North Tama head wrestling coach Andrew Knaack embraces his son, Kolt, after he was defeated in his third-place match in the Class 1A 150-pound bracket on Saturday at the state wrestling tournament in Des Moines. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

DES MOINES — While not the finish he wanted, North Tama’s Kolt Knaack ended his high school wrestling career last Saturday night on the state podium for the third time by securing his best finish yet at fourth place in Class 1A at 150 pounds during the 100th IHSAA Boys State Wrestling Tournament held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Knaack won his consolation semifinal on Saturday morning by fall over Iowa Valley’s Chance Hoyt, sending him to the third-place match with Alburnett’s Reece Klostermann, who Knaack had defeated in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Knaack led this match, too, by a 12-3 margin, before Klostermann found the angle for a cradle and turned Knaack to his back for a pin with 30 seconds remaining in the match in a shocking turn of events.

“It’s a tough loss,” Knaack said. “Just didn’t pan out the way I wanted and the coaches were just trying to pick up my spirits.”

Knaack was fifth as a sophomore and sixth as a junior, and finishes with over 175 wins for his high school career record. In the last two years, he’s lost only five matches — all of which were at the state tournament.

“It’s gonna be hard, I don’t even know if the emotions have set in for me,” said Andrew Knaack, North Tama head coach and Kolt’s father. “His ultimate goal was to win the state title and it didn’t happen, but it doesn’t happen for a lot of guys, and at the end of the day, there’s only one guy that’s really happy at the end of this tournament, and it’s the guy that’s on the top of the podium.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTH TAMA COUNTY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT/FACEBOOK

“But I know I’m proud of him, and I know the North Tama community has been blowing up my phone saying how proud they are of him and the kind of leader he is.”

And Kolt said he can’t be too unhappy about a fourth place medal.

“It’s better than nothing, and I was thinking earlier today that it’s better than my dad did,” Kolt jabbed, referencing his dad’s fifth-place medal in 2000 as a member of Gladbrook-Reinbeck/North Tama wrestling.

“He loves to take little jabs at me like that,” Andrew said, laughing. “And he loves to tell people how he finally got me in the wrestling room the other day. He texted my wife to say, ‘Hey, ask Dad what happened at practice tonight.'”

Kolt takes the next step now, committed to UW-La Crosse’s wrestling program.

Scenes from the 100th IHSAA Boys State Wrestling Tournament (clockwise from top left): North Tama’s Kolt Knaack, right, removes his headgear after defeating Alburnett’s Reece Klostermann on Feb. 20; Redhawk wrestler Max Monat, top, competes on Feb. 20; Monat, top, grapples with Lane Knudson of Central Springs during his first match on Feb. 19; Knaack pictured during his match for third place at 150 pounds on Feb. 22; Knaack, top, looks to the official during his opening round with William Lawson of Pocahontas Area on Feb. 19. PHOTOS BY JAKE RYDER

“It’s gonna fuel me quite a bit, to not let something like this happen again,” Kolt said.

Andrew believes the sky’s the limit for Kolt moving forward.

“When he dials in on that as his main sport, I think his best wrestling is still yet to come,” Andrew said.

The excitement for the future helped lift some of the weight on Andrew’s heart.

“I don’t know if I’ve let it sink in that he’s done,” Andrew said. “Now I’ve just got to start getting the next kids in line to take his place. Hopefully we’re back here again next year and Max [Monat] is on the medal stand and we’ll just go from there.”