The Norwalk boys wrestling team finished the 2025-2026 season with a 14-11 dual record, four state qualifiers and a state medalist in junior Victor Esparza.

Making his third state meet appearance, Esparza finished the season with a 38-7 record and went 3-2 at state to place fifth in Class 3A at 190 pounds. Norwalk coach Jake Brown tells KNIA Sports that fifth place does not necessarily acknowledge where Esparza ranks in his bracket. Esparza won by technical fall over the fourth-ranked wrestler in 3A and was the only wrestler not pinned at state by the champion from Bettendorf. Brown added that he was proud of Esparza’s performance, and expects another great off-season will prepare him for an outstanding senior year.

Norwalk seniors Asaiah Martinez and Kale Wadle, along with junior Blake Stanford, also qualified for the state meet. Martinez went 2-2 in his second trip to state and finished 27-11 on the season, wrestling at 126. Stanford at 132 and Wadle at 150 both went 0-2 at state. Stanford finished 36-17 while Wadle was 26-16.

Also recording strong seasons for the Warriors were Troy Finnegan at 120 (21-15), Madox Ward at 138 (15-14), Izaac Jensen at 175 (19-13) and Luke Palen at 215 (15-13). Finnegan and Jensen both missed the district meet due to injury, and Coach Brown points to health issues as one of the reasons that Norwalk’s dual record slipped to 14-11. Brown noted that the Warriors’ 48-29 win against a solid Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln team on January 15 showed the true potential of the squad.

“Some good things, some bad things this season,” he said. “We had a hard time staying consistently healthy, whether it was injuries or illness, for our team to really do a lot of damage. You think about what could’ve been, but those are out of your control. But even the things we could control, I felt like we didn’t perform our best when we needed to, even when we were healthy. So that’s stuff we’ve got to think about for next year.”

Brown adds that the Warriors’ 15 seniors were a great group of kids and hard workers that set a solid example for the team’s younger wrestlers.