MISSOURI VALLEY -- Payton Sporrer of IKM-Manning and AHSTW’s Dalton Fischer and Jaycie Schueman all earned individual medals by placing in the top 12 of Monday’s Western Iowa Conference Cross Country Meet at the Logan-Mo.

 HARLAN -- It was arguably one of the top-quality wins of the year for the Harlan Community volleyball team. Starting strong and finishing in the same manner, the Cyclones needed just four sets to take down a Clarinda team above them in the Hawkeye Ten standings Thursday night, winning 25-16, 25-23, 20-25, 25-16. HCHS served just under 96 percent with seven aces (to just four errors) and compiled a kill efficiency of .265 against an opponent w

 HARLAN -- In the span of a week, Harlan Community has gone from fighting for its playoff life to trying to avoid the basement of Class 3-A, District 7. A frustrating football season reached a new low point Friday night as HCHS was soundly defeated by Winterset, 47-21, at Merrill Field.

 TABOR -- Fremont-Mills proved every bit as good as advertised here Friday night, scoring six first-half touchdowns and taking advantage of crucial Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton mistakes to beat the Spartans 50-21 in a battle for the District 7 lead. The top-ranked (8-Player) Knights improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in district play while Exira-EHK slipped to 4-3 and 4-1, respectively - tied with CAM for second place going into another important ga

 AREA -- AHSTW and IKM-Manning both pulled off wins in Class 1-A, District 7 football action Friday night. The Vikings got past OA-BCIG 17-12 to improve to 7-0 on the year. The Wolves won 47-6 at ACGC (Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center) for their third win of the year.

 MANNING -- The IKM-Manning volleyball team wrapped up a third-place finish in the Western Iowa Conference Thursday night by sweeping Logan-Magnolia, 25-14, 25-23, 25-22. The Wolves improved to 16-7 overall and finished with a WIC mark of 7-2, making them the third seed for this week’s conference volleyball tournament. Tri-Center won the regular-season title with a 9-0 mark while Treynor went 8-1.

 GLENWOOD -- Harlan Community finished with a 1-1 split at Tuesday night’s Hawkeye Ten volleyball triangular in Glenwood, defeating the host Rams in four sets before being swept by 7th-rated (2-A) St. Albert. HCHS nearly extended the St. Albert match but came up on the short end of a 30-28 decision in the third set. The Saintes, who also beat Glenwood in three, improved to 21-3 overall and 5-2 in the conference.

 HARLAN -- Say what you will about the first six games of the Harlan Community football season - just never call it boring. The Cyclones have scored 235 points (39.2 average) and allowed 252 at the two-thirds mark of the regular season, going 2-4 overall and 1-3 inside one of the toughest Class 3-A districts in the state. They’ve surrendered 154 points in losses against top-10 foes Creston/O-M, Glenwood and Carroll, but have been right there i

 WOODBINE -- Payton Sporrer of IKM-Manning placed third overall in the girls race and Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s Emily Copic was the Rolling Valley Conference girls runner-up as part of Monday’s combined Woodbine Cross Country Invite and RVC Meet held at the Woodbine school. Sporrer’s time of 21:28 trailed only the Underwood duo of Karley Larson and Ryann Portch in the girls race.

 ELK HORN -- And then there were two. The tie atop the Rolling Valley Conference volleyball standings was whittled down to just a pair here Tuesday night after Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton handled Coon Rapids-Bayard in four sets (25-16, 25-10, 22-25, 25-18). The Spartans (11-12 overall) won their fifth straight conference match since falling to Glidden-Ralston in early September and improved their league mark to 5-1 with four RVC matches to go. E

 HARLAN -- As regular season losses go, this one was a gut wrencher for the Harlan Community football team. Leading sixth-ranked (3-A) Carroll 19-0 at halftime, the Cyclones allowed 35 second-half points, turned the ball over three times in their last four possessions and had their playoff hopes dashed with Friday night’s 35-32 Homecoming loss to the Tigers. Carroll was often its own worst enemy during a first half that included three fumbles

 NEWTON -- The Harlan Community volleyball team took some steps in the right direction at Saturday’s Newton Tournament, stealing a set from top-ranked Pella and placing third out of eight teams with a 3-2 record. HCHS finished second to Pella in Pool B, lost another three-setter to Newton in the semifinals and finished with a 25-23, 25-15 sweep of Boone in the third-place final. The Cyclones, 9-12 overall, will now face one of their busiest we

 MANNING -- AHSTW kept its unbeaten season alive and IKM-Manning’s frustrations continued Friday night as the Vikings scored 27 unanswered points in a 27-16 road win over the Wolves. IKM-M led 8-0 after one quarter and 8-7 at halftime but didn’t score again until it trailed by three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

 ELK HORN -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton volleyball team improved to 4-1 in Rolling Valley Conference play here Thursday night, outlasting CAM in four sets, 25-22, 25-17, 17-25, 25-22. The Spartans are now 8-10 overall. CAM dropped to 8-12 overall and 3-4 in the RVC. The Spartans were led at the net by Sophia Peppers’ nine kills and Maggie Rasmussen’s eight kills with a solid .368 efficiency.

WOODBINE -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton extended its winning streak to four games on Friday night, pounding Woodbine 68-0 in 8-Player football action. Since starting the season 0-2, the Spartans have outscored their first four district opponents by a combined 250 to 30.