Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Saphi McFarquhar performs on the vault during their home invite on Saturday.

MARSHALL – The Marshall gymnastics team continued its homestand on Saturday afternoon with its annual invitational, placing fifth overall with a score of 125.200.

Six other teams from across the state came in to compete, including Willmar, New Ulm, Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, Redwood Valley, Windom/Mountain Lake Area and Pipestone. Willmar placed first with a score of 142.750, followed by New Ulm (136.225), Redwood Valley in third (130.750) and Benson/KMS in fourth (129.475). Windom/MLA took sixth (120.575) while Pipestone took seventh (116.300).

Marshall coach Larvita McFarquhar said she was proud of the way her team stayed resilient and shook off their mistakes and came back stronger.

“I was really proud of the team because we had a couple of falls and we shook it off, falls and mistakes that they weren’t used to doing,” coach McFarquhar said. “But in gymnastics it’s not about the mistakes, it’s about getting up and striving for more and keep going even when you make a mistake and come back strong and that’s what they did.”

Saphi McFarquhar led the way for Marshall with an 8.900 on vault, 8.250 on the uneven bars, 9.025 on the balance beam (second place) and 9.200 on the floor exercise (third place) for an all-around score of 35.375 and a fifth-place finish. Kaitlyn Matzner added scores of 7.850 on vault, 6.650 on bars, 6.775 on beam and 7.800 on floor for an all-around score of 29.075 while Cameen McFarquhar had scores of 8.700 on vault, 7.275 on bars and 7.100 on beam and Mikayla Chesley added an 8.325 on vault and 6.500 on bars.

Jordyn Kack added a 6.450 on bars, 5.950 on beam and 7.150 on floor while Clara Bader had a 7.500 on beam and a 6.900 on floor to add to the Marshall effort.

Marshall will compete again today against Jackson County Central at 6 p.m. Coach McFarquhar said their biggest takeaway will be to keep pushing forward and having a positive frame of mind while also making sure they get the rest they need.

“Keep pushing forward and working on the things that they have been working on and actually having a tight mind because they can do the skills, they clearly did it perfectly on Thursday,” coach McFarquhar said. “But if your mind is not right and you’re overly tired, they’re not going to stick the things they’re supposed to. So hopefully we get some rest and go out there with a fresh mind and know that they can do it and step up and do what they need to do to come away with a win.”