Wrestling State Tournament 2025: Fun facts from Friday

St. Agnes did its best to make the Wrestling State Tournament a home meet.

Activities Director Mike Streitz estimated around 250 fans of the St. Paul school made the short trip to Xcel Energy Center to support a pair Class A state qualifiers, 107-pound ninth-grader Daniel Hunt and 215-pound senior Charlie Witzel. Even more were watching the NSPN.tv live stream from the school's auditorium.

“No matter what sport makes it to a state tournament, we get great fan support,” Streitz said.

It wasn't just all the red in the arena that made it feel like home. Those in attendance got a good look at the school’s brand-new red wrestling mat that features its rebranded bull logo, serving as Mat 2 for the tournament.

Hunt and Witzel both lost twice at the other end of the arena but received plenty of cheers.

Streitz wanted to bring wrestling to St. Agnes about a decade ago after seeing small-town schools the Aggies competed against in football field strong teams in both sports. He’s hopeful a breakthrough team qualification to the State Tournament is coming.

“For a small school, we don’t co-op, we don’t forfeit any positions,” Streitz said. “We have a really great wrestling room.”

By the numbers: Wrestling State Tournament Friday

3 – Three of the four Class A 121-pound semifinalists are former state champions. Top seed Miklo Hernandez of Pipestone Area was last year’s 114-pound winner, while No. 2 seed Gage Bjerga of Staples-Motley won at 107. Chatfield’s Javier Berg, the No. 3 seed, was the 2023 106-pound champ.

3 – Wrestlers who upset No. 2 seeds in the first round: Grant Bergeron of St. Michael-Albertville at 121 pounds in Class AAA, Shakopee heavyweight Max Coles in Class AAA and Class A 145-pound Deegan Birkaker of Ogilvie. All three were victorious in the quarterfinals as well. Caden Borgen of St. Francis also moved on out of a first-round matchup with a No. 2 seed via medical forfeit. He’s in the Class AAA semifinals at 139.

5 – First-round wins for Class AA’s Hutchinson/Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart, the most of any school without a loss. Logan Schwanz at 133 pounds, Raydon Bipes (152) and 160-pound Luke Hoag also won their quarterfinal matches.

6 – Class AA semifinalists who won state championships last season. Watertown-Mayer 127-pounder Titan Friedrichs is a two-time champ. Teammate Bryce Burkett (172) is looking for his second title, as are Christian Jelle of Grand Rapids (139), Kaden Nicolas of Becker (152), Cooper Rowe of Mound Westonka (160) and Chisago Lakes heavyweight Logan Bender.

7 – Semifinalists for St. Michael-Albertville, the Class AAA team champion that also produced the most individual qualifiers (12) of any school regardless of classification. Eight were in the quarterfinals.

7 – Former state champions in the Class AAA semifinals. Three-time gold medalist Landon Robideau of St. Michael-Albertville hasn’t lost a match since his ninth-grade season and is in the 160-pound semifinals this season. Teammate John Murphy (189 pounds) is also among the 2024 champs still alive, as are Prior Lake’s Liam Collins (107), Mounds View’s Brett Swenson (127) and Farmington’s Davis Parrow (145). Semifinalist Trey Beissel of Hastings was a 2023 champion, as was Lawson Eller of New Prague, then in Class AA.

7 – Former state champions in the 2025 Class A semifinals. Mille Lacs’ Zach Remer (133 pounds), Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's Trey Gunderson (139) and WEM/JWP’s Keegan Kuball are all aiming for their third title. Chatfield 152-pounder Carson Rowland is also a returning champ in the semis, as are three wrestlers in the 121-pound bracket mentioned above.

8 – Points Minnewaska Area’s Landon Schiffler scored in upsetting No. 1 seed Kyle Stangl of Pierz 8-6 in the Class AA 107-pound first round. Zumbrota-Mazeppa's Carl Murray topped Schiffler 15-3 in the quarterfinals.

20 – Time in seconds it took Peyton Hemmesch of Paynesville Area to deliver the fastest pin of the day in the Class A 189-pound first round.

30 – Seconds needed by Landon Thoennes of St. Michael-Albertville for a fall in his Class AAA 107-pound quarterfinal match to record the first win of the day. It didn’t take him much longer to advance to the semifinals, pinning his opponent in 1:06 to start the second session.

93 – Teams represented among the 156 semifinalists, including 32 in Class AA, 31 in Class AAA and 30 in Class A.

Up next: Wrestling State Tournament Saturday

Consolation quarterfinals and girls quarterfinals begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by semifinals, then consolation semifinals. 

The third-place and fifth-place matches begin at 4 p.m., followed by the championships and awards. 

NSPN.tv will live stream the action.