Men's Wrestling Battles at Second GPAC Duals
(Seward, NE) – The Hastings men’s wrestling team competed at the second of two GPAC Duals this year, traveling to Mitchell, SD to take on Morningside, Northwestern, and Briar Cliff. Morningside won all but one match in the first dual, then Northwestern beat Hastings, 31-18, in the second battle. They wrestled Briar Cliff in their final dual of the day, falling 33-18.
(Seward, NE) – The Hastings men's wrestling team competed at the second of two GPAC Duals this year, traveling to Mitchell, SD to take on Morningside, Northwestern, and Briar Cliff. Morningside won all but one match in the first dual, then Northwestern beat Hastings, 31-18, in the second battle. They wrestled Briar Cliff in their final dual of the day, falling 33-18.
Against Morningside, the Mustangs got an early pin at 131. Sophomore Justin Rodriguez won the Broncos' lone match at 133, defeating Christian Ahren by a 9-3 decision to make the score, 6-3.
Morningside won at 141 and 149 by fall, then they won a 13-7 decision at 157 over sophomore Nicholas Freeland, putting the Mustangs up 21-3 with five matches left.
At 165, 174, and 184, Morningside won by fall in all three bouts. Junior Matheson Rodriguez lost a 7-1 decision to Bryce Kwiecinski and freshman Koen Mattern dropped a close 1-0 decision to Jakob Jerabek to conclude the dual with the Mustangs winning, 45-3.
In their second dual of the day, Hastings again started out strong against Northwestern. Sophomore Creel Weber defeated his opponent by a 13-8 decision at 125. Sophomore Logan Hackman wrestled at 133 and won a close 4-3 major decision to put Hastings up 6-0.
The Red Raiders took the bouts at 141 and 149, by tech fall to go up 10-6, then Freeland had another very competitive match at 157 – losing in a 12-9 sudden victory – giving the Red Raiders a 13-6 lead with five of ten matches completed.
Northwestern got a pin at 165, then freshman Esteban Sedano responded with a pin at the 26 second mark of the first period to get the six team points at 174. Leon won his match via forfeit at 184, cutting the lead to 21-19.
Dakota Wesleyan managed pins at 184 and 197, then Mattern closed out the dual with a pin three minutes in against Jaxson Hildebrand, but Northwestern hung on to win the dual, 31-18.
In their final dual of the day against Briar Cliff, Hastings got an early 6-0 with a Weber forfeit win at 125. Rodriguez' match at 132 against Dariuz Black went the Chargers way in the 1-0 defeat. Briar Cliff won the bouts at 141 and 149 to go up 15-6.
Freeman defeated Brandon Harris at 157 on an 8-1 decision, then Briar Cliff won at 165 by fall to go up 21-9 in the dual with four bouts left. Sedano grinded out a tough 17-13 win at 174, but the Chargers won by fall at 184 and claimed 197 by forfeit. Mattern ended the dual with a pin 14 seconds into the bout, as Briar Cliff won, 33-18.
Hastings will host the GPAC Championships on Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22 in Lynn Farrell Arena. Wrestling will begin at 2pm on the 21st.
