Raider wrestling has had a busy start to the season and there is no slowing down. First the team traveled to Mahtomedi on Dec. 8 for a triangular meet against the Zephyrs and the South St. Paul Packers. Hastings faced Mahtomedi first then they took on the Packers and the third meet of the triangular was SSP vs Mahtomedi.

For the scores, Hastings wrestlers are always listed first. The line goes WEIGHT CLASS: Hastings Wrestler results, opponent.

Hastings easily beat South St. Paul, 70-6, and Mahtomedi by a 68-6 margin.

Dec. 10 the Raiders played host to a triangular for the boy’s team and a massive tournament for the girls. (More on that after the results of the triangular. Waconia and Forest Lake were the opponents for the triangular.

Hastings vs Waconia

106: David Bauer loses by a decision of 5-9 to Ian Olson 113: Trey Beissel wins by fall in 3:39 over Gabriel Witschorik 120: Blake Beissel wins by fall in 2:26 over Wesley Hammarsten 126: Taylon Little Soldier loses by fall in 4:25 to Carter Katherman 132: Jack Bainbridge loses by fall in 3:41 to Maverick Mueller 138: Mark Svoboda wins by major decision 12-4 over River Aamold 145: Josh Route loses by decision 35 to Lincoln Vick 152: Isaiah Lavergne loses by fall at 4:33 to Aiden Meuwissen 160: Aiden Erickson wins by decision of 5-0 over Alex Torres 170: Ian Pepple loses by decision of 0-2 to Andrew Torres 182: Rico Cooper wins by fall at 4:17 to Jackson Green 195: Derrick Steinke wins by fall over Jackson Greene.

220: Austin Leflay losses by tech to Max McEnelly.

285: Blake Clemons losses by decision to Alex Riley.

Final team score: Waconia – 35, Hastings – 31 Hastings vs Forest Lake

106: David Bauer wins by fall in 5:52 over Devin Struntz 113: Trey Beissel wins by major decision of 16-5 over Aspen Blasko 120: Blake Beissel receives a forfeit 126: Taylon Little Soldier loses by fall in 2:23 to Jacob Aho 132: Jack Bainbridge loses by fall in 1:26 to Parker Lyden 138: Mark Svoboda loses by fall in 1:04 to Grant Marr 145: Josh Route wins by tech fall of 24-9 over Kody Kohoutek.

152 Isaiah Lavergne loses by a decision of 2-8 to Jimmy Morgan 160 Aiden Erickson wins by fall at :54 to Tommy Cubus 170 Ian Pepple wins by fall at 2:14 over Trenton Frerichs 182 Rico Cooper wins by fall at 2:50 to Trystian Miller 195: Derrick Steinke wins by a decision of 6-2 over Hunter Gruba 220: Austin Leflay loses by fall in 2:46 to Mark Rendl 285: Blake Clemons wins by fall in 1:20 over Evan Locke Final team score: Hastings- 48, Forest Lake- 27

“It was a pretty good week overall,” said Head Coach Tim Haneberg. “We lost a close one to Waconia who is a very tough team. They have some really talented wrestlers. Then, we rebounded really well against Forest Lake and once again, they are a really tough team, and they have some really good kids as well. So overall, pretty good day. Our lineup is not even close to complete yet and where we are going to end up at the end of the year. We are still learning a lot and we are taking some lumps right now before we get to that spot. But our kids are coming in hungry every single day. Right now, we are getting down there to where we need to be for the Christmas tournament early next week and gearing up for that. It is one of our first big testing points of the year. Then we go to the Bi-state Clash, so, we have a lot of tests coming up, but we are learning right now and just trying to get better every single week.”

Girls Tournament

Coach Haneberg had the gym for the morning for the triangular, so he figured, ‘Let’s see if we can pull off a girl’s tournament.’ He worked closely with Athletic Secretary Jackie Kranz to put together a tournament for the girl wrestlers. Last year was the first ever year of girls wrestling at the state meet. Skylar Little Soldier of Hastings brought home the first ever girls’ championship at the 132-pound weight class. 250 female wrestlers joined their male counterparts for training last year and seeing the support they had at the state meet was very moving to witness.

Last year, there were 250 female wrestlers, most of them new. Most meaning roughly 80 percent of the girls had never wrestled before. In 2022, there are now 541 female wrestlers across the state of Minnesota and coach Haneberg estimates that 70 percent of them are first-year wrestlers. Think about that incredible feat for a moment, 380 of the 541 wrestlers are likely new wrestlers this year. That is HUGE. St. Michael/Albertville did not have a girl on the team last year, now they have 21 in only 12 weight classes. Hastings went from seven to 18. Girls wrestling is here to stay and that is an amazing thing.

“Like I said, we have about 110 girls here,” smile Haneberg. “Probably 70 percent are brand new. We tried to pair them up for ability. So, these girls are getting kind of likeability matches, and then girls run the same weight class. They have an opportunity for a lot of success and a bigger opportunity to continue to keep on wrestling and get better just like the boys.”

Haneberg could not contain his excitement talking about the girl’s programs and what it means for the future of wrestling.

“It's just awesome. I love the sport of wrestling and I love sharing the sport of wrestling with other people. So, the more people that get involved with it, the better and these girls are going to be the future of our programs. These are future moms right here and they're going to have sons and daughters that are going to become wrestlers. That is just adding to wrestling’s legacy and adding to our numbers. Eventually, our whole sport numbers are going to go through the roof too. Our boys and girls in the future will eventually become these moms and dads in our future, and all these girls will have wrestled in high school, they can become coaches, and they're going to go wrestle in college. It's going to be really sweet, it's really exciting.”

Hastings already has one graduate that returned to the program to coach, Alisha Brown. Brown finished third at state last year, her first year of wrestling.

“We worked hard on finding a girls coach,” explained Haneberg. “She was definitely our first option, so, we reached out to her, and she said, ‘Oh, yeah, I'm doing this for sure.’ So, she comes in and she is doing an absolute fantastic job with all our girls who are here. She knows all our girls, she works hard, and she's studying film. She's getting better at coaching and she's getting better at wrestling every single day. So, it's really cool for her too.”

The wrestlers will travel to Rochester this weekend, starting on Friday, to the Christmas Tournament. Next week they will return to conference triangular action as they host the Tartan Titans and North St. Paul on Dec. 22 at 5:00 p.m. The Raiders will finish out the year at the Bi-State Clash that kicks off on Dec. 29 in Lacrosse Wisconsin.