MANKATO — Twenty years ago, a curling team from Mankato won the Minnesota state junior championship.

Todd Birr was a member of that team, and, years later, he would go on to win a national championship, compete in the world tournament and the Olympic Trials.

But it all began when he was 21 years old.

“You could come to the conclusion that if we didn’t win (the state junior title), we wouldn’t be playing where we’re at now,” said Birr, who, along with his brother, Kevin, will represent the United States in a tournament next month in Japan.

On Tuesday afternoon, Birr was at the Mankato Curling Club, watching this year’s state junior playdowns and, perhaps, some players who will be competing against him on the national and world stages in years to come.

One of those teams might be the Bemidji foursome that squeaked out a win in the final game of the round-robin tournament.

Trevor Andrews, Aaron Tasa, Nic Wagner and Mark Fenner won when the final rock thrown by Chisholm’s Aaron Wald — arguably the tournament’s best player, Birr said — knocked out Andrews’ point-scoring stone but caromed behind another opposing rock.

“When it comes down to the end, you just do your best to make your shots and hope it all falls in your favor,” Tasa said.

Much like the Birr brothers, who played with a cousin and a friend 20 years ago, the crew from curling-crazy Bemidji started as a pickup team. That was three years ago.

“We played in a couple leagues and got a lot of experience,” Fenner said. “And there are plenty of people (in Bemidji) to teach us.”

The Andrews rink —teams are named after the captain, also known as “the skip” — finished the four-day event with a 6-1 record. Another game that came down to the last shot was against the Mankato team of Tyler Runing, Dylan Deegan, KC Dewar and Ryan Coopman.

Led by Runing, a 15-year-old skip (the others are 16), the Mankato team finished 3-4 but got their first wins after two previous state-tournament experiences. And that’s not bad, considering the playdowns are open to players up to age 21.

“They’re a lot more confident now, and they were pretty happy after that first win,” said Shawn Runing, Tyler’s dad and the team’s coach. “(In the first years), they knew it was about the experience and just being there. ... This year, they’re not the underdogs anymore.”

The Bemidji team said Runing’s team has made great strides since facing them two years ago in Two Harbors.

“They have come so far,” Wagner said. “They’ve put it together. ... You gotta watch out for that team.”

The Runing rink has come out of a Mankato Curling Club junior program that had 90 participants last year. Nearly that many already have signed up for this year’s program, which begins on Saturday, Jan. 16.

“We’ve put a lot of time in to practice,” Tyler Runing said. “We’ve worked hard as a team and stayed positive.”

On Tuesday, the Mankato crew lost to a team representing the Heather Curling Club in Mapleton. That team included 18-year-old skip Will Howieson, Jesse Jaeger, Alex Schubbe and Ben Anderson.

Teams from Mapleton won state junior titles in 1995 and 1996 — the last time the playdowns were held in Mankato.

With Tuesday’s win, the Bemidji team advances to nationals, which will take place Jan. 23-30 in its home club.

Advancing to the junior women’s national tournament was the Alex Carlson rink out of St. Paul.

The Mankato Curling Club will host the Midwest-South Qualifier for the U.S. Men’s National Championship on Jan. 7-10.

The tournament will feature the top four men’s teams in the country, including Birr’s team.