This is by no means a small task. For 2024, Hastings had a total of 29 sports teams in three seasons. The back half of the winter season early in 2024 had Boys and Girls Hockey, Boys and Girls Basketball, Gymnastics, Boys Swim and Dive, Alpine and Nordic Skiing and Boys and Girls Wrestling. Spring sports include Softball, Baseball, Boys Tennis, Boys and Girls Golf, Boys and Girls Lacrosse and Boys and Girls Track. Fall sports were Football, Boys and Girls Soccer, Volleyball, Girls Tennis, Girls Swim and Dive, Boys and Girls Cross Country. The front half of the winter season at the end of the year added the Raiders Dance Team to the mix.
Covering 29 sports in a year is a daunting task on its own, going back and picking top stories from each is even more so. The reality is, there is no way to recap all of the amazing things that the hundreds of Raider athletes have done this last year, but here we are trying to do just that.
January
Boys Hockey wins South. St. Paul Premier Tournament. While technically the games took place in 2023, they were right at the end of the year and the first edition of 2024 reported on the tournament success. Hastings won the opening game against tournament host South St. Paul 2-1, then took down Cambridge/Isanti 3-2 before getting revenge against the 2022 champs Woodbury 4-2.
Girls Hockey swept the Burnsville Holiday Tournament. The Raider girls took on Eastview, Hopkins and the Burnsville and surrounding communities co-op team “Metro-South” defeating all three by a total of 14-1. The first game against Eastview was the toughest competition the girls faced. They won that contest 3-1. Hastings thumped the Metro South team 7-0 and then took down Hopkins 4-0 to win the championship game.
Both Hockey teams had the opportunity to host events at the brand new SCHEELS Rink at the Tradition Veterans Complex at United Heroes League. The new rink is a beautiful outdoor rink just on the edge of Hastings that had its own special announcement in January of 2024. The combined effort of United Heroes League, the Hastings Hockey Community and the City of Hastings earned Hastings the opportunity to be the host site for Hockey Day Minnesota 2026.
Raider Wrestlers kept the winning tradition alive at the various winter tournaments for both the Boys and Girls teams. Between The Clash tournament, the Rebel Girls Holiday Classic and the MatBoss tournament, several Raiders came home with hardware including sportsmanship and scholar awards.
The most notable achievement of January 2024 was the Raiders adding two 1,000-point scorers for basketball. Owen Bernatz logged his 1,000th point against Mahtomedi and Keagan McVicker scored her 1,000th career point at North St. Paul.
February
Skylar Little Soldier and Blake Beissel were the 2024 recipients of the Athena and Apollo awards. These annual awards are given to the outstanding athletes, one male (Apollo) and one female (Athena), in the senior class. Consideration is given based on excellence and accomplishments in both individual and team sports, throughout the duration of the student-athlete’s career. Consideration is given to both one-sport and multi-sport athletes. The award is an athletic award, with other accomplishments like leadership, character, and GPA being secondary. Blake and Skylar were selected by a vote of all HHS head coaches.
Girls Hockey finished the regular season at 13-12 earning the fifth seed for the section tournament. They faced Rosemount in the first round of sections falling
Boys Hockey faced a tough final few games of the regular season finishing 15-9-1 before winning the first section game against Apple Valley/Burnsville 7-1. The season ended at Eastview with the Lightning winning 7-0.
The Alpine Ski team sent four to the state race. Leading the crew by winning the Section 4 race for an incredible third year in a row was senior Jackson Reents. Senior Cole Caturia rebounded from last season with a solid ninth place finish. Abbi Pelava also had a solid day with two consistent runs and finished in 12th place. Kate Nowak had a nervous wait for the final results. Her combined runs put her in a tie for 17th place which came down to judges looking at the .001 point to make the decision about who would advance to the state meet! Nowak ended up claiming the final spot at state with her 17th place finish.
After winning the Section championship and then having the made for TV comeback win for the state championship in 2023, the Raider Wrestling team was looking to repeat that magic. The first step was winning the Section 3AAA title, which they did in dominant fashion. Hastings also qualified nine boys and four girls individually for the state meet.
March
Wrestling was not able to repeat the magic of 2023 as a team finishing sixth overall. Of the 13 individuals, five placed in the top six earning a spot on the podium. Blake Beissel, Trey Beissel, Derrick Steinke, Ivy Brandenburg and Skylar Little Soldier placed in the top six of their weight classes. With the season over, Blake Beissel committed to the Golden Gophers for his college career and Little Soldier committed to the first ever girls wrestling team at Grand Valley State University in Allendale Michigan.
