Photo submitted by Marshall Area Wrestling Association Marshall wrestler Tate Condezo grapples with an opponent at the individual section tournament in Windom on Feb. 27.

The 2023-2024 season for the Marshall wrestling team was one for the record books. The Tigers saw several single-season and career records broken, both by individuals and by the team as a whole.

The squad finished the season with 26 dual meet victories, a program record. At one point during the season, the team won 15 consecutive duals, going from Dec. 19 to Feb. 17 without a loss.

“The past few years, we weren’t as confident as a team in our wrestling,” senior Matt Her said. “This year we were more aggressive. We took on everything in front of us. We just went out there and let it fly.”

“We had a great season and really progressed as a team,” Dylan Louwagie, also a senior, added.

Not only did the team win every dual in that stretch, but they also won every individual tournament. Starting with the 32-team Redwood Riot, the Tigers claimed the team championship trophy at every single individual tournament that they entered.

The Big South Conference tournament was a highlight of the season as the Tigers not only won the tournament but also had 11 All-Conference wrestlers out of 13 weights.

On that day the Tigers had five individual champions in Lincoln Christenson, Landon Marthaler, Dylan Louwagie, Brayden Chandler and Tate Condezo.

Dawson DeCamp, Tyson Louwagie, Tucker Fiene, Aidan Mattison, Gavin Schaefer and AJ Haas each earned All-Conference recognition.

On the girls’ side, Hannah Ratajczak became Marshall’s second-ever girls state entrant and place-winner as she earned a sixth-place medal at the state tournament.

Sierra Bahr and Esther Sey each also placed fourth at the section tournament while Haley Bahr placed fifth.

The postseason was a bittersweet affair for the Tiger boys as they came 1 point short of qualifying as a team for the state tournament. The Tigers defeated New London Spicer and New Ulm to earn a berth in the section finals where, for the second consecutive season, they matched up with Dawson-Boyd/Lac Qui Parle/Montevideo United.

In a back-and-forth dual that featured some significant momentum swings, United ended up defeating Marshall 28-27.

On the individual side of the section tournament, the Tigers qualified seven for the state tournament. Lincoln Christenson, Landon Marthaler, Dylan Louwagie, Tate Condezo and Aidan Mattison were all section champions at their weights. This marked the first time in program history that a team had five section champions.

Brayden Chandler and Gavin Schaefer also qualified for the state tournament.

In addition to those state entrants, Marshall had several other place-winners at the section tournament. Dawson DeCamp and Drew Chandler each fell one match short of earning their way to state as they placed third. Tucker Fiene placed fourth while Tyson Louwagie and Andrew Cowden both placed sixth.

At the state tournament, Marshall set another program record by coming home with six state individual medalists. They also finished fifth in class AA for individual team points, marking Marshall’s best finish for the state individual tournament.

Christenson and Louwagie finished as runners-up, Marthaler fourth, Condezo fifth and Chandler sixth.

Condezo set the program record for single-season pins with 31, breaking his own record of 29 which he set the previous season. Condezo also put himself second on the record boards for single-season wins with 48, career wins with 198 and career pins with 113.

Louwagie set four program records this season. Louwagie recorded 51 wins, which set the single-season record. He also finished his career as Marshall’s winningest wrestler of all time as he notched 256 wins over his 6 years.

Louwagie broke Donny Wichmann’s record for career winning percentage as he won 90.46% of his matches. Louwagie also broke the career pins record as he recorded 118 pins for the Tigers.

Landon Marthaler and Aidan Mattison also added their names to the record boards for season achievements. Mattison earned 27 pins this season which is the third-most single-season pins in program history. Marthaler’s 44 wins this season were the sixth-most in program history.

Gavin Schaefer, Brayden Chandler and Lincoln Christenson reached 25 career pins. Landon Marthaler and Aidan Mattison earned 50 career pins. Schaefer, Mattison, Chandler and Christenson all achieved 60 career wins. Schaefer and Mattison also hit the 75 win milestone during the season. Marthaler and Tucker Fiene achieved the 100 win milestone. Both Condezo and Louwagie reached 100 career pins during the season and Louwagie also hit the 250 career win mark.

The Tigers had 10 seniors this season who will greatly be missed. Hailey Bahr, Tate Condezo, Andrew Cowden, Tucker Fiene, AJ Haas, Matt Her, Collin Klenken, Dylan Louwagie, Garett Regnier and Lukas Stelter will leave the Tigers after years of making a positive impact on the program. Bahr, Condezo, Fiene and Louwagie served as captains this past season.