Winkels’ way: Austin senior is focused on what he can control headed into state meet
Published 6:49 pm Monday, February 24, 2025
Austin senior Sam Winkels will compete at the state wrestling meet this weekend. File photo
Austin’s Sam Winkels competes at the state wrestling meet in Xcel Energy Center last year. Photo by Laura Murtaugh
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Austin senior Sam Winkels has checked off a lot of goals in his time with the Packer wrestling program, but this weekend he’ll be trying to check the final box.
Winkels is headed back to the Class AA state wrestling meet for the third time and he’s made up his mind that he’s going to do things his way, a year after he finished fourth place at state.
“I’d say my nerves are less than usual. In sections I decided I was just going to go out there and do it my way,” Winkels said. “I was going to go out there have fun and score a lot of points. If I wrestle like I know I can wrestle, nobody can beat me.”
Winkels enters the state tournament with a record of 44-2 overall at 285-pounds and he will open up competition against senior Preston Hinrichs of MAHACA, who is 24-6 overall, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Friday.
On the other side of the bracket is Chisago Lake senior Logan Bender, who is the only unbeaten wrestler at 285 with a record of 28-0 overall. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton senior Roy Rude is also a contender with a record of 37-1 overall.
Winkels is familiar with many of the wrestlers in the field, but he’s not going to overthink his approach.
“I had a tough loss a few weeks ago and I had to talk to my coaches about it. They kind of said that we’ve got to fix this mental thing. We’ve done that and I’ve been wrestling more free,” Winkels said. “I’m not going to be laser focused on one guy. I’m going to be focused on me and what I need to do.”
Winkels has had a big impact on the Packer wrestling program and he’s leaving things better than where he found them. He said he sees potential in a lot of the young Austin wrestlers and he knows it will be hard to say goodbye when he heads off to wrestle at St. Cloud State University next year.
“It took me a little bit to leave the Civic Center (on Saturday) because that was my last time there. This will be hard too, but I’m going to focus on chasing my goals and trying to win a state title,” Winkels said.
The Class AA individual meet will open up competition at 9 a.m. Friday, with the finals taking place at 4 p.m. Saturday.
