HARLAN -- Lee and Alice Kenkel of Harlan celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on January 23 with a Mass at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Harlan. Their children and grandchildren participated in the Mass followed by a dinner at the Therkildsen Activity Center in Harlan.    Their family includes EAnn and Dan Christensen, Defiance, Jennifer and Jay Denne, Sioux City; Kimberly and Chad Graeve, Earling; and seven grandchildren. 

 CARROLL -- Lopsided wins at Kuemper Catholic have been a rarity over the years, but Friday night was a fun exception to the rule for the Harlan Community boys basketball team. Drilling 7-of-8 three-pointers in a game-opening 23-4 outburst, the Cyclones led by as many as 25 points in the first half and 40 during the late stages of a 67-32 road win over the Knights. The matchup of Hawkeye Ten co-leaders did not count in the conference standings

 CARROLL -- The Harlan Community girls basketball team clinched at least a share of its third straight Hawkeye Ten Conference title on Friday, winning 56-35 at Kuemper Catholic to complete a season sweep. The top-ranked (Class 4-A) Cyclones built a 13-0 lead in the opening six minutes and extended their advantage as high as 23 points in the fourth quarter, vexing Kuemper with two types of zone press and extensive use of a new half-court 3-2 zo

 MANNING -- The IKM-Manning girls avenged a three-point loss to Underwood from earlier in the season Friday night, and they did so in a big way with an 82-34 rout of the Eagles. The Wolves stormed to a 30-8 first-quarter lead and never looked back. 

 MANNING -- The IKM-Manning boys basketball team improved to 15-2 Friday night with a 76-48 home win over Underwood. The Wolves led 37-24 at halftime and pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 24-8. 

 HARLAN -- Led by the runner-up finish of Jacob Wingert at 160 pounds, Harlan Community secured 11 medals and placed fifth in the team standings as the host of Saturday’s Hawkeye Ten Conference Wrestling Tournament. The Cyclones’ fifth-place finish was one spot higher than each of the last two years and their 144 points was an improvement of 31 over last season. Creston/Orient-Macksburg, ranked third in Class 2-A, claimed its fourth conference

 ELK HORN -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton overcame a slow night on offense with some shut-down defense in the second half to beat the Coon Rapids-Bayard boys, 37-29, last Tuesday night. Trailing 21-13 at halftime, the Spartans made a few defensive adjustments and outscored CR-B 24-8 the rest of the way. According to head coach Doug Newton, the Spartans made a few transition buckets in the third quarter to cut the margin to 24-22, then scored on s

 ELK HORN -- Outscoring Coon Rapids-Bayard 49-10 during the second and third quarters, the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton girls cruised to 16-0 last Tuesday night with a 72-29 win over the Crusaders. The game was close for one quarter (15-13) before the 2nd-ranked (1-A) Spartans dominated the rest of the way. Sophia Peppers (9-for-11 shooting) and Mara Burmeister (8-for-13) scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, to lead Exira-EHK, which shot 61.5 p

    HARLAN -- Sandra S. Brennan, 65, Harlan, died Tuesday, Feb. 2 in Omaha, NE.    Visitation will be held Saturday, Feb. 6 from 2-8 p.m. with family greeting friends from 4-7 p.m. at Burmeister-Johannsen Funeral Home in Harlan.    Brennan is survived by daughter Jennifer Brennan of Harlan; sister Janice Grote of Harlan; nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.