A team championship for the Norwalk boys cross country team highlighted a busy day of Warrior athletics on Thursday.

The Norwalk boys posted a team score of 82 to win the Ames Invitational on the Iowa State Cross Country Course. Ranked third in Class 4A, the Warriors held off Waukee Northwest by a slim six-point margin, while Ankeny and Cedar Falls also scored under 100.

Senior Donovan Card paced Norwalk with a fifth-place time of 15:44, senior Jack Brown placed 13th and junior Noah Buhrow was 14th. Card is ranked ninth in Class 4A and Brown is ranked 21st. Henry Groos, Teegan Kralik and Tony Anania also placed in the top 30 for Norwalk.

The Warrior girls finished ninth out of 11 teams at Ames with a score of 272 as Ankeny Centennial claimed the team title. Senior Breelie Mauro placed 47th to lead Norwalk, Maya Butler was 52nd and Pearl Brown 54th.

On the volleyball court, Norwalk went 3-2 at the ADM Invite in Adel. The Warriors scored 2-0 wins over Gilbert and Woodward-Granger and overcame a rough start to beat Atlantic 2-1. They lost in two sets vs. Class 3A 11th-ranked Nevada as well as ADM, although three of the four sets were decided by four points or less.

Unofficial stat leaders for Norwalk included Noelle Sutcliffe with 36 kills, Liz Iverson 73 assists and Katie Larson 30 digs. Sutcliffe surpassed 500 career kills. The Warriors moved into the 4A rankings at No. 15 and are now 7-3 overall.

Also on Thursday, the Norwalk boys golf team placed fifth out of nine teams in the Waukee Northwest Invitational, which was held at Norwalk’s Legacy Golf Club. Waukee Northwest shot a team score of 293 to finish three strokes ahead of both Indianola and Waukee. The Warriors’ team score of 308 was their best of the season by 11 shots.