SPENCER ― Three points separated Lakes Conference foes Spencer and Spirit Lake in Thursday’s girls only meet on the track at Dale Norton Field. The Tigers accumulated their 137 points with three individual top finishes, and one foursome; as well as a four runner-up effort and other strong finishes.

CHEROKEE — Traveling southwest for a tennis match, Spencer faced Cherokee Thursday, where they were less-than-hospitable guests, downing the Braves 8-1.

“I’m really pleased to get our first conference win of the year against a tough opponent tonight,” longtime Tiger coach Joe Steele said. “Cherokee returns most of their lineup that played us in a really long meet last spring. So to get the win tonight feels good.”

SIOUX CITY ― Tate VonEhwegen and Rylei Koppie placed first in individual events, while the 4x800 and shuttle hurdle relays took top honors for Spencer as the Tigers competed in Sioux City at the event hosted by Sioux City East, Thursday. Ten other teams, largely from the Sioux City area schools, participated.

PRIMGHAR ― Sioux Central’s girls dominated the field, topping 200 team points, and running away with the crown. The boys placed third at the South O’Brien Meet, Thursday night.

“This was a fun meet to get out and flex the muscles,” said Brent Trierweiler, Rebel girls head coach.

April 24-26 ― Drake University, Des Moines

Spencer Girls 4x100: Lucy Simington, Sydnee Hopkins, Khia Koenig and Mercedes Krieg

Heats ― 9:40 a.m., Saturday

Final ― 2:15 p.m., Saturday

Spencer Boys High Jump: Tate VonEhwegen

Final ― 4:30 p.m., Thursday

Spencer Boys 4x100: Tommy Lauck, Miles Robbins, Jack Berends and Preston Pitts

DES MOINES — Early spring paddling can provide solitude, exercise and an opportunity to see amazing wildlife. Extra precautions are needed to stay safe with unpredictable spring weather and fluctuating temperatures and river levels.

DES MOINES — Get out and enjoy the beauty of April tree blossoms across Iowa neighborhoods. Trees quietly improve our lives in many ways. They’re like superheroes for our health.

Neighborhood trees are like natural air filters, cleaning up the air we breathe and making it fresher. They also help us feel less stressed and more focused. Being around trees has been shown to make us feel better, both mentally and physically.

I figured I’d better get this information out one last time: all Iowa boat registrations expire April 30. This registration is on a three-year cycle, and each time the registration comes due, there are always some boat owners that are so busy getting everything else ready for the season, especially next weekend’s Walleye Opener, that they forget.

A $5 penalty is added to the renewal cost for an expired Iowa registration. There is no grace period.

If you’re going fishing for walleyes tomorrow on one of the rivers that crisscross the Midwest, a jig will probably be the best choice of lures. If you won’t be chasing walleyes until early summer, or even later, a jig will still be a very good choice. When walleyes are the quarry and when it’s early in the season, a jig is tough to beat.

One thing that I like about retirement is that I can get up as early or as late as I want or stay up as late as I want. At the same time, there are often things going on during the week that my wife and I couldn’t partake in when we were working.

SPIRIT LAKE ― Both Spencer and Sioux Central ran strong at the Spirit Lake Tuesday, finishing two-three, behind Spirit Lake, at the Indians meet. The Tigers scored 125 behind the Rebels’ 87.

“The Spirit Lake Coed Meet was another opportunity to perfect our lineup and improve our times and the ladies did just that,” Drew Schiltz, Spencer coach, said. “We had more PRs and many events that finished in the top three.”

SPIRIT LAKE — After a 3-3 effort in singles matches, it came down to doubles competition Tuesday as the Spencer and Spirit Lake girls battled in Lakes Conference competition. The Tigers got the win on the road, taking two of three in doubles action.

“This was a very good early season win,” Spencer coach Bob Schlaeger said. “Our players played well with grit. We have a long season, and we need to continue to build off of this win.”

MILFORD ― In a battle of ranked teams, the 4-1 Spencer ladies topped the 12th-ranked Spirit Lake-Okoboji, 6-0, on the road. The No. 8 Tigers handed the Indians their first loss, making the home team 4-1 also.

Spencer’s Addison Hoben continued her reign of terror, scoring a pair of goals in eight attempts on goal. Ana Olson, Ingrid Gustafson, Avery Metcalf and Halle Sears were responsible for the other goals. Metcalf and Faith Staedtler received credits for the Tiger assists.

OKOBOJI — Spencer traveled to Okoboji View Golf Course, Tuesday, where the Tigers ladies took down host Spirit Lake by 58 strokes on its home course.

Coach Nate Wendt called it a good night overall for the Tigers.

“I am very proud of how the kids played and fed off of each other, shooting our best score of the year so far,” he said.

SPENCER — The Tigers improved to 4-2 on the heels of its second straight win, topping Spirit Lake Park-Okoboji, 3-0, at home, Monday evening. Extreme wind didn’t help the Indian offense in the conference loss.

Spencer coach Jesse Kuehler called the shutout a very deserved result on the day.