PANORA -- State meet veterans Payton Sporrer of IKM-Manning and Emily Copic of Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton are headed back to Fort Dodge later this week after notching top 10 finishes in Thursday’s Class 1-A State Qualifying Cross Country Meet at Lake Panorama Golf Course. Sporrer placed fourth with a five-kilometer time of 20:58 while Copic placed 10th in 21:14.

 GLENWOOD -- If Harlan Community’s players didn’t already know it was tournament time Wednesday night, coach Angie Spangenberg cued them in pretty quickly at the start of set two. Already holding a 25-17 win to their credit over Glenwood, the Cyclones received serve to start the second set, showed a lack of communication on the first pass and let the ball hit the floor. Spangenberg immediately signaled for a timeout, only minutes after calling

HARLAN -- The Harlan Community football team will have one last chance to put it all together Friday night when it hosts Atlantic in the final game of the season for both teams. The Trojans visit Merrill Field with an overall record of 1-7 and a Class 3-A, District 7 mark of 0-6, having lost seven straight games since opening the year with a 16-14 win over Clarinda. HCHS stands at 3-5 overall and 2-4 in district play following last week’s thri

 LOGAN -- It’s hard to say how Tuesday’s regional match between AHSTW and Logan-Magnolia would have played out if the first set had ended differently, but for the Lady Vikes it was an all too familiar experience. Letting a 22-20 lead slip away in a highly-competitive set one, AHSTW never fully recovered and was swept by the Panthers, 25-23, 25-9, 25-16 in a Class 2-A, Region 1 opener at Logan. The same two teams had met three other times - onc

 COON RAPIDS -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton volleyball team advanced in Class 1-A regional play Tuesday night, outlasting Coon Rapids-Bayard, 27-25, 17-25, 25-18, 25-10, in a first-round match. The Spartans will now play at 9th-ranked Audubon Monday night at 7:00 p.m.

 MANNING -- The IKM-Manning volleyball team opened postseason play with a three-set sweep of ACGC here Tuesday night, winning 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 in a Class 2-A, Region 2 matchup. The Wolves (21-11 overall) finished with a kill efficiency just under 26 percent and served 86.2 percent with nine aces, setting up a rematch vs. 13th-ranked South Central Calhoun (26-12) in Monday’s 7 p.m.

 EXIRA -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton wrapped up a playoff berth in 8-Player football last Friday night with a convincing 62-8 rout of CAM, Anita.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- Harlan Community defeated IKM-Manning in the final round of the day to place third out of six teams at the Lewis Central Volleyball Tournament last Saturday. The Cyclones and Wolves both finished with 3-2 records in the round-robin tourney, with HCHS taking third and IKM-M fourth based on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Lewis Central and Red Oak both finished 4-1 and placed first and second, respectively. 

 DENISON -- It wasn’t a season-saving win by any means, but for one night, at least, the Harlan Community football team made some thrilling, feel-good memories to take away from a year of hard knocks and disappointment. Trailing Denison-Schleswig 34-7 late in the first half, the Cyclones stormed back with three touchdowns during a three-minute span of the second and third quarters, then scored the game-winning TD and extra point with just :09.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- Harlan Community sophomore Greichaly Kaster added to a fantastic 2016 season on Thursday afternoon, placing third among a talented group of girls at the Hawkeye Ten Conference Cross Country Meet. Running the Iowa Western Community College 5K course for the third time this fall, Kaster finished in 19 minutes, 47 seconds, trailing only the Denison-Schleswig tandem of Raegan Andersen (19:16) and Ellie Mendlik (19:36). The HCHS

 HARLAN -- The start was sluggish and the finish a bit shaky, but Harlan Community was plenty dominant between as part of a 25-14, 25-14, 25-18 Senior Night volleyball sweep of Denison here Thursday. The victory clinched at least a tie for fifth place in the final Hawkeye Ten standings as HCHS improved to 16-15 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

 LOGAN -- In a battle of district unbeatens, Logan-Magnolia showcased a powerful rushing attack to hand AHSTW its first loss of the year Friday night, prevailing 28-6 to clinch the Class 1-A, District 7 championship. The Panthers improved to 7-1 overall and 6-0 in the district, while the Vikings are now 7-1 overall and 5-1 in district play entering this week’s important regular season finale against Missouri Valley (6-2, 4-2).

 CRESTON -- The Harlan Community volleyball team is back to .500 and looking to go above and beyond that mark as the regular season winds to a close. HCHS handled a road test at Creston with relative ease Tuesday night, sweeping the Panthers 25-14, 25-16, 25-12 to improve to 15-15 overall and 5-4 in the Hawkeye Ten. With only two regular-season dates and six matches left before regional play, the Cyclones have a non-losing record for the first

 DENISON -- Throw out the records and play for pride. That will be the scene at Denison’s renovated football field Friday night when two old rivals get together for a Week 8 clash at 7:30. Harlan Community and Denison-Schleswig enter the contest with identical records - 2-5 overall and 1-4 in Class 3-A, District 7 - and are tied for sixth place in the standings with no chance of making this year’s playoffs. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be in

 GRISWOLD -- Rallying back from the brink of a three-set sweep, IKM-Manning was just eight points away from a remarkable comeback win over Treynor in the semifinals of the Western Iowa Conference Tournament. But like so often happens in the sport of volleyball, when momentum shifts on a dime it can be like the events of the previous half-hour never even took place. Such was the case in Griswold Tuesday night as Treynor - down 7-3 - finished th