SPRING LAKE PARK — Returning to the state tournament as a team for the first time since 2018, the Marshall High School Math Team finished off its successful season with a trip to state at Spring Lake Park High School on March 10.

Competing in Class AA, Marshall finished in ninth place with a team total of 64 points. The difference between first and ninth was just 13 points, with St. Croix Lutheran Academy earning the top spot with 77 points.

“It’s always different because it’s a different group of kids,” Math coach Kari Meyer said. “But, they’re just such nice kids. Not only are they smart, but kind and respectful. It’s a really nice group.”

There were 160 total teams that competed at state between Class A, AA and AAA. Senior Jack Gunn was the top scorer for Marshall during the team event.

Sophomore Xavier Rabaey was the top scorer in Marshall’s division, Section 2AA, throughout the entirety of the regular season, and was the lone Tiger to earn a spot in the Invitational Competition at state. The invitational is an individual tournament, and competes prior to the start of team competition at state.

Marshall had an exceptional season, totaling 443 points, and also entered the state tournament tied for the highest points in all of Class AA with St. Croix Lutheran Academy from Section 4AA, also finishing with 443 points.

“We had a really good season. It was very close. We were competing all season long, and going back-and-forth. But, we managed to come out on top,” Meyer said. “Going into state, we were first in our class … It was very cool to get there.”

There were five regular season meetings, and the 2024-25 Minnesota State High School Mathematics League topics were algebra, geometry and trigonometry, and counting, probability, statistics and number theory. Each meeting had a different breakdown under each topic.

On the first meet of the season on Nov. 4, Marshall finished in a three-way tie for seventh place with 92 points. St. Croix Lutheran Academy opened the season with a first place finish, with 104 points.

In meet two on Nov. 25, Marshall improved to third place with 94 points, just three behind St. Croix’s first place 97 points.

The Tigers finished in fifth place with 74 points at their third competition, and came out on top with first place at the fourth meet with 93 points on Jan. 27.

Marshall rounded out its regular season at its fifth meet on Feb. 10 with a tie for first place with Eagle Ridge Academy with 90 points.

“As a team, we (last) went (to state) in 2018 … It’s been a while,” Meyer said. “Last season, we missed going to state by like one point. So, our seniors were pretty determined to make it there. That was fun, too.”

When tournament day came around, the students gathered together and kept practicing until it was their time to compete.

“They changed the format of it this year. This year, each student does three individual events, and then they do a team event all together,” Meyer said. “We had to go early for Xavier to participate in the invitational round, then we just hung out. Each school has a room, so we went to the room and worked on some practice.”

While making the trip up to the cities, the team was also able to partake in some activities outside of competition.

“We took them up to the Mall of America,” Meyer said. “They did an escape room the night before, so that was fun for them.”

The team of eight was led by its five seniors in AJ Runchey Smalley, Carter Gehrke, Mark Rabaey, Ethan Bly and Gunn. It also marked the final season for other math coach, Nonna Gutman, who is retiring.

“They (seniors) really took on the leadership this year in their efforts to get to state. They were very much like, ‘Okay, who should be on the team for each event,’ for each meet they had,” Meyer said. “(They were) really encouraging each other to practice and do well, so that they could earn enough points, obviously, to win. They also were just good at taking the younger ones and showing them how to do things, and just working together.”