For the Norwalk Warriors, Saturday night’s finals at the State Wrestling Tournament started with a Class 3A runner-up and ended with a champion.

Junior 106-pounder Tyler Harper placed second to Iowa City West’s Alexander Pierce by a narrow 10-7 decision in the final round, capping a memorable 3-1 showing in his first state meet appearance. Later in the evening, senior heavyweight Maddux Borcherding-Johnson finished an outstanding career at the top of the medal stand after defeating Waverly-Shell Rock’s Jake Walker for the third time this season, 3-1, in the 285-pound final.

Borcherding-Johnson, who will play football at the University of Iowa, went 4-0 at state with one pin and three hard-fought decisions. He finished the season with a 33-0 record and took home his first championship medal after placing third as both a junior and sophomore and fourth as a freshman.

Harper notched two pins among his three state tourney victories, none more exciting than his 18-second win by fall over top-seeded Carter Pearson of Southeast Polk in Friday’s semifinal round. Harper finished the season 29-6.

As a team, Norwalk qualified nine wrestlers for the state tournament and placed 17th in Class 3A with 69 points. The state meet was held Wednesday-Saturday, February 15-18, at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Warrior sophomore Kolton Borcherding-Johnson did not place, but performed well at 220 pounds by going 3-2 with one major decision. Both of his losses occurred in overtime. Senior Donovan Card, a two-time state medalist, finished 2-2 with two pins at 138 and was 32-14 on the year.

Sophomores Dominic Tigner and Harrison Tripp both finished with 1-2 state meet records at 152 and 195 pounds, respectively. Also competing at state for the Warriors were sophomore Aiden Moret at 120 pounds, junior Tate Turner at 132 and sophomore Kadan Borcherding-Johnson at 145.