todd@toddcouleesports,com
Tyson Martin wasn’t worried about being thrown onto a varsity mat as a 195-pound freshman for the Aquinas High School wrestling team.
He felt comfortable with technique and knew he was strong enough to hang with competitors three years older than he was. Martin wasn’t intimidated, and that became clear as the season progressed.
A couple of early losses didn’t stump him, and Martin was competing at his best in February, advancing all the way to the WIAA Division 3 championship match.
“Those tough losses, and then he goes on that run at state,” Aquinas coach Deke Stanek said. “That shows his commitment.
“He beat some guys at state that he probably wouldn’t have beaten early in the season, but the growth he has shown has not been a surprise.”
Martin has logged plenty of travel hours in the offseason to return as a true leader as a junior for the very talented Blugolds.
Martin is a two-time state runner-up, following the 195-performance with a similar one at 190 as a sophomore, and enters this season with an 81-9 career record. He took part in his first practice of the season Monday at the team’s new practice space at Three Rivers Performance.
It was a week earlier than he has started wrestling his first two seasons after helping the Blugolds win Division 5 state football championships. Aquinas was knocked out in the semifinal round this year, and Martin took one week off between sports instead of the more familiar two.
“Obviously, I wanted to win (another football title), but it’s not bad to get back in the flow of things here a week earlier,” Martin said.
In addition to traveling for practices in the Milwaukee area for practices developed or run by brothers Ben and Max Askren, Martin traveled to Las Vegas for the World Team Trials and to Fargo for the Junior and 16U National Championships.
That further strengthens Stanek’s regard for Martin’s commitment to the sport.
“I’ve been blessed with some very dedicated wrestlers the last four of five years here,” Stanek said. “The time and thought that he puts into wrestling is unmatched.
“He’ll go all over the place on the weekends for practices and work with some of the best technicians in the state and bring that back here to our practices. So I haven’t been surprised at all by his steady climb of success.”
Stanek is also expecting plenty of success for an Aquinas team that has won two straight MVC championships and came up just short in two bids to qualify for the Division 3 team state tournament.
The Blugolds have five returning individual state qualifiers. Martin’s runner-up performance at 190 was nearly matched by Zach Malins’s third-place finish at 144 and Roger Flege’s fourth place at 120.
That group — Waylon Hargrove at 138 and Trevor Paulson at 150 also qualified and return — make the Blugolds formidable foes for anyone this winter, even though one of Stanek’s favorite parts of the team is its youth.
Junior Marcus Klar, sophomore Grady Nicklay and freshmen Martez Sheard, Tyler Paulson and Lincoln Stanek are others expected to make some big contributions for the Blugolds.
“We’re gonna have some guys wrestling up (a weight) right away,” Stanek said. “I don’t want to say walking-around weight, but guys will be bumped up.
“I think by Bi-State (last week of December), we’ll have guys down. I don’t want to rush guys down. We want to be smart about it, and I think you’ll see a lot of different lineups from us this year.”
But expect Martin to be an anchor near the top of the lineup as he focuses on helping himself get a third chance at winning an individual championship and the team where it wants to be — its first team state tournament — in March.
“We just have to show up and do what we have to do in practices,” Martin said of the Blugolds. “I think the last couple years, our really good guys have been at the upper weights, and I think we’re a little bit different this year.
“I think we’re pretty stacked at the bottom. I also think we’ve been building a culture, and I think this is a point where we can break through.”
Fennimore, which has qualified nine times and won the past three Division 3 state titles, has moved up to Division 2. Aquinas makes sense as a contender to take that spot this season, but Mineral Point and Iowa-Grant/Highland will also have plenty to say about that come sectional time.
Beating Martin will be tougher. He said he worked a lot on hand-fighting to help control opponents and simply learning who he is on the mat.
“I feel like I know more of who I am as a wrestler now,” he said. “I feel like I know better now what I’m going to do and why I’m going to do it. I feel like I really know the details of everything.”
Stanek agreed with the assessment.
“I think he’s narrowed down what makes him good in terms of his offense,” Stanek said. “Instead of trying to be a jack of all trades, he’s becoming a master of a few.
“I think in wrestling, if you can master a couple of moves or positions at neutral, top and bottom, that’s what will make you a great wrestler. That’s what he’s starting to become.”
