Continuing the countdown of Norwalk’s top 10 sports stories from the 2024-25 school year with No. 2 – a fifth-place showing by the Warrior boys at the Class 4A State Cross Country Meet.

Norwalk put together another outstanding season against a tough schedule and peaked at the right time. The Warriors won the Little Hawkeye Conference championship by 29 points over DC-G, then edged the Mustangs by one point at Marshalltown to claim their first 4A State Qualifying Meet title and secure the program’s sixth consecutive state berth. At the state meet in Fort Dodge, Norwalk improved eight spots from the previous year and placed fifth in Iowa’s largest class.

Junior Teegan Kralik had a standout year individually, placing second at the conference meet, second at the state qualifier and 14th at State to earn an All-State medal. Senior Tony Anania placed 28th at the state meet. Additional team members were Sam Parker, Grant Wallace, Aksel Beedon, Henry Groos and Corbin Oswald.

Kralik’s time of 15 minutes, 45 seconds was about a minute faster than the previous year at state, and his 14th-place finish (out of 131 runners) was 65 spots better than in 2023.

Kralik told KNIA/KRLS Sports that Class 4A is extremely challenging and that he was proud of the whole team’s performance. “It was a really tough race. I really had to push myself through it,” he said. “So much of it I wanted to give up, but I was dedicated. I’ve worked too hard for this to only come this far. And I’m so proud of the rest of my guys for being up here all the way. I know all of these guys are working just as hard as I am and they all deserve it just as much as I do.”

The Warriors will have high expectations again this fall as Kralik, Parker and Beedon return from last year’s state meet roster, along with some strong junior varsity runners from last season.