The Norwalk boys wrestling team was defeated by Class 3A fourth-ranked Indianola 47-17 in Thursday’s battle for the Little Hawkeye Conference dual title in Norwalk. Indianola won 10 out of 14 matches to finish 5-0 in the LHC, recording four pins, one technical fall and three major decisions. The Indians boast nine ranked wrestlers in their lineup.

The 3A 11th-ranked Warriors dropped to 20-4 overall and finished 4-1 in conference duals. Asaiah Martinez started the meet with a win by fall at 113 pounds. Norwalk also picked up major decisions by Victor Esparza and Kolton Borcherding-Johnson and an 8-2 win by Tyler Stanford. The Warriors will compete again in Saturday’s Urbandale Tournament.

BOWLING

The Norwalk bowling teams will both seek a third straight victory this afternoon, taking on Ballard in a 2:30 dual meet at Ames. The Warrior girls and boys squads have defeated Clarke and Pella Christian in their last two outings.

BASKETBALL

The second half of the Little Hawkeye Conference basketball season begins tonight when Norwalk travels to Pella for a girl-boy doubleheader at 6:00 p.m. Both games can be heard live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3), starting with pregame coverage at 5:45.

In the girls game, Norwalk senior Bailey Birmingham needs only two points to reach the 1,500-point mark for her career. The Class 4A sixth-ranked Warriors are 14-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play, trailing DC-G by one game in the standings. The 10th-ranked Dutch are 11-4 overall and 4-2 in the LHC. Norwalk won the first matchup of the season 70-35.

The Norwalk boys will also be going for a sweep after opening the conference season with a 58-54 win over the Dutch in December. The two rivals are currently tied for second place in the Little Hawkeye standings at 4-2.