Twenty-four teams qualified to experience the scene at the wrestling state meet in Xcel Energy Center. (David Joles, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The 24 teams that will take part in the wrestling state tournament were determined over the weekend.

Each section determined a team champion through the various section tournament dual brackets. Competition began Thursday in a few sections and ran though Saturday.

In Class 3A, defending champion St. Michael-Albertville proved it deserved the No. 1 ranking it enjoyed all season in the rankings by theguillotine.com, cruising through the Section 5 bracket. The Knights lost just five matches in section competition and gave up just one bonus point in the process. They posted five pins and two technical falls in a 46-15 victory over Wayzata in the finals.

Other Class 3A team champions and how they got there:

Rochester Mayo was a 37-20 victor over Faribault in the Section 1 finals.
Apple Valley will make the 38^th state tournament trip in program history after routing Farmington 44-18 in Section 2.
No. 3-ranked Hastings had its way with Park of Cottage Grove 50-20 in the Section 3 finals.
Stillwater bolted to a 23-3 lead and held off Mounds View 31-21 in Section 4.
No. 2 Waconia slipped past Eden Prairie 34-29 in Section 6.
Anoka, the No. 3 seed in Section 7, beat No. 2-seeded Andover 33-27 in the semifinals and got a match-clinching pin from Mason Brent at heavyweight in the final against top-seeded Forest Lake.
Willmar earned its ninth tournament trip in the past 11 years — and third in a row — with a 33-25 victory over Bemidji in Section 8. Junior heavyweight Daunte Castellano picked up a pin at 285 to secure the tight victory.

Class 2A: No. 1 Simley earned the opportunity to wrestle for its fifth consecutive state team title and 16^th overall with an overwhelming display in the Section 4 meet, shutting out two of its three opponents and allowing just three total team points in three duals. The Spartans beat St. Croix Lutheran 82-0, Mahtomedi 73-3 and South St. Paul 81-0 in the finals.

New Prague, ranked No. 2, survived what many thought to be the toughest path in 2A, winning Section 2. The Spartans defeated Mound-Westonka 58-19 in the quarterfinals, got five pins and a technical fall to build up enough points to hold off St. Peter 38-23 in the semifinals and rallied from a 14-6 deficit with six victories in seven matches en route to a 37-32 victory over No. 5 Watertown-Mayer in the finals.

Other state qualifiers in 2A are Kasson-Mantorville (Section 1), Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle/Montevideo (3), Totino-Grace, which scored more than 70 team points in all three matches to win in Section 5; Becker, which closed the match with three victories and 15 points to get past St. Francis 35-23 in the Section 6 finals; Mora in Section 7 and Pequot Lake/Pine River-Backus in Section 8.

Class 1A: Defending champion and No. 1-ranked Jackson County Central will get the opportunity to defend its title and its ranking after routing Adrian 67-6 in the Section 3 finals; Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted will make its first state tournament appearance after overwhelming Kimball 66-9 in the Section 4 finals.

Other who made the state tournament field in 1A are Caledonia/Houston, which swept the final four weights to get past Chatfield 28-24 in Section 1; Medford after Mason DeGrood's 7-6 victory at heavyweight gave it a 33-30 triumph over Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial in Section 2; third-seeded Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, which dumped No. 2 seed Canby 40-19 in the semifinals and got past top-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdoch-Sunberg 38-25 in the Section 5 finals; West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville in Section 6, Royalton/Upsala in Section 7 and United North Central, which got nine team points in its final two matches to get past No. 1 seed Frazee 31-24 in Section 8.

Section individual tournaments will be held this week to determine boys individual tournament entrants. The girls state tournament entrants were determined last weekend.

The wrestling state meet will take place March 2-4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.