The Clear Lake wrestling team won the eight-team Clear Lake Invitational over New Hampton on Saturday.
“This was one of the best tournaments we have ever wrestled in the past 20 years,” said Clear Lake Coach Gary Weber. “We have some regulars out of our line up and our whole team stepped up, from our JV kids to our state kids. We wrestled with a ton of intensity.”
The Lions put eight wrestlers into the finals and four came away as champions-- Jacob and Joe Colon, Tucker Weber and Spencer Rollefson. Four westlers made the finals but were defeated. Jake Kopriva, Rudy Wieck, Christian Trebil and Pat Kolker all placed second.
“It always helps to wrestle at home. Our crowd pumps up our guys,” added Coach Weber. “The tournament was also run very well. We have about 20 people who have worked our tournament for the past 15 years and they do a super job. It is by far the best tournament we wrestle on all year. A big thank you goes out to all of the people who helped make it such a great day.”
The coach provided this tournament re-cap:
103-Jacob Colon, first place. Jacob had the day of his life. He beat the undefeated and second ranked kid in state, 13-6. You can’t do much better than that. I underestimated how good he can be. What a day!
103-Austin Horner, third place. The brackets had a couple openings, so we entered five of our JV kids and they all did well beating other teams’ varsity. Austin Horner place third, which shows he could be on just about anybody’s varsity in the area. He is just behind a very talented wrestler in Jacob Colon.
112-Joe Colon, first place. Joe moved to 16-0 on the year with another impressive showing. Joe won by technical fall over the fourth ranked wrestler. Nobody has gone the distance with Joe this year.

It was an exciting week for both the fans and the team, as the Ventura boys basketball team competed with some of the state’s best teams. The Vikings went 1-1.

SCMT 62, Ventura 46
Don’t let the score deceive you, the Vikings were in this contest right to the end. Ventura knew this would be a tough contest and they came ready to play Class 1A’s number three ranked team.
The Spartans jumped to a slight 12-9 lead after the first quarter. A tight defensive battle occurred in the second quarter with both teams collecting 12 points for a 24-21 halftime score. The third quarter was again a battle with Ventura falling behind, but catching back up. The score at the end of the third period was 39-33 in favor of SCMT. The Spartans connected on some three point shots and the Vikings had to resort to fouling to get back into the game, resulting in Ventura falling too far behind to capture the victory.
“This loss hurt, but it also gives us some confidence because everyone on our team knows that we can play with them,” said Coach Nick Schauf. “If we hit a few more of our shots we are right there.”
The Vikings only shot 29 percent from the field and 11 percent from the three point line. Coach Schauf said this was the worst his team has shot from the arc all season.
The coach praised the play of Cody Kadolph and Tyler Betz for finding the holes and finishing strong. Betz and Kadolph led the team with 19 and 17 points respectively. The duo also led the team in rebounds with Kadolph grabbing 11 and Betz picking up 10. Betz also had five blocked shots, two steals and two assists, while Kadolph had two steals and five assists.
Rounding out the scoring was Aaron Christians with four and Josh Henely and Tyler Peterson with three points apiece.

Ventura 55, N-K 54

    It was another tough week of basketball for the Ventura girls team as they dropped two non-conference match-ups.

SCMT 61, Ventura 26
    The Lady Vikes traveled to Sheffield on Thursday, Jan. 3, to play Sheffield-Chapin/Meservey-Thornton.  
    The Spartans were off and running from the beginning, outscoring Ventura 16-1 in the first quarter.  The next two quarters were more of the same, with SCMT outdistancing the Lady Vikes 7-14 in the second quarter and 8-20 in the third.  Ventura picked it up in the fourth and played even with the Spartans, but it wasn’t near enough as they fell, 61-26.
    “We struggled with our shooting from the field,” said Coach Lucas Kreuscher.  “They jumped on us early, and it’s hard to recover when you play a team like SCMT.”
    Freshman Hannah Vavrik led the team in scoring with eight points.  She was followed closely by Brittany Boehnke, who picked up six.  Rounding out the scoring was Kaley Imhoff and Allie Schuler with three points apiece and Megan Schuler, Morgan Welp and Alicia Chrisitians each had two points.
    Boehnke led under the boards with seven rebounds.  Allie Schuler had five rebounds, while Welp and Vavrik each grabbed four.  Allie Schuler led the team in steals with three.

