RO’s McCunn earns gold; seven other Tigers medal at John J. Harris Wrestling Tournament

Red Oak’s Justin McCunn earned first place at 160 at the two-day John J. Harris Wrestling Tournament in Corning over the weekend, and seven other Tiger grapplers were place-winners on the way to a fourth-place team finish for Red Oak.
“Eight is the most place-winners at this tournament in the last nine years, and quite possibly ever,” Red Oak head wrestling coach Tiegen Podliska said. “We went 27-17 overall in matches with 21 falls, one technical fall, one major decision, and four decisions.
“Overall, we brought 10 guys with eight place-winners, and won our first-ever team trophy for all the guys on this team. We were just six points from second place, which is a one match turn-around.”
Team scoring: 1- Winterset 213.5; 2- Atlantic-CAM 164.5; 3- Creston-OM 162.5; 4- Red Oak 158.5; 5- Mount Ayr 115; 6- Missouri Valley 113; 7- Riverside 108; 8- Clarinda 93; 8. Panorama 93; 10- Tri-Center 86; 11- Nodaway Valley 80; 12- Bedford-Lenox 72.5; 13- Central Decatur 59.5; 14- East Mills 58; 15- ACGC 48; 16- Wayne, Corydon 30; 17- Clarke, Osceola 29; 18- Southwest Valley 25; 19- Southwest Iowa 19; 20- Griswold 7; 21- Clarinda Academy 0.
“We were aggressive and continued to look to score late in periods, always fighting for the major decision. Even the decisions we had were by three and six points, and those guys were still looking to get turns,” Podliska said after the opening day. The Tigers finished the first day in second place with 70.5 points, behind Winterset with 91.