WOODBINE (Jan. 4) -- Tatum Grubbs scored 16 points and Leslie Caniglia added 13 to lead the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls past Woodbine 54-30 last Friday night. The Spartans also won at ACGC 63-52 on Saturday and routed Coon Rapids-Bayard 65-27 on Tuesday night. Exira-EHK totaled 21 steals against Woodbine, led by Caniglia with six and Grubbs with four. Mollie Rasmussen drilled three 3-pointers for all nine of her points.

 ATLANTIC (Jan. 5) -- The seal on an elusive win column finally cracked last Saturday for the Harlan Community girls basketball team. One night after allowing a season-high 79 points at St.

 CRESTON (Jan. 5) -- The Harlan Community bowling teams notched a girl/boy sweep at Creston last Saturday afternoon, improving their combined dual record to the .500 mark. The HCHS girls (3-2) won 2,145 to 2,013, outscoring the Panthers by 78 pins in the Baker games to pull away. Jayden Gessert led the Cyclones with a two-game set of 299, closely followed by Madison Horn’s 291 and Olivia Petersen’s 282.

 HARLAN -- Despite leading Harlan Community with an average of 17.3 points per game this season, senior Brett Sears has had his share of struggles at the free throw line, shooting just 50 percent through Friday. Sears reversed that trend in a big way Saturday night, knocking down 13-of-17 foul shots and scoring a career-high 31 points as the Cyclones held off Atlantic 66-54 for their third straight win. Sears, who missed a pair of free throws

 HARLAN -- The outside shooting of Blake Goshorn and Brett Sears spearheaded a 15-1 second-half run Friday night as the Harlan Community boys basketball team erased a 10-point deficit and beat St. Albert 65-53 in its first game of the new year. Goshorn hit two three-pointers late in the third quarter, including one at the buzzer to pull HCHS within 41-38, and Sears drilled three treys early in the fourth.

 HARLAN -- Harlan Community boys basketball coach Mitch Osborn reached a new career milestone with Friday night’s 65-53 victory over St. Albert, passing Western Christian’s Jim Eekhoff for fifth place on Iowa’s list of career coaching win leaders in the sport. Osborn improved his record to 682-160 during 35 years at Elk Horn-Kimballton, Pomeroy-Palmer and HCHS.

 NEOLA -- Ethan Lemon and Derec Weyer earned individual championships and five other Cyclones placed second as Harlan Community claimed the team title of Saturday’s 16-team Tri-Center Wrestling Invitational. Weyer, ranked fifth in Class 2A at heavyweight, was voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler by the coaches after going 4-0 on the day and defeating a pair of state-ranked 1A foes.

 ATLANTIC -- One night after struggling defensively in a 79-57 loss at St. Albert, the Harlan Community girls basketball team broke into the win column for the first time this season with a 48-34 victory in Atlantic Saturday night. Jocelyn Cheek led the Cyclones with 19 points in each contest. HCHS improved to 1-8 overall and 1-5 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference. See Friday’s News-Advertiser for more details.

 WOODBINE -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton boys basketball team improved to 9-1 overall this past weekend with a pair of road victories, winning 78-63 at Woodbine Friday night and routing ACGC 77-38 on Saturday afternoon in Guthrie Center.

 HARLAN (Jan.

 AMES -- Iowa State volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch did not even hesitate when asked the question. Where does Jess Schaben stack up among the best players in program history? “I would say one of the all-time greats that we’ve had at Iowa State,” said Johnson-Lynch, who has guided the Cyclones to a 289-143 record and 12 trips to the NCAA Regional Tournament since taking over a struggling program 14 seasons ago. Prior to Johnson-Lynch’s a

Year, Team W-L, Sets, Matches, Kills, K/S, Err., Att., Kill%, Asst., Aces, Digs, Blk., Pts.2015, Fr., 19-11, 105, 30, 345, 3.29, 87, 973, .265, 5, 0, 89, 48, 372.02016, So., 18-11, 104, 27, 349, 3.36, 125, 987, .227, 14, 3, 242, 53, 383.02017, Jr., 22-7, 102, 29, 338, 3.31, 101, 1080, .219, 13, 8, 312, 72, 388.02018, Sr., 21-13, 123, 34, 516, 4.20, 155, 1445, .250, 27, 8, 362, 75, 567.5Career, 80-42, 434, 1200, 1548, 3.57, 468, 4485, .241, 59,

 HARLAN (Jan. 3) -- First place in the Hawkeye Ten Conference dual standings will be on the line Thursday night when Harlan Community hosts Atlantic/CAM and Denison-Schleswig in a double dual at 5:30 p.m.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- On Saturday, November 17, seven athletes from the Harlan Community Schools traveled to Council Bluffs to compete at the state level for Special Olympics in bowling. All seven competitors from the HCSD emerged as place-winners on the day. An eighth state qualifier, Zachary Bothwell, was scratched due to illness.

 ELK HORN (Dec. 21) -- Two years ago as a sophomore, Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s Josh Pettepier stroked 10 three-pointers in a win over Paton-Churdan. On Friday night, Pettepier nearly matched his old school record by halftime, hitting nine first-half treys and finishing 11-of-14 from beyond the arc to lead the Spartans past Boyer Valley 72-46.