From left to right, sophomore Case Monat, senior Aiden Zook, and freshman Kolt Knaack are pictured last Saturday, Dec. 11 in Oelwein High School gymnasium after capturing their respective weight class titles at the 2021 Oelwein Invitational. The Redhawks also took the third place team title out of seven teams. Contributed photo

Despite only having eight of 14 weights filled, the Class 1A Redhawks wrestlers put in the work necessary and took home a third place finish last Saturday, Dec. 11 at the Oelwein Invitational.

North Tama made the tricky trek north to Oelwein early Saturday morning following the overnight snow to compete against seven teams including host Oelwein, Edgewood-Colesburg, Monticello, Starmont, Tipton, and Waterloo East.

Aiding in their capture of a team third place with 194.5 points, three Redhawks secured champion titles – eighth ranked Case Monat in the 106-pound bracket, Kolt Knaack in the 132-pound bracket, and Aiden Zook in the 170-pound bracket.

Gavin Rausch (126) and Nathan Kucera (138) also saw success on the Oelwein mats, taking home runner-up finishes in their respective weight classes.

Rounding out the placement podium for the Redhawks, Christian Dronebarger (126) and Clay Hershberger (182) took home third place finishes.

“[Saturday] was a step in the right direction,” Redhawks Head Coach Andrew Knaack said of his team’s performance in Oelwein. “We are improving every week, we took some losses last week to start the season. [But] this week at the Oelwein tournament showed us what kind of things each individual can do.”

Coach Knaack said the first and second place team finishers – Starmont and Monticello – had 13 and 12 scoring individuals respectively in comparison to North Tama’s eight, making the Redhawks’ top-three team placement even more meaningful.

“Having three champions [Monat, Knaack, and Zook] really helped. We are a team of mixed seniors and underclassmen. We don’t have a single junior on our roster,” Coach Knaack said.

The No. 8 ranked sophomore Monat took four wins by fall in Oelwein on his way to the round five championship match where he pinned Monticello’s Ethan Long in 0:40 and secured his 106 championship title.

Knaack also secured his championship title (132) with a final win over Monticello by pinning Owen Ray in 3:49. On his way to the championship bracket Saturday, Knaack topped his Tipton opponent by decision 4-0, his Waterloo East opponent by major decision 15-2, his Starmont opponent by technical fall 17-2, and pinned Monticello’s Urijah Etzel in 1:12.

Zook won his first four rounds by fall and took his fifth round win over Tipton’s Skyler Schmidt by decision 6-1.

“We are a good team and will keep building towards the ultimate goal of being at the state tournament with the chance to be a state champ,” Coach Knaack said following the Oelwein Invitational. “The success we had [in Oelwein] is a result of the hard work the boys have been putting in.”

The Redhawks are next set to wrestle in a double dual on Thursday, Dec. 16 at BCLUW in Conrad beginning at 6:00 p.m. Sigourney-Keota – boasting a roster this year featuring three ranked wrestlers (160, 170, and 195 weight classes) – as well as Jesup will also be in attendance at the BCLUW meet.