The Marshall track and field team braved chilly and windy conditions during a relay meet held Friday in Hutchinson.
The conditions didn't allow for many personal bests to be achieved during the meet, but there were still some strong finishes by the Tiger teams.
The Marshall girls place third with 140 points. Willmar won the meet with a score of 170 and Hutchinson was in second with 154 points. The other four teams finished below 100 points.
With three of her relay teams earning first-place finishes, Marshall girls' head coach Marie Sample was especially impressed with the performance of freshman Sarah Buysse in the sprint medley relay. In fourth place and trailing the leaders by 100 meters going into the final leg of the relay (the 800 run), Buysse took the baton and made up the difference to help the team to win. She was joined in the race by Kendra Soupir, Brittany Andreas and Sarah Andersen.
Sample said Buysse was running the 800 for the first time ever and finished with a time of 2:33, which was faster than any of Sample's other 800 runners.
"She ran a 2:33 and she had never ran it before and it was on a crummy day," Sample said. "I was worried about putting her in it, especially when I saw what the weather was like because I didn't want her to hate it. But when we got there she said she still wanted to do it and she just did great, and that was running into a 35-40 mile per hour wind."
Fact Box
Boys Team Scores: 1. Willmar 164, 2. Hutchinson 147, 3. Faribault 141, 4. Marshall 112, 5. Annandale 108, 6. St. Cloud Cathedral 48, 7. LeSueur-Henderson 39.
Marshall Team Relay Results
4x1,600m: 1. Chad DeAustin, Tanner Bukowski, Andrew Bell, Grant VanKeulen 19:51.6.
Distance Medley (400m, 800m, 1,200m, 1,600m): 2. Beau Bofferding, Bukowski, Bell, Wade DeAustin 11:54.
Sprint Medley (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m): 1. Sam Marshall, Eli Louwagie, Bofferding, C. DeAustin 3:55.6.
4x200m: 4. Jeremiah Barker, Louwagie, Marshall, John Lothert 1:43.9.
4x400m: 1. C. DeAustin, Marshall, Bukowski, Bofferding 3:41.
4x800m: 7. Mike Larson, Blaine Moran, W. DeAustin, Saul Mares 10:08.
Short Sprint (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m): 5. Dallas Goslar, Bryan Lee Rose, Zach Drum, Brandon Verkinderen 1:48.6.
4x100m: 5. Stephen Womack, Brock Baumgarn, Drew Tykwinski, Barker 50.53.
High Jump: 4. Nathan DeRuyck, Verkinderen, Drum 15-10.
Pole Vault: 5. Tykiwnski 10-0.
Shot Put: 4. Andre Kack, Baumgarn, Womack 115.
Discus: 3. Baumgarn, Kack, Luke Bock 310-10.
Long Jump: 3. Marshall, Drum, Lothert 52-4.
Triple Jump: 1. Drum, DeRuyck, Lothert 100-9.
Girls Team Scores: 1. Willmar 177, 2. Hutchinson 154, 3. Marshall 140, 4. Faribault 98, 5. Annandale 84, 6. St. Cloud Cathedral 73, 7. LeSueur-Henderson 22.
Marshall Team Relay Results
4x1,600m: 4. Claire Boersma, Kayla Wartner, Rose Andersen, Sydney Prorok 26:33.7.
Shuttle Hurdles: 3. Rachel Miller, Shelby Maes, Ashley Dunn, Claire Buysse 1:19.5.
4x100m: 7. Jenna Soupir, Brittany Andreas, Elizabeth Her, Sydney Griffin 59.7.
4x800m: 1. Becca Fedde, Jenna Christianson, Maddie Verschaetse, Haley VanKeulen 10:35.
Sprint Medley (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m): 1. Kendra Soupir, Andreas, Sarah Andersen, Sarah Buysse 4:41.9.
300m Hurdles: 3. C. Buysse, Dunn, R. Miller, Logan Miller 3:50.
Short Sprint Medley (100m, 100m, 200m, 400m): K. Soupir, Andreas, Her, Fedde 2:10.6.
Distance Medley (400m, 800m, 1,200m, 1,600m): 6. Christianson, Verschaetse, VanKeulen, R. Andersen 14:00.3.
4x200: 5. Becca Klein, Dunn, L. Miller, Griffin 2:05.4.
4x400m: 2. C. Buysse, S. Andersen, Christianson, S. Buysse 4:30.1.
Shot Put: 2. Dani Crowell, Haley Bennett, Celeste Werner 84-3.
Discus: 3. Crowell, Bennett, Sarah Antony 259-1.
High Jump: 6. Brianna West, Caitlyn Schaeffer, Katlyn Beebout 12-10.
Long Jump: 2. S. Andersen, Griffin, Shaeffer 43-11.5.
Pole Vault: 4. R. Miller, K. Soupir 12-6.
Triple Jump: 1. Griffin, Schaeffer, Verschaetse 95-3.5.
The 800-meter distance was a good one for Marshall Friday, as the 4x800 relay team of Becca Fedde, Jenna Christianson, Maddie Verschaetse and Haley VanKeulen won the event with a time of 10:35.
Marshall also did well in another event the team has excelled in all season - the triple jump. The triple jump relay of Sydney Griffin, Caitlyn Schaeffer and Verschaetse won the event with a total distance of 93 feet, 35 inches.
The Marshall boys finished in fourth place in the seven-team meet with 112 points. The top three teams were Willmar (164), Hutchinson (147) and Faribault (141). Marshall edged Annandale by four points, while St. Cloud Cathedral and LeSueur-Henderson finished well behind in sixth and seventh, respectively.
There were four Marshall boys relay teams that earned wins Friday. Sophomore Zach Drum, one of the few Marshall athletes to reach a personal best Friday, helped the Tigers to a win in the triple jump relay. Drum, Nathan DeRuyck and John Lothert combined to jump a distance of 100 feet, 9 inches to take first place. Drum's leap was 38-9, which Marshall boys' head coach Mike Jacobs was a personal best by over a foot.
"He's steadily been improving and getting closer to that 40-foot mark, which we're trying to get someone to reach this year," Jacobs said. "He also had a career-best jump of 5-6 in the high jump. He's really starting to click for us in several areas."
Marshall also finished first in the 4x1,600-meter relay, with Chad DeAustin, Tanner Bukowski, Andrew Bell and Grant VanKeulen combining for a time of 19 minutes, 51.6 seconds.
DeAustin was part of three first-place Marshall relay teams Friday. Along with helping the 4x1,600 relay team earn a win, he joined Sam Marshall, Eli Louwagie and Beau Bofferding to win the sprint medley relay (a combination of the 400 dash, 800 run, 1,200 run and 1,600 run) in a time of 3:55.6 seconds, and he was part of the winning 4x400 relay team along with Marshall, Bukowski and Bofferding (3:41).
Jacobs noted that Louwagie, a senior, was able to compete in multiple events for the first time this season, taking part in the winning sprint medley relay and the fourth-place 4x200 relay team.
"I was happy to see Eli out there after coming back from hand surgery," Jacobs said. "This is the first time we've been able to use him a lot and he really did have a nice impact on the relays he was in. He looks to be able to help us out quite a bit going forward."
Marshall will be back in action Tuesday, taking part in a meet in Brookings, S.D. Teams from Sioux Falls Lincoln and Brandon Valley will join Marshall and Brookings at the competition.