File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Area’s Kane Johnson ties up with Scott West’s Cam Tousignant during a Dec. 11, 2025, prep wrestling dual at New Ulm High School.

NEW ULM — There’s still a lot of wrestling left in the season, but the start of the 2025-26 campaign for New Ulm Area has been one worth bragging about.

Fresh off a team points victory at the Big South Conference Tournament in Marshall, the Eagles’ BSC tournament championship was the third tournament they have won this season.

The Eagles first won the Don Hall Invitational for the first time in the program’s 15 years of competing in it on Dec. 6, 2025, and then won the Tom Keating Invitational on Jan. 3, 2026. This past weekend, the Eagles made it three tourney wins on the season at Southwest Minnesota State University.

NUA head coach Kevin Briggs is proud of his team’s start, but he is more interested in keeping the Eagles focused on what’s next instead of what’s happened.

“We still have over 20 duals left on the season,” he said. “We’re halfway through the year, but as far as team duals go we kind of pick up now. We’re 8-0, we’re a tough opponent for anybody, but we’re still looking to get better. We face a quality team in St. Peter on Thursday and that’s a tough battle for us.”

This past weekend, Alex Portner claimed a Big South Conference individual championship at 127 pounds, defeating Pipestone’s Mason Fruechte by a 13-4 major decision in the title match. Portner cracked the top 10 at 127 pounds in last week’s rankings by The Guillotine in Class AA, taking the No. 9 spot, and he’s now 19-7.

“He started off a little slow at 133 but now he’s at a lower weight class and Alex is doing better at this weight class,” coach Briggs said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of who you line up against. Our schedule is not easy and it seemed every time Alex to the mat, he was going up against another quality opponent, state-ranked opponent or state-qualifying opponent. Those early-season losses fueled him and he’s mentally in the right spot now that he’s down at 127.”

Ellie Dake was another conference champ on the girls side of the tournament, winning the crown at 155 with a 17-1 tech fall over St. James/Madelia’s Nevada Anderson. Dake, who has also wrestled at 170 this season, is now 13-0 and hungry to get back to the state tournament in her final year with the Eagles.

“Two years ago when she didn’t make the state tournament, two girls that beat her at sections finished 1 and 2 in the state,” coach Briggs said. “So it was a matter of being in the wrong region to qualify for state. Last year was more of just not being healthy. She came into the season injured from soccer and just didn’t get the time on the mat to be successful last year. This year she came in in a much better spot, better place mentally, physically and the results are shown on the mat.”

Karli Horner is another NUA girls wrestler with a strong finish at the conference tournament as she took second in her 130-pound bracket after defeating Redwood Valley’s Claire Stephens by a 10-3 decision. She is now 15-9 on the season.

“Karli is a second-year wrestler but she put in an awful lot of work in the offseason, so it’s not really a surprise she’s having some success,” coach Briggs said. “She’s strong and she’s getting better every time she takes the mat and earned herself an All-Conference finish.”

The Eagles are currently ranked sixth in Class AA, behind No. 1 Simley. No. 2 Kasson-Mantorville, No. 3 Grand Rapids, No. 4 New Prague and No. 5 Watertown-Mayer. Getting into the top 12 Guillotine rankings and staying there has been a slow grind for NUA, starting with a strong ninth-grade league team from years ago.

“We’re starting to be a veteran team,” coach Briggs said. “We’re not putting too many eighth- and ninth-graders on the mats. The ones that we are are excellent wrestlers and so when you can put veteran wrestlers, there’s something to be said about seniors knowing that it’s their last chance. That’s one of the things that’s helping us right now.

“Every kid we put on the mat has so much experience, starting in the ninth-grade league and now has transitioned into the varsity starters. Some of these kids have been starters for us going on five years, some seniors are five years, some juniors are four years already, so we have experience on the mat and they’re battle-tested. They’ve kind of been there, done that and they know what it takes.”

Currently ranked individually for NUA, Regan Johnson is eighth at 114 pounds and is 17-5 on the year, while Portner is ninth at 127 and Kane Johnson is ranked eighth at 133 with a 19-4 record. Emerson Johnson is ranked sixth at heavyweight and is 10-6 this season.

Several other NUA wrestlers are above .500 on the season despite not being ranked currently, posing a threat to opponents each match. The seniors have been the biggest help for NUA while being unranked as 145er Elijah Rieser is 16-9, 160-pounder Braxton Kiecker is 17-8 and 172-pounder Candon Briggs is 18-7.

Eighth-grade 114-pounder Chael Johnson is 12-6 on the season for NUA also, while junior Lane Ruch, who has wrestled at 189 and 215 both this season, is 18-5. Eighth-grader Cohen Kiecker is also 7-3 on the year at 121.

Coming up on Jan. 31, the Eagles will be tested in a tournament that will also feature Perham, which is ranked 10th in the state in Class AA. Staples-Motley, the No. 1-ranked Class A team in the state, and Holdingford, which is ranked fourth in the state at Class A will also be at the tournament.

Regardless of who the Eagles wrestle, coach Briggs said the Eagles have done a good job of staying composed and focusing on themselves.

“I think the part that we’re doing well is not really worrying about our competition or worrying about the rankings,” he said. “We’re worried about getting better at practice each day and seeing how much we can improve now and at the end of the season. We still have a tough road ahead, we face St. Peter and Marshall specifically in the conference. Outside the conference we go up against three state-ranked teams at a team tournament coming up at the end of January.

“So it’s about wrestling tough competition to either win and prove to yourself you can do it or learn what needs to be addressed to do it later in the season. So far we’re having success, but we’re not done yet. We still got a long road ahead to keep getting better.”

NUA is at St. Peter for a 7 p.m. dual Thursday and travels to Arlington for a quad at Sibley East High School on Friday.