The Girls basketball season ended with a first-round win in the section tournament, 56-31 against Burnsville and a second-round loss to Rosemount 94-35. The girls finished the season 19-9 overall under first year head coach Rick Tavernier.
The boys’ basketball team regular season finished with Hastings earning the fifth seed. That sent them to Rosemount where the Irish dismantled the Raiders to win 74-45 ending their season.
Boys Swim and Dive sent two to the state meet, Charlie Jensen in diving and Tristan Herbst for the 500 freestyle. Jensen fished the first day in 14th place advancing to the final day where he finished 16th overall. Herbst did not qualify for the second day, finishing 23rd overall.
April
The month of April is that weird transitional period between seasons where the winter sports have been done for a few weeks and Mother Nature likes to tease the spring sports teams with rollercoaster weather.
The Raiders track and field teams started the season strong with a sweep against Mahtomedi and Hill-Murry. Weather seemed to affect the track and field teams more than others, cancelling or postponing several meets in April.
Baseball started the season on a rollercoaster of their own, falling 13-3 to Park of Cottage Grove then thumping North St. Paul 10-0. The third game of the season was a much closer game with Two Rivers winning 5-4. 5-4 ended up the Raiders record for April.
Softball started the season 5-4 as well for April with key wins over Mahtomedi, Two Rivers, South St. Paul and Simley.
The SEAS Archery team had two individuals qualify for the NASP national tournament, Josie Rondeau placed fifth and Lillie Shaleen placed seventh. The 3D team overall placed eighth in the MN State Championship and the Bullseye team placed 10th with both teams scoring well enough to compete in the national tournaments.
May
May is the month that many spring sports teams schedules become packed with April cancellations. It is nonstop action all month long with several sports seasons concluding to get the state competitions completed before graduation in June. The high school hosts a sports awards show, usually the first Monday in May. The show honors all Raider athletes from the previous year.
Track and field sent 10 to the Hamline Elite Meet where Payton Dean, Olyvia Erickson, Ellie Magnus and Sebastian Strauss broke the record for the co-ed 4x400 relay. The Raiders continued to take down opponents while looking to win the conference championship, a task they accomplished. The boys earned the conference title with a score of 186 and the girls earned the conference title with a score of 179. The Raiders performed well at the section meet with six boys and six girls making the trek to the state meet. Payton Dean, Aiden Stoltz, Jared Hanson, Zachary Shatek, Gunner Hanstad, and Lane Hoffman for the boys. Ellie Magnus, Olyvia Erickson, Carlee Kordosky, Ava Klug, Lauren Whitfield, and Samira Thompson for the girls. As a team, the boys finished fifth with a team score of 92. Rosemount won the team portion with a score of 213.5. The girls finished second as a team with a score of 172, just five points behind Eagan. Whitfield placed third in the state for discus and Kordosky placed second in the 100 hurdles to be the only two that brought home hardware for Hastings.
Baseball honored the 1999 State Championship team and kept moving up the Metro East Conference rankings. Hastings eventually won a total of 13 straight games, every game they played in May, to finish as the number two seed for Section 3AAAA. The boys finished tied with Two Rivers and Mahtomedi in first place for the Metro East Conference. Mother Nature was not kind to the baseball schedule, forcing many date, time and location changes for the section playoffs. Hastings ended up losing two games in a row to be eliminated from the tournament.
Softball honored their influential teachers and held a strike out cancer game enroute to a fourth-place seed for Section 3AAAA. The Raiders won 7-of-10 games in May which included the two section tournament losses to East Ridge and Burnsville ending their season. Just a few weeks later, Head Coach Jen Thesing was relieved of her duties as Head Softball Coach.
Boys Tennis finished the regular season as the tenth seed for the section meet and did not send anyone to the state meet.
Girls Lacosse finished the regular season at 6-6, a season that was considered their best season since the team was formed. They were eliminated from post season play in the first game of sections by the co-op team of Two Rivers and St. Paul.
Both boys and girls golf teams fought hard in their matches, seeing a lot of consistency from the golfers. The section tournament was held on May 30th where the boys finished sixth as a team and the girls finished tenth. Hastings sent one golfer to the state meet, Jon Harris. Harris finished 36th in the state with a two-round total of 155.
