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Since the spring of 1931 when the Tiger track team left Lincoln's Memorial Stadium with the Class A state championship trophy, Hastings teams have been winning and competing for state titles in multiple sports.
Gil Young won four gold medals to lead the Tigers. Young won the 220-yard dash, 120-yard high hurdles, 220-yard hurdles and the 880-yard relay. Maurice Asmus, in the discus, and Myron Youngblood, in the 880-yard run, were also Class A champs. Dwight Thomas was the Tiger coach.
The Nebraska School Activities Association did not sponsor cross country competition in the 1920s, but the state YMCA did, and the Tiger teams dominated the state meets in this era. In 1922 captain Lowell Evans was the individual state champion as well.
All-staters Vern Steiner and Wally Hopp led the Tigers to an unbeaten season ending with a Thanksgiving Day win over North Platte to secure the top of the ratings of the Associated Press and both the Omaha and Lincoln newspapers.
Willard Pettis and Delmar Friend won individual state titles as the Tigers swept to back-to-back titles for Coach Ernie ‘Joe’ Cummings. The Nebraska School Activities Association first sponsored a state gym meet in 1940 and the Tigers took home the trophy. In 1941 Hastings again outscored Mid East Conference rival Beatrice for the crown.
1947 Tennis State Champions
1947 Tennis State Champions
Don McCall and Bill Becher won the state doubles title and led the Tigers to the first NSAA-sponsored state tennis championship.
All-staters Cal Johnson and John Swanson lead the tall Tigers to 18 wins and a state title win over Omaha Benson. The Tigers win eight straight to end the season and sweep Big Ten, district and state honors.
1958 & 1959 State Cross Country Champions
1958 & 1959 State Cross Country Champions
The NSAA would take over cross country in 1960, but Hastings High and Coach Roy Bassett would win the final two state meets sponsored by the University of Nebraska.
Dennis Albers, one of Nebraska's greatest prep gymnasts powered the Tigers to their fifth and sixth state crowns. Albers won five individual event titles and the all-around in both years for Coach Don Langdon.
1967 Class A Tennis State Champions
1967 Class A Tennis State Champions
Terry Heltne and George Sounders won #1 Doubles to lead Coach Perry Long and the Tigers to the title.
Two Hall of Famers, Coach Jim Smith and individual champion Jim White, led the Tigers to another state title in 1968.
The first girls state titles in school history came back to back under Coach Carol Campbell. Michelle Lewis and Andi Fike won individual singles titles, while sisters Ann and Susan Searl captured a doubles crown.
Hall of Fame Coach Howard Sheley led the Tigers to their first wrestling title. Brett Mackey and Dave Cushing finished as state runners-up, while Chad Nelson and Nitzel both won gold. The Tigers won one of the tightest Class A team races in state meet history.
The Hastings 14-7 upset of powerhouse Lincoln Southeast was the culmination of an amazing 12-0 season for the Tigers of Coach Walt Olsen. All-staters Bo Buettenback, Justin May, Larry Brown and Cori Dreher led a turn-around for the Tiger program which was 0-9 just two years earlier in 1991.
Coach Olson’s second state title team would overcome two regular season defeats to qualify for the playoffs again, this time in Class B. The Tigers dispatched Lincoln Pius X and Crete, before destroying McCook in the title game in Hastings, 56-16. Dreher would again be an all-stater along with linebackers Josh Kohl and Ben Buettenback, and lineman David Biede.
1999 Class B Boys Tennis State Champions
1999 Class B Boys Tennis State Champions
Singles state champ and Coach Roger Sunderman put the Tigers...
2006 Class B Boys Tennis State Champions
2006 Class B Boys Tennis State Champions
Coach Roger Sunderman led the Tigers their first state title of the new century. Yannic Thiel and Jeremy Jank won #1 Doubles.
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