Photo by Sam Thiel Members of the Marshall girls swimming and diving team pose with their Big South Conference championship trophy after defeating St. Peter 102-84 on Friday night. It’s the first conference title for Marshall since 2015.

MARSHALL – When the Marshall girls swimming and diving team faced St. Peter earlier in the season, the Tigers were able to edge the Saints in a come-from-behind victory. In the regular season finale, the two Big South Conference foes put their skills to the test once more, this time with a conference title up for grabs.

In a wire-to-wire performance, the Tigers kept up with the Saints before getting a late lead, and would take home the BSC Cup in a 102-84 victory on Friday night at Don Palm Natatorium at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Marshall coach Nikki Axe-Bell credited St. Peter for pushing their athletes to the limit and was pleased they were able to make significant strides at key times throughout the meet.

“We’ve had a long relationship with St. Peter for more than two decades; I have so much respect for Mary Lager and her athletes,” Axe-Bell said. “Having ties between the events was nerve-wracking, I will say that last time we were still behind at diving, so our divers stepped up their placing and that put us even at the break and we had some other places where we significantly pulled ahead. Being ahead at 12 points before that 400 yard free relay was more progress, so I was pleased with that and it was exciting that we didn’t rest and get complacent because we knew that St. Peter is talented and driven and a focused program.”

All night long, the conference opponents battled back and forth, trading points until the Saints took a 32-30 lead going into the diving portion of the meet. Marshall was then able to tie things back up at 39-all thanks to second, third and fourth-place finishes by Clara Bader (158.10), Reagan Brandt (148.15) and Brooklyn Gossen (138.45), respectively.

More ties would be seen over the next few events, as Marshall took first in the 100 yard butterfly and 100 yard freestyle before also placing first in the 500 yard freestyle to take a 65-61 lead. Amelie Schmidtke took first in the butterfly with a time of 1:01.57 while Alana Condezo took fourth (1:09.49) and Mansi Bell took sixth (1:10.14). Nyssa Bentz took first in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 53.79 seconds while Holly Netzley took fourth (1:03.17) and Paige Milstead took sixth (1:05.86). Kaylie Stucke took first in the 500 yard freestyle (5:33.85) while Lydia Hurst took third (5:41.91) and Alli Kopitski took fifth (5:52.27).

After the team of Bentz, Schmidtke, Hurst and Stucke took first (1:42.96) and the team of Maddie Larson, Mansi Bell, Netzley and Tera Johnson took third (1:52.01) in the 200 yard freestyle relay, Marshall was able to create some separation in the 100 yard backstroke. Schmidtke earned a first-place finish with a time of 1:04.47 while Bell (1:07.98) and Kopitski (1:11.75) took fourth and fifth, respectively, to push the Tigers lead to 84-72.

Marshall continued to maintain that advantage in the 100 yard breaststroke, with Emma Beavers taking second (1:12.73), Maddie Larson taking third (1:14.02) and Johnson taking fifth (1:20.69) to keep the Tigers lead at 12 at 92-80 heading into the final race.

In the 400 yard freestyle relay, Marshall was able to come up with the points it needed to hold their advantage, as the team of Stucke, Schmidtke, Hurst and Bentz took first with a time of 3:49.81 and the team of Bader, Johnson, Kopitski and Beavers just missing out of the second place spot by mere tenths of a second, taking third (4:02.28) while St. Peter took second at 4:01.93.

Marshall’s conference championship is the first for the program since 2015. It was also Senior Night, as the team honored its two seniors in Bentz and Hurst. Axe-Bell said both seniors are phenomenal leaders and they will be missed once the season is over.

“Phenomenal leadership; I’ve had the pleasure of coaching both Nyssa and Lydia since they were in the club swimming,” Axe-Bell said. “It’s a particularly bittersweet night, those young ladies have been leaders all the way through and are very poised and composed and the whole team is going to be sad to miss them. They’re rare packages to have so much talent and so much character in one person.”

The early portions of the meet were just as thrilling, with Marshall taking first in the 200 yard freestyle and 50 yard freestyle. In the 200 yard medley relay, the team of Bell, Beavers, Maddie Larson and Bader took second with a time of 2:01.81 while the team of Kopitski, Milstead, Condezo and Netzley took fourth with a time of 2:11.89. Stucke took first in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:04.96 while Hurst took third (2:06.49) and Johnson took fourth (2:13.06). In the 200 yard individual medley, Maddie Larson took second with a time of 2:24.25 while Beavers took third (2:33.48). Bentz also took home first in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.71 seconds while Bader took fourth (27.33).

Axe-Bell said their key throughout the meet was working on their pacing as well as cleaning up their transitions after their strong starts.

“We had our big training over MEA break which we talked about before and this week with our 500 girls we really focused on their pacing. We’ve also been working on our breakouts, we’ve kind of been good off our start and then slow as we transitioned so we really worked on our starts and turns and cleaning up the little things,” Axe-Bell said. “Another thing is we’re all healthier since the last time we faced St. Peter; the stars aligned and everybody was healthy and here on the same night, so some of that was luck.”

Marshall will now compete in the section tournament on Nov. 7 and 9 in Willmar.