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Youth wrestling team completes another award-winning season
HARTINGTON — Wrestling in Hartington has been a bit of an after-thought until the last couple of years and it has literally taken a village to take these steps.
We all know about the steps taken this season. first state boys’ individual title, first state individual girls’ medal, and I’m telling you, the future is even better.
Both returning state title winners are coming back next year, the returning Gal is also coming back, which makes one wonder, why is this year any different from the years before 2025.
It was not a “fluke” or an anomaly (big word for me), it came from a lot of hard work from a lot of people.
Including, but not limited to, John Freeman. “There are so many people that have made this what we all envisioned,” said Freeman. “But it has really exceeded our expectations.”
One of the people involved is current Trojan head coach, Justin Bartling.
“He is responsible for a lot of this success,” said Freeman. “He spends so much time in the wrestling room and has the perfect mentality as a coach. He makes everyone feel like they can win at any time.”
Take into account, the Trojan boys’ wrestling program, which is a sports cooperative between the Trojans and the neighbors across the street, Hartington-Newcastle, had never had a finals participant and wound up with two golds in Omaha.
Then take into account, the Lady Trojans earned their first-ever medal, a bronze earlier in the week from Freeman’s freshman daughter Evie, and it’s easy to see, this little cooperative has set the tone for winning for the foreseeable future.
“We have been working at this for so long and to see it come to fruition is just amazing,” said Freeman. “Good grief, my daughter wrestled boys until the sixth-grade and now she is a state-medalist, but that’s not the point of what we do with the ‘Hartington Heroes’ wrestling program. We just want to see kids improve and the rest of it will follow.”
Well, it followed this past February, as the Trojans and Lady Trojans made some history.
Joining Freeman and Bartling in setting the young wrestlers up for success when they reach high school is a group of dedicated coaches and parents who all have one common goal, to see kids get better on and off the mat.
One of the truest examples of the success of the program is Braeden Kleinschmit, a senior for the Trojans this past winter and the current record-holder for wins in a high school career. A mark he set earlier this year.
“I don’t think he won a match as a seventh-grader,” Freeman said. “He just kept working hard and got better and better. He worked his way up to be a great wrestler and better kid.”
Recently, Hartington’s League of Heroes wrestling team competed at the USA Nebraska State tournament.
In order to qualify, PreK-8th grade boys and girls first had to wrestle at the USA district competition in O’Neill and finish in the top 4.
The competition was tough as District 3 is the largest district, but the Heroes had 33 wrestlers qualify, the most in club history.
This year the Heroes came home with 3 state champions: Avely Hochstein (prek-k girls), Beckett Wortmann( prek-k boy), and Charla Pick (5th-6th grade girls).
Avely Hochstein is the daughter of Kent and Molly Hochstein. She would have an easy first match that ended with a quick pin.
Her second match was a little tougher having lost to this wrestler earlier in the season. Avely was able to get a revenge win and got the pin at the end of the 2nd period.
In her finals match was another easy win with the pin in only 11 seconds.
“Avely is a tough competitor who is able to compete with the best in the state,” said Freeman. “She has a great practice partner and classmate in Braelyn Schrempp, which is why these girls are able to do as well as they do.”
Beckett Wortmann is the son of Wes and Julie Wortmann and his state championship tour started with a 57 second pin.
His semifinals match was not much competition for this Hero. He finished with another pin in the first period at 52 seconds.
In Beckett’s finals match, he defeated a Wahoo Wrestling Club wrestler with a tech fall winning 19-1.
“Beckett’s success can be attributed to his older brothers who both made the state tournament and his older sister who qualified as well,” said Freeman. “These are tough kids who are always ready to wrestle. Beckett also has a solid practice partner in Ethan Brodersen who finished 3rd on the day in his state matches.”
Charla Pick is the daughter of Dean and Angie Pick. She was the next State Champion, winning three matches.
Her 5th-6th grade division first match was a tough one, after getting the takedown in the first period she was up 3-0 going into the second where she fell behind 7-3 heading into the final period.
During the third period, she was able to get the take down and pin the Chase County wrestler, getting her one step closer to the championship.
Her second match was not going to be easy as a Columbus wrestler and Charla had battled back and forth all year.
After no score in the first period, the second period was a little bit different as Charla was able to get the takedown right away and pin her Columbus opponent towards the end of the second period.
After two tough matches she was able to finish the last match with a 29 second pin.
“Charla’s dedication to the sport and her determination to get better is remarkable,” Freeman said. “The coaches have really enjoyed watching her mature and learn the sport of wrestling. Each week you could see an improvement in her wrestling. Half of the year she would end up wrestling 7th and 8th graders at the tournaments which probably helped her get so competitive at this state tournament. Each loss was viewed as an opportunity to get better and learn.”
Other placers at USA state were Pre K-K boys: Thayer Stark with 6th place, Ethan Brodersen 3rd, Briggs Hochstein 6th, and Connor Crosley 6th.
In the Pre K-K Girls Division, Braelyn Schrempp finished with a runner up narrowly losing to the state champion.
The 1st and 2nd grade boys included Rustin Fischer in eighth; Brecken Lammers also finished eighth in the 3rd-4th grade division; the 5th-6th grade division had Cashten Schrempp finishing fifth.
The 1st-2nd grade girls had four competitors; Harper Evans finished second with a very tough finals match; Ruby Freeman earned fifth, Korahl Wortmann was sixth, and Corinne Becker ended seventh.
For the 3rd-4th grade girls, Brooklynn Dailey earned a runner up only losing her finals match 0-2. In 7th and 8th grade girls Ashlynn Daily finished her League of Heroes career with a fifth-place finish.
“As coaches we are really looking forward to watching Ashlynn compete next year in her high school season for the Trojans,” said Freeman. “Also as coaches we are very proud of all our wrestlers that competed at state. Daniel Dailey, Eli Hochstein, Ryker Hochstein, Lucas Freeman, Axtin Wortmann, Carter Rolfes, Zayd Wortmann, Luke Kleinschmit, Brooks Heine, Riggin Fischer, Keyan Wickere, and Mackenzie Dailey all competed for the Heroes during the long state weekend.”
This season the Heroes competed in many different tournaments all around Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa.
“With 77 Heroes signed up for the season, the Heroes were able to finish at or near the top of many of these tournaments,” said Freeman. “With our numbers, we were able to compete with some of the bigger schools around the area.”
The League of Heroes started off the season winning their own tournament beating the Yankton Jr. Bucks and Battle Creek.
They then finished with a runner up at Winside behind the Jr Bucks.
At the first Ponca Junior Wrestling Tournament, the League of Heroes came out victorious as Champions.
Then at the stacked 39-team Yankton Jr Bucks Tournament they finished in third.
The girls would compete at the Pierce Girls Only Tournament earning the runner-up trophy.
The Heroes then won the Randolph tournament, tied for second in the Columbus Tournament and finally getting them to the District tournament where they placed third behind Columbus and Battle Creek.
“This was the first time since 2022 that the Heroes were able to finish with a top 3 finish in the 45-team USA District Tournament,” said Freeman. “The Heroes are growing each year getting more and more competitive. This year they brought home more team trophies than ever before proving that wrestling is both a team sport as well as an individual sport.”