Northwood 54, Ventura 36
    The Lady Vikes held tough in the first half, but couldn’t hold on in the second half.  They fell, 54-36, to Northwood-Kensett on Saturday, Jan. 5, in Northwood.
     “Northwood always had a 6-10 point lead, and we just couldn’t close the gap on them,” said Coach Lucas Kreuscher.  “We need to get more stops when we score a basket, rather then just trade points.”

Free Throw Championship slated for Jan. 13
    All boys and girls from the ages of 10-14 (as of Jan. 1) are invited to participate in the local level of the competition for the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship.  The local competition will be held on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1:30 p.m. in the Ventura High School gym.  Preregistration is recommended and entry forms can be obtained at area school offices.  The doors open at 1 p.m.  For additional questions contact Tom Stephany at 357-6117.

Indoor Soccer to begin in January
    The Clear Lake Parks and Recreation Department is offering Indoor Soccer for boys and girls in kindergarten through third grade.  The program will be held on Saturdays from Jan. 12-Feb. 3.  First and second grade will play from 10-11 a.m. and Kindergarten will play from 11-11:45 a.m.  The program is held at the Clear Lake Middle School gym (enter through the west doors).  There is an $8 registration fee.  Deadline for registering is Jan. 4.  Shin guards are required to play and will be available for $10 on the first week.  

Open gym to be held in Ventura
     Ventura will hold open gym on Saturdays, from 1-3 p.m.  Open gym   will run through March 29.  Participants are asked to bring their own balls and gym shoes.  The event is open to all ages.

    Slow starts left the Clear Lake girls basketball team in a hole too deep to get out of in a pair of games played last week.  The Lions dropped contests with Humboldt and Forest City and fell to 2-11 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Humboldt 65, CL 44
    The Lions had trouble getting back in the groove after the holiday break and Humboldt rushed out to a 23-10 first quarter lead and never looked back.  The Wildcats were up 36-19 at the half and coasted to a 65-44 North Central Conference win at home Friday, Jan. 4.
    A slow start in the first quarter created too many scoring opportunities for Humboldt.
    “We totaled 21 turnovers for the game,” pointed out Clear Lake Coach Kay Bacon.  “Humboldt finished with 16 turnovers.  However, over half of those turnovers occurred in the first quarter. This made it an uphill climb the rest of the game.”
    The coach noted her team took good shots throughout the game, but couldn’t get them to fall when they needed them. The Lions made just 17 of 41 field goal attempts (41 percent) and were 2/12 (17 percent) from three-point range.  Cold free throw shooting (4/13 for 31 percent) also slowed the Lions.
    Clear Lake was led in scoring by Allison Schaefer with 12 points.  She also had a steal and assist, as well as four rebounds.  Macey Hansen contributed nine points and eight rebounds to the team, while Victoria Nicholas finished with eight points, four steals, four assists and two rebounds.
    Torrie Hansen had four points and rebounds, as well as two assists and a steal.  Kristin Weigel also had four points, two assists and steals, and five rebounds.
    Kara Mathis was a force on the boards with seven rebounds.  She was also credited with three points, an assist and a steal.  Katie Barkley and Breann Mumm got into the scorebook with two points apiece. Mumm also had a pair of steals and assists.

The Clear Lake boys basketball team got a look at a good Forest City team Saturday. And although they dropped the game 85-66, they know they’ll be ready if, or when, the two teams meet in the post-season.
“This is a game that we can build on as we continue to get better,” said Clear Lake Coach Kevin Kahler.
The Lions got off to a good start and held a 15-14 lead after one quarter of play. But the Indians turned it on in the second period and rattled off 28 points to leave the Lions trailing by 10 at halftime, 42-32.

“Turnovers and defense was the difference tonight. We didn’t take care of the
ball like we needed to. We had too many turnovers that resulted in layup opportunities for them,” said Coach Kahler.
The Indians extended their lead to 18 heading into the final period, helped by success at the free throw line. Forest City made 14 more free throws than the Lions in the game.

