WILLMAR — The Marshall girls swimming and diving team posted a strong finish at the Section 3A championships on Saturday at Willmar, taking sixth as a team with a score of 146. Hutchinson took first with a score of 448, followed by Delano in second (355) and Mound Westonka/Holy Family in third (323).

As a result of their strong performance, the Tigers will have two individuals compete this week at the state meet. Senior Nyssa Bentz qualified in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle and Amelie Schmidtke punched her ticket to state in the 200 free and the 100-yard butterfly.

Bentz will be making her fourth straight trip to state, and qualified with a pair of second-place finishes in the 50 and 100 free. In the 50 free, Bentz recorded a time of 23.62 seconds, while posting a time of 52.58 seconds in the 100 free. Hutchinson’s Grace Hanson took first in both events with times of 23.51 and 51.83 seconds, respectively.

For the past three seasons, Bentz has been the lone representative for the Tigers at the state level. This week, she won’t be alone, as Schmidtke is making her first trip.

Schmidtke recorded a time of 1:58.34 to place sixth in the 200 free while taking fifth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.35 seconds.

Several other Marshall athletes recorded solid times at the meet. The 200-yard medley relay team took ninth with a time of 2:01.05 while Maddie Larson took 13th in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:26.36 and Reagan Brandt took 12th in the 1-meter dive with a score of 254.70. Kaylie Stucke took 11th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:35.28 while the 200-yard freestyle relay team took fifth with a time of 1:41.88, just finishing behind Delano (1:41.40). Emma Beavers took 12th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:13.30 and the 400-yard freestyle relay took fifth with a time of 3:46.14, just finishing behind Waconia (3:41.94).

The Class A meet begins on Thursday at noon at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.