BUFFALO LAKE — Ali Pederson and Dayton Webskowski each finished the first day of the section 3AA girls golf championship meet in the top 15 of the 80-player meet while Anna Thor put together another top 20-round, leading the Marshall Tigers into position for third place out of 16 teams on Wednesday.

“We’ve got some work to do,” Marshall head coach Eric Novosad said. “We didn’t play our best golf today, and we know that and we know what we’re capable of getting to and we know where we need to improve.”

Specifically, getting off the tee box strong and controlling puts on the green are areas that Novosad he feels like his team can improve in as it prepares for the second day of the section tournament next week.

“At times, we really didn’t know. We went a little heavy, then a little short, and we really just couldn’t get it to the hole well enough, but these girls know what they’ve got to do to make it better,” Novosad said.

Part of the putting issues can be attributed to the fact that it was a wet day on the course, with light rain consistently falling in Buffalo Lake. While weather impacted plays in some ways, the Tigers were able to play through as the tournament continued.

“I don’t think today was terrible. We’ve played in worse, so I think it’s not awful,” Pederson said.

Novosad said the greens are always changing after being wet early in the day and drying out a bit later, so the team that can most quickly adapt is able to capitalize on the scorecard.

The Tigers put together a team score of 383, sandwiching them between New London-Spicer’s 371 and Fairmont’s 402. Minnewaska Area leads the field at the halfway point at 321.

Pederson was Marshall’s No. 4 seed but stepped up big time for the Tigers to end the day in 15th. Her 18-hole score of 94 was one shy of her career-low.

“Just getting encouragement and confidence from my teammates and coaches really helped, so just start strong and finish strong,” Pederson said.

Pederson finished with a par on two of her first three holes and added another on hole 16. She went more than one stroke over par just five times in the round.

Webskowski finished with the low round of the day for Marshall, finishing the day in 12th place with 90 strokes. The junior Tiger parred three straight holes from 6 to 9 and added another three pars on the back nine.

Heading into the second round, Webskowski is one spot back of the final individual state tournament slot, currently held by Windom Area’s Ada Lund and Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta’s Katlin Gibson at 17-over 89.

Anna Thor also put together a career day for Marshall. Seeded No. 6 for Marshall, the sophomore broke 100 with a 27-over 99 to keep Marshall in line for the podium.

Grace Rokeh, an individual state tournament qualifier along with Webskowski last year, rounded out the Marshall scorers in 23rd place with a 100. She notched pars on her first and 14th holes.

While not contributing to the team score, Maddi Panka and Isabella Gossen also competed for Marshall. Panka finished in 24th with a 101 while Gossen ends the day in 33rd with a 104.

The second round of the Section 3AA tournament is slated for Thursday at 10 a.m. at Oakdale Golf Club.

“I always tell the girls that it’s about grit,” Novosad said. “They just have to keep digging to make the next shot their best shot. They can’t worry about what others are doing, but as long as they’re grinding and they’re trying to play their best shot, they’re going to see some good scores.”