Men’s wrestling team finding early success

The men’s wrestling team is off to a great start so far this season. They kicked off a strong start at the Metro Championships. They won 66-12 against Waterloo West, 42-26 against Waterloo East and 54-22 against Columbus Catholic to make sure that the metro trophy stayed in Cedar Falls.

They continued their season at the Keith Young Invite on Dec. 3. The Tigers finished 6th place. Evan Simpson won the 113 lb weight class, Kane Shimp was 5th in the 126 lb class, in the 132 lb class Brayden Wiles finished 3rd, Henry Koehn finished 3rd in the 152 lb weight class, Gerald Norton finished 5th at 160, Noah Backes finished 6th in the 170, Ian Bohenkamp finished 5th in the 195 weight class and Drew Campbell finished 5th in the 220lb weight class. 

From there the Tigers continued their dominant season as they faced Cedar Rapids Jefferson on Dec. 9. For scoring, the Tigers won 70-12. 

“We have a very solid group. Great senior leadership, and we have a bunch of real tough individuals getting better every single week,” coach Colby Grothoff said. “My goals are for each guy to improve at all levels of ability and to keep everyone out. I want the JV guys to finish higher in each tournament, and the varsity guys to improve each meet and qualify as many to state tournament as possible,” he said.

Weight class results for the tournament against Jefferson:

106 lb: Colin Kaeppel wins against unknown 6-0.

113 lb: Evan Simpson wins against unknown 6-0.

120 lb: Micah Wilson wins against unknown 6-0. 

126 lb: Jack Carter wins against Jack Schilling 6-0.

132 lb: Carter Fadiga wins against Mugwaneza Mugisha 6-0.

138 lb: Zolen Terry wins against Unknown 6-0. 

145 lb: Kael Moore wins against Martin Msenga 6-0. 

152 lb: Ben Backes wins against unknown 6-0.

160 lb: Chris Halbur wins against unknown 6-0. 

170 lb: Caiden Schaul wins against unknown 6-0.

170 lb: Noah Backes wins against Michael Friedman 6-0. 

182 lb: Drew Gerdes wins against Luke Moses 4-0. 

182 lb: Caysen Curran wins against Peyton Galvan 6-0.

195 lb: Ian bohenkamp wins against Liam smith 6-0. 

220 lb: Drew Campbell wins against Parker Chyma 6-0. 

The Tigers finished with only two individuals losing their matches and took home the win. 

Their next tournament will be on Jan. 5, taking place in North Liberty, where the Tigers will face the Liberty Bolts.