The Lions were paced offensively by Zach Monson, who scored 19 points to go with his team high six-rebounds. Justin Uhlenhopp scored 14 points and dished

(L-R) Jacque Keyser, of Clear Lake, joined her daughter Darcy’s family on The Family Feud game show. Pictured after filming one of their two episodes are Jacque with Cody, Darcy, John and Jordan Kownacki.-Submitted photo.

A Clear Lake family will be featured this month on the popular television game show, The Family Feud.
Darcy (Morehouse) Kownacki said when she was young she always wanted to be on the Family Feud when her children were old enough. She had put the dream aside until recently, when she decided to surprise her mother, Jacque Keyser, of Clear Lake, and try to schedule an audition.
Darcy, who now lives in San Diego, Calif. with her husband, John, and college-age children Cody and Jordan, was interviewed for the show over the telephone. Much to her surprise and delight, the call resulted in a second interview.
“Mom flew out and we auditioned and had a blast!” said Darcy. “We were called a week later to be on the show, but only after a second audition-- so bless her heart, my mom flew back out and we drove to Hollywood again with hopes of getting on the show.”
The family was chosen and filmed that very day. Keyser joined her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren as the fifth member of the Family Feud team.
“It was a great family experience-- very laughable and something we’ll always remember,” said Jacque.
“It was so cool to just be crazy as a now-adult family. It brought us all together and even though we did not win, it was a fabulous experience that we’ll all treasure for life. How silly, and yet so fulfilling, to see our three generations acting goofy on national television and doing it with love and enthusiasm for each other,” said Darcy.

Local caucus organizers found themselves with an unusual problem Thursday night: Lots of voters and limited space.
It was a good problem to have, they said. Since it signaled a heavy turnout for Iowa’s first in the nation caucuses Jan. 3. Republicans and Democrats each recorded record turnout at City Hall, Clear Lake High School and Middle School.
Statewide caucus attendance was estimated at 239,000 Democrats and 115,000 Republicans.
By late evening, Iowans had chosen Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican White House hopeful Mike Huckabee in the nation’s first test of the 2008 election.
Locally, Hillary Clinton edged John Edwards as the local Democratic favorite with Obama finishing third. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney was a three-vote winner over Huckabee.
Clinton finished first in Cerro Gordo County, as well, collecting 97 county delegates (39 percent). Edwards and Obama each had 76 county delegates (30.5 percent).

Students enthusiastic about political process
It’s not too unusual to describe 17 and 18-year-olds as enthusiastic. But enthusiastic about politics?
You bet.
More than 40 Clear Lake High School junior and seniors not only attended local caucus gatherings, but were active participants. Some were even elected to serve as delegates and alternates at the county convention March 8 to help structure party platforms.
“They’ve got so much energy,” said Beth Ann Schumacher, a Clear Lake High School government and history teacher since 1980. “Some of these kids are so excited and impassioned about the process. It’s a great thing to see.”
Schumacher said her students anxiously anticipated Iowa’s first in the nation caucuses and were ready for them Thursday, Jan. 3.

    The news was good when Clear Lake police received an anonymous report of an arm and leg sticking out of a snow bank last week.
    After all, there was no body attached.  In fact, the limbs were identified as prosthetic limbs reported stolen in July.
    Tom Leisure had reported to Clear Lake police in July that someone had stolen an arm and leg from the Clear Lake shop where he manufactures prosthetic limbs.  Police speculated that local teenagers may have been involved in the theft with the intention of using the limbs as props for a prank.  
    Although the arm and leg have no practical value except for the people they were built for, the cost of the two limbs is nearly $30,000.
    Offers of amnesty through the local news media to get the limbs returned went unanswered.  Clear Lake police had no leads in the case until Dec. 29, when an anonymous caller reported an arm and leg sticking out of a snow bank along a local street.  
    The limbs were returned to Leisure so they may be used by the individuals they were made for.  
    According to Clear Lake Police Chief Greg Peterson, the limbs still appeared to be in good condition, with no sign of frost bite.