The Norwalk girls wrestling program enters its second season this winter with nine girls on the high school roster and 15 middle school participants. The Warriors have competed in two varsity meets so far and will travel to Linn-Mar High School on Saturday for a dual tournament at 10:00 a.m.

Coach Alanah Vetterick tells KNIA/KRLS Sports that the team has made big strides in the technique department since last year at this time. She says that last season was a learning year for the Warriors to figure out the sport and fall in love with it. Year two is about fully understanding everything that the sport entails, from the intensity of every match to the grind of the season.

Sophomore 170-pounder Katie Liedtke is one of the Warriors’ top returning wrestlers from a year ago and placed second in Tuesday’s home tournament. Also back from last season are senior Samantha Bussanmas at 170 and sophomores Kamryn McWilliams (190) and Madelyn Carroll (125). Vetterick is also impressed by the freshmen trio of Madison Froehle, Maggie Evans and Hannah Smith.

Vetterick is hopeful that Norwalk will have at least one girl qualify for the state tournament this season, adding that the goal is to have consistent individual improvements leading to team improvement overall. Her biggest demand is all-out effort.

“I really want my girls to go out there (and) give it their best effort,” Vetterick said. “That’s all I tell them every single time before they step out on the mat is that if they go out there and they give it 110 percent, that’s all I can ask for. So I’m hoping that they go out there and give it their all, and then they’re able to analyze and realize what they need to do to fix what they have to fix before the next match and be able to make those adjustments.”

Vetterick says that a big strength of this year’s team is attitude, noting that the girls are very encouraging of each other and creating a family atmosphere in the wrestling room.