Cyclone girls open season with big win at Glenwood

 GLENWOOD (Aug. 31) -- The Harlan Community girls cross country team couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the season than what transpired at Saturday’s Glenwood Invite.
 Finishing ahead of two rivals ranked above them in the Class 3A preseason rankings, the Cyclones placed five runners in the top 11 and scored a 40 to defeat second-place Atlantic (63), third-place Glenwood (76) and seven other teams in the field at Glenwood Lake Park.
 The HCHS boys also put forth a strong opening show, placing fourth with a score of 132 behind Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson (52), Atlantic (79) and Lewis Central (102).
 The Cyclone girls return all but one runner (Greichaly Kaster) from last year’s eighth-place state meet finisher and No. 8 is exactly where the Iowa Association of Track Coaches ranked them in the preseason - just behind No. 7 Atlantic and No. 4 Glenwood.
 HCHS simply outran those outside expectations, led by Lucy Borkowski’s impressive fourth-place time of 19:49.9. The next four Cyclones crossed the finish line in a virtual pack as Abby Alberti placed seventh, followed by Kaia Bieker in eighth, Brecken Van Baale 10th and Liv Freund 11th - all between 20:46 and 20:50.
 HCHS coach Doug Renkly noted that the Cyclone girls’ goal on the day was to have five runners in the top 10, a feat they nearly pulled off. “We knew we would have to run extremely well this early to do that,” Renkly said. “We were one place short of our goal but there are no complaints. Everyone ran a very tough and gutsy race.”
 Junior Trey Gross, an individual state qualifier last year, set the pace for the Cyclone boys Saturday by finishing eighth with a five-kilometer time of 17:00.4. Brennon Munch also earned a top 20 medal by placing 17th in 17:48.
 Mitchell Rueschenberg (33rd), Reed Boardman (36th) and Isaac Jones (38th) finished within 10 seconds of each other to round out the team’s scoring places and Kaiden Milliken wasn’t far behind in 44th.
 “I think being able to place fourth in this meet is a big accomplishment,” Renkly said. “Those who ran this course last season are much faster now."
 Saturday’s individual champions were Peyton Pogge of Tri-Center (ranked No. 1 in Class 1A girls) and Aidan Booton of Thomas Jefferson.