COLLEGE OF ST. BENEDICT – ST. JOSEPH, MN / SAT-SUN, AUGUST 2-3
Pacesetter “Sweet Sixteen” Championship – “The Best of the Best!”
Pacesetter has been conducting the Pacesetter “Sweet Sixteen” Championship since 1991. This high-profile tournament places the strongest four Minnesota teams from each class – as projected for the next school year – into one 16-team bracket with a team from each class placed into each grouping of four teams. Teams then play two full games each day (9-min. stopped time quarters) for the over-all championship and bragging rights as the best summer varsity team in Minnesota.
Many Sweet Sixteen champions have gone on to win high school state championships the following March. It happened again in 2025: Alexandria boys became 3A state champions – Hopkins girls became 4A state champions.
Six of the eight Minnesota High School state champions in March 2025 played in the Pacesetter “Sweet 16” in August 2025:
All boys’ champions: Wayzata – 4A, Alexandria – 3A, Albany – 2A, and Dawson-Boyd – 1A
Two girls’ champions: Hopkins – 4A and Providence Academy – 2A
The Pacesetter Sweet Sixteen tournament is open to the public and played on four courts at Clemens Fieldhouse at St. Ben’s in St. Joseph.
