Ridgewater Students Excel in SkillsUSA Contests
April 18, 2025
HUTCHINSON and WILLMAR, MN – Ridgewater College students from three technical programs recently competed and excelled at the annual Minnesota SkillsUSA competitions in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. Seven Welding students from both Willmar and Hutchinson campuses qualified for nationals in Atlanta in June: two individual champions and two team champions. In addition, Auto Body Collision has a qualifying champion as well.
This annual state championship event highlighted the talents of Minnesota’s top Career and Technical Education (CTE) students. More than 550 students from 25 schools competed in 57 trade, technical, and leadership contests in hands-on, real-world environments thanks to partnering industry professionals.
Ridgewater individual Welding state champions included Aydyn Zabel (Waconia) in the general welding skills competition, and Bradee Dwinell (Waconia) for his welded wildlife sculpture.
Ridgewater’s Steven Wagner (Alexandria) earned champion honors in the Auto Body Collision category in the High School (PSEO) division.
First-place college-level fabrication team members included Katheryne Noll (Norwood Young America), Justin Deinken (Morton) and Dwinell.
First-place high school division fabrication team members included Braxton Londerville (Cokato), Benny Blessing (Norwood Young America) and Phillip Ahlgren (Darwin).
“It’s a very proud moment for the Ridgewater Welding instructors as they nearly sweep the podium in three different categories,” said Jason Eastling, one of Ridgewater’s Welding instructors. “It shows that hard work and dedication pay off in the end.”
“The Fabrication Teams had very tough competition compared to years past, but worked very well together, finished with ample time to spare and had the best projects,” said John Travis, Ridgewater Welding instructor. The judges agreed. The project for 2025 was to create a welding table.
Auto Body Collision instructor Kelly Rue was not surprised by Wagner’s success at SkillsUSA. “He is always pushing himself and always willing to take the next step.”
Additional Top 3 Medal Winners by Program
Welding:
College Individual Welders: 2 Jackson Owens (Spicer) 3, Joseph Kotila (Litchfield)
High School (PSEO) Individual Welders: 3, Hudson Nelson (Buffalo Lake)
Auto Body Collision Repair:
Refinishing – College Division: 2 Peyton Smith (Montevideo)
Refinishing – High School (PSEO): 2 Wagner
Automotive Service Technology:
College Division: 2 Max Kenney (Buffalo Lake), 3 JT Karels (Howard Lake)
High School (PSEO): 2 Dawson Blair (Starbuck)
To learn more about the Ridgewater Welding program, go to www.ridgewater.edu/welding. To learn more about Ridgewater automotive careers, go to www.ridgwater.edu/automotive-technology.
