Tiger Winter Sports Preview

Varsity competition in high school winter sports will begin a few weeks from now, December 2. With the first day of practice this Monday, November 15, there is a lot to look forward to in this season of winter sports for the Tigers.

Both girls and boys basketball are hoping to have a successful season. Head coach Drew Danielson is excited to spend his second year coaching basketball at Hastings High.

“My favorite part of coaching is working with kids and watching them reach their goals,” Danielson said.

Danielson has high hopes for this season. Although several key basketball players graduated last year, there are several young talented players in the program this season. 

“It will be up to them [the young players] to put in the work and come together as a team,” Danielson said.

Sophomore Braydon Power started varsity last year as a freshman and he is expected to maintain this position this season.

While the team has high expectations of the underclassmen, the upperclassmen of the team will also play a key role in success.

“Brayden Schram [senior], Connor Riley [senior], Aaron Nonneman [junior], and Trevor Campbell [junior] will play a big role for us this year,” Danielson said.

Varsity basketball will have its first game on Thursday, December 2 at Seward High School.

Swimming and diving will participate in the seventh consecutive year of a cooperative team with other schools in Hastings; St. Cecilia and Adams Central.

Charles Scribner looks forward to his 8th season of being the swimming and diving head coach. He has been with the team for a total of 9 years. 

“I enjoy working with the athletes the most, helping them reach their goals,” Scribner said.

After a very successful season last year, Scribner has high hopes for this season.

“We are hoping to have several state qualifiers and relays. Also, compete for a GNAC conference championship,” Scribner said.

Despite the loss of strong swimmer Diana Brailita last season, there are a few upperclassmen standouts this year.

“Jacob Haase [Hastings senior], Max Faris [Hastings junior], and Andrew Heckman [Adams Central junior] are our upperclassman leaders,” Scribner said.

Scribner also obtains high expectations for the sophomore and freshman classes this season.

“I’m expecting the freshman class to step up and improve a lot, Robert Schmidt, Matt Lauder, Landon McReynolds. For the girls, Izzy Cerveny, Abby Lauder, Lucy Fago, and Kaitlyn Mousel are our young leaders of the team. Expect Abbey Fish and Lauren Thompson to have a big impact their freshman year,” Scribner said.

The swimming and diving teams’ first competition will also be on December 2 this year.

This year will be Nolan Laux’s third season as the head wrestling coach at Hastings High.

His favorite part about coaching wrestling is, “Being able to see my athletes grow as individuals and overcome setbacks.” 

While he is the coach now, Laux has a detailed history with the sport of wrestling during his previous school years. 

“I started wrestling when I was in Kindergarten. Growing up, my dad was the assistant coach for the high school. When I was in middle school he took over as the head coach for the high school. Around 6th grade is when I started getting extremely serious about the sport and doing it all year round. I traveled all over the country for camps and tournaments,” Laux said.

Since his dad was the wrestling coach, Laux had the opportunity to wrestle for his dad in high school. He also was able to be teammates with his younger brother. These factors led him to be extremely successful in the sport.

“I ended my high school career placing top 3 each year at State (3rd, 1st, 2nd, 1st),” Laux said.

After graduating from high school, Laux attended Hastings College to further his wrestling career. At Hastings College, he was a National Qualifier and a 1st team All-GNAC. However, after suffering multiple injuries during his college career, he turned to coaching.

“Being able to be around the high school team growing up, and experiencing the impact that my dad was able to have on his athletes and the HHS program as a whole is what made me want to be a coach,” Laux said. 

Laux has amazing hopes for the 2021 wrestling team after a great season last year.

“My hopes for the season are that we can grow as a team and continue to build upon our culture. In terms of measurable results, our guys will tell you that they want to win a State Championship,” Laux said.

The wrestling team has been doing conditioning called ‘boot camp’ for the past two weeks. The wrestling teams’ first competition is a home dual vs. Kearney on December 2.

This year’s team has several wrestlers who have experience at the state tournament in previous years.

“Landon Weidner and Braiden Kort lead the way as multiple-time medalists as well as making it to the state finals last year.  Cameron Brumbaugh took 4th at State last year and Jett Samuelson placed 5th. Our returning state qualifiers are Elijah Johnson, Blake Kile, and Hunter Anderson,” Laux said.

Each winter sports team is geared up and ready to compete this season.