FORT DODGE -- In placing ninth at last year’s state meet as a freshman, IKM-Manning’s Payton Sporrer had just one regret: her twin sister, Shyanne, wasn’t competing alongside her. On Saturday, Payton’s second State Cross Country Meet was the complete package. Earning a state medal for the second straight year, Payton Sporrer placed 11th out of 145 Class 1-A girls on a cool afternoon at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course, clocking a five-kilometer

 FORT DODGE -- On a cool, damp afternoon at the State Cross Country Meet, Harlan Community posted some favorable times on the board but was unable to make much noise against the best teams Class 3-A has to offer. Finishing in near-identical fashion as last year, the Cyclone boys placed 13th out of 15 state qualifiers and the girls took 15th Saturday at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course north of Fort Dodge. Led by junior Reagan Hansen’s 34th-place

HARLAN -- When talking about her team’s success throughout much of the fall, Harlan Community volleyball coach Angie Spangenberg often mentioned the fact that her players are still young and inexperienced at the varsity level and continuing to learn the mental side of competition. Now just one win removed from the program’s fifth consecutive state tourney trip and about to play its 40th match of the season, Spangenberg has officially changed h

 HARLAN -- It will go down in the books as one of the most remarkable regular season to postseason turnarounds - good or bad - in the storied history of Harlan Community football. Just 19 days after posting a 59-21 road win over Creston/Orient-Macksburg - a game in which HCHS racked up 607 total yards - the 5th-ranked Cyclones were knocked out of the Class 3-A playoffs, 34-11, by that same Panther team on a blustery Wednesday night at Merrill

 TREYNOR -- Five area cross country runners earned a state meet berth by placing in the top 15 of the Class 1-A State Qualifying Meet at Treynor, held October 22. The list includes four girls qualifiers and one boy who will now compete at the 2015 State Cross Country Meet this Saturday at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course north of Fort Dodge. The 1-A girls race will start at 2:00 p.m.

 REGIONAL -- AHSTW, IKM-Manning and Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton all saw their season come to an end in the first round of the Iowa high school football playoffs Wednesday night.

    COUNCIL BLUFFS -- Darrell D. Dent, 87, Council Bluffs, died at his home November 3.    Services will be held Friday, Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m. at Saint John Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs with interment in the Ridgewood Cemetery with military honors.  Visitation was Thursday, Nov. 5 from 6-8 p.m.

    ELK HORN -- Adeline Caddell, 98, Elk Horn, died November 3 at the Salem Lutheran Nursing Home in Elk Horn.    Services will be held Friday, Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Harlan with burial in the St. Mary’s Cemetery in Portsmouth.  A prayer service was held Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Harlan.  Visitation was Thursday from 6-8 p.m.

    EARLING -- Michael Joseph VanScoy, 59, Earling, died October 31.    There will be no services, but there will be two celebrations of life -- one at the Goldmine in Council Bluffs and another at Cindi Mae’s in Earling, dates to be announced.    VanScoy is survived by his wife; mother; four children; three grandchildren; siblings and spouses; many friends and other family.    Cutler-O’Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home Bayliss Park Chapel is