Experience will be on Norwalk’s side when eight Warrior runners compete in Saturday’s State Cross Country Championships at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge.

Norwalk senior Breelie Mauro has qualified for her fourth state meet and will compete in the Class 4A girls race at 2:00 p.m. The fourth-ranked Norwalk boys will then compete as a team for the fourth straight year in the 4A boys race at 2:45.

Mauro, along with seniors Donovan Card, Jack Brown and Will Chase, will all be running at state for the fourth time. Junior Noah Buhrow is now a three-time state qualifier and senior Ben Hanson will be competing in his second state meet. Sophomore Tony Anania and freshman Teegan Kralik are the only first-time participants.

Mauro placed eighth at last week’s State Qualifying Meet in Indianola and is thrilled to be able to finish her career at Fort Dodge. She hopes to run a five-kilometer time in the low 19-minute range on Saturday.

“Last year at state just was not how I wanted it to be,” she said, “so I’m hoping to end it with a bang and just run a really good time overall and feel good about my race when I finish.”

The Warrior boys, who placed sixth at state last year, have been ranked as high as second in Class 4A this fall and have their sights set on a trophy-earning top-three finish Saturday.

Individually, Card is ranked seventh in 4A by the Iowa Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches. Brown is ranked 12th and Chase is 26th. Norwalk coach Chad Larson says it is bittersweet that this year’s group of seniors is down to their final high school race. He credits the senior group for doing a great job of helping the team’s younger runners prepare for big meets.

“Such a great group of guys,” Larson said. “They’ve been competitors from day one. They’ve been leaders of this team for four years; just amazing kids that I’m really happy for this journey that they’ve been on. They’ve really helped build our program, kind of set some standards and the bar is kind of high to catch now.”

The Warrior boys placed second to Johnston at last week’s state qualifier, led by top-10 finishes from Card, Brown, Chase and Kralik.