HARLAN -- When you’ve got 10 seniors on the roster, mixed with talented juniors and sophomores, five-on-five practice drills can get downright intense at times. Which is why Harlan Community senior Kyle Juhl points to practice time as a big factor in the Cyclones’ rapid improvement since Christmas break. HCHS continued to impress on Monday night, putting a 10-0 run on Kuemper Catholic to start the third quarter - increasing an eight-point lea

 HARLAN -- When the Kuemper Catholic girls cut Harlan Community’s lead to 21-18 with just three minutes left in the first half, few could have imagined that the final margin would escalate to a staggering 41 points. But that’s exactly what happened here Monday night as the 2nd-ranked (Class 4-A) Cyclones dominated the final 19 minutes of a 69-28 rout of the Knights. HCHS (10-1 overall) scored the final 10 points of the first half, then added 2

 AVOCA -- Eight AHSTW wrestlers finished 3-0 here Tuesday night as the Vikings dominated a home quad meet with wins over West Central Valley (56-21), Southwest Valley (81-0) and Audubon (54-15). The Vikings improved their overall dual record to 20-6. Individual highlights for AHSTW included 170-pounder Tim Barr pinning all three of his opponents in the first period.

 MANNING -- Down two starters and facing an undefeated rival, IKM-Manning gave 13th-ranked Treynor all it could handle last Friday night, but the Cardinal girls had just a little bit more down the stretch. Finishing the game on an 8-2 surge - all on free throws - after IKM-M knotted the score at 47 with 1:57 to play, Treynor escaped with a 55-49 victory to improve to 9-0 overall (8-0 in the Western Iowa Conference). The Wolves, meanwhile, suff

 MANNING -- The same perimeter shots that triggered IKM-Manning’s first-half rally refused to fall when the Wolves needed them again late versus Treynor. The untimely cold snap proved costly as IKM-M was outscored 13-7 in the fourth quarter of last Friday’s 63-55 home loss to the Cardinals. The matchup of top-five ranked, undefeated rivals was as competitive as usual - featuring five ties and four lead changes after the Wolves erased an early

 TRI-CENTER -- Harlan Community freshman Ronan Noeth was the champion at 106 pounds and four other HCHS wrestlers finished as runners-up Saturday as the Cyclones placed second out of 11 teams at the Tri-Center Trojan Invitational. Missouri Valley led the field with five champions and 222 points, followed by HCHS (206), West Monona (140) and Treynor (130.5).

 GRISWOLD -- The AHSTW wrestlers improved their dual record to 17-6 on Thursday by sweeping a quad meet against Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton (69-6), Guthrie Center (54-21) and host Griswold (42-18). Eight Viking individuals finished 3-0 on the day: Tim Barr (170), Spencer Symanowicz (285), Ben Ehlers (106), Drake Partridge (120), Joel Becerra (126), Cain Francois (132), Gabe Pauley (152) and Dustin Engel (160).

 CRESTON -- Creston/Orient-Macksburg lived up to every bit of its number-one dual ranking in Class 2-A Thursday night, scoring bonus points in nine out of 12 contested matches en route to a 61-12 dual win over Harlan Community. The Panthers improved to 10-0 overall and 7-0 in Hawkeye Ten Conference duals, while HCHS (5-6 overall) dropped to second place in the conference at 4-1.

 ADEL -- Taylor Frederick eclipsed 20 points on consecutive nights while Jordyn Moser and Emma Ahrenholtz also posted back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts as the Harlan Community girls handily defeated St. Albert and A-D-M this past weekend. The Cyclones, who moved up to No. 2 in the latest Class 4-A rankings, won a 60-38 conference home game vs.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- The Harlan Community Cyclones won with defense Friday night, holding St. Albert to just 21 points through three quarters and picking up a 54-33 conference road victory over the Falcons. HCHS outscored St.

ADEL -- Getting a break-out offensive performance from Kyle Juhl, the Harlan Community boys basketball team eclipsed 65 points for just the second time this season Saturday night, notching a 73-47 non-conference win at A-D-M. Juhl scored a season-high 32 points and also grabbed a team-best 13 rebounds, shooting 13-of-20 from the field and knocking down five three-pointers in the second quarter to help the Cyclones build a 41-27 halftime lead. 

 MANNING -- One of the top rivalries in the Western Iowa Conference was renewed in Manning Friday night, and while both games were tightly-contested, the Treynor girls and boys both kept their undefeated records intact by outlasting IKM-Manning. The Cardinals won the girls game 55-49 before taking the boys game 63-55 as both Treynor squads improved to 9-0 overall and 8-0 in the WIC.

AVOCA -- The IKM-Manning girls used an 18-4 second-quarter advantage to pull away from AHSTW and win Tuesday’s Western Iowa Conference game, 62-34. Kia Rasmussen paced a balanced Wolves’ scoring attack with 15 points, followed by Peyton Gross with 12, Shauna Reitan 10 and Caitlin Muhlbauer seven. Madi Lingle distributed six of the team’s 19 assists for IKM-M, which improved to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the WIC. 

 ATLANTIC -- The merit of a strong start cannot be overstated when evaluating the Harlan Community boys basketball team’s last two games. In its only loss of the season just before Christmas break, HCHS spent nearly the entire night battling from behind in an eventual seven-point home loss to unbeaten Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. Flash forward two weeks and the Cyclones basically led the whole way Tuesday night in an impressive seven-point

 HARLAN -- Scoring the game’s first 16 points wasn’t necessarily a sign of things to come Tuesday night, but it was a key difference-maker in the Harlan Community girls’ 57-44 win over Atlantic. The 3rd-ranked (Class 4-A) Cyclones were never seriously threatened by the Trojans, but never quite pulled away as they shook off the rust from a two-week holiday break and improved to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference - all alone in fi