Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Allyson Sample runs during the first mile of the Class AA state championship at Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. Her third-place finish helped the Tigers to the first state championship in Marshall girls cross country history.

ST. PAUL — The Marshall girls cross country team captured the first state title in program history on Saturday afternoon, beating out runners-up St. Paul Highland Park and Alexandria by 20 points at the Class AA Championships at Les Bolstad Golf Course. The Marshall boys team also put together some outstanding performances to receive a third-place trophy in the meet.

Allyson Sample led the Marshall girls with a third-place finish at 18:27.2. She ran a particularly strong second half of the race to pick off several runners and save Marshall some key points.

Hutchinson’s Isabelle Schmitz and Monticello’s Isabel Mahoney were the top individuals at 17:56 and 18:12.

Eighth grader Oakley Schneekloth also received All-State honors for placing 22nd for the Tigers at 19:17.8.

As a team, Marshall finished with 81 points while Highland Park and Alexandria each had 101 to round out the podium.

The key for the Tigers’ success was their depth. Katelyn Leibfried and Taleigha Bigler finished in 31st and 34th respectively. Leibfried crossed the line at 19:31.5 while Bigler finished at 19:34.5.

Cameen McFarquhar rounded out Marshall’s scorers in 48th out of 160 runners at 19:51.5.

Sample was one of three seniors on the Marshall roster alongside Anna Kuecker and alternate Gracelyn Foster. Kuecker placed 67th in the meet at 20:10.9.

Landrey Graven, an eighth grader, placed 88th in the meet for Marshall at 20:30.8.

On the boys side, Marshall finished with a team total of 114 points. Mankato East won the meet with 46 while Perham finished second at 97. Marshall beat out third-place Orono by 26 points.

Josh Leibfried led Marshall with a time of 16:09.4, putting him in 12th place.

Landon Marthaler and Sam Deutz right on each other’s tails, with Marthaler crossing the line at 16:35.7 to take 36th and Deutz taking 40th at 16:39.9.

Keagen Anderson placed 51st for Marshall at 16:55.8 and Kohen Holcomb rounded out the scorers at 17:11.3.

The Tigers’ lone senior on the day was Chase Werner, who placed 77th out of 160 runners at 17:13.1.

Ethan Bly placed 104th at 17:33.3.

An updated version of this story with additional details, quotes and photos will be published in Tuesday’s edition of the Marshall Independent.