Sports

It was a hot time in the old town last weekend. Class reunions, anniversary celebrations, birthday bashes. As my favorite mother-in-law Marilyn BeVard used to say, “we had it going on.” So, Cherie, my better half by a long ways, joined me in slapping a shine on our best pair of tennies and crashed a couple parties...

A well deserved “tip of the hat” to Aurelia’s Becky Bloom and Cherokee’s Lyndsay Wolfswinkel for offering a “Beach Volleyball” recreational league for area girls in seventh and eighth grades this past month. We witnessed some of the action recently and commend Bloom and Wolfswinkel for the format in which this program is designed. Parents have no involvement except to get the kids to the courts...

Alta-Aurelia led the way in landing four players on prep baseball’s Northwest All-District teams released by the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association earlier this week. In Class 2A, Alta-Aurelia’s Warriors, who finished 17-10 on the season, placed junior Logan McCoy on the All-District First Team, and three players - sophomore Trey Engelmann, junior Michael Ryherd and senior Aric Stephan, on the All-District Second Team...

After attending the Iowa Girls’ Athletic Union sponsored State Softball Championships in Fort Dodge last week, one thing became very clear - pitching is the straw that stirs the drink in this prep sport. No doubt, pitching in baseball is important as well, but in high school girls’ softball, it’s paramount. It’s apparent that if you have a good pitcher on the roster, you legitimately have a crack at a state championship...

That Mr. Anonymous fellow struck again in this sweet little slice of Iowa, last week privately footing the bill for entry fees for the Cherokee High School cross country teams in the popular, growing, annual 5K Run/Walk/Stroll Glow Run organized by Cherokee Trails Committee, among others...

FORT DODGE - Alta-Aurelia’s wild ride to the state tournament came to a screeching halt here late Thursday night in a 3-0 loss to Class 2A State Champion North Linn. The loss ends AA’s season at 22-10 after making their second straight appearance in the state tournament...

FORT DODGE - When this high school softball season opened in May, Alta-Aurelia’s wasn’t on anybody’s radar to play for a state championship. Hmmmm, someone forgot to tell the Warriors. On Wednesday, the Warriors eliminated No. 2 seed East Marshall 2-1 to gain a berth in last night’s Class 2A Championship game against No. 1 seed North Linn (41-4)...

A gratifying benefit in this business of covering local high school sports is the people you meet a long the way. This work provides me with the opportunity to build relationships with the folks I work with on a daily basis. Many of those acquaintances become lifelong friends, and I’m humbled to have a long list of players and coaches who remain close friends to this day...

Sometimes I get tired, but never as tired as I get when I hear gifted athletes cry about how hard they worked while on their journey to fame and fortune and being drafted into the pros or recruited by a major D-1 college. Let’s see…you’re 6-8, 250 pounds, and can jump over LeBron’s ego. After striking that sperm/egg lottery, you picked up a basketball, found a basket, and played hoops for 18 years. Hey, tough gig. Where do I sign up?...

Cory Ege announced on social media Friday morning that he is stepping down as head coach of the Cherokee Braves baseball program. Ege, has a long history with Cherokee baseball. He was a key all-state player on the Braves’ state championship team of 2007, and then in 2014 took over the head coaching position here leading the Braves to a Lakes Conference title in 2016 and back to back substate final games in 2016 and 2017...

On paper, Alta-Aurelia’s first round state tourney game Monday against Central Springs could be a doozy of a pitching battle. The game Monday is slated for a 5:30p.m. start at Rogers Complex in Fort Dodge. The Warriors will play the Central Springs Panthers on the Iowa Central CC Diamond...

This was a time you could buy a dozen rolls of Northern for a buck, read about the Vietnam War in the Daily Times, shop at Tots & Teens, grab a Sweezy burger on Main, or a Maid-Rite and homemade fries at the Cottage. Or how about a new 6-speaker stereo phono with AM-FM at Gambles for $199.95?...

Senior Austin Degen it hitting well over .300 for the Ridge View Raptors this summer, but is recognized more for his snazzy defensive glove at first base. Degen was nominated for the Chronicle-Times “Prep of the Week” honors by Coach Shannon Tesch, who can’t say enough about the defense of his first sacker. ...

Clear Lake capitalized on Cherokee fielding errors and walks in the top half of the ninth inning and scored 10 runs. The result was a 16-8 extra inning win for the visitors. Cherokee hook its hopes to the arm of senior Dane Jurgensen through six innings and were able to stay in the game on another gritty pitching performance by the Cherokee senior...

