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HARTINGTON - After Hartington-Newcastle and their neighbors across the street, Cedar Catholic, decided to dissolve the sports cooperative agreement between the schools in wrestling, Hartington-Newcastle will wrestle in purple this winter as the Wildcats.
The decision to dissolve the cooperative was a very sound decision as the cooperative would have moved up to Class B this season which would have prevented some wrestlers from competing in some matches and tournaments as Class B does not allow multiple entries in each weight class from the same school.
In Classes C and D a team can enter more than one wrestler in a weight class, but only one of the wrestlers would be included in the team scoring.
Justin Bartling will still be coaching the Wildcat wrestlers but they will not be allowed to wrestle in practice with their former teammates at Cedar.
Grady Lammers, Ty Opfer, Kyptin Collier and Josiah Christensen return with varsity experience for HNS.
Chris Kneifl and Logan Kneifl join the experienced quartet to make up this year’s edition of the Wildcats.
Lammers was a state qualifier at 106 pounds last season and looks to get back down to Omaha this year.
Collier and Opfer each won over 20 matches last season while Competing for Cedar Catholic. Both are hungry for more.
“This is a new era for Hartington-Newcastle wrestling as these boys will get to represent their school,” said Bartling. “Grady Lammers, Ty Opfer and Kyptin Collier bring a lot of experience and talent right off the bat. Chris and Logan are both new to wrestling but have the perfect partners to help get them on the right track.”
The Wildcats and Trojans will still travel together whenever possible. Both teams open the 2025-26 season at the Howells-Dodge Invitational on Dec. 6.
