By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

Wrestling is in full swing, and the Raiders are crushing it in the dual meets they have been in. Saturday, they had scheduled a four-way dual meet between Coon Rapids, Northfield and Forest Lake. Coon Rapids withdrew from the event because of the weather, so the teams adjusted. Unranked Hastings took on eighth ranked Forest Lake first, then Forest Lake went against twelfth ranked Northfield and finally Hastings faced Northfield.

Hastings vs (8) Forest Lake (Weight class – Hastings’ wrestler, result, opponent.) a (#) before the name indicates their state rank from www. TheGuillotine.com if known. If a wrestler is wrestling up a weight class and is ranked in their normal class, it will be noted (# at weight) 106 – Trey Beissel, decision, 9-6, over Cullen Christianson.

113 – Donavin Ward, decision in OT over Aspen Blasko 120 – (1 at 106) Blake Beissel wins by pin at :41 over Aidan Wasilik.

126 – Jack Bainbridge wins by fall at 2:53 over (4 at 120) Jacob Aho.

132 – Peyton Erickson loses by fall at :33 to Andrew LeMire.

138 – Creed Peterson wins by fall at 1:59 over Jimmy Morgan.

145 – (8) Josh Route wins by decision 6-4 over Jackson Marr.

152 – Evan Svoboda loses by fall at :47 to Dan Vanacker.

160 – (3) Aiden Ericson wins by Technical fall at 4:19 over Brian Bordenave.

170 – Derek Steinke wins by fall at 3:40 over Trenton Freierichs.

182 – Ian Pepple wins by decision of 3-2 over Peyton Christenson 195 – Rico Cooper wins by fall at 5:13 over Hunter Gruba 220 – Austin Leflay wins by fall. Time and opponent not reported.

285 – Blake Clemons wins by decision 7-0 over Colin Mc-Geary.

Team score Hastings 56 – (8) Forest Lake 12 Hastings vs (12) Northfield 106 – Trey Beissel wins by major decision 14-4 over Caden Staab.

113 – Donavin Ward wins by fall at 4:36 over Matthew Dettling.

120 – (1 at 106) Blake Beissel wins by technical fall 16-1 over Keith Harner.

126 – Jack Bainbridge wins by fall at 3:24 over Logan Williams.

132 – Peyton Erickson loses by major decision 1-11 to (10) Jackson Barron.

138 – Creed Peterson wins by Major Decision of 10-1 over Brody Gorr.

145 – (8) Josh Route wins by decision 3-1 over (8 – 138) Jake Messner.

152 – Aiden Erickson wins by decision 3-1 over Owen Murphy.

160 – Hunter Giefer loses by fall at 3:16 to (5) Jayce Barron.

170 – Derick Steinke loses by major decision of 3-11 to Darrin Kuyper.

182 – Ian Pepple wins by decision 6-2 over Ryan Kuyper.

195, 220, 285, Rico Cooper, Austin Leflay and Blake Clemons all win via forfeit.

Team Score Hastings – 52, (12) Northfield 14.

After the day was done, Head Coach Tim Haneburg talked about the events of the morning. “We had a lot of good matches. It started off with the Beissel’s, Trey and Blake, they both had awesome matches, probably the highlight of the dual came at 126. Jack Bainbridge pinned the number four ranked wrestler in the state from Forest Lake. So that’s pretty big. And then yeah, our middle weights and everybody else just kept that momentum going up into the heavyweight. So overall, just a really great team effort from the bottom all the way to the top. The biggest match against Northfield came at 145 when Josh Route beat the Northfield kid 3-1. That kid is ranked eighth in the state. So great matches all day long.”

Haneberg was excited about the two wins because defeating two tough teams that could likely win their section can help with Hastings’s placement when seeding comes around to the section tournament along with the recognition it brings to the program.

What about the girls’ wrestlers? They are participating in the same practices with the guys, but not competing with the guys. That puts the girls more at ease knowing they will face other girls in training.

“It’s been pretty neat. So far, the girls are doing a great job at practice. They’re really working really well together. And having fun too. So, I’m not surprised at how much fun they’re having. Because we usually have a great team. But they’re doing really well together and really gelling with other kids on our team,” added Haneberg.

Another cool aspect to the girl’s program in Hastings is the family aspect. Wrestling families bond well with their teammates and teammates families, but a unique aspect for the Hastings girls’ program is there are three sisters of boys that are already on the team.

“It’s been really neat to kind of see that relationship with boys and their sisters. The brothers and sisters get into our room and really support each other too. They just blend right in, you know, at first it was kind of, they just didn’t really know what to expect with our warmup and how the practice plan goes. And they’re really jumping in headfirst, and it’s been great. So far, it’s just, it’s been pretty seamless,” Haneberg explained.

The newness of the girls’ teams for wrestling leaves a lot of questions for things like the section and state meet, many things need to be fleshed out yet, and that’s ok. Right now, it’s about teaching the girls the fundamentals of wrestling.

Hastings travels to Rochester for Haneberg’s favorite regular season tournament, the Christmas Classic on Saturday the 18th then on December 29/30, they will be in LaCrosse for another tournament.