Photo by Jake Przytarski Marshall’s Saphi McFarquhar competes in the floor exercise during their meet on Thursday against Luverne. Marshall fell to the Cardinals 126.875-125.050.

MARSHALL – Despite missing a full week’s worth of practice, the Marshall gymnastics team put together a strong effort in Thursday’s home matchup against Luverne.

Ultimately the impressive performance by the Tigers fell short in the end, however, as the Cardinals escaped with a narrow 126.875-125.050 victory.

Reflecting on the event, Tigers coach Larvita McFarquhar came away very proud of their showing.

“I was very proud of them,” said coach McFarquhar. “They came in without having any practices for the last week because of the snow so what they did out here I was really proud of.”

The Tigers opened up the matchup with a strong performance by freshman Saphi McFarquhar on the uneven bars (8.600) and another in the floor exercise (8.950) to place first in both events. She would go on to follow it up with a fourth place finish on the vault (8.800) and a third place finish on the balance beam (7.700) for an all-around score of 34.050 to place second overall.

Joining Saphi with another strong effort was seventh grader Cameen McFarquhar, who placed third on the bars (7.550) and vault (8.800), and went on to earn fourth place finishes in beam (7.425) and floor (7.900) for an overall score of 31.675 to place third overall.

Senior Kaitlyn Matzner came up big in floor with a score of 8.050 to place third. She would go on to post scores of 6.750 on beam, 8.400 on vault and 6.600 on bars. Senior Jordyn Kack posted scores of 7.050 on beam and 6.000 on bars, while freshman Clara Bader earned an 8.500 on vault, 7.125 on beam and 6.975 on floor.

The Marshall Tigers will return to action on Saturday when they hit the road for the Worthington Invitational beginning at 10 a.m.