Photo by Ari Selvey Marshall’s Lincoln Christenson’s hand is raised by an official after Christenson defeated Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s Samuel Moore in the Class AA 114 individual state championship at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday.

ST. PAUL — For the first time since 1999, the Marshall wrestling team has a state champion. A year after finishing as the state runner-up, Christenson defeated Zumbrata-Mazeppa’s Samuel Moore in the Class AA 114 championship to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

“It means a lot to know that I’ll have a mark in our program’s history,” Christenson said. “I was pretty happy because that was my goal from the start of the year. That was my first thought was that I’m going to accomplish my goal.”

Marshall’s last state champ was Ryan Bruns in 1999, who defeated Jason Perala for the 171AA crown. The Tigers have had a handful of wrestlers who have been runners-up since, such as Dylan Louwagie three times and his brother Grant in recent years, but Christenson’s performance marks a new high for the millennium.

“We’ve had multiple guys and girls now place at the state tournament, but to finally get a state champ for our program, number one, it’s exciting for Lincoln,” Marshall head coach Ethan Hoppe said. “He’s a kid that’s been around forever and he’s put in a ton of work and a ton of mat time. To see that work rewarded is special to see. Lincoln is such a great kid and to see him get that makes it even better.”

As a team, Marshall finished one shy of its program record from last year by putting five wrestlers on the 2025 individual podium. In addition to Christenson, Hannah Ratajczak placed fourth in the girls 142 weight class while Keynan Coequyt, Landon Marthaler and Brayden Chandler each earned a sixth-place medal in 107, 127 and 160 respectively.

Not only did Christenson win his bracket, but nobody came particularly close to him. After earning a pair of wins by technical fall in the first day of individual competition, Christenson fell Orono’s Brett Kiecker in 2:29 before earning an 18-2 technical fall over Moore in the final.

Christenson started the match with a takedown, followed by two consecutive 4-point near falls as he rocked Moore to his shoulders. Moore managed an escape to make it an 11-1 match going into the second, but Christensen took Moore down once more before another escape put the score at 14-2. In the third, Christensen started down and escaped quickly, getting one final takedown for an 18-2 technical fall. 

“I think it shows other kids that it’s [a state title] possible. That it’s not this mysterious thing that we talk about, but can achieve,” Hoppe said. “It’s something that we can strive for, and now that we have one in recent times, it shows others that we can keep working and see if we can get another one or two.”

The match was Christenson’s seventh in three days after he went 3-0 for the Tigers in their sixth-place finish at Saturday’s Class AA team tournament.

Christenson was one of two Tigers named to the Class AA All-Tournament team after Thursday’s team tournament, alongside Gavin Schaefer in 215. The selections mark Marshall’s first time represented on the team.

Hoppe was also selected as the Section 2AA Coach of the Year, making him one of three area coaches selected for the honor this year along with Gary Stoks of Canby in 5A and Nick Henning of Fulda/Murray County Central in 3A. Marshall’s David Wingert was also selected as his section’s Assistant Coach of the Year, as was Canby’s Dan Deslauriers.

Christenson noted that making weight three days in a row is difficult, making the first two days somewhat fatiguing, but said that he felt like he could get a lot more fluid to feel his best heading into the last day.

“[It’s] an absolute grind, and just that switch from that mentality of I’m wrestling for my teammates to now I have to do this for myself, especially when you stress team all year long… Now they get a chance to do it for themselves and prove themselves,” Hoppe said. “You’re wrestling the best of the best at the state tournament. You don’t get an easy match or a first round against an underclassman that might just be a quick warm-up match… Not everybody has to wrestle the day before [for the team tournament]… They’re fresh mentally and physically.”

Christenson finished as the 107 runner-up in the 2024 state individual tournament to Simley’s Turner Ross by a 5-0 decision. This year, however, Christenson was the top dog in his weight class for the majority of the season. Just a junior, Christenson now has another year to further write his legacy as a Tiger.

“Just being there and wrestling gives you more confidence to go into the tournament,” Christenson said. “[This year’s win] gives me a lot more confidence going into next season.”

Ratajczak, in her senior season, earned her second state medal a year after finishing fifth in the same weight class.

In this year’s tournament, Ratajczak pinned Bri Voight of Champlin Park in a minute in the 142 quarterfinals. From there, however, she fell in 5:20 to Osseo’s Vivian Schroeder and lost via 8-5 decision to St. Michael-Albertville’s Claire Kvant in the third-place match.

In 107, Coequyt started the second day in the consolation ladder after falling to Cannon Falls’ Owen Parish 13-7 in the championship quarterfinals but defeating Roccori’s Trey Kraemer in his first consolation match. Coequyt started Saturday with an 11-3 major decision over Watertown-Mayer’s Blake Brose, but lost 5-4 to Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s Carl Murray and Rock Ridge’s Gage Benz in 1:01 in the fifth-place match.

Marthaler, who earned a fourth-place medal last year, added to his trophy case with a sixth-place medal in this year’s 127 bracket. Marthaler battled his way to the semifinals with a 1:58 pin of Grand Rapids’ Asher Brenden but fell one win short of the finals with a 9-3 decision against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead’s Raydon Graham. In the consolation bracket, Marthaler lost to Parish by fall in 2:06 and to Minneapolis Edison’s Vicente Lopez-Marsh in the fifth-place match 19-8.

Chandler earned a pair of technical fall victories on Friday but fell via 18-1 technical fall to Hutchinson/Buffalo Lake-Hector Stewart’s Luke Hoag in the semifinals. After a loss to Little Falls’ Beau Robinson, Chandler lost to Waseca’s Slade Barnett in the fifth-place match via 4-2 decision.

Schaefer split his day 1 matches to start Saturday in the consolation bracket but lost to HLWW’s Matthew Busse by 9-0 major decision in the consolation bracket to conclude his prep career.

-Ari Selvey contributed to the report with championship-round play-by-play.