Thursday afternoon, the HCHS girls track and field team competed in the Monarch Relays taking home fifth place with 70.50 points, 66.50 behind the Atlantic Trojans, who won the event with 137 points.
According to head coach Jenny Hamilton, there were some good moments, along with some tough moments, but it’s a long season with challenges throughout the course of it.

Drew Buckholdt said he was excited to be named Exira’s new football coach for the upcoming 2023 season, after former head coach and current athletic director Tom Petersen will be stepping down.
“Being a head coach is something I’ve always really wanted to do,” Buckholdt said. “Taking over for my alma mater makes it all the more special and taking it after a guy like Coach [Tom] Petersen, there’s not much more I could ask for.”

Brandi Eckles will be the new coach for the upcoming 2023 season for the HCHS Cyclones. Eckles is looking forward to coaching the team.

With halftime approaching and the game tied at one, the Cyclones took the lead for good when Junior Ian Shelton assisted the ball to Senior Mason Anderson for a goal giving the Cyclones a 2-1 lead and after tight defense in the second half, their first win of the season.

The Cyclones were unable to stop the Panthers’ offense in their season opener at Merrill Field with Freshman Morgan Crees scoring two goals en route to a 5-1 victory.
“I thought we started off strong the first half, feeling out what they had.” said Cyclones Head Coach Jared Boysen. “We knew what they had last year. They had a lot of speed up top and new girls on defense.”

It didn’t take long for the Cyclones to get on the board in their scrimmage Friday night at Merrill Field against the AHSTW Vikings when Senior Mason Anderson knocked in a goal with 18:29 remaining in the first period.

Sophomore Kassie Anderson opened up the scoring for the Cyclones Friday at Merrill Field with a goal just under four minutes to go in the first half of a scrimmage against the AHSTW Vikings.

For the first time this season, the HCHS girls track and field competed outdoors and took home a third place finish with multiple girls taking high finishes.
“Tonight was our first outdoor meet, and the weather was as nice as you can ask for in late March,” said Cyclones Head Coach Jenny Hamilton. “We were able to put a lot of girls in the lineup and placed top-2 in six events.”

The HCHS track and field team was initially supposed to compete at the Carroll Early Bird event March 23, however it got pushed back a day due to weather, but head coach Sam Brummer wasn’t worried as his boys managed to take a second place finish behind Glenwood.

Hoping to forget last year, the boys went winless, and the girls finished with a record of 3-6-1, the HCHS girls tennis team will look to a new coach while the boys will see a familiar face.
Michael Rueschenberg will be coaching the girls this season after Katie Arentson stepped down from that role. Dillon Stane remains the boys head coach.

The HCHS Cyclones girls soccer team has its work cut out for it after finishing 11-6 with a third place conference finish and the best win percentage in school history, while giving up the fewest goals since Head Coach Jared Boysen took over the program.
“We are excited to get the season underway and see what potential we have for this season in our jamboree and scrimmage on Friday,” Boysen said.

Sophomore Lindsey Sonderman continues to dominate the sport of running carrying over her cross country success to track and field distance events.

Junior Cash Emgarten got his season started on a high note with a first place finish in the 400 meter dash with a time of 54.32.
Emgarten also finished in fifth place in the 200 meter dash with a time of 23.86 taking home a fifth place finish in the 60 meter run with a time of 7.28 seconds, just .15 behind the leader, Landry Haberichter from W. Burlington.

Relay races were the defining factor for the Wolves competing strong, taking home a high finish Friday at the Buena Vista University High School Elite.
“With all classes combined, it made for a competitive environment and a good way to see where we were at so far,” said Wolves Head Coach Emma Konkler-Petersen.

Senior Wil Neuharth performed strong Saturday at the Northwest Missouri State Indoor Event taking home first place in the 60 and 200 meter dash finals. Neuharth also placed fourth in the 400 meter dash, just 1.01 seconds behind the leader, Senior Andrew Rhoades out of Princeton High School.