Saint John's wrestling competes at the NCAA Regional this Friday (11 a.m.) and Saturday (11 a.m.), Feb. 28-March 1, at Augsburg's Si Melby Hall in Minneapolis. - Live Results | Regional Website

THE SCHEDULE: Friday's competition begins at 11 a.m. goes through the championship quarterfinals and consolation quarterfinals. The regional resumes at 11 a.m. Saturday and will award first-through-sixth at each weight class.

HOW TO GET TO NATIONALS: The top-three finishers in each of the regional's 10 weight classes advance to the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held March 14-15 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's totaled four bonus-point wins in a 34-9 dual victory at Minnesota West C.T.C. the last time it competed on Feb. 12 in Worthington.

Freshman Thomas Holmquist (Mendota Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy) started the dual with a 19-2 technical fall at 125 pounds to improve his season record to 12-6 and sophomore Connor Krueger (Superior, Wis.) picked up a forfeit win at 133. 

Both teams forfeited the match at 141 pounds and the Bluejays earned a narrow, 3-2 win at 149 before sophomore Kris Castro (Simi Valley, Calif./Chaminade) gave SJU a 17-3 lead with another forfeit at 157.

Senior Logan Thorsten (Foley, Minn.) moved his season mark to 8-2 with a second-period pin at 165 pounds and Minnesota West cut its deficit to 23-9 with a pair of decisions at 174 and 184.

Senior D.J. Myles (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park) posted a 15-0 technical fall at 197 pounds and sophomore Aidan Wayne (Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo) ended the dual in good measure with a first-period fall – his team-leading 20th win of the season (20-5 record) and 12th pin – at heavyweight.

WHO WILL BE THERE: In addition to SJU and the host Auggies, the NCAA Region VII's 16-team field consists of Augustana (Ill.), Aurora (Ill.), Carthage (Wis.), Concordia-Moorhead, Concordia (Wis.), Lakeland (Wis.), Linfield (Ore.), the Milwaukee School of Engineering (Wis.), Pacific (Ore.), No. 18 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Wisconsin-Platteville and Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

FOR THE JOHNNIES: The Johnnies are scheduled to send these nine wrestlers to this weekend's NCAA Regional:

125: Freshman Thomas Holmquist (12-6)
133: Sophomore Connor Krueger (5-4)
141: Freshman Jose De Los Santos (4-11)
157: Sophomore Kris Castro (17-12)
165: Senior Logan Thorsten (8-2)
174: Freshman Laiken Copeman (10-13)
184: Junior Zachariah Hunter (8-5)
197: Senior D.J. Myles (7-6)
285: Sophomore Aidan Wayne (20-5)

LAST YEAR: Two SJU freshmen – Krueger and Owen Herbst – finished eighth at last year's NCAA Upper Midwest Regional on March 2 (2024) at Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Krueger started his day at 141 pounds with a 6-0 loss to Cale Coppess of Wheaton (Ill.) and suffered a narrow 9-8 decision to Troy Mock of Elmhurst (Ill.) for eighth place out of 19 wrestlers. Down 8-5, Mock chose down to start the third period, where he earned an escape and scored the game-winning takedown with 43 seconds left. Krueger ended his freshman season with a 22-11 record.

Herbst suffered a pin (5:45) to Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Carson Trotzer at 174 pounds and medically forfeited to the University of Chicago's Tyler Joseph in the seventh-place bout to end the season with an 11-4 record.