CLARINDA -- Harlan Community improved its Hawkeye Ten dual record to 4-0 Thursday night with a double dual sweep, beating Clarinda, 42-30, and St. Albert, 66-18. The host Cardinals beat St. Albert, 78-6. Eight out of 12 Cyclone wrestlers finished 2-0 for the meet, led by two pins each from Elias Shaeffer, Nick Foss and Jacob Wingert. HCHS (4-1 overall) finished 7-4 with five pins in contested matches vs.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- It wasn’t easy, but then again it wasn’t supposed to be. In a span of less than 24 hours this past weekend, the Harlan Community girls basketball team beat a pair of state-ranked unbeatens while making two separate bus rides to Council Bluffs. One night after outlasting sixth-ranked (4-A) Lewis Central, 43-40, the Cyclones overcame a rash of turnovers Saturday to hold off No.

 HARLAN -- A change in defensive strategy produced the same winning result for Harlan Community Friday night as the Cyclone boys beat Lewis Central, 55-39, to move to 5-0 on the season. Facing a big and physical Titan lineup that includes two Division I football recruits in JB Baker (6-8, 260) and Mitchell Brinkman (6-3, 235), HCHS played a 2-3 zone and used a fullcourt press to help force 22 LC turnovers. Baker, who has committed to play foot

ELK HORN -- With one decisive two-minute burst, the Ar-We-Va boys basketball team showed there’s a reason they’ve won 50 consecutive regular season games. Answering Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s 13-2 first-half finish that put the Spartans up 29-25 at the half, Ar-We-Va’s Derek and Drew Schurke combined to score the first 10 points of the third quarter and the Rockets led the rest of the way to beat the Spartans 62-54 on Friday night. It was the

 ELK HORN -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton outscored Ar-We-Va 19-2 in the second quarter en route to a 58-35 win over the Rocket girls in Rolling Valley Conference action Friday night. The 2nd-ranked (1-A) Spartan girls improved to 7-0 overall and also beat Guthrie Center 67-20 on Saturday. See Friday’s Harlan News-Advertiser for more details. 

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- The Harlan Community girls kept their Hawkeye Ten winning streak alive Friday night, opening the fourth quarter with a pivotal 11-2 run and holding off Lewis Central, 43-40, on the Titans’ home floor. Bailey Hansen and Jordyn Moser both hit 1-of-2 free throws in the final 10 seconds, sandwiched around a key defensive charge taken by Emma Ahrenholtz with three seconds left, to preserve the victory. The third-ranked (Class 4-A

 HARLAN -- With the outcome long since decided, Tuesday night’s second half between Harlan Community and Creston resembled a below-the-rim version of the NBA All-Star Game. There were no slam dunks, but three-pointers - 32 of them in all - rained from the sky as the third-ranked (Class 3-A) Cyclones routed the Panthers 80-47 in a non-conference matchup between Hawkeye Ten rivals. HCHS senior Thomas Fink and Creston junior Cody Crawford both ma

 HARLAN -- The ball movement was crisper, the shooting was better and the dry spells were shorter Tuesday night as the Harlan Community girls basketball team showed marked improvement in a 58-35 win over Creston. Taylor Frederick led a balanced Cyclone attack with 18 points and eight rebounds, fellow senior forward Emma Ahrenholtz had 12 points and seven boards and senior point guard Jordyn Moser added nine points and eight assists. HCHS, rank

 HARLAN -- Kenzie Jones rolled a two-game series of 307 to lead the Harlan Community girls bowling team past Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, 1,954 to 1,710, on Tuesday afternoon at Cyclone Lanes. Jones bowled individual games of 170 and 137 for HCHS, which improved its record to 1-1 on the season. The Cyclone boys, however, lost by just 27 total pins (2,561 to 2,534) and dropped to 0-2 going into Thursday’s meet at Denison. HCHS trailed the Ly

 BOYS TOWN, NEB. -- Eight out of 11 Harlan Community wrestlers placed in the top six last weekend as the Cyclones finished seventh out of 15 teams at the 45th annual Boys Town Invitational, held Friday and Saturday. Skutt Catholic was the tournament champion with 268 points, followed by Bennington (222.5) and Blair (130). HCHS, the only Iowa school in the field, scored 92 points for seventh.

 MANNING -- Sophomore Kia Rasmussen led the IKM-Manning girls with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five steals last Friday night at the Wolves outlasted Tri-Center, 57-55, in Western Iowa Conference play. The Wolves trailed 44-38 after three quarters before outscoring the Trojans 19-11 the rest of the way. Rasmussen knocked down 9-of-13 free throws for IKM-Manning, which finished 27-of-43 as a team from the charity stripe.

 HARLAN -- On the heels of a successful turnaround season on the gridiron, the Harlan Community boys basketball team is seeking similar levels of improvement on the hardwood this winter. Not that last season was a dud by any means.

 DENISON -- The offense was still sporadic at times, but Harlan Community coach Zach Klaassen is doing his best not to complain about 28-point victories. On Friday night at Denison-Schleswig, defense remained a constant for the third-ranked (4-A) Cyclone girls, who swiped 18 steals using a mix of 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones and defeated the Lady Monarchs 50-22 in a Hawkeye Ten game that did not count toward the conference standings. Seniors Taylor Fre

 DENISON -- For the Harlan Community boys basketball team, the bridge between high potential and high performance is a little bit of patience. The Cyclones aren’t hitting on all cylinders just yet, but the tools are in place for a big season. On Friday night, HCHS finished the first half on a 13-2 run and continued to pull away after the break, posting a 65-44 conference win at Denison-Schleswig to improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Hawkeye

 RED OAK -- AHSTW, Harlan Community and Kuemper Catholic all finished with 2-1 records while host Red Oak was 0-3 in a quad wrestling meet held Thursday. Most of the duals came down to the final match, including AHSTW’s 37-34 win over HCHS in round one. The Vikings started and finished the dual with technical fall wins by Tim Barr at 170 pounds and Gabe Pauley at 160, winning seven of 12 matches overall.