The Apple Valley Eagles are looking to continue their Minnesota High School Wrestling Dominance. The number one seeded Eagles are looking for their 10th straight state title, which would be their 22nd title overall. They face stiff competition from the second seeded St Michael Albertville Knights and third seeded Willmar Cardinals are both hungry to bring a state title home.
The seeding was done by a blind vote by the participating coaches in which each team's highest, and lowest seeds were removed. After that, the teams were ranked based on remaining votes. The top five teams were seeded, and placed into the bracket, with the four and five seeds facing each other in the first round. The remaining three teams were randomly drawn to determine their first round opponents.
1 Apple Valley vs White Bear Lake
This is a familiar matchup for wrestling fans, as they have met two other times at state, with Apple Valley winning both matchups. This is only the fourth ever trip to state for the Bears, who qualified with a thrilling 32-27 victory over rival Woodbury in the section finals. The Eagles had an easier time in their section, as they defeated Eastview 52-24 to clinch a state tournament berth.
2 St Michael Albertville vs Centennial
The Centennial Cougars enter the state tournament fresh off of a section tournament where they were only moderately challenged in the final, beating Maple Grove 38-20. The Knights, meanwhile enter the state tournament fresh off of a 44-19 win over Waconia. If the Knights can live up to expectations in this match, they should easily advance to the state semifinals.
The Willmar Cardinals are the underdog pick to win the state tournament, if they can get past the Moorhead Spuds, who are looking to pull the early round upset. The Cardinals went 27-0 on the season, winning the section title easily with a 61-9 thrashing of Minnetonka in the finals. The Spuds, meanwhile had a closer section final, beating Bemidji 35-19 to clinch a state tournament berth.
4 Farmington vs 5 Prior Lake
This matchup is a rematch from the regular season, in which they wrestled twice. The first time, Prior Lake won 44-25, with Farmington winning the second one 39-27. Look for this match to be one that comes down to matchups at each weight, and probably won't be decided until very late in the match.
The State Team Tournament takes place on Thursday, February 26th beginning at 9 am. VAVEL USA will have complete coverage of Class AAA.