Wrestlers win two dual meets

The Hastings Raiders wrestling team started the new year off with a busy week. The Raiders wrestled two duals on Thursday night in Cottage Grove and followed that up with an individual tournament in Cannon Falls on Saturday.

The Raiders added to their dual wins with strong performances against Wayzata and Park of Cottage Grove.

In the opening dual of the night, Hastings traded wins early before claiming nine of the last 10 matches on their way to a 52-11 thumping of the Wayzata Trojans.

Hastings earned wins from Josh Loiacano, Isaac Bauer, Dan Gove, Eric Bauer, Dylan Nelson, Hunter Swenson, Andy Rachuy, Alex Nygaard, Cody Wagner, Isaac Eichmann and Josh Kickbush.

The Raiders faced the Park Wolfpack in the nightcap, with Hastings giving up two quick pins to trail 12-0. At 120 pounds, Luke Rowh answered for the Raiders with a first-period pin followed by Isaac Bauer’s technical fall at 126 pounds to pull Hastings within one at 11-12.

Dan Gove added an 11-7 decision at 132 pounds, while at 138 pounds, Eric Bauer scored a 7-3 decision to put the Raiders up 17-12.

Losses for the Raiders at 145 and 152 pounds vaulted the Wolfpack into the lead at 18-17. The resilient Raiders responded with wins by Hunter Swenson (160), Andy Rachuy (170), and Jake Swenson (182) to give them a 26-18 lead.

Cottage Grove countered with a 16-6 major decision at 195 pounds. The Raiders’ Isaac Eichmann sealed the victory with a first-period pin at 220 pounds, with heavyweight Josh Kickbush adding a 5-1 decision to close out the dual, to give the Raiders a 35-22 dual win.

Cannon Falls Invitational

On Saturday, the Hastings Raiders traveled to Cannon Falls to take part in an individual tournament. The Raiders finished in second place out of 13 teams, with ten of their 12 wrestlers placing.

Claiming top honors were Jake Swenson and Isaac Eichmann at 182 and 220 pounds, respectively. Swenson defeated top-ranked Nate Meixell of Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 4-2 in the finals, while Isaac Eichmann made quick work of fifth-ranked Alex Thurber of Kimball Area with a first-period pin.

Hastings had four wrestlers earn second place finishes; at 120 pounds, Luke Rowh lost 6-0 to Tanner Mills of Kimball Area in the finals. Eric Bauer came up short to third-ranked Ben Donnelly of Woodbury 4-3 in the 138 pounds championship, while Dan Marquette was unable to match Mitchell Kukson of Pine Island at 145 pounds in losing 9-2. Cody Wagner lost a closely contested match to sixth-ranked Scott Bode of Shakopee 8-7 in the 195- pound finale.

Isaac Bauer finished with a 5-0 third place win at 126 pounds over Seoulac Gunvalson from Benilde-St Margaret’s, and heavyweight Josh Kickbush took home a fourth-place finish losing to Brady Rueb of Pine Island.

Dylan Nelson (152) and Alex Nygaard (170) rebounded from early losses to finish in fifth place. Nelson pinned Kevin Brickey of Shakopee at 5:03 with Nygaard earing a pin at 3:29 over Erik Johnson of St. Croix Lutheran.

Hastings hosts the White Bear Lake Bears at 7 p.m. Thursday and then travels to St. Cloud for the Kiffmeyer Duals Saturday at 9 a.m.

Tags: raider wrestling, sports, hastings, minnesota, spiral, prep