Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Lydia Hurst competes in the 100 yard butterfly during their meet against Montevideo on Thursday. The Tigers defeated the ThunderHawks 103-78.

MARSHALL – The Marshall swimming and diving team haven’t seen much competition yet this season, as Thursday’s home opener against Montevideo only marked their second meet of the season. Despite the limited exposure to competition, the Tigers didn’t have much early-season rust to shake off as Marshall showed its depth to earn a 103-78 victory over the ThunderHawks at the Don Palm Natatorium.

Marshall coach Nikki Axe-Bell said they’ve done a lot of training since their first meet in Hutchinson on Aug. 24 and was pleased to see some of their other swimmers step up to the task.

“Our season started off with the Hutchinson meet and that was towards the end of August and it’s been a really long time (since we last competed),” Axe-Bell said. “We’ve had tons of training, we’ve done more doubles this year than ever before, so it’s been a long haul. We had a few injuries and had a few out, so we mixed things up at the last minute and they stepped up and did a nice job.”

In the 200 yard medley relay, the team of Mansi Bell, Maddie Larson, Alana Condezo and Tera Johnson took first with a time of 2:04.43 while the team of Alex Larson, Paige Milstead, Reagan Brandt and Holly Netzley took third with a time of 2:14.65. In the 200 yard freestyle, Amelie Schmidtke took first with a time of 1:59.78 while Bell took third (2:18.14) and Johnson took fourth (2:19.81).

In the 200 yard individual medley, Alex Larson took third with a time of 2:41.78 while Condezo took fourth with a time of 2:43.23 and Brooklyn Gossen took sixth with a time of 2:51.15. In the 50 yard freestyle, Marshall swept the top three spots, as Schmidtke took first (25.35 seconds), followed by Lydia Hurst (26.85) and Kaylie Stucke (27.23).

In the diving portion of the meet, Brandt took home first with a score of 150.85 while Gossen took third with a score of 127.60 and Clara Bader took fifth with a score of 119.95.

In the 100 yard butterfly, Hurst took first with a time of 1:06.45 while Maddie Larson took third with a time of 1:08.99 and Condezo took fourth with a time of 1:14.87. In the 100 yard freestyle, Nyssa Bentz placed first with a time of 53.13 seconds while Stucke took third with a time of 59.31 and Bader took fourth with a time of 1:00.52.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Alli Kopitski took first with a time of 5:51.14 while Milstead took third (6:09.45) and Brandt took fourth (6:20.43). In the 200 yard freestyle relay, the team of Bentz, Stucke, Hurst and Schmidtke took first with a time of 1:43.83 while the team of Kopitski, Bader, Maddie Larson and Johnson took third with a time of 1:54.36 and the team of Brandt, Milstead, Condezo and Netzley took fifth with a time of 2:00.27.

Finally, in the 100 yard backstroke, Bell took first with a time of 1:07.92 while Kopitski took second with a time of 1:11.94 and Johnson took fifth with a time of 1:17.32.

Axe-Bell said their key was their ability to utilize their core strength and power throughout each event as well as depending on their leaders to step into different roles when needed.

“We’ve tried to really work on general core strength and power and really focus on sprinting, as high school is generally a sprinting event,” Axe-Bell said. “I do have really versatile seniors that are able to sprint freestyle as well as distance, so I pulled my standard 500 girls and allowed them to sprint which they really enjoy in the 50 and 100 free, so that was fun to see.”

Marshall will compete next on Saturday at the Laker Invite in Minneapolis at noon. Axe-Bell said it’ll be a challenging, but rewarding meet for their team as they move forward into the season.

“We’re going to the Laker Invite on Saturday; it’s super fast athletes, it’s going to be good for our kids and it’ll be a lot of the best people in the state and that will help us looking towards state,” Axe-Bell said. “I’ve been really impressed with their habits, they’ve all worked hard during the summer so their technique is really clean, it’s just continuing to focus on fitness and being able to race even when you’re really sore.”