In her first meet as Marshall's girls track and field coach, Marie Sample sees a strong amount of potential in the Tigers this spring.
Taking second place in the first meet of the season in an indoor meet at the University of Minnesota-Mankato on Saturday, Marshall had nine first-place finishes on the day. Minnesota Valley Lutheran topped the Tigers by a point, finishing with 59 points to Marshall's 58.
"It's going to be kind of a fun year," Sample said after the first meet. "I think the girls are ahead of where they'd be since we've gotten outside a lot sooner. It's been really nice."
Claire Buysse had a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minute, 10.33 seconds, and was the lead on the winning 4x400 relay with Jenna Christianson, Sarah Andersen and Megan Vogl.
Two more Tiger relays took top honors with the 4x800 and 1,600 medley relays taking first place.
Among individual winners, Haley VanKeulen won the 800-meter run (2:37.56), and Rose Andersen took first in the 1,600 (5:56.99).
Along with being on two of the winning relay teams, Sarah Andersen took first in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet, 5 inches.
"We're a very versatile team and can do a lot of things," Sample said. "It's a good group of girls."
Rachel Miller took top honors in the pole vault with a vault of 7 feet, and Jenna Christianson won the triple jump at 31-1.
The Marshall boys track and field team took second place with a team score of 51 points. Mankato East won the team title with 100 points.
The Tigers' strengths from last year - its distance runners and sprinter Beau Bofferding - were in form on Saturday, with Bofferding winning the 60- and 400-meter dashes. In the distance runs, Chad DeAustin took first in the 1,600-meter run (4:43.60), and the 4x800 relay of Hunter Peterson, Tanner Bukowski, DeAustin and Grant VanKeulen took the top spot with a time of 8:48.99.
"We scored exactly where we thought we could with the distance guys and Beau Bofferding," said Marshall boys track head coach Mike Jacobs.
In his first year of track, Jacobs gave praise to Peterson in his first career track meet. Along with being the lead on the 4x800 relay, Peterson took third in the high jump (5-6) and fourth in the long jump (17-11 1/2).
"We had high hopes for Hunter Peterson and he proved those suspicions right," Jacobs said. "It was really a great start for him. I knew he had good jumping ability from watching him in basketball, and he's got a lot of potential."
The Tigers also showed promise in the field events, with solid outings in the pole vault and shotput. Austin Leek finished fourth in the pole vault with a height of 10-6. Drew Tykwinski followed that with a fifth-place height of 9-6.
"In many, many years, that was our best start to the pole vault," Jacobs said. "Those are usually our ending heights in the last few years."
Andre Kack (43-6 1/2), Luke Bot (39-3 1/2) and Brock Baumgarn (38-7 1/2) took 2nd-3rd-4th in the shotput, respectively.
"We scored extremely well in the shotput," Jacobs said. "That was one of our biggest concerns coming in with losing Ryne Myhrberg and Jacob Moe from last year. But those three scores we got, that was really a big standout for us."
Marshall is back in Mankato today in a meet hosted by Mankato West.
Girls Team Scores: 1. Minnesota Valley Lutheran 59, 2. Marshall 58, 3. Mankato East 33.
MARSHALL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
400m: 1. Claire Buysse 1:10.33
800m: 1. Haley VanKeulen 2:37.56; 2. Rose Andersen 2:40.50; 4. Megan Vogl 2:45.00.
1,600m: 1. R. Andersen 5:56.99
60m Hurdles: 3. Haley Bennett 11.45.
4x200m Relay: 3. Elizabeth Her, Kayla Wartner, C. Buysse, Sarah Andersen 2:07.28.
4x400m Relay: 1. C. Buysse, Jenna Christianson, S. Andersen, Vogl 4:33.20.
4x800m Relay: 1. Becca Fedde, Christianson, VanKeulen, Maddie Verschaetse 10:39.43.
1,600m Medley: 1. Elizabeth Roseland, Amber Amick, Verschaetse, Kendra Soupir 4:49.06.
High Jump: 2. Brianna West 5-0.
Pole Vault: 1. Rachel Miller 7-0.
Long Jump: 1. S. Andersen 16-5.
Triple Jump: 1. Christianson 31-1; 2. Verschaetse 29-10.75.
Shotput: 4. Haley Williams 27-1. JV: 1. Bennett 26-2; 3. Emma Doyle 23-11, 5. Celeste Werner 22-1.5. 8. Brittany Andreas 19-6.
Boys Team Scores: 1. Mankato East 100; 2. Marshall 51; 3. Albert Lea 38; 4. Minnesota Valley Lutheran 33.
MARSHALL INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
60m: 1. Beau Bofferding 6.88
400m: 1. Bofferding 53.20
800m: 2. Mike Larson 2:13.91
1,600m: 1. Chad DeAustin 4:43.60.
4x200m Relay: 3. Sam Marshall, Shane East, Dallas Goslar, Ryan Schultz 1:48.47.
4x800m Relay: 1. Hunter Peterson, Tanner Bukowski, Chad DeAustin, Grant VanKeulen 8:48.99.
1,600m Medley Relay: 2. Sam Marshall, Bryan Rose, Tanner Bukowski, Grant VanKeulen 3:56.34.
High Jump: 3. Hunter Peterson 5-6
Pole Vault: 4. Austin Leek 10-6, 5. Drew Tykwinski 9-6.
Long Jump: 4. Hunter Peterson 17-11.5.
Shot Put: 2. Andre Kack 43-6.5, 3. Luke Bot 39-3.5, 4. Brock Baumgarn 38-7.5.