The Norwalk boys’ string of Little Hawkeye championships ended at three on Monday as the Dallas Center-Grimes girls and Pella boys claimed titles at the annual conference cross country meet held at Indianola’s Pickard Park.

Led by individual champion Piper Messerly, the Class 4A fifth-ranked DC-G girls edged 3A top-ranked Pella by a 35-37 margin for LHC bragging rights, followed by 4A No. 14 Indianola in third place with a score of 57. The Norwalk girls placed fifth with a 140.

The boys meet was also a three-team race between 3A 2nd-ranked Pella, 4A No. 11 Norwalk and 4A No. 6 Dallas Center-Grimes. The Dutch, led by a one-two finish from top-ranked Canaan Dunham and Nathan VanderWaal, posted a winning score of 34, followed by the Warriors with a 46 and the Mustangs’ 49. Indianola placed fourth with a 128.

Norwalk senior Noah Buhrow, who clocked a third-place time of 16 minutes flat, tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that the Warriors performed well and had fun on Monday. The team’s attention now shifts toward next week’s State Qualifying Meet – at a site to be determined – and advancing to a fifth consecutive state meet.

“It does sting a little to not win the Little Hawkeye championship,” Buhrow said. “We accept how we (ran) today and come district time we’ll be ready, we’ll be happy, and hungry for another really good finish.”

The Norwalk boys had three other conference medalists in junior Tony Anania and sophomores Teegan Kralik and Sam Parker, who placed sixth, seventh and 11th, respectively. Henry Groos finished 19th. The Indianola boys were led by Reed Robbins in 12th place, Kiefer Barnes 22nd and Paxton Bloom 25th.

Indianola senior Gracie Foster won a highly competitive battle for second place in the girls race, beating out Pella’s Marissa Ferebee by a half-second at the finish line in 19:05.2. The Indians had two other medalists in Jordyn Brown (9th) and Hadley Erickson (10th), while Paige Hoger finished 16th. The Norwalk girls were led by the trio of Pearl Brown, Maya Butler and Anita Scholten, who placed between 24th and 27th.

State Qualifying Meet team assignments are expected to be announced sometime this week. Norwalk and Indianola will compete on Wednesday, October 18.