Girls state wrestling: Simley’s Charli Raymond stays atop an ever-improving field in Minnesota

posted in: All news | 0

Charli Raymond’s dominance of girls wrestling continued Saturday in St. Paul, as the Simley junior nabbed her fifth individual state title, along with the Spartans’ team titles she has contributed to along the way.

In the 118-pound title match, Raymond delivered a tech fall victory over Roseville senior Anica Barze, who had a phenomenal campaign that ended with only the lone defeat to Raymond.

“I knew going into the match that it was going to be a tough match,” Raymond said. “But as long as I stayed in my position, got to my ties, it wasn’t going to be close.”

That’s not overconfidence, it’s the reality for Raymond, who delivered an undefeated season and remains a step ahead of her in-state competition. That feat grows more impressive with each passing season.

Raymond won the first ever girls state championship five years ago. The sport has only grown since then, with paths to championships proving more treacherous than ever before.

Apple Valley’s Cassy Gonzales wrestles Luverne’s Cece Rock during the 155-pound match of the Class 3A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Gonzales won the match to take the state title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Cassandra Gonzales of Apple Valley won her fourth state title Saturday. The previous three came with relative ease.

But Gonzales had to fend off Luverne’s Cece Rock via sudden victory to win this year’s 155-pound title match. Rock knocked off Centennial’s Nora Akpan – a defending state champion in her own right – to hand Akpan her lone loss of the season in what proved to be a bracket of death.

Such things didn’t exist years ago, when only four wrestlers reached state in each weight class and many of them only had a few matches to their name. Now girls are logging 30 matches a season, constantly honing their skills and gaining strength – a prerequisite to merely keep pace with their contemporaries.

Stillwater’s Audrey Rogotzke, right, wrestles Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie’s Elora Wagner 148-pound match during the girls individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Rogotzke won her match to take the state title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Stillwater’s Audrey Rogotzke won her third state title Saturday to wrap up her high school career. It came in a 6-4 decision in the 148-pound division. Easy runs to titles are becoming a rarity in the sport.

Never was that more evident than in the 142-pound title match, where Eagan junior Taniah Borney upset St. Michael Albertville freshman Emma Antoni with a first-period pin. It was only the second loss of the season for Antoni, who cruised to a state title as an eighth-grader in 2025.

Borney, who entered the week ranked ninth in her weight division, was pinned twice in last year’s state tournament, and she suffered an ankle injury earlier this season in a match against Antoni that kept her off the mats for a month. She had a goal of winning state … next season.

Eagan’s Taniah Borney wrestles St. Michael-Albertville’s Emma Antoni during the 142-pound match of the girls individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Borney won the match to take the states title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

But when Antoni went for a first period takedown with her legs, she was caught off balance, and Borney threw her down to the mat and stuck her for the pin.

“It felt like a lucky moment in my opinion,” Borney said. “I used my own technique to catch a move that could’ve ended badly for me.”

Instead, it ended in glory.

“I was stunned. I don’t know, it was like a lot.  It didn’t feel real, and it’s still hard to believe right now. It’s a lot of emotions,” she said after the match. “When it happened, I was looking at everyone and it was a very emotional moment for me, but I’ve wanted it. I wanted it so bad, and that’s what gave me the drive to do it.”

Borney joked in a post-match streaming interview with Neighborhood Sports Network that she originally joined the sport “kind of as a joke” with her friends. But she quickly became good at it, fell in love with it.

Stories such as hers continue to pop up in the state as the pool of girls wrestling talent consistently grows wider and deeper. Which leaves only one path for those currently atop the sport to stay there.

“As the sport has grown, it’s definitely been like, ‘OK, I’ve got to work harder, I’ve got to keep it going. I can’t back off now,’ ” said Raymond, who will pursue title No. 6 next winter. “It’s still really fun.”

Related Articles


State wrestling: Hastings’ Trey Beissel left it all on the mat


High School Swimming: Every 2026 Minnesota boys state meet champion


High School Wrestling: Every 2026 Minnesota state tournament individual champion


State swim and dive: Mounds View’s Danny Bai wins stunning 50 free title


State swim and dive: St. Thomas Academy dominates en route to Class A repeat

Redness on Trump’s neck is caused by common skin cream, White House says

posted in: All news | 0

By SEUNG MIN KIM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday attributed a large red spot on President Donald Trump’s neck to a skin cream he is using, without elaborating on what condition it is treating.

The redness drew widespread attention Monday, when news photographers captured close-up images of the president’s neck during a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

“President Trump is using a very common cream on the right side of his neck, which is a preventative skin treatment, prescribed by the White House Doctor,” Sean Barbabella, the president’s doctor, said in a statement. “The President is using this treatment for one week, and the redness is expected to last for a few weeks.”

The White House did not immediately respond to follow-up questions, such as what the cream is, when Trump began the treatment and what condition it is supposed to prevent. Zoomed-in photos from at least as far back as an “angel families” event at the White House on Feb. 23, a day before his State of the Union address, show visible redness on the president’s neck.