PAULLINA - MMCRU’s boys and South O’Brien’s girls collected win in a split between these two area teams here Monday. In the girls’ contest, Class 1A, 12th ranked SOS battled hard to log a 7-5 win over a gritty and determined MMCRU Royals club. MMCRU held on to a 4-2 lead after scoring four runs in the top of the fourth inning. But the talented Wolverines battle back with three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to break a 5-5 time and pocketed the hard earned victory...

It was “Senior Night” at the Cherokee vs. Spencer girls’ softball game here last Friday. Here parents of Cherokee’s three seniors gather along the third base line as Payton Slather, Alexus Jones and Lily Anderson are honored. Shown here from left to right ,Wendy Slaughter, assistant coach Brandon Slaughter giving daughter Payton a hug, along with Alexus, Tim and Jada Jones, and Charity, Lily and Joel Anderson...

Cherokee’s lady Braves lost four straight last week, losing to LeMars 6-4, Spencer 16-13, Sioux City East 4-2 and state-ranked Newell-Fonda 11-4. Spencer 16, Cherokee 13: In a Lakes Conference slugest Friday, Spencer outlasted the Braves 16-13 despite the Braves outhitting the Tigers 14-12 and Teagan Slaughter slamming two-run homer...

EGG ON MY FACE I’m terribly embarrassed to learn we published the wrong photo in last week’s Wednesday edition of our “Prep of the Week.” We inadvertently published a photo of Ridge View’s talented Kennedy Mason instead of teammate Kara Richard, who was nominated by her coach and selected for the weekly honor...

LeMars teams played solid defense and chartered a clean sweep over Cherokee softball and baseball teams here Wednesday evening. LeMars won the girls’ tilt 6-4, while the Bulldogs captured the boys’ contest by an 11-7 score. In the bottom of the seventh inning of the girls’ game, Cherokee had two runners on base and LeMars squelched the rally with two defensive catches of hard hit drives by Cherokee sisters Payton and Teagan Slaughter to end the game...

Cherokee teams stayed busy over the past few days on the diamond, with the lady Braves going 1-1 and the Braves showing a 1-3 mark. The lady Braves defeated state-ranked Spirit Lake last Thursday and then lost to Western Christian via the 10-run-rule Monday night. The baseball Braves notched a 5-4 win over Spirit Lake last Thursday, and then suffered three consecutive losses to Newell-Fonda 1-0, Unity Christian 16-1 and Western Christian 13-2...

ALTA - Alta-Aurelia’s gals improved to 15-5 going 2-2 over the weekend, while the AA Warrior boys went 2-1 and improved to 10-6 on the season. AA girls’ softball rundown: AA 13, Sioux Central 3: AA got a balanced offensive performance led by freshman Angela Lopez’ home run and Jessica Flaherty and Alainia Westphal with triples on the way to a 10-run-rule win...

On Sunday afternoon, when the 85th edition of the Sioux Valley Amateur Match Play Golf Tournament was in the books, champion Nick Dreckman struggled to contain his emotion. “This means a lot,“ he said while holding back tears. “I lost my dad four years ago and to win today, on Father’s Day, really means a lot to me.” he said...

GALVA - A determined Ridge View club upset Class 2A third ranked West Monona here Wednesday in the bottom of the ninth 3-2. The extra inning win bumps the Raptors to 11-5 overall and 9-1 in the Western Valley Conference. Both teams scored two runs each in the second inning and then settled in to six straight scoreless innings until Ridge View closed the door with the winning run in the bottom half of the ninth...

Once in awhile I’ll scan “Bookface” to see what’s up in the cyber world we must live in. Why Bookface? Dunno. Although there’s too much poor taste personal insults and bullying banter that goes on in cyber world, there are some good things too. None of them political...

LE MARS - Cherokee’s 8-6 lady Braves had chances to tie or take the lead several times, but were unable to get the job done, losing to 8-6 LeMars here Monday, 4-3. “This was a tough loss,” said Cherokee coach Jenn Nixon. “We had a rocky start and then played great defense the last four innings. The early fielding mistakes allowed them to score three in the first inning and one in the second that ultimately cost us the game,” she said...

One almost has to call in “Ancestry.com” to chronicle the golf legacy established many years ago by the late John and Doris Lockin of Aurelia. The history here is unmatched. You see, Alta-Aurelia just competed in its ninth consecutive girls’ state golf tournament, and in doing so rode the wings of John and Doris’ decendants to those state tournaments. In all nine state qualifying years, the golfing bloodline flowed through the clubs of a Lockin or Patton...