The Hastings Hawks started their season of town baseball. The team has a roster of mostly former Hastings Raiders with a few Cottage Grove and other surrounding communities mixed in. The Hawks play from May to August.
The Hastings Hurricanes, a 35 plus town baseball team started their inaugural season with a win over the Vulcans. The Hurricanes were created and managed by Raider Alumni Nick Tuckner, and they featured many former Raiders for the first season.
June
The trap team ended its season in fifth place of seven teams with 65,551.50 points following Owatonna 1st 82,522.50, Rosemount 2nd 71,742.00, Northfield 3rd 70,403.00 and Nicollet 4th 68,103.50. For conference Top 25, congratulations to senior captain Tanner Lamb who finished his high school trap career in fourth place with 23.50 average, senior captain Brody Anderson in eighth place with a 23.30 average and senior captain Tristan Asher in 18th place with a 22.90 average. For conference Top 25 Females, congratulations to senior captain Kaitlyn Schutz who finished her high school trap in 19th place with a 21.40 average and to Junior Amelia Miller who finished the season in 15th place with a 20.30 average.
The skeet team ended its season in fourth place of seven teams with 1,606.50 points following Wayzata 1st 2,781.50, Prior Lake 2nd 2,713.00 and New Prague 3rd 1,944.50. For Conference Top 10 Female, congratulations to senior captain Kaitlyn Schutz who finished her high school skeet shooting in 8th place for Conference Top 10 Female with an 18.60 average.
Kacey Plank made local history becoming the first female umpire to officially umpire a game on Hastings top baseball field. Plank officiated two tournament games at Veterans Park Baseball field on Sunday, June 16. She solo umpired one of the preliminary games and was part of the championship game crew. As a 17-year-old, she was running a game played by 14-year-old boys and she kept things running perfectly.
A plethora of youth baseball and softball teams participated in tournaments all over the region to earn a spot at their respective state tournaments. Hastings Youth Athletic Association had many youth teams qualify for their state competitions.
A large group of cyclists made an overnight stay in Hastings as part of the MN Bike tour. The planned route offered a few different options that ranged from 245-310 miles over the course of a week.
With the high school sports season officially over. Several youth athletes turned to club level play for the summer. Many golfers from the high school team participated in the Junior PGA qualifier. Mason Leary, Drew Mamer, Brecken Fullerton, Jon Harris and David Bauer were just a few of the names that participated in the event at Hidden Greens. Bauer made it as far as the championship round.
July
July saw all of the club and amateur level sports continue as many local athletes stayed active throughout the summer to stay in shape for the fall high school sports season.
Legion Baseball saw a lot of success in their short, six-week regular season before they, along with the Hastings Hawks, played host to the sub-state tournament. The Legion team qualified for the state tournament winning their sub-state tournament on their home turf at Veterans Park.
The Hastings Sharks Unified Partner Team earned the top spot in the Minnesota Special Olympics Summer Games.
The Hastings Hawks continued to improve internally, first, acquiring the long-awaited license to sell beer at adult games and second, winning the Class C League games they needed to be seeded well in the Class C tournament. Hastings ended the regular season as the second seed for the regional tournament and with a large part of that tournament being played in Hastings, they also had a bit of a home field advantage for the August tournament.
August
After a solid season, the Legion Baseball Team earned the second seed for the state tournament. Unfortunately for the Raiders, they were unable to win any of the three pool play games and their post season run ended as quickly as it began.
With major construction going on at the Cannon Falls baseball field, the regional tournament could not be split between Cannon Falls and Red Wing as is normally the case. This was known well in advance and the Hawks hit a home run as the second site for the tournament. This was the first time Hastings had an opportunity to host and, according to the league organizers, the tournament went really well at Vets Park. Even with the success of the tournament, on the field, the Hawks fell one game short of reaching the state tournament for at least the third year in a row.
Hastings Girls Lacrosse announced the hiring of a new head coach for the 24-25 school season. Brady Wasvick is the new Head Coach. Wasvick has coached several different sports as an assistant for years and he has the perfect demeanor to help build a winning program with Hastings Girls Lacrosse.
The Hastings Pickleball Association worked with the City of Hastings Parks Department to install windscreens at the Roadside Park courts. The courts themselves went through a revitalization process in the off season with new fencing and court surfaces. The windscreen made an excellent addition to the rebuilt facility.
