MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield High School boys wrestling team has done something it has not accomplished in several years. The Tigers have captured another Wisconsin Valley Conference championship under their current head coach, Cody See.
“It’s been enjoyable to be a part of,” See told Hub City Times. “I was able to take over for Coach [Jackson] Hein a really established program. I had a really good group of athletes to work with and I just needed to keep them in shape and get them ready for the end of the year. Since those kids have graduated on from being coached under him and I’ve got to have my own classes come through, it’s been fun to kind of have my own style.
“But I can’t take all the credit,” See continued. “The only reason that we have had the opportunity to have this success is because of our youth and middle school program. If they’re not sending motivated kids that enjoy the sport of wrestling up to me, then I wouldn’t have much to work with, so I’m spoiled. They’ve really done a lot of the groundwork.”
See says this year’s middle school program is boasting record numbers, with 50 athletes showing up on the first day of practice.
At the high school level, 41 student-athletes began the season and 37 wrestlers remain, not including the new all-girls’ squad. See also says all 14 varsity weight classes have been filled for the entire season.
This year’s senior starters include Bob Shearer, Easton Ledden, and Jon Sternweis.
“They’ve done a great job of leading,” See told us. “They were the last team that was at Team State for the Marshfield program, so they’ve tasted that, so they’re always trying to lead their teammates and tell them, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity that’s realistically in front of us for this season.’ That can be hard if you’ve never experienced it for yourself, but those guys have done a great job of keeping the rest of the kids motivated and focused on the potential for this team to accomplish at the end of the year.”
Other seniors on this year’s roster include Will Krause, Hudson Tompkins and Elijah Bremer.
Junior starters include Carter Williquette, Kashton Kilty, Haiden Carlson, Josh Taylor and Jace Frick.
“It’s a really strong junior class,” said See. “That’s our biggest class of starters. They’re not seniors yet, but they also do a great job of leading this team.”
The junior class is also represented by Grant Allar, Jaden Braund, Jayden Landwehr, and Zachary Schlei.
Starting sophomores are Alex Davis, Micah Bremer, and Carter Tollers.
“Alex and Micah have come a long way from last year,” according to See. “They’ve beaten kids in the state rankings and then they’ve taken some losses outside of them as well, but they’ve shown that they have the potential to have a really good Sectional tournament, so really excited for those two. And then Carter Tollers is having a great year. He’s really tough on top of the cradle, so excited for what those three can do here coming down the stretch in February.”
The remaining sophomores are Chase Bell, Logan Drexler, Trevor Forst, Owen Gudmunsen, James Hafermann, Sevrein Konrardy, Landon Meyer, Wyatt Novitzke, and Jeremy Smallwood.
As for the freshman class, Neil Adler and Sean Sleznikow have spent considerable time in the starting lineup this season.
“Neil is one of the hardest-working kids on the team and showing a lot of fight and grit,” See added. “I’m really excited for his whole career, just to be able to work with him. He’s a great listener and asks great questions.
“Sean started the season off pretty tough, with a really tough stretch of opponents,” See continued. “I believe he wrestled seven top ten-ranked kids in his first eleven matches and had a tough record leading into our Christmas tournaments. But since then, he’s got 27 wins and he’s been doing a really good job at a weight that not a lot of freshmen are at, 165 pounds. He’s been holding his own, and another guy I’m super excited to watch grow.”
The other freshmen on the roster are Brayden Braun, Tripp Gardner, William Gault, Zachary Knaack, Rayden Kramas, Hunter Olson, Kiptin Schreiner, and Isaac Steiner.
See says a Wisconsin Valley Conference championship is the No. 1 team goal each and every season.
“The ultimate goal is to get as many kids as we can to the state tournament, so that’s No. 1, but right behind that is Conference,” See admitted. “The last couple years we’ve had injuries that have kind of halted us down the stretch from putting our best lineup out at Conference. For the most part, we had pretty much our full-strength lineup on Saturday (Feb. 7).”
Up next is the WIAA Div. 1 Individual Sectional Feb. 14 at Menomonie, where the top two wrestlers in each weight class will qualify for the WIAA State Tournament, set for Feb. 26-28 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
“In years past, we had a Regional, where if you got top four you made it to the Sectional. They’ve eliminated the Regional and we’re just going to have a larger Sectional tournament,” See reminded us. “You basically got rid of any room for error. In years past, you could have a bad Regional tournament, place third or fourth, then figure it out at the Sectional tournament and still qualify for State. Not this year. You have to be firing on all cylinders and just be in a really good space physically and mentally and ready to go that day.”
Meanwhile, Marshfield will host the WIAA Div. 1 Team Sectional Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., when the top six scoring teams from the Individual Sectional will compete, hoping to qualify for the WIAA State Team Tournament March 6-7 at the La Crosse Center.
It’s an area of the state See knows well.
He was a three-time state wrestling champion for Westby High School from 2010-12, and then wrestled for four years at UW-La Crosse. See came to Marshfield right out of college and coached the middle school team his first year here, then took over the varsity program in 2018.
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