys and two girls.

“We had a beautiful night to compete at Districts last night and had a bittersweet run,” Sioux Central coach Kelsie Miller said. “Linnea Bloom, Marley Madsen, Brayden Kramber and Lucos Wernimont all ran great races and placed in the top 15 of their races to qualify for state.”

Iowa Lakes hosted Dakota County, Sunday, for a quarterfinal matchup in the ICCAC playoffs, winning 4-0. The scoring started in the 13th minute when Keishon Clarke put the header away from a corner kick delivered by Keiji Sugiura. The Lakers continued to create chances throughout the first half but failed to convert again throughout the tightly packed Dakota County defense.

The Natural Resource Commission of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources approved 22 Resource Enhancement and Protection grants during its October meeting. The grants totaled more than $3 million.

Established in 1989, the Resource Enhancement and Protection program has funded nearly $389 million for city, county and state park projects that have included water quality improvements, habitat protection, roadside prairies, historical development and conservation education.

Eighteen lakes across Iowa are gearing up to receive trout this fall. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will release between 1,000 to 2,000 rainbow trout at each location as part of its cool weather trout program that brings trout to areas that cannot support them during the summer months.

How can an outdoor person get bored here in northwest Iowa? I mean right now we have hunting seasons going like crazy, the fall fishing is only getting better as the lake water temperatures fall. Oh, but that’s not all. Nope. Because the “pre-ice fishing craze” is just around the corner.

It’s probably happened to most anglers while fishing in mid to late autumn. Walleyes, crappies, perch and smallmouth are in deeper water than usual. Every now and then we see on the sonar what we think is a fish. Then it bites. It is a fish. It’s then that we realize: Fishing in mid to late fall and early winter can be a bit like ice fishing. Here’s how you can take advantage of that realization.

I moved my family here in 1978, and my wife and I both had our parents end up moving from the Redfield area in north-central South Dakota to live near to their grandkids. It was wonderful for us to have the family together, and we did go back to the Redfield area for several years to pheasant hunt land owned by relatives. At the same time, I became a pheasant hunting fanatic here in northwest Iowa.

Peyton Morey’s third place effort among an 86-girl field earned the Spencer Tiger a third straight trip to the Iowa High School State Cross Country Meet; where she will be joined by fellow Tiger Nolan McCusker, who earned the final boys individual slot with a 15th place finish. Both runners will compete on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 28.

SIOUX CENTER — “The girls played extremely hard against a very tough Sioux Center team,” said Tara Hauschen, Spencer volleyball coach, following a season ending loss to the Warriors on the road Tuesday night.

The Tiger struggled to handle the host team, falling 25-13, 25-16, 25-12, in Sioux County to conclude the 2023 season.

ALTA — The Sioux Central Rebels faced Alta-Aurelia in the Class 2A Regional Quarterfinal Wednesday, ending the season with a mark of 5-15 following a three game sweep on the road, 25-15, 25-15, 26-24. After dropping the first two games convincingly, the Rebels would battle to keep their seas­ on alive, taking the third frame to extra points before succumbing by two. A-A moves onto the semifinals with a 20-2 mark.

Sioux Central — 15, 12, 24

Lily Gross set a new school mark, breaking the Spencer girls swim team 100 breaststroke record Tuesday at its home meet against Sioux City Metro. Gross’ finish of 1:07.72 — a state qualifying time — would earn her a first place finish in the event, but the Tigers would fall 97-72 on Senior Night.

“We had a great meet and races in the pool,” said Aimee Lawrence, Spencer girls swim coach. “We were able to recognize our seniors and are proud of their swims.”

BOONE — The Iowa Lakes Laker volleyball team traveled to Boone to take on No. 12 12 DMACC. The Bears dominated the match, controlling serve pass with very aggressive serves, and attacking extremely efficiently and eventually winning 25-11, 25-11, 25-7.