Landon Robideau of St. Michael-Albertville builds on history at wrestling state championships

St. Michael-Albertville senior 160-pounder Landon Robideau has been the most dominant wrestler in the state all season, and now he’s a state champion again.

Robideau took a 21-6 victory over Kyler Walters of Shakopee for his fourth straight state championship Saturday at Xcel Energy Center, making his 2024-25 record 44-0.

Robideau becomes the 43rd wrestler in state meet history to win four state championships.

Robideau had etched his name it the record books before the tournament started. He had won a state-record 181 consecutive matches, a streak dating to the sixth match of his freshman year, before the tournament.

With seven victories in the tournament — three in the team competition, four individual — Robideau bumped his state record for consecutive victories to 188.

Younger brother Lincoln Robideau came through in overtime to defeat Hastings’ Trey Beissel 4-1 in the final at 133. It’s the first state title for Lincoln.

Charli Raymond took one more step toward history Saturday night.

With her new 124-pound state championship, the Simley sophomore became the first girls wrestler in the state to win four girls state titles — one for each year girls wrestling has been a sanctioned sport in Minnesota. Raymond is on track to become the first girls wrestler, and second wrestler ever, to win six state titles.

“It’s definitely in the back of my mind,” she said. “I know every year that I’ve got to keep working hard, because the goal is obviously to get those six state championships.”

But she’s also taking it one year at a time. She is the highest-ranked wrestler in the state in her weight class, but even champions and veterans — and she is both – still get state championship jitters.

“I’m not as nervous. You still get those nerves, but you know how to control it,” she said. “Every day before the state tournament, laying in bed, I visualize me getting my hand raised, and everyone in the crowd. It’s the simple things that make big improvements.”

The improvements are showing, specifically in the form of offensive prowess and a stronger mental game, she said. But the biggest ingredient in all of it is a love of the game.

“That really helps, just loving the sport and not taking it as if it’s a job every day,” she said. “I love wrestling. I love everything about it.”

New Prague senior Lawson Eller waited a year to get the chance to redeem himself after losing in the Class 3A 121-pound finals in 2024. He was the Class 3A 106-pound champion as a sophomore.

He tookl a 7-0 decision over Grant Bergeron of St. Michael-Albertville in the 121-pound finals Saturday.

After the match, the satisfaction was obvious

“ This was beyond important,” said Eller, who will compete at North Dakota State in college. “It was what I thought of every day when I woke up, every night before I went to bed. This is the night I’ve been thinking of for forever.”

2023 girls state champion. 2024 boys consolation state champion. And now — 2025 girls state champion.

Northfield senior Caley Graber has quite a résumé, one that included becoming the first girl in Minnesota history to win a match in the boys state bracket.

This year, she’s back with the girls, and she took her second title with very little resistance. Fifty seconds of resistance, to be specific, before Graber took down Rush City-Braham’s Isabelle Shockman with a fall.

It took a lot of work to get to that point.

“It’s all the things that people don’t see,” said Graber, who is ranked second nationally at her weight. “The hard practices, the late nights, the early mornings, all of that goes into this moment.”

She wrestled with both boys and girls throughout this year’s regular season, and as section tournaments started to roll around, she also had to wrestle with the decision of which state tournament she wanted to compete in. this year she landed with the girls.

“As I get heavier, the boys get tougher. It’s harder to compete with their strength,” she said. “And it’s a lot of fun for me to be at this tournament with all my girlfriends and the girls team.”

Bryce Burkett is part of a dominant threesome of wrestlers at Watertown-Mayer. Burkett, a senior 172-pounder, completed an undefeated season with an 11-3 victory over Tiegen Detloff of Perham for his second straight state championship.

Watertown-Mayer won the Class 2A team championship Thursday.

Burkett, who will join close friend Alex Braun of Woodbury at Oklahoma next year, credited his relationship with Royals twin dynamos Joel and Titan Friederichs for his success.

Like Burkett, the Friederichs brothers completed their evenings as undefeated Class 2A state champions, Joel at 121 and Titan at 127.

All three ended the season with 44-0 records

The weight difference is large, but Burkett said he never would have achieved two straight state titles without them

“They’re like my little brothers,” he said. “We are competing against each other in everything in life. We’re trying to be better than each other, in a friendly way.”

Burkett hopes his and the Friederichs' influence will last beyond this year.

“Watertown deserved a championship,” he said. “Us three boys leading the way, it means a lot because we’re trying to build up a dynasty that’ll last a lot longer than us. “

Titan Friederichs won his third state championship with a 17-1 tech fall victory over Raydon Graham of Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. Joel took home his first title with a 13-1 decision over Miles Wildman of Minnewaska.

Titan said after his match that he and his brother are pretty evenly matched in just about everything they do. With one exception.

“He won’t like this, but I think I’m a better golfer,” Titan said. “About 1-2 strokes better.”

Chisago Lakes senior heavyweight Logan Bender won his second straight Class 2A championship, beating Sam Winkels of Austin 5-1 in the finals.

After winning the title in 2024, Bender took his talent and his title on the road, wrestling in national tournaments across the country.

Reality stepped forward while Bender traveled. He won the state championship with his athleticism, but he was only 220 pounds when he did it.

“It was a world of difference,” he said. “There are a lot of big guys, a lot of good guys, out there. Kind of got my butt kicked a little bit.”

Bender decided that if he wanted to stay on top, he needed to get bigger and stronger. “It only made me hungrier,” he said.

“I lifted hard, ate a lot, put on some muscle and got even faster, too,” said Bender, who now weighs around 240 pounds.

He will wrestle at Northern Illinois next year.

A month ago, Becker senior Kaden Nicolas thought Saturday night, when he won his second Class 2A state title with a 12-8 victory over Raydon Bipes of Hutchinson at 152 pounds, might never happen

Nicolas felt something pop in his left knee during a routine workout. He thought the worst.

“I thought it might be an ACL,” he recalled.

Actually, he had torn his PCL — the posterior cruciate ligament, the strongest in the leg.

Nicolas was out for two weeks. The Becker coaches worked with Nicolas every day to get him healthy for the state meet.

“Honestly, God healed me. It’s an 8-to-12-week injury,” said Nicolas, who had a large black brace on his left knee. “I shouldn’t have been able to come back, but I had amazing coaches working with me.”

Nicolas said adrenaline helped him with the pain during matches, and he expected to hurt fiercely by the time he got home.

“But it was worth it,” he said. “I’ll have a lot of time to rest.”