Minnesota Championship 2025

Inside the spacious hall of the Mayo Civic Center, the rhythmic click and snap of plastic layers turning at top speed set the tempo for an intense weekend of puzzle solving. Competitors gathered in Rochester, Minnesota, USA on November 29 and November 30 for the Minnesota Championship 2025, transforming the arena into a hive of focus and calculated execution. Across two full days, 101 entrants stepped up to the timing stations, navigating 27 rounds spanning 12 official events in a classic Midwestern cubing competition.

The premier 3x3x3 Cube event drew a massive field of 95 competitors across three rounds of play. When the final round concluded, Mihir Narayan took the championship title with a winning average of 6.99 seconds, underscored by a best single solve of 5.84 seconds. Enthusiasts tracking the 3x3 results witnessed standard Rubik's Cube solving pushed below the seven-second barrier in a showcase of calm efficiency under competitive pressure.

Big cubes proved to be the personal domain of Nathan Phillips, who put together an extraordinary performance across the higher-order puzzles. Phillips claimed the 5x5x5 Cube title with a 49.28-second average, barely holding off runner-up Kaius Young at 49.63 seconds while Mihir Narayan took third in 51.87 seconds. Phillips also dominated the 6x6x6 Cube with a winning average of 1:33.78 ahead of Young and Walker Welch, before adding the 7x7x7 Cube title in 2:09.86, finishing in front of Tyler Johnson and Welch.

Short-format puzzles delivered rapid turnarounds and razor-thin margins. Carter Kucala captured first place in the 2x2x2 Cube with an average of 1.82 seconds, edging Nathan Rahn who finished second in 1.89 seconds, while Andy Wong placed third in 2.99 seconds. Kucala repeated his success in Skewb, taking top honors with an average of 2.26 seconds over Rahn at 2.87 seconds and Tyler Johnson at 3.51 seconds. In Pyraminx, Leland Pak secured victory with an average of 2.94 seconds, leading Kucala at 3.16 seconds and Rahn at 3.46 seconds.

The side events at this WCA competition maintained the same relentless pace. Ivan ThanhDanh Duong topped the Clock podium with a rapid 2.66-second average, besting Rahn at 4.33 seconds and Young at 5.57 seconds. In 3x3x3 One-Handed, Andy Wong held on for victory with an average of 12.79 seconds, finishing just one hundredth of a second ahead of Kucala at 12.80 seconds, as Phillips took third in 13.38 seconds. Nathan Rahn also earned a win in Square-1 with a 6.98 average, Kaius Young claimed the 4x4x4 Cube in 26.76 seconds, and Tyler Robinson won Megaminx with a 40.36 average.

Beyond the podium battles, several participants marked breakthrough moments across the weekend. Patrick Flanagan entered 5 events and posted a massive 54.5 percent improvement in Pyraminx with a personal best of 6.72 seconds, alongside his first ever tournament attempts in Megaminx at 4:09.57 and 4x4x4 Cube at 1:38.85. Arie Lommen completed a grueling 12-event program, earning a 12th-place finish in 7x7x7 Cube with an initial mark of 3:41.47 while slashing his Square-1 best by 53.2 percent to 19.94 seconds and his Clock time by 49.4 percent to 6.01 seconds. Walter Sanborn entered 7 events, setting an inaugural Megaminx time of 1:51.87, a first Square-1 solve of 1:01.33, and cutting his 2x2x2 Cube mark by 33.8 percent down to 2.59 seconds.

The progress continued across the score sheets as Spenser Levi tackled 5 events, dropping his Skewb best by 47.4 percent to 5.22 seconds, improving his 2x2x2 Cube time by 38.9 percent to 5.68 seconds, and logging a first Megaminx attempt of 4:49.56. Ryan Micke registered a 38.8 percent drop in Skewb to 5.93 seconds, improved his 5x5x5 Cube mark by 21.4 percent to 2:46.47, and made a first Square-1 attempt of 40.74 seconds across 10 events. Vihaan Shah competed in 6 disciplines, lowering his 3x3x3 Cube personal best by 38.3 percent to 10.45 seconds and his one-handed mark by 20.1 percent to 26.50 seconds. Caris Mumford took on 8 events, cutting Pyraminx by 36.2 percent to 6.30 seconds and Clock with a first attempt of 15.28 seconds, while Remy Blazing logged initial tournament solves in Pyraminx at 5.78 seconds, 5x5x5 Cube at 2:30.36, and Megaminx at 3:02.00.

The technical breadth of speedcubing was fully visible as competitors alternated between massive multi-layered puzzles and nimble mechanical clocks. Overall national tallies saw competitors representing the United States collect 33 podium places, alongside 3 podium finishes for India. The smooth progression of 27 distinct tournament rounds highlighted the dedication of organizers, judges, and runners who kept the stations cycling through continuous heats across both competition days.

As the final timers were cleared and the equipment packed away, the Minnesota Championship 2025 concluded another successful chapter for regional speed cubing. The 2025 gathering in Rochester brought seasoned champions and developing solvers together under one roof, establishing high performance standards across every discipline and sending competitors home with fresh milestones to build on for the next season.