12 teams in each class to be seeded for wrestling state tournament

The 12 teams for the wrestling state tournament are set. Now comes the step of determining matchups.

Saturday was a big day in the MSHSL's adjusted wrestling state tournament schedule. After a week's worth of section playoffs, the top two teams in each section advanced to the state tournament preliminary round. Each preliminary round paired up two sections, which then wrestled down to a single team champion.

The 12 champions from each of the section prelims, four in each class, advance to the state tournament, which will run March 25-27 at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Qualifiers in Class 3A are two-time defending champion Shakopee, ranked No. 1 in the class, No. 2-ranked Stillwater, No. 5 St. Michael-Albertville and No. 9 Anoka.

In 2A, it will be No. 1-ranked Simley, which has won the past two state titles, No. 3 Fairmont/Martin County West, No. 4 Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield and No. 9 Princeton. Simley's 75-0 rout of South St. Paul in the prelim finals was the 600th victory of coach Will Short's career.

A new champion is assured in Class 1A after Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville, which had won championships in 2019 and 2020, lost in the prelims. The participants in 1A will be No. 4-ranked Kimball Area, No. 5 Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie, No. 8 Royalton/Upsala and No. 11 Jackson County Central.

Matchups will be set this week. The coaches of the qualifiers in each bracket will vote on seeding, which is expected to be finalized Tuesday.

The altered tournament will consist of one class of competition for each of the three days scheduled. Class 3A will be held on Thursday, March 25, Class 2A on March 26 and Class 1A on March 27.

Elsewhere last week:

• The Minneapolis North boys' basketball team will have to wait until next year for the chance to set the record for consecutive conference victories. The Polars tied the record of 60 in a row Friday with a 63-55 victory over Minneapolis Southwest. They hoped to set the record Saturday, but their regular-season finale at Minneapolis Edison was canceled.

• After winning their first 17 games of the season, South St. Paul lost at Mahtomedi 78-34 Friday. The result was expected. Packers coach Matthew McCollister rested the top seven players in lineup in preparation for the upcoming postseason. "Going undefeated was never a goal of ours," McCollister said. "We wanted to be conference champs, section champs and state champs."

The rationale? Making sure the team had no possible COVID issues that could prematurely end the best season South St. Paul has had since 1970. "My A.D. [Chad Sexauer] and I talked about it about a week beforehand," McCollister said. "If we won the conference and had a shot at being the No. 1 seed in the section, we'd do it. After we did that, we talked to our guys about it and they were all for it."

Were the Bulldogs disappointed? Sure. Demoralized? Not a chance.

Coach Dan Baird said his team was hoping to prepare for the playoffs by playing the best competition it could find. The Bulldogs lost the Class 3A final to DeLaSalle in 2019 and were set to play in the 3A finals last season before the state tournament was abruptly canceled.

"Wins and losses isn't everything during the regular season," Baird said after the Bulldogs' loss Friday to Hopkins.