The president’s medical report from his April 2025 physical noted that he was taking mometasone cream “as needed” for an unspecified skin condition.

Trump, 79, became the oldest president to have taken the oath of office when he was sworn in last January. In particular because of his advanced age, Trump’s health is closely scrutinized.

Barbabella said in December that Trump had MRI imaging on his heart and abdomen in October as part of preventive screening for men his age, with the results being “perfectly normal.” That October physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center found that Trump is in overall “exceptional health,” according to Barbabella.

Related Articles


Melania Trump will preside at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran


A Supreme Court case over whether marijuana users can own guns is creating unusual alliances


Trump expects his Fed pick and AI to deliver a replay of the ’90s boom. Economists have doubts


Where things stand after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran


Trump awards the Medal of Honor to 3 US Army service members in a White House ceremony

Judge nixes latest policy requiring 7 days’ notice for Congress members to visit ICE facilities

posted in: All news | 0

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed on Monday to temporarily suspend the latest version of a Trump administration policy that requires members of Congress to provide a week’s notice before they can visit immigration detention facilities.

Related Articles


Melania Trump will preside at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran


Trump’s Medicaid work mandates are meant to save money. But first states will have to spend millions


A Supreme Court case over whether marijuana users can own guns is creating unusual alliances


US and Israeli attacks on Iran put further strain on international law


Trump expects his Fed pick and AI to deliver a replay of the ’90s boom. Economists have doubts

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington ruled that a group of Democratic lawmakers is likely to succeed in showing that the seven-day notice requirement is illegal and exceeds the government’s statutory authority.

The judge said the Republican administration hasn’t cited any “concrete examples of safety issues posed by congressional visits without advanced notice.”

Thirteen House members sued to challenge the Jan. 8 policy issued by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Cobb had blocked a previous version of the policy in December. She ruled that it’s likely illegal for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to demand a week’s notice from members of Congress seeking to visit and observe conditions in ICE facilities.

“Plaintiffs are undoubtedly frustrated with Defendants’ repeated attempts to impose a notice requirement,” Cobb wrote. “But in taking further action, Defendants are required to abide by the terms of the Court’s order and act consistently with the legal principles announced in this opinion.”

However, Noem secretly reinstated another notice requirement one day after an ICE officer shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis. It was nearly identical to the version that Cobb blocked in December.

Three days after the deadly shooting, three Democratic members of Congress from Minnesota were stopped from visiting an ICE facility near Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security didn’t disclose the new version of the policy until after U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig initially were turned away from the facility, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys.

A law bars the government from using appropriated general funds to prevent members of Congress from entering DHS facilities for oversight purposes. Cobb found that it’s “highly likely” that President Donald Trump’s administration used restricted funds to promulgate and enforce the new policy.

Cobb was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Federal court rejects Trump administration attempt to slow tariff refund process

posted in: All news | 0

By PAUL WISEMAN and MAE ANDERSON, AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to slow the process of refunding billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs the Supreme Court struck down as illegal last month.

Related Articles


Melania Trump will preside at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran


A Supreme Court case over whether marijuana users can own guns is creating unusual alliances


Trump expects his Fed pick and AI to deliver a replay of the ’90s boom. Economists have doubts


Where things stand after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran


Trump awards the Medal of Honor to 3 US Army service members in a White House ceremony

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit started the next phase in the refund process by sending it to a lower court to sort out.

In a court filing Friday, Trump’s Justice Department had urged the Federal Circuit to proceed cautiously and hold off for 90 days. But the judges refused.

The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 20 that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on most countries in the world were illegal, clearing the way for the importers who paid them to seek refunds.

The government had collected more than $130 billion from the tariffs by mid-December, and could ultimately be on the hook for refunds worth $175 billion, according to calculations by the Penn Wharton Budget Model.

But the Supreme Court offered no guidance on refunds; its decision did not even mention them. Now the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York will decide how the complicated refund process should proceed.

“I would expect the Court of International Trade to quickly issue an order requesting a status update from the government on their plans with respect to refunds (or expedited briefing),” said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official. “I expect the court to take an aggressive posture, asking the government to justify how they intend to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

Siddartha Rao, a partner at law firm Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, said he has been getting a lot of calls from clients with questions.

“We are somewhat in uncharted territory,” he said.

The Trump administration has been reaching for new tariffs to replace the ones the Supreme Court struck down.

One question, he said, is how the government might actually pay for these refunds.

“Everyone is sort of cognizant of the fact that it’s not like there’s over a hundred billion dollars sitting in, you know, in a room somewhere to just cut checks,” Rao said. “So, you know, this is a Treasury problem, and it may very well be that the administration is reimposing tariffs for the reasons that it’s cited … it’s important for strategic trade agreements and for bargaining power and all of that. But it also might be that they need to raise revenue to pay out refunds.”

Mae Anderson reported from New York.

AP Writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this story.