Photo courtesy of Brian Leibfried Ally Sample (left) and Josh Leibfried pose for a photo after their school record-breaking races on Tuesday night.

JORDAN — Three school records went down on Tuesday night in Jordan as Josh Leibfried broke two school records and Ally Sample broke another to lead the way for the Tigers at True Team sections.  

The Marshall girls placed second with 456 points, which was 30.5 points behind first-place Belle Plaine.  The Marshall boys finished in sixth place with 381 points.  

The first school record to fall on the day was the girls 1600 meter as Senior Ally Sample ran a 5:07.02, which broke Claire Boersma’s school record of 5:07.12.   

Sample knew going into the race that she had a chance to break the record as she had two other fast competitors in the race with Fairmont Macy Hanson and St. Peter’s Keira Friedrich.  

“I went in hoping that I could break the school record.  I don’t usually get the chance to run the mile when I have the two-mile, so I wanted to capitalize on the opportunity.” 

As the race started, Hanson took the early lead as Sample settled behind Friedrich.  In the end, Hanson would win it and with Friedrichs in Sample in second and third all with very fast times.  

“It helped to stick with Friedrichs as she runs the time I was hoping for. I was excited to find out that I broke the record.  I didn’t know that I had broke it but I knew I was close.” 

After the race Sample was not done as she still had a 3200 meter race to win.  

“Between races I went on a cool down run and put my feet up for a little bit and tried to just think about the next race.” 

Sample finished up her day by winning the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:28.  Teammate Katelyn Leibfried finished right behind Sample in second place with a time of 11:49.40.    

Katelyn’s older brother Josh was the next to break a school record as the Marshall junior, broke two school records on Tuesday.  Leibfried began his day by breaking the school record in the 1600 meter.  Leibfried ran a 4:18.42 which broke the previous record held by Dahir Jumale with a time of 4:19.48.  After breaking one school record Leibfried continued his great day by breaking another as he broke his own school record in the 800-meter run. Leibfried ran a 1:57.23, which was 0.23 seconds faster than his time at the St. Peter meet.  

When how he felt going into the meet Leibfried said “The weather was good but I was feeling banged up from the Howard Wood meet over the weekend.  Today was another opportunity to give it my all, that is all I can do on a given day.”  

During his mile, Leibfried saw that he had a chance to have a special race.  “I went through the 800 at 2:08 and I knew if I hammered the third lap the best as I could it would put me in position to break it.  It was close, but I hung on”  

While breaking two school records in one meet might have been enough for a day for most athletes, for Leibfried it was not.  Leibfried and three of his teammates had one more goal for the day, run the fastest 4×400 time in class AA for the season, which they did as Ethan Bly, Keagen Anderson, Leibfried and Alex Franson took first in the race with a time of 3:27.84.  

For Leibfried the ability to bounce back after a race and compete in a short time frame is just as much mental as it is physical. Leibfied said, “I have noticed that racing is more mental.  Running a couple of races as hard as I can is tough and exhausting.  I focus on staying positive and being confident in myself that I can do it.  I enjoy these days.  At the end when the track meet is done, I can enjoy knowing that I put it all out there for my team.” 

Two other athletes also placed first in their respective events.  Autumn Deutz placed first in the pole vault with a height of 10’6“.  Chioma Onyeaghala won the long jump with a jump of 16’3.5”, which put her a half an inch in front of the second-place competitor from Waseca.  

Both Marshall 4×800 relays fared well in their races. On the girls’ side Anna Kuecker, Oakley Schneekloth, Landrey Graven and Taleigha Bigler took first place in the 4×800 relay with a time of 9:54.18.  Ethan Bly, Chase Werner, Mykel Paulson and Kohen Holcomb took second in the boy’s race with a time of 8:15.95.  

The Marshall girls had two relays place second in the meet. The 4×100 relay team consisting of  Onyeaghala, Makayli Burrell, Averi Schneider and Alexi Schneider combined to run the race in 52.62, which put them just 0.08 seconds ahead of third place New Ulm. The 4×400 girls relay team consisting of Peyton Boeck, Avery Schneekloth, Anna Kuecker and Taliegha Bigler finished in second, just two seconds behind Belle Plaine in their race.  

Bigler also ran in and placed third in a very competitive 800-meter race with a time of 2:18.29. Katelyn Leibfried and Peyton Boeck placed third and fourth in the 400-meter race. 

In discus the Gillingham sisters placed in the top four for Marshall.  Brooke placed with a throw of 101’03” and Paige placed fourth with a throw of 99’04”. 

For the boys team, Alex Franson placed second in the 400-meter race with a time of 51.25. Kohen Holcomb finished in second and Landon Marthaler fourth in the 3200 meter race. Aidan Schuerman placed fourth for the Tigers in the 300 hurdles continuing his good season in the event.