By Derek Simon

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The Hastings Varsity Wrestling team had two triangular meets this week. They first travelled to St. Thomas to wrestle against the Cadets and the Woodbury Royals. On Saturday, the Raiders hosted Roseville and Park High School. Hastings entered the week with a 1-2 record. They easily defeated Henry Sibley, but lost to two of the top teams in Minnesota in Simley and Stillwater.

Thursday night, the Raiders first faced off against St. Thomas. The Raiders won 10 of 14 matches and would win the match by a score of 45-21. The Raiders second match of the night, against Woodbury, would be much closer. Going into the heavy weight match, Hastings lead by the thinnest of margins 34-33 meaning the winner of the heavy weight match would decide which team would be the victor. Thankfully for Hastings, stalwart Cameron Olson would come through with the win by fall at 3:06 to give the Raiders a 40-33 win over the Royals.

Saturday would be much easier for Hastings. The team won every match against Roseville, winning 80-0. While the Raiders won easily, they did it getting some wrestlers their first varsity action of the season. Against Park, Hastings won 11 of 14 matches to defeat the Wolfpack by a score of 66-14. One of the top performers this young season has been Josh Route. Route won by fall in 1:55 against Park.

“He was pushing into me, so I hit my slide by right away and took him down, rode him out for a while turned him a couple times and then I cut him again. I just kept attacking after that,” Route explained. With the win, Josh improved to 5-1 on the season. “It feels great to be back. I mean, you put so much time, all the years wrestling, wrestling, wrestling, it just feels good to be able to compete again,” Route said.

The virus may have delayed the start of the season, but not the passion these kids have for wrestling. Assistant coach Paul Vaith agreed with Route.

“I think everybody’s just excited that we’re going to have a season, especially for our young guys to get this experience, and our upperclassmen and our seniors. This is their last year, and to have this opportunity. You know, they put in a lot of years and a lot of time and energy to get to this point and just to have that opportunity to step on the mat and compete and to be together. You know the idea of being together being part of a team being part of something special means so much to all of us, the kids, coaches, fans, parents. So, we’re just glad to be able to compete and continue this season,” Vaith said.

Individual results for the week: 106 Blake Beissel won all three of his matches easily. Gavin Lambert won his match.

113 Mark Svoboda finished 2-2 on the week.

120 Creed Peterson went 2-1 this week. Steve Seleski won his match.

126 Jack Bainbridge and Peyton Erickson split the matches. Both would go 2-0 on the week.

132 Skylar Little Soldier and Caleb Folstrom split matches at 132. Skylar went 2-0, Caleb was 0-2.

138 Blake Remer went 1-2 this week. Isaiah Lavergne won his match.

145 Josh Route won all three of his matches. Evan Svoboda one his match as well.

152 Aiden Erickson and AJ Jaeger both wrestled twice this week. Both wrestlers went 2-0.

160 Nolan Myers won both of his matches. Ian Pepple and Zander Hallis won their matches.

170 Rico Cooper was a perfect 3-0 this week. Ian Pepple won his match.

182 Sam O’Connor was 3-0 this week. Thomas Kennedy won his match.

195 Tyler Myer finished 1-2 this week. Caleb Long won his match.

220 Four different wrestlers this week. Dylan Bartz and Tyler Miller won their matches. Austin Leflay and Austin Miller lost theirs.

285 Cameron Olson was 3-0 this week. Dylan Bartz one his match.

Hastings returns to the mat Thursday the 28th at Forest Lake in a triangular against Cambridge-Isanti and Forest Lake. On Saturday, they will be hosting another triangular at 9:00am

Hastings Wrestler Josh Route works for the pin against his opponent, Jace Jesson of Park High School, in the second meet of the triangular on Saturday. Photo by Bruce Karnick