Hastings pulled away from Elk River in the first round, getting a win by fall from Sullivan McNamara in the first :24 seconds of the first matchup at 107lbs, but the Elks answered back with a quick pin to tie the score at 6-6. The Raiders then went on a tear to take a lead they wouldn’t look back on, getting wins by fall from Beckett Edstrom at 121lbs and Will Bainbridge at 127lbs, as well as a technical fall in by standout Trey Beissel at 133 to lead 23-6. The Elks wouldn’t give up however, scoring 12 unanswered to cut the lead to 23-18, when senior state qualifier Mark Svoboda came back to get a win by fall at 160lbs to get the lead to 29-18. After another Elks technical fall win, Kasen Esterby helped seal the match with a win by fall at 189, then back to back technical fall wins by Adrian Fuchs and Elijah Christopher put Hastings at the final tally winning 45-23 to set up a semifinal matchup with St. Michael-Albertville later on in the evening.
The #1 Knights quickly took control in the semifinals with a technical fall and win by fall to lead 11-0 after the first two weight classes, before 8th grader Grant Cook earned a hard-fought victory at 121lbs for the first points from the Raiders as they trailed 11-3, and William Bainbridge won a ranked matchup at 127lbs in double overtime 2-1 to get the score within striking distance at 11-6. The Raiders were without 133lb standout undefeated grappler Trey Beissel who suffered an injury earlier in the evening, and dropped the next 21 points as St. Michael-Albertville took control and never gave it back. Mark Svoboda earned a hard fought victory at 160lbs to get another three points, and the Raiders ended the match with heavyweight Elijah Christopher ending the dual with a 3-2 overtime win.
The Raiders will compete for third place today at 4pm as they take on #2 Stillwater who was upset by Shakopee in the semifinals. Hear the final team dual from state on AM 1460 and FM 97.7 KDWA.
The Hastings girls basketball team saw their season come to a close Wednesday evening on the road at Eagan, falling 60-42. The Raiders couldn’t get enough offense going as they trailed early by double-digits, and gave up a late run to trail 37-16 at the half. The Raiders continued to fight, but were unable to get much closer as their season comes to a close with a 16-11 record.
And the Raiders boys basketball team took down St. Thomas Academy 70-62. The Raiders had an early lead, but the Cadets fought back to tie the score at 19, then jumped out to a 27-19 lead before Hastings could strike back and they did so by going on a 13-3 run to lead 32-30 at halftime. The Raiders maintained a slight lead all throughout the second half answering any run by the Cadets, and were able to hold off for the win. Hastings improves to 12-12 on the season, and will have senior night tomorrow at home against Mahtomedi.
Individual Wrestling qualifiers start action today at Grand Casino Arena as well.
Boys individual qualifiers include:
107 Sully McNamara
121 Beckett Edstrom
127 Will Bainbridge
133 Trey Beissel
139 Dave Bauer
152 Presley McCrae
160 Mark Svoboda
On the Raiders girls wrestling side it includes:
112 Trinity Yates
124 Elli Levine
136 Audrianna Dahlberg
148 Emma Taylor
155 Avery Levine
190 Lily Watts
235 Khloe Richardson