The second day of the high school wrestling state tournament produced state champions in classes 3A, 2A and 1A. The individual wrestling bracket for boys and girls started Thursday morning, with wrestlers looking to advance to Saturday’s individual state championship round.

Catch up on what happened on Wednesday here.

Here are the final scores for the team state championships:

Class 3A: St. Michael-Albertville 46, Shakopee 18

Class 2A: Simley 38, New Ulm 13

Class 1A: Staples-Motley 41, Chatfield 14

Team champs crowned

St. Michael-Albertville, Simley and Staples-Motley are the 2026 state wrestling team champions in classes 3A, 2A and 1A. Read more here.

Simley wins Class 2A; Staples-Motley leads 1A

Staples-Motley leads the Class 1A final 35-14 with one match still going.

Simley has clinched the Class 2A title, leading New Ulm 32-13 with one match still going.

STMA wins Class 3A; Simley increases lead in 2A

St. Michael-Albertville has clinched the Class 3A crown, leading Shakopee 40-13 with two matches remaining. The Knights win their third straight state title.

Simley is slowly pulling away from New Ulm in 2A, leading 24-8 as the match at 160 pounds commences.

Staples-Motley ties things up

Staples-Motley tied up the Class 1A final 11-11 on a tech fall by Gage Bjerga at 139 pounds.

STMA, Simley, Chatfield maintain leads

St. Michael-Albertville leads Shakopee 26-0 in Class 3A. There was the thought that Shakopee could pull off the upset. Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

In Class 2A, Simley bumped its lead over New Ulm to 12-3 with a late takedown that shocked the New Ulm faithful.

In Class 1A, Chatfield leads Staples-Motley 7-3 and could add to the lead with Logan Pearson leading 4-0 at 127.

Chatfield leads Staples-Motley in 1A

Some things just make you scratch your chin in bewilderment and ask, “Why?” Both teams in the Class 1A finals are clad in white singlets, making it difficult to differentiate between teams. It seems like that could have been easily remedied. Chatfield leads defending champion Staples-Motley 4-3. Still early.

Team championship matches start early

The MSHSL has started the team championship matches earlier than the announced 7 p.m. start time.

The fans of New Ulm, which is making just its second trip to the state tournament and first since 1999, are already in full voice. They’ve been very supportive of their team throughout the team tournament. The undefeated Eagles (26-0) are battling longtime power Simley in the Class 2A finals.

Through three weights, St. Michael-Albertville leads Shakopee 16-0 in the Class 3A finals.

Undefeated defending champions advance to Friday’s second round

Two undefeated defending state champions advanced to Friday’s Class 1A individual second round. Pipestone sophomore and 133-pound wrestler Miklo Hernandez won by a 20-5 tech fall over Christian Peichel of Frazee to improve to 36-0 while Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg senior and 145-pounder Trey Gunderson pinned Grant Daniels of Fillmore Central/Lanesboro/Mabel-Canton at 1 minute, 41 seconds, raising his record this season to 30-0.

Break before championship matches

There’s a short break in the tournament so officials can prepare the mats for the consolation finals and third-place matches in Class 3A, 2A and 1A scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

The team championships in all three classes are scheduled for 7 p.m.

I’ll deliver more updates just before the championships begin.

Rogotzke, Gonzales advance

Two defending girls champions moved into the next round after both racked up pins mere seconds apart.

Stillwater 148-pounder Audrey Rogotzke pinned Emma Helgeson of Park Center in 1 minute, 53 seconds. Soon after, Apple Valley’s Cassy Gonzales defeated Chatfield’s Kendyl Nolte three minutes into the match at 155 pounds.

It was a day of wins and losses for the Rock sisters of Luverne. Senior Bernie Rock won at 118 pounds while junior CeCe won by fall at 155 pounds. Freshman sister Ellie, however, lost at 112 pounds.

Junior Sarah Pulk of Badger-Greenbush-Middle River remained on track for a shot at her fifth state championship with a 41-second pin of Sophia Graham of Farmington in the 190-pound division.

Moving as expected in individual 2A rounds

There were no upsets in the first round of the boys 2A bracket. Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran twin brothers, Joel and Titan Friederichs, won handily to move on. Joel wrestles at 121 pounds, Titan at 127.

Both University of Minnesota-bound wrestlers are undefeated and riding long winning streaks. Joel hasn’t lost since 2024 and Titan hasn’t lost since 2023.

Future Gopher and 160-pounder Cooper Rowe of Westonka advanced with a 19-4 technical fall over Kameron Sather of Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle Valley. … Minneapolis North senior Johan Alcantara Lund improved to 42-1 with a 20-4 tech fall victory over Carson Zeise of Perham. Alcantara Lund is also a national judo champion.

Girls bracket

Simley junior Charli Raymond improved to 24-0 by pinning Sophie Johnson of United North Central at 1:16 of the first period.

Northfield’s Caley Graber also advanced, beating Morgan Mielke of St. Michael-Albertville with a 16-1 first period tech fall.

Despite participation growth, challenges exist to implement a girls wrestling team tournament

The growth of girls wrestling in Minnesota, and across the nation, has been perhaps the biggest story in high school wrestling.

Minnesota’s high school wrestling state tournament, a big draw for amateur wrestling aficionados, expanded this year to four days rather than its traditional three-day format to accommodate the growing numbers of girls wrestlers.

The next logical step for the girls is a team competition. As it is, the girls state meet is strictly for individuals.

The interest is clearly there, but it will be at least two years before an MSHSL girls team tournament becomes a reality.

While the league has expressed its willingness to move girls team wrestling forward, it identified stumbling blocks that need to be rectified before a girls team tournament can become a sanctioned reality.

A girls-only high school wrestling tournament at Hopkins last December, which attracted nearly 700 girls wrestlers, illustrated the rapid growth of girls wrestling in Minnesota.

Charli Raymond going for fifth state title

Raymond is looking for her fifth individual state tournament title this week. Wrestling at 118 pounds, she’s on pace to become one of the most successful wrestlers in state history.

Raymond, who is 23-0 this season, starts the individual girls bracket Thursday against Sophie Johnson of United North Central Warriors.

Class 3A individual round of 16

A pair of ranked wrestlers squared off at 121 pounds, with junior Wyatt Koenen of Wayzata defeating No. 6 ranked Ian Lessard of Elk River, 7-1. … In one of the biggest upsets of the opening round, unranked Indiana Kane of White Bear Lake beat No. 3 ranked Saitaro Kong of Apple Valley 10-6, also at 121 pounds. … University of Minnesota commit Trey Beissel of Hastings moved on to the second round with an 11-4 victory over Noah Wegner of Shakopee at 133 pounds. … Grayson Eggum, sophomore son of Gophers coach Brandon Eggum, advanced at the stacked 160-pound weight class with a second-period pin of Mark Svoboda of Hastings.

Also advancing at 160 pounds were wrestlers seeded No. 2-8: Jackson Barron of Shakopee, Cavin Carlson of Willmar, Caden Staab of Northfield, Dalton Humeniuk of Moorhead, Riley Forar of Lakeville North, Dayton Dale of Forest Lake and Pierce Lewis of Eastview.

A pair of undefeated, defending state champs at 189 pounds — Moorhead’s Willam Ward and St. Michael-Albertville’s John Murphy — moved a step closer to a possible finals showdown, winning by fall.

— Jim Paulsen