HCHS girls win Monarch Invite, boys improve to 2nd

 DENISON (Sept. 25) -- The Harlan Community girls won their sixth consecutive team title and the Cyclone boys (second) earned their best finish of the year at last Tuesday’s Monarch Cross Country Invite in Denison.
 Five Cyclone girls placed between fifth and 10th with a spread time of just 38 seconds, resulting in a winning score of 37. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln (85) was a distant second and Logan-Magnolia (98) took third.
 Okoboji won the boys’ half of the meet with a score of 83, followed by the second-place Cyclones (116) and the host Monarchs (132). IKM-Manning placed sixth out of 17 teams with a 180.
 HCHS sophomore Trey Gross lowered his ‘PR’ time with a fifth-place effort of 16:42 while Brennon Munch (17th) and Isaac Jones (25th) also cracked the top 25. Mitchell Rueschenberg (34th) and Wyatt Obrecht (35th) rounded out the team’s counting scores.
 Freshman Kaia Bieker paced the Cyclone girls in fifth, running a ‘PR’ of 19:31. Greichaly Kaster was sixth in 19:43, followed by Abi Baldwin in seventh, Abby Alberti ninth and Raegen Wicks 10th. Lucy Borkowski (13th) and Brecken Van Baale (21st) also earned medals.

   The Cyclone JV girls achieved a perfect score of 15 at Denison by owning the top five finishers. Liv Freund placed first by more than a minute and was the squad’s fifth different winner in five JV races this year. Previous winners were Wicks, Ania Kaster, Baldwin and Alberti.
 IKM-Manning sophomore Quentin Dreyer continued his consistent season, placing ninth in 17:12. Teammate Tanner Spoelstra was 30th. A trio of IKM-M girls were led by Emma Beermann in 33rd.