Morris Martial Arts, owned by Sam and Dorothy Morris, brought a team of local martial artists to Pheonix Arizona for the 2024 AAA World Championships. The business earned the Most Competitive Martial Arts Club in the United States award. Several students competed at the World Championships and Dorothy won her second world title in sparring.
The end of August saw the return of Student-Athletes to Hastings High School for the ramp up to fall sports. The end of summer training typically begins in the middle of August as a sort of a training camp for all athletes. The teams are allowed to do strength and conditioning training at the start with actual skills training a few weeks in.
September
Fall high school sports return in a big way statewide. Football, Boys and Girls soccer, Girls Swimming, Volleyball, Girls Tennis and Boy and Girls Cross Country.
The Miesville Mudhens overcame a few close calls with come from behind wins to win the 2024 Class B State Amateur Baseball Championship.
Football started the season with some difficult matchups that put them behind the proverbial eightball quickly. The first big win came against Mahtomedi which was a catalyst to a three-game win streak with a huge win over Cretin-Derham Hall.
Volleyball was in the same situation as football with several losses in a row.
Cross Country faired decently well at the various invites they were part of with the team placing in the upper half of the larger invites, including many second-place team finishes.
Both soccer teams started the season strong, winning several tough matchups.
Girls Tennis as a team made huge strides taking sets much deeper keeping scores close in tight losses. The tennis season is always one of the shortest seasons and just as quickly as the season started, by the end of September, they were preparing for the section meets and state.
Swim and Dive won many of the dual matchups they had all season long. Mahtomedi squeaked out a victory as one of the few losses of the season for the girls.
October
Both Soccer Teams had a season and post season that nearly mirrored each other. They both finished their regular season with winning records. The boys finished 10-7 and the girls 12-5. Both won their first-round section playoff game, and both lost the second-round game to Eagan to end their seasons.
Football nearly toppled the section giant St. Thomas Academy in both games of the season. Ultimately, the Cadets size and conditioning wore down the Raiders and the games were decided late in the second half. The second contest was in the second round of the section playoffs. Hastings easily beat Bloomington Jefferson in the first-round game before falling to St. Thomas in the second round.
Girls’ tennis upset Woodbury in the regular season finale. With the exception of Brooklyn and Reese Keller, the section tournaments for team, individual and doubles did not fare well for Hastings. The Keller sisters won the section championship for doubles qualifying them for the state tournament. At state, they finished fourth in the state.
Volleyball’s season came to a quick end with a section loss at Park of Cottage Grove. The girls finished the season at 9-14.
Cross Country ran well at the end of their season with nearly every runner on both teams running a personal best in a two-week span. Linnea Ronning was the sole Raider to earn a spot at the state meet where she finished 39th.
November
The month of November is much like April, a bit of a between month. State competitions finish at the end of October or early in November then winter sports start ramping up practices with a few competitions around Thanksgiving.
Boys and Girls Hockey are usually the first competitions of the early winter season. The boys opened the season with a tie and two losses before righting the ship and the girls started strong with a 4-1 record.
The biggest sports story of November for winter sports was the first ever Hastings Raiders Dance Team competition as an approved MSHSL school sport. Dance team competitions have been a part of the state high school league for decades, so it was odd that Hastings did not have a team prior to 2024. The girls took fourth at their first ever competition, which is huge given the talent in the Metro East Conference.
December
Winter sports are in full swing, and Hastings has officially added two sports to the winter lineup. We’ve had boys’ and girls’ hockey, boys’ and girls’ basketball, gymnastics, boys swim and dive, alpine skiing, Nordic skiing and boys wrestling. We have previously had individual girls wrestling as part of the boys’ teams, but until 2024, Hastings has never had enough girls to field a full, separate team for the girls. That changed in 2024, and the girls have been part of their own dual competitions this year. The addition of a girl’s wrestling team and the dance team brings the total number of teams to 11 for winter sports.
Girls Basketball took down Mahtomedi for the first time in 10 seasons. Maht has been the top team in the section for as long as memory serves, so, for Hastings to finally take them down is a huge win.
As of press time, Boys Hockey enters the new year at 6-4, Girls Hockey 9-4, Boys Basketball 4-2 and Girls Basketball 6-2.
Wrestling has participated in two huge winter tournaments. The first was the MatBoss tournament where Trey Beissel placed third, William Bainbridge placed sixth and Beckett Edstrom placed eighth. The second is happening over press time so those results will be available next week.