The Norwalk girls earned a team title and the boys placed second in Thursday’s Indianola Cross Country Invite. On a warm night at Pickard Park, the Class 4A 11th-ranked Warrior girls posted a winning score of 35, led by three individuals placing in the top six. The Warrior boys, who are ranked 13th in 4A, finished nine points behind 3A top-ranked Gilbert with a score of 48. Both Norwalk junior varsity squads placed first, including a perfect score of 15 by the JV girls.

Norwalk girls head coach Michelle Wiedmann tells KNIA Sports that she is very proud of how the entire team competed on a tough course, adding that it might be the first time the Warrior girls have swept the varsity and JV team titles. Freshman Hannah Schmitz paced the girls squad for the second consecutive meet, placing second with a five-kilometer time of 19 minutes, 33 seconds. Coach Wiedmann says that Schmitz – ranked 29th in 4A – ran an awesome strategic race.

“She just continues to get stronger and better, and is learning how to race,” Wiedmann said. “Every time we go out and compete, she learns more and more about herself and then applies it to the next race, so she just continues to get better, stronger, faster… all of it.”

Norwalk sophomores Olive DeRocher and Gabby Drymon also broke the 20-minute mark, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. Freshman Delayna Murillo finished 12th in her first varsity race and senior Pearl Brown took 13th.

The Warrior boys were again led by senior Teegan Kralik, who is ranked 16th in 4A individually. Kralik placed second with a time of 15:59 and four other Warriors finished between 16:38 and 16:59. Sam Parker placed sixth, followed by Brayden Walderbach in 11th, Aksel Beedon 14th and Sam Buhrow 15th.

The Norwalk harriers return to action next Thursday for the Southeast Polk Invite at 5:15.