Jul 5, 2025
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau From left to right, New Ulm twin brothers Kane Johnson and Regan Johnson pose for a photo at the Rolling Thunder Wrestling Facility in New Ulm. Both brothers will compete for Team Minnesota in freestyle action at the USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships on July 14 in Fargo, North Dakota.
FARGO, N.D. — Being able to compete in Fargo, North Dakota, is a young wrestler’s dream come true.
The elite competition that comes attached to Fargo is the USA Wrestling Junior and 16U National Championships, which will take place from July 10-19 this year in the Fargodome.
Young wrestlers from across the United States work towards this summer goal, but the road to get there doesn’t come without its bumps and challenges. For 16-year-old New Ulm twin brothers Regan and Kane Johnson, however, their journey and hard work has paid off as the two will represent Team Minnesota in freestyle competition in Fargo from July 14-16.
The brothers will be entering their junior year of wrestling for New Ulm Area this winter and currently wrestle in Wrestling Brotherhood’s freestyle and greco programs.
Kane Johnson qualified for the National Tournament at 138 pounds by placing in the top six wrestlers in his weight bracket at the 2025 Northern Plains Regional Championships in Rochester, Minnesota, which took place from May 9-11.
“It definitely means a lot, especially because Northern Plains is one of the way bigger tournaments, that’s the tournament you’re looking forward to the whole year,” Kane Johnson said. “If you’re freestyle and greco, you’re just competing to get to that tournament and wrestle in that tournament, and it’s a lot of different guys than just the Minnesota kids. So you get a lot of different feelings, too.”
Regan Johnson didn’t finish in the top six at Northern Plains, but he got a 120-pound spot on Team Minnesota regardless after Fargo Wrestleoffs in St. Cloud State University this past Saturday.
“It feels good, it’s a big tournament, going to be tough, but I’m glad I still get to go and wrestle there,” Regan Johnson said. “I didn’t qualify in Northern Plains, it’s that Wrestleoff, I lost in the [consolations] at Northern Plains, but four guys at the Wrestleoff get to go, and there’s four people at my spot, so I’m one of them.”
As far as getting on the mats in Fargo, the Johnsons agreed that conditioning will be crucial.
“Definitely conditioning,” Regan Johnson said. “Whoever’s the better conditioned can win a lot of the big matches there.”
Kane Johnson echoed his brothers’ thoughts but said cutting weight will be a key for him also.
“Conditioning, you have to get in good shape for that,” Kane Johnson said. “Also, a lot of guys are cutting [weight], so you kind of want to cut as well because most guys will really be way bigger than they actually weigh, they’ll be cutting a lot of weight, cutting stuff down.”
Kane Johnson said a week ago he was 150 pounds, giving him just 12 pounds to shed before Nationals.
“That’s not too bad of a cut,” he said. “During the season, those were way worse, but still sucking some weight.”
Regan Johnson, however, won’t be cutting much weight at all as he’s currently around 120 pounds.
“I’m not really cutting much, just staying around the same weight,” he said. “Not really feeling the cut. I might be feeling better that day than the guys cutting, we’ll see.”
Without cutting weight and training with his “big” brother Kane, Regan Johnson said knowing he will be up against bigger opponents in Fargo won’t bother him. On the contrary, he sees it as an advantage.
“It definitely helps, and I’m used to wrestling bigger people,” Regan Johnson said. “If I was wrestling someone smaller than me, I’d have to get the feel … and I already have the feel of someone bigger, so I think it definitely helps.”
Kane Johnson, who made the Minnesota State Individual Wrestling Tournament as a freshman and sophomore, said while the state tournament is challenging, Fargo is a whole new level of competition.
“I think you treat this as more than a state tournament,” he said. “This is the biggest tournament in the U.S. and just going to be a lot of tough guys there.”
As far as goals, Kane Johnson said he’d like to finish in Fargo as an All-American but will take it one match at a time.
“First of all, just go match for match,” he said. “Hopefully All-American, that’s my main goal in the end, but just match by match, one at a time.”
While Regan Johnson expects an entirely different challenge from what he’s faced before, he will be looking to go as far as he can in Fargo.
“It’s going to be really tough to make medals there, but it’s possible,” he said. “Just one match at a time and see how far we can go.”
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