HCHS girls showcase depth in beating Glenwood by a point for Hawkeye Ten cross country title

 GLENWOOD (Oct. 11) -- Harlan Community coach Doug Renkly already had space reserved on his art room wall for a photo of this year’s Cyclone girls cross country team. Now he gets to fill it.
 In a satisfying switch from this year’s season opener, the HCHS girls earned a Hawkeye Ten team championship by one point over Glenwood Thursday afternoon, winning the conference meet by a margin of 51-52 at Glenwood Lake Park. Atlantic placed third with 83 points and Creston took fourth with a 98.
 The sixth-ranked (3A) Cyclones placed their top five runners between sixth and 14th in a 67-girl field, claiming the program’s first H-10 title since 2012 and their ninth since 2004.
 Glenwood, ranked fifth in 3A, was led by individual champion Janette Schraft and fifth-place medalist Abby McIntyre, but wasn’t quite able to match Harlan’s depth overall.
 Back on August 25, the Rams edged the Cyclones by a single point (40-41) on the same course. Since that day, HCHS has finished ahead of Glenwood in all but one head-to-head matchup, including Thursday’s showdown which was moved from Creston to Glenwood a day in advance due to heavy rain.
 “This is a pretty sweet victory for the girls,” Renkly said. “To work as hard as they did over the summer and earlier this fall and just to keep that pack mentality and keep encouraging each other and having each other’s back - then to have a team like Glenwood... basically running against each other each week (to make) both programs better - it’s been a really neat season and we’re very fortunate to be on top.”
 The Hawkeye Ten title also clinches a new photo spot on Renkly’s wall of fame.
 “We always put a lot of emphasis on the conference meet... We celebrate the conference champions,” he said. “I’ve got all the pictures of the championship teams up on my wall and I actually had a little space carved out and put pictures around it in a square, so there was one space. Every time the girls come in my room, they see that space and they want to make sure that their picture is in there, so I’m very glad that they get the opportunity to be on the wall. It’s a great group of girls and it’s just thrilling to be able to work with them.”
 Freshman Kaia Bieker led HCHS with a sixth-place time of 20:04, closely followed by senior Greichaly Kaster in eighth (20:11). The Cyclones’ one-through-five split time was just 43 seconds as freshman Raegen Wicks placed 11th (20:30), junior Abby Alberti finished strong for 12th (20:41) and junior Lucy Borkowski was 14th (20:47).