CRESTON (May 31) -- The Harlan Community baseball team swept a conference doubleheader at Creston Thursday, holding on for a 2-1 win in game one before routing the Panthers 10-0 in a five-inning night cap. HCHS improved to 5-2 overall and 4-0 in Hawkeye Ten Conference play while Creston dropped to 2-4 and 1-2, respectively.HCHS 2, Creston 1 Connor Bruck pitched a perfect seventh inning with just seven pitches to earn his second save and close

 URBANDALE (June 1) -- Harlan Community played hard and determined, but didn’t control the ball enough to hang with Des Moines Christian in Friday’s Class 1A regional semifinal girls soccer game. The 15th-ranked Lions dominated possession time and shot attempts and got a hat trick from Angela Kinzie on their home turf, posting their 11th shutout of the year with a 4-0 win over HCHS. Des Moines Christian (15-2) advanced to Monday’s Region 3 fin

 MARSHALLTOWN (May 30) -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton sophomore Jacey Anthofer made herself right at home in her state golf meet debut last week, shooting identical rounds of 88 to place 12th out of 83 competitors in Class 1A. This year’s 1A Girls State Golf Tournament was held May 29-30 at Marshalltown’s American Legion Golf Course. Anthofer, who placed sixth at her regional final meet in Atlantic May 21, finished with a 34-over-par total of 17

 AMES (May 30) -- Harlan Community senior Ellen Keast finished her three-year high school golf career at the Class 3A state tournament last week, placing 69th out of 75 individuals at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames. Keast shot consistent nine-hole scores during the 36-hole event last Tuesday and Wednesday (May 29-30), but was plagued by a few bad holes in carding rounds of 110 and 116 for a total of 226 strokes. Keast, who did not join the HCHS

 HARLAN (May 30) -- Junior Kelli Christensen’s first varsity goal provided an uplifting finish to a frustrating first half and sparked Harlan Community to a 4-0 win over Riverside in Wednesday’s Class 1A girls soccer regional quarterfinal at Merrill Field. HCHS added three goals in the final 20 minutes to pull away, winning its second straight game and improving to 3-14 on the season.

 URBANDALE (May 29) -- The AHSTW girls soccer team was able to muster just three shots on goal (four total shots) in a season-ending 4-0 loss at Des Moines Christian Tuesday in a Class 1A regional quarterfinal. The 15th-ranked Lions (14-2) advanced to face Harlan Community in a Region 3 semifinal Friday night while the Lady Vikes finished the season at 7-8 overall. Angela Kinzie scored a three-goal hat trick for Des Moines Christian and Megan

 HARLAN (May 30) -- Harlan Community softball coach Brooke Schaben is confident that at some point this season her young team will get past all the growing pains and learn to win the close ones against tough competition. Wednesday night marked another step in that process as the Cyclones battled hard but came up short in a 5-3 loss to ninth-ranked (4A) Sergeant Bluff-Luton at H.

 HARLAN (May 30) -- Nick Foss homered, doubled, drove in four runs and scored four times Wednesday as Harlan Community topped Shenandoah 10-4 in Hawkeye Ten baseball action. HCHS improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play. A varsity doubleheader was scheduled but the second game was not played as Shenandoah came to town expecting to play one JV and one varsity game.

Sioux City North 2, HCHS 0 SIOUX CITY (May 24) -- Trenton Frerichs pitched a three-hitter with eight strikeouts and Aaron Eybers hit a solo home run as Sioux City North shut out Harlan Community 2-0 in its season opener. HCHS (2-1) got doubles from Jared Moser and Connor Bruck and a single by Brett Sears but couldn’t string anything together against Frerichs, who also walked two batters. Riley Kohles (0-1) took the loss, allowing just two hits

 NEWTON -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s first-ever trip to the Boys State Golf Tournament resulted in a shiny new object for the school trophy case. Led by top-15 finishes from sophomore twin brothers Everette and Will Carroll, the Spartans scored consistent rounds of 350 and 346 at Newton’s Westwood Golf Course to place third out of nine teams in the Class 1A state meet held May 24-25. Grundy Center improved by 29 strokes on day two and claime

 HARLAN (May 26) -- For the first 30 minutes of Saturday’s scorching substate final at Merrill Field, the Perry boys soccer team dodged one bullet after another fired by Harlan Community. It was only a matter of time, or so it appeared, until the fifth-ranked (Class 2A) Cyclones would break the seal and start scoring goals on the No.

 DES MOINES (May 26) -- Another successful AHSTW boys soccer season came to an end on Saturday afternoon as the Vikings were shut out by ninth-ranked Des Moines Christian, 5-0, in a Class 1A, Substate 7 final. The Vikings were held to just four shots on goal and seven total shots while the Lions finished with 18 and 32, respectively, led by a three-goal hat trick from Blake Witty. Ben Webster (2 assists) and Curran Ingram also scored goals for

 HARLAN (May 25) -- A Kylee Hinz hat trick led the way Friday as the Harlan Community girls soccer team snapped a nine-game losing streak and picked up some momentum for postseason play with a 5-1 home win over Creston. Savannah Parman and Hannah Bissen also scored goals for the Cyclones, who improved to 2-14 overall and finished 2-5 in Hawkeye Ten Conference play - good for sixth place out of eight teams.

 OAKLAND -- Cloey Case scored two goals while Chloe Falkena and Jordyn Holtz added one apiece last Monday (May 21) as the AHSTW girls soccer team capped the regular season with a 4-1 win at Riverside. Holtz, who led the Lady Vikes with eight total shots and five shots on goal, also distributed the team’s only two assists of the game while senior goalie Morgan Eckmann captured 10 saves. AHSTW (7-7 overall) will now travel to Urbandale to face 1

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Community softball team opened the season with a 2-1 home stand during the first half of last week, winning close games against Underwood and Kuemper Catholic before losing to Sioux City Heelan in eight innings.HCHS 4, Underwood 2 Trailing 2-1 after five and a half innings, the Cyclones put together a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to beat the Eagles 4-2 in the May 21 season opener. Morgan Schaben pitched a th