The Norwalk boys wrestling team will open the season tonight with a home dual against conference rival Dallas Center-Grimes at 7:30 p.m.

Head coach Jacob Brown believes the Warriors’ 53-man roster – including 10 seniors – is set up for both tournament and dual success this winter. Brown describes a wrestling room that is chock-full of great leadership from 15-to-20 different guys.

Impressed by an atmosphere of shared leadership responsibility, high energy and great attitudes during November practices, Brown elected not to name team captains for the 2022-23 season. He is looking forward to watching the team compete in Thursday’s dual as well as Saturday’s Keith Young Invitational at Cedar Falls.

“We’re ready,” Brown said. “It’s just been a much different vibe this year with how much time the guys have put in (during) the off-season and everything. The culture of the program, I feel like, is at the best it’s been in awhile with guys that are excited to be there and excited to get better every day and really rallying around each other.”

Norwalk advanced five wrestlers to last year’s state meet and returns three of them as leaders by example for the current squad. Senior Maddux Borcherding-Johnson had an outstanding season that ended with a third-place finish at 285 pounds. Senior Donovan Card earned an eighth-place state medal at 132 pounds and senior Jacob McKenzie was a state qualifier at 120.

Among other Warriors to watch this year will be Tyler Harper at 106 and Dominic Tigner at 160. Both placed third at last year’s district meet, narrowly missing out on state. According to Brown, Harper also placed fourth in a prestigious off-season tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.

Norwalk will face a tough schedule throughout the season as they aim to improve along the way in preparation for hosting a Class 3A District Tournament on February 11. The Warriors have added a challenging December 10 tournament at Johnston to the schedule while adding Southeast Polk to the dual schedule.

In a change from last year, Brown says he has not set a lot of data-driven goals for the Warriors this year, instead focusing on doing things the right way every day and letting the results take care of themselves.