IRWIN -- IKM-Manning stayed right in the hunt for a Western Iowa Conference regular season softball title Thursday night (June 15), defeating 14th-ranked (2-A) Treynor 7-2 to avenge its only WIC loss of the year. Wolves’ junior Peyton Gross pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts and also scored three runs as IKM-M improved to 15-4 overall and 12-1 in league play, tied for first place with Logan-Magnolia (13-1) in the loss column. Treynor,

 HARLAN -- Win or lose, the Harlan Community baseball team needed a battle like the one it got from Kuemper Catholic Tuesday night at Jim Goeser Field. Falling behind three separate times during the first six innings, HCHS erased deficits of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 against Knights ace Tyler Laing, then took its first lead on a pop-up that landed about 40 feet from home plate. Three outs later, the top-ranked (3-A) Cyclones were 15-0 - the result of a

 HARLAN -- Allowing runs in eight straight innings during one stretch, Harlan Community was swept by Kuemper Catholic 7-3 and 11-7 in a Hawkeye 10 Conference softball doubleheader Tuesday night (June 13) at windy H.

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Community softball team scored nine runs in the first and cruised past St.

 HARLAN -- Brett Sears hit his first varsity home run and pitched six strong innings on the mound here Monday night (June 12) as the Harlan Community baseball team defeated St. Albert 8-1. Sears finished 2-for-4 with a double, a homer, two runs and two RBI - the home run coming against hard-throwing left-hander Garret Reisz.

 AUDUBON -- Keyed by a seven-run fourth inning, the AHSTW baseball team earned a season split vs.

 AUDUBON -- Interrupted only by a one-hour lightning delay, the AHSTW softball team followed a seven-run first inning with eight runs in the top of the second and blitzed Audubon 15-1 in a three-inning Western Iowa Conference game Monday night (June 12). The Lady Vikes (8-6 overall, 5-6 in the Western Iowa Conference) put together 10 hits and were the beneficiary of eight walks in sweeping the season series.

 HARLAN -- The Harlan Swim Team opened its 2017 season with a decisive win over Woodbine and Logan on June 7 at the Stamp Aquatic Center. Harlan scored 629 points on the night, followed by Woodbine (204) and Logan (97), and set nine facility or school records in the process. This year’s Harlan swim team is 87 members strong, the highest enrollment on record going back to at least 2009.

 ANKENY – Harlan Community Middle School’s Justine Buman brought home two medals from the Mike Henderson Junior High State Track Meet held May 6 at Ankeny Stadium. Justine was an eighth grader at HCMS during the 2016-17 school year and is the daughter of Jeff and Janet Buman, Harlan. Buman ran a time of 16.97 in the 100-meter hurdles, earning second place among all participants in the large-schools division, which includes Iowa classes 3A and

 ELK HORN -- Taking over for a local legend isn’t easy, but the process has certainly been a smooth one so far for new Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball coach Trevor Miller. Miller’s Spartans stayed undefeated Friday night with an 11-1, five-inning rout of Earlham, then improved to 10-0 Saturday by beating a pair of 3-A teams (Atlantic and Perry) in the Atlantic Tournament.

 CLARINDA -- The unbeaten streak reached 13 games for the Harlan Community baseball team Thursday night as the top-ranked Cyclones swept a doubleheader at Clarinda, 15-1 and 13-1, and have now outscored the opposition 150-27 on the season. HCHS, which has won nine straight games by the 10-run rule, utilized a seven-run third inning in game one and a six-run fourth in game two, finishing off the Cardinals in five and six innings, respectively. 

 KIMBALLTON -- For a softball program that’s been to the regional finals four out of the last five years, starting the season with a 2-8 record was unfamiliar territory for Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton. But after a rough two-week stretch, the Spartans appear to be on the rebound following Friday’s 10-2 win over Charter Oak-Ute - the team that ended their 2016 season - and at least part of the solution may have something to do with the team’s coll

 CLARINDA -- The Harlan Community softball team finished the week on a high note Thursday, crushing 29 total hits in a doubleheader sweep at Clarinda with wins of 19-1 in three innings and 14-1 in five. HCHS outhit the winless Cardinals 29-3 overall as four players - Kaylie Briggs, Molly Gubbels, Morgan Schaben and Madison Parman - notched at least two hits in each game.

 AVOCA -- IKM-Manning scored seven runs in its final two at-bats to pull away from AHSTW for a 13-5 softball win Friday night, improving to 9-1 in the Western Iowa Conference (11-3 overall). The Lady Vikes matched the Wolves early on, answering IKM-M’s three-run top of the first with three in the bottom half and tying the score a second time with two runs in the third.

 AVOCA -- The AHSTW baseball team plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth to rally past IKM-Manning 4-3 in Western Iowa Conference action Friday night. Trailing by a run in the sixth, Gabe Pauley and Preslyn Grobe reached base for the Vikings and a throwing error allowed courtesy runner Brody Langer to score the tying run.