The Norwalk boys cross country team will enter the 2024 season with high expectations, returning six out of seven runners that competed in last year’s state meet.

The Warriors placed second in last season’s Little Hawkeye Conference Meet and took 13th in Class 4A at the State Cross Country Championships in Fort Dodge. Noah Buhrow earned a 14th-place state medal as the lone senior on the 2023 squad.

Returning leaders for the upcoming season include senior Tony Anania and junior Teegan Kralik. Anania finished 28th in 4A last fall, then followed it up with an incredible track season in the spring. Anania was part of eight school records during the indoor and outdoor seasons. He won the 1,600-meter championship at both the Drake Relays and the 4A state meet. Kralik placed seventh at last year’s conference cross country meet, just one spot behind Anania.

Norwalk also returns seniors Grant Wallace, Corbin Oswald and Henry Groos, along with junior Sam Parker, from last year’s varsity squad. Head coach Chad Larson told KNIA Sports last fall that the Warriors had a talented and hard-working junior varsity group as well. The entire returning cast will be seeking to help the team make a sixth consecutive trip to the state meet in late October.

“It’s going to be pretty fun next year,” Larson said. “We get six of them back and a pretty good stable of guys that are waiting in the wings to take Noah’s spot on that varsity squad.”

Norwalk opens the season on Tuesday, August 27, at the DMACC Invite in Ankeny.