The Norwalk girls cross country team has high hopes for the upcoming season, with much to build off from the end of the 2024 campaign.

The Warrior girls open the season at Tuesday’s Ankeny Centennial Jaguar Invite ranked 15th in Class 4A by the IATC. Last year’s team narrowly missed a state meet berth, placing fourth at the State Qualifying Meet in Marshalltown. However, the freshmen trio of Olive DeRocher, Gabby Drymon and Grace Wetzeler qualified for state as individuals and a fourth freshmen runner, Khole Scandrett, missed qualifying by one spot. Junior Pearl Brown was in the mix with those runners as well but battled illness late in the season.

This year’s Norwalk squad starts the season with about 40 athletes on the roster, including seven seniors and a talented group of incoming freshmen. Coach Michelle Wiedmann tells KNIA Sports that the three girls who competed at state are motivated to make it back to Fort Dodge. The girls that cheered them on and saw how great the state experience was are anxious to join them.

“The momentum is very good right now,” Wiedmann said. “We just missed as a team making it to State, and they are very, very determined this year that we are going to State. We have some really good incoming freshmen that have jumped right in on that too, and they have big goals and have been working really hard and attending consistently the summer running and the weight room. It’s looking good.”

Wiedmann adds that she has a deep group of runners in healthy competition for seven varsity spots. In addition to the sophomore quartet of Olive DeRocher, Drymon, Wetzeler and Scandrett, the Warriors’ large freshmen class includes Hannah Schmitz, Lucy Evans and Carsyn Adams, who all performed well at last year’s middle school state meet. A seven-member senior class features some great leadership from Brown, Grace DeRocher and Anita Scholten.

While qualifying for State remains the biggest goal, Norwalk is also looking to be much more competitive at this year’s Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota and the Little Hawkeye Conference Meet. Starting with Tuesday’s opener at the DMACC Ankeny campus, Wiedmann says that the Warrior girls are ready to go and eager to start competing against other teams.