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HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Trojan and Lady Trojan wrestling teams are looking to attain a few more ‘firsts’ this season after a very successful season full of ‘firsts’ last season.
“Last season we had a lot of ‘firsts’ and we did all of them with a mainly underclassmen group, we graduated just one state qualifier,” Cedar Catholic coach, Justin Bartling said. “Our underclassmen got a taste of success and know they can hang with anyone and are so much more motivated to get to the next level.”
The Trojans were the district runner-up last season and return six state qualifiers for a run at the title this season.
Maverick Heine put together a 5-1 record en route to a third-place finish at State last year. He earned a 3-0 decision over in the third-place match to claim the bronze and end his sophomore season with a 44-4 record.
Bodie Hochstein (126) also wrestled in the third-place match, earning a 6-0 decision over Battle Creek’s Ashton Kuchar to claim the bronze medal, wrapping up a 45-2 freshman season in the process.
Easton Hochstein returns after piling up 46 wins last season and placing fourth at state. The win total was a school record.
Braeden Kleinschmit is a three-time state qualifier and placed sixth last year. He is just 17 wins shy of the all-time career wins total for Cedar Catholic.
Brady Hochstein is a two-time state qualifier and placed sixth last year.
Hunter Kuchta is a junior and qualified for state in his first two seasons as a Trojan.
A pair of sophomores and two seniors will be looking to fill out the weight classes for Cedar Catholic, which is a wrestling cooperative along with Hartington-Newcastle, and will again compete in Class C for the 2024-25 campaign.
Sophomores, Ty Opfer and Brody Kleinschmit, along with seniors, Nicholas Coleman and Castin Pinkelman, will look to fill spots.
Bartling also welcomed freshmen Grady Lammers, Kody Bartling, Josiah O’Quinn, Kyptin Collier and Anson Noecker to the mats this season.
The Lady Trojans will be looking to achieve some “firsts” of their own this season.
The team of two, Morgan Kuchta a sophomore, and freshman Evie Freeman, will take to the mat and will be searching for the program’s first state medal.
Freeman brings a pretty respectable resume’ with her to the high school level after claiming three state USA Youth Wrestling titles.
“We still have three more ‘firsts’ to go after this season,” Bartling said. “A state trophy, our first girls medalist and our first individual champion. All of these are within our grasp this year.” The Trojans and Lady Trojans are set to open the season, Saturday Dec. 7 at the Howells-Dodge Invitational.
