Cyclone girls one point shy of Glenwood Invite title

 GLENWOOD (Aug. 25) -- If the season opener is any indication, some memorable team battles lie ahead this fall for the Harlan Community and Glenwood girls cross country squads.
 The Rams struck first at Glenwood Lake Park Saturday morning, edging HCHS by the narrowest of margins, 40-41, to win the girls’ half of the Glenwood Invite.
 Janette Schraft, a Class 1A state medalist last year for East Mills, has transferred to Glenwood and led the Rams to victory with a first-place time of 18:57, beating Atlantic’s Taylor McCreedy for the individual title by 42 seconds.
 Senior Greichaly Kaster, a three-time state qualifier, led a fleet of five Cyclones in the top 12 by placing third in 21:01. Lucy Borkowski, a first-year runner, placed sixth in her cross country debut (21:29), followed by Abby Alberti in ninth, Kaia Bieker 11th and Liv Freund 12th.
 The girls team race was basically decided by .34 of a second, the margin by which Glenwood’s Abby McIntyre finished ahead of Borkowski for fifth place.
 The HCHS boys finished seventh out of eight teams Saturday with a 175. Trey Gross, a sophomore, opened the season well by placing sixth in 18:02. The Cyclones’ next-best finisher was Brennon Munch in 31st. Only five Cyclones competed on the varsity squad.
 Thomas Jefferson claimed the top three individual boys, led by Aidan Booton, and won the team title over Lewis Central by 30 points (35-65).