Two years ago, the Eagles finished 25-6 and made it to the Section 3AA final four. The 25 wins was also a program high.

Last year, the Eagles were the Section 3AA runner-up to Marshall and finished 23-6.

Before Feb. 14 of this year, the 98-99 team was the only New Ulm team to qualify for the state wrestling tournament. But on Feb. 14 at Fairmont High School, this season’s team took down Marshall in the section finals to bring the Eagles back to the state team wrestling tournament.

NUA head coach Kevin Briggs said he believed this year’s team had great potential to get the Eagles back to state as a team due to the potential and success he saw years ago in the youth program.

File photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Area’s Ellie Dake, right, wrestles a girls match prior to the Eagles’ home dual against Scott West on Dec. 11, 2025, at New Ulm High School. Dake will compete in the girls state tournament beginning Thursday.

“First and foremost, observing the foundation that was built in the youth program and seeing the potential, seeing the successes they had in the youth program,” coach Briggs said. “Secondly, you don’t ever say, ‘I think we’re going to go to state,’ you think that you’re going to have a good opportunity, and I thought the kids, with the opportunity they had this year, went out and proved that they were the best team in the section.”

The undefeated 24-0 Eagles begin their time at the Class AA State Team Wrestling Tournament on Wednesday at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. The first round, semifinals and consolation semifinals all take place Wednesday, beginning with the opening round at 4 p.m. Consolation semifinals begin at 6 p.m., while the semifinals begin at 8 p.m.

The championship, third-place and fifth-place duals conclude the team portion of the tournament Thursday.

NUA is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and takes on random draw Totino-Grace in a first-round matchup Wednesday.

“What I know about Totino-Grace is they’re perennially in state tournaments,” coach Briggs said. “They’ve had exceptional individuals for as long as I can remember and we wrestled a few of them earlier this year at the Foley invitational, the Tom Keating Invitational. Won some of them, lost some of them. The committee thought that Section 3 was a little tougher than Section 5, why we’re seeded over them.”

Briggs said that getting the No. 2 seed was about what he expected with how the season’s gone and the fact that there were three ranked teams in Section 1AA by The Guillotine with Simley, Kasson-Mantorville and Zumbrota-Mazeppa.

Simley, the No. 1 ranked team, ended up winning the Section 1AA title. NUA has been ranked all season, but never higher than fourth, which doesn’t bother coach Briggs.

“I was expecting the [No.] 2 seed [at state],” coach Briggs said. “The rankings are rankings, they’re fun, but they really don’t mean anything. And ultimately, mathematically, a lot of the teams that have been ranked high all year, which are really good teams, can’t make state tournament because of their section alignments, so that’s where the rankings don’t necessarily make sense sometimes.

“For example, in Section 1, there were three teams ranked in the top five, obviously one of those got to go, so by default, you move up in the rankings a little bit or the seed.”

Coach Briggs said that he didn’t request any tape on Totino-Grace because he has been choosing to focus on prior results, matchups and common opponents.

“The way I research is to look at matchups and I study the outcomes of the dual matchups,” coach Briggs said. “I see this kid beat that kid and we have a similar common opponent. Or, I think that kid, if he beat that kid, then I want this matchup, for example. That’s how I study and how I have been successful. There’s lots of ways to do it, but that’s kind of how I go about. I want this kid on, if we get the flip, I want this to happen, things like that.”

Ahead of this year’s state tournament, coach Briggs said he told his wrestlers to keep the same mindset they’ve had all season.

“My message to the team is to keep doing what we’re doing,” coach Briggs said. “That’s what got us here. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low, but we need to reset, find another goal, find another milestone to reach. We’ve set some team goals in a team meeting, and we talk about that all the time that we can’t get complacent ever.

“It’s nice to celebrate where we’ve been, but we’ve got to keep moving forward and I think the team has rallied around that all year.”

The 98-99 New Ulm team ended up finishing fifth at the state tournament, and this year’s team will look to stay undefeated and take home a state championship with three more wins.

INDIVIDUAL STATE QUALIFIERS

NUA will also have six boys and one girl compete in the Class AA State Individual Wrestling Tournament this year. Regan Johnson (114), Alex Portner (127), Kane Johnson (133), Elijah Rieser (139), Candon Briggs (172) and Lane Ruch (189) also recently qualified for the state individuals. Portner, Rieser, Briggs and Ruch all qualified after capturing section titles at the Section 3AA individual tournament in Hutchinson over the weekend, while Regan Johnson and Kane Johnson finished section in the tournament to qualify.

Regan Johnson (37-8) will wrestle Owen Parish (42-1) of Cannon Falls in the first round, while Portner (35-8) will first take on Lucas Leisering (16-16) of South Saint Paul. Kane Johnson (39-6) will wrestle Alexandria Area’s Nolan Fettig (38-5) in the first round, while Rieser (37-9) first takes on Pierz’s Carter Young (44-6). Candon Briggs (35-12) will first wrestle Simley’s Amilio Salas (40-5), while Ruch (33-6) opens his time in the individual tournament against Kasson-Mantorville’s Parker Richards (31-8).

NUA’s Ellie Dake brings her undefeated 21-0 record into the girls portion of the state individual tournament and will take on Westonka’s Delaney Parker (25-11) in a first-round match.

Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial will see Ryder Antony (121) and Mason Adams (285) represent Section 3AA in the state individual wrestling tourney this year. Antony (36-8) will first take on Kasson-Mantorville’s Kaden Lindquist (34-11), while Adams (44-1) will first wrestle Totino-Grace’s Fua Taumalolo (22-10).

Qualifying for the Class A individual state tourney from Section 3A was Wabasso’s Mason Kampsen (215), who brings his 28-9 record into a first-round match with the 41-7 Drake Payne of Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Southland.

Sibley East had three boys qualify from Section 4A in Julio Alejandro (133), Tanner Johnson (139) and Gianny Lopez (172). Alejandro (19-3) opens the individual against Blue Earth Area’s Timmy Nagel (33-9), while Tanner Johnson (31-15) wrestles Pelican Rapids’ Jackson Peasley (17-3) and Lopez (18-26) takes on Holdingford’s Simon Boeckman (34-2).

The individual portion of the tournament begins at 9 a.m. Thursday with the Class AAA individual round of 16 opening things up, followed by Class AA, Class A and girls. On Friday, the Class AAA individual quarterfinals and wrestlebacks begin at 9 a.m., followed by Class AA individual quarterfinals and wrestlebacks, Class A individual quarterfinals and wrestlebacks and girls individual quarterfinals and wrestlebacks. At 4 p.m. Friday, the second round of wrestlebacks and individual semifinals begin for Class AAA, followed by Class AA, Class A and girls.

On Saturday, all classes will have their third round of wrestlebacks and the girls consolation semifinals beginning at 9 a.m. until noon. All third- and fifth-place matches will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, with all individual championship matches concluding around 5 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 a.m. each day.