Photo courtesy of Marshall Area Wrestling Association: Marshall's Collin Klenken (right) pins a Blue Earth opponent during a triangular in Waseca on Thursday night. The Tigers defeated Waseca 69-3 and swept Blue Earth 72-0.

The Marshall Tigers wrestling team traveled to Waseca and improved their record to 23-3 on Thursday as they soundly defeated Big South Conference foes the Waseca Blue Jays by a score of 69-3 and the Blue Earth Buccaneers 72-0.

The Tigers began the night facing the hometown Bluejays. After a forfeit to Lincoln Christenson at 107 pounds, eighth grader Andrew Yang put Marshall up 12-0 with a first-period pin. The pin marked Yang’s first varsity win.

“I felt nervous when I went out there, but it felt like a normal match while I was wrestling. Afterward, it felt amazing,” Yang said.

Landon Marthaler followed up Yang’s impressive debut with a 15-0 technical fall at 121 pounds. At 127 pounds, Dawson DeCamp won by a forfeit to put Marshall up 23-0 and Dylan Louwagie earned a first-period pin to put the Tigers up 29-0 after 133 pounds. Matt Her also picked up a first-period pin at 152.

At 160 pounds, Tate Condezo picked up the fastest fall of the night for the Tigers as he pinned his opponent in just 20 seconds. At the next two weights, Tucker Fiene and Aidan Mattison followed their teammate’s lead with two pins of their own, both in under a minute.

At 215 pounds, Gavin Schaefer and Waseca’s Matthew Veroeven had a rematch of their finals match at the Hutchinson Tournament where Veroeven took home the title with a 3-1 decision. Schaefer began the action by getting the opening takedown to take a 2-0 lead but Veroeven tied the match up with a reversal before the end of the period.

Veroeven then chose down to start the second period and earned a second reversal to take the 4-2 lead. After an escape by Schaefer, Veroeven earned his first takedown of the match to make it 6-3. Unfortunately for Marshall, that would mark the end of the scoring as Veroeven would ride Schaefer out for the entirety of the third period to win the match with the 6-3 decision.

The Tigers then took the mat against the Buccaneers from Blue Earth. After a forfeit to Colton Chandler at 107 pounds, Lincoln Christenson picked up the first of four first-period pins for the Tigers as Christenson, Marthaler, DeCamp and Dylan Louwagie all pinned their opponents in less than a minute.

At 139 pounds Tyson Louwagie met up with Cooper Peterson. This was the second meeting between the two as Louwagie defeated Peterson with a 4-3 decision at the Redwood Riot Tournament in December. This time Louwagie, would once again win by a single point as he picked up a 2-1 decision.

After a scoreless first period, Peterson chose down to start the second and got on the board first with an escape. In the third period, Peterson appeared in position to win the match with a ride out, but Tyson had other plans as he hit a roll for a two-point reversal with 20 seconds left to take the 2-1 lead.

Following Louwagie’s match, the Tigers picked up three more pins in a row as Collin Klenken, Drew Chandler and Tate Condezo all were able to pin their opponents.

“I felt good on the feet, and I stayed under control and composed on top,” Klenken said of his match.

At 172 pounds, two returning state entrants squared off with the Tigers’ Tucker Fiene taking on Blue Earth’s Kade Gaydon. Fiene started off the action by picking up the first takedown at the end of the first. Fiene then chose down to begin the second and quickly earned a reversal to increase his lead to 4-0.

Gaydon did not stay down long and earned an escape of his own. The action continued at a high pace as the wrestlers would trade takedowns, with Fiene getting two more of them in the period to make the score 9-4. In the third period, the two wrestlers continued their battle as the two wrestlers began the period by exchanging reversals.

After an escape by Gaydon to make the score 11-7, Fiene got his final takedown of the night to increase his lead to six points. Gaydon would tack on another escape at the end to make it 13-8. In the end it was Fiene with his hand raised to win the battle.

Following Fiene’s victory Mattison, Schaefer and Josh Kraft would earn wins by forfeit to close out the dual. The 72-0 victory marked Marshall’s second shutout win of the season.

The Tigers will return to action on Friday for the Big South Tournament. When asked about the night and the consecutive days of making weight and wrestling, Marshall senior Klenken said, “Our goal was to wrestle two good matches today and prepare for tomorrow by getting some sleep.”