Cyclone XC Showing Fire as Stretch Run of Season Approaches

Cyclone XC Showing Fire as Stretch Run of Season Approaches –

(9-29-26) – As the end of the season approaches, Harlan Community Cross Country is starting to show they believe in themselves and how good this team can be.

Harlan Community participated in the Glenwood Invite Monday after their home meet was washed out over the weekend and the Cyclone girls came out strong, earning a 1st place finish overall with 79 pts, one point ahead of Treynor.

Cyclone Coach Zach Klaassen was impressed with how his athletes attacked the course.

“We came out to compete when that gun went off yesterday,” said Cyclone Cross Country Coach Zach Klaassen. “Thought we attacked that first mile a lot better and just got ourselves in position early and that's kind of always key to scoring well and having a chance to win”

Julia Heslink finished 4th overall with a time of 19:41.00 to lead Harlan Community’s girls’ squad, while Ashlyn Rau was 7th with a time of 20:07.2.

Your girls’ individual winner was Grace Burgland of Glenwood with a time of 17:53.7. In the girls’ standings, Logan-Magnolia was 4th overall, Atlantic 5th, St. Albert 6th, and Tri-Center 10th.

Klaassen says at this point of the season, getting his runners to take that next step means showing it can be done in practice.

“It all happens in practice. Like we're on a route run, hitting your times is big. Your mile. Your minutes per mile. You know, when we hit the intervals, you can't hit the first two and then save up to hit the last two hard. It's got to be everyone's got to be hard. It's just kind of how it works.”

Cyclone girls’ senior runners, Sadie Alberti, Ava Freund, and Allie Anderson, have been important in building camaraderie amongst the team.

“They're a big part of the program. They've been running for us for four years now and being a solid part of the varsity squad for four years and just great leaders for us. They can be serious when they need to be serious, but they know how to have fun and keep things light as well.”

Boys’ results at Glenwood saw Harlan Community’s Erik Heslink finished 13th overall with at time of 17:19.7. The Cyclone boys’ team, minus Jeffery Gross, finished 11th overall with 259 pts.

Klaassen likes the effort that ‘s been put forth by his seniors, Gross, Heslink, Nathan Sandquist, and Phoenix Stevens, this season.

“Hard working group right there and, just like the girls side, it's just a good group of kids and they're fun to coach and be around and they know how to do the work, that's for sure.”

Haven Weers of Tri-Center was your individual champion with a time of 15:56.6 while Shenandoah was your team champion with 108 pts. Logan-Magnolia was 2nd, St. Albert 7th, Atlantic 8th, and Boyer Valley 10th.

Harlan Community will next participate in the South Sioux City Invitational on Thursday, weather permitting.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats