Senior Donovan Card led the Norwalk boys cross country team to a second-place finish out of 37 squads in Saturday’s Heartland Classic at Central College in Pella.

The meet was delayed 90 minutes due to rain, then condensed into two varsity races, leading to huge fields of 528 boys and 347 girls from four different states.

Class 4A top-ranked Dowling Catholic won the boys team title with a score of 120, followed by ninth-ranked Norwalk in second with a 175. Card, who is 12th in the individual 4A rankings, placed 13th with a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 15 seconds. Jack Brown finished 27th in 16:33 while Noah Buhrow, Teegan Kralik, Will Chase and Tony Anania all placed in the top 55 with sub-17:00 times.

Due to the delay, only two Norwalk girls were able to compete. Freshman Pearl Brown finished in the top quarter of the field in 88th and Kaiya Kralik was 267th. Pella won the girls team tite by a 143-171 margin over Waukee.

Individual champs on the day were Jackson Heidesch of Dowling and Paityn Noe of Ballard.

VOLLEYBALL:

Also on Saturday, the Norwalk volleyball team competed at the Waukee Invitational and finished with one win and two losses. The Warriors went 1-1 in pool play, losing to Class 5A fourth-ranked Ankeny 18-21, 6-21, then defeating Sergeant Bluff-Luton in three sets, 14-21, 21-15, 15-9. In single elimination bracket play, Norwalk lost a tight three-setter to West Des Moines Valley by scores of 25-20, 17-25, 13-15.

Norwalk’s cumulative stat leaders on the day included Noelle Sutcliffe with 29 kills, Ava Johnson 14 kills, Liz Iverson 52 assists, Grace Dehmer 23 digs and Dakota Poen 15 digs.

Now 10-5 overall, the Warriors will host Grinnell in a Little Hawkeye Conference match Tuesday night.

GOLF:

The Norwalk boys golf team carded their best score of the season at Friday’s Marshalltown Bobcat Joe August Invite, placing third out of 12 teams with a 304. Indianola won the tournament with a 296, edging Southeast Polk by five strokes.

Five Warrior golfers shot rounds in the 70s at Elmwood Country Club, led by senior Cael Sherwood’s 73. Additional sub-80 scores included Grady Sigrist with a 76, Kasey Ludlow 77, Ryan Jermier 78 and Braden Nicholson 79.

Norwalk will compete in the Valley Golf Classic Monday at 10:00 a.m. at West Des Moines’ Willow Creek Golf Course.