The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) annually awards high school wrestlers across the nation awards for academic achievement. This year, Hastings had 15 wrestlers earn the award, several of them are repeat winners.

The award is the NWCA High School Scholar All-American. The award recognizes varsity student-wrestlers who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement alongside their commitment to the sport of wrestling. Wrestling coaches across the county know that academic commitment is just as important, if not more so than the commitment on the mat making this a distinct honor.

In the 2024-25 season, the Nation Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the number one governing body for high school sports, calculated there were over 374,000 high school wrestlers, 300,000 plus boys and 74,000 plus girls. Also in the 2024-25 season, the NWCA awarded 4,627 wrestlers with this honor, which is roughly 1.24 percent of the total wrestlers. 2024-25 numbers were the latest completed numbers available as 2025-26 season has not been compiled yet.

To earn this prestigious award, student-athletes must: Maintain a 3.5 or higher grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and must be a current year varsity letterwinner.

The 15 students earning the award for Hastings are (in no particular order): Katey Armstrong, Amelia Chandler, Natalie Leifeld, Lily Watts, Sofiya Slobodyanyk, Grace Braucks, Carlie Ginter, Elyse Versland, Fiona Myers, Kasen Esterby, Brock Lundstrom, David Bauer, Esme Renneke, Elli Levine and Samantha Allen.

12 of the 15 award winners were from the Raiders girls’ team who also had the highest team GPA for Minnesota that was announced earlier this season, 3.856. The boys earned a silver team GPA award with 3.299.