Marshall's Taleigha Bigler (facing away from camera) is greeted by teammates Katelyn Leibfried (left) and Kaitlyn Soupir after they won the girls 4x800-meter relay, along with Peyton Boeck, at the Class AA state track and field championships on Thursday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.The Marshall relay team won the event in 9:20.74, giving the Tigers their second state title in the girls 4x800 in the last three years.

ST. MICHAEL — For the second time in three years, the Marshall girls 4×800-meter relay team has claimed the state championship at the Class AA track and field meet. Taleigha Bigler, the lone member of both state title teams, anchored the relay after Katelyn Leibfried, Kaitlyn Soupir and Peyton Boeck took the first three legs to help Marshall beat out the rest of the field by nearly four seconds.

“It’s just as special [as last time],” Bigler said. “We put a lot of work in this whole spring and it paid off, so it was a lot of fun today.”

Leibfried gave Marshall the lead after the first 800 meters, finishing her leg at 1:12.7. She said her goal was just to trust in the Lord’s timing and give her team as much of a lead as she could so the rest of her team was in position to do what they excel at.

While the Tigers fell back into third heading into the third leg, Peyton Boeck split a 1:09 in her leg to give Marshall the lead back when she handed the baton to Bigler.

“I was trying to take it step by step,” Boeck said of her approach. “I was kind of focusing on the girl in front of me, and then when I passed her, I was like, ‘Okay, there’s one more, I’ve gotta get her.'”

While Bigler, Leibfried and Boeck had each been on the state podium before after taking fourth in last year’s 4×400-meter relay, as well as a runner-up finish in the 2024 4×800 and a sixth-place finish in the 2023 4×400 for for Bigler and Leibfried, the win marked Soupir’s first time receiving a state medal.

“I worked really hard to be a part of this team, so I was really glad that we were able to do it and get what we came here to do,” Soupir said.

Marshall won the event with a time of 9:20.74, beating out Orono at 9:24.31 and Alexandria at 9:34.09. Marshall’s time this year was two seconds faster than its Class AA record-setting time of 9:22.37 in 2023, set by Miracle Tucker, Allyson Sample, Anna Kuecker and Bigler.

The win was one of two medals on the day for Bigler, who also placed third in the 800 meters with a season-best time of 2:15.28, trailing only Ella Dirks of St. Peter at 2:13.63 and Alexandria’s Kasey Soderholm at 2:14.07.

The Marshall boys relay team of Sam Deutz, Ethan Bly, Mykel Paulsen and Josh Leibfried also put together an admirable performance in the event. While they weren’t able to hold onto the lead that they held heading into the final leg, they still put together a runner-up finish at 8:00.87, leaving them just behind Perham’s winning time of 7:58.37 and just ahead of Mankato East’s 8:01.58.

“It was just the training and believing in each other and running for each other [that allowed us to execute],” Deutz said. 

Deutz gave Marshall the lead after the first 800 meters at 2:44.7, putting them two seconds ahead of Mankato East. The Cougars briefly passed the Tigers, leaving Marshall a half-second back of the lead, but Paulsen snatched it right back to put Marshall ahead going into the final 800.

Leibfried left most of the pack in the dust after the first of his two laps to close out the race, but Perham’s crew continued to pick up the pace and stay right on Leibfried’s hip before passing him in the final 100 meters.

Marshall’s relay performances helped lead Marshall to a pair of quality team results in the meet. The girls placed 11th out of 53 teams with 29 points while the boys placed 15th out of 56 teams with 21 points. Alexandria won the girls meet with 82 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up Mankato West’s 57.5, while Becker and Alexandria took the top two boys slots at 64 and 61.

Deutz also competed for Marshall in the mile, placing 19th at 4:42.58, leaving him 12 seconds back of his personal record. He said that he was feeling good heading into the race and that, despite it not going according to plan, he was glad that he got the experience of competing.

Alex Franson finished his time as a Tiger with a pair of medals on Thursday. In the individual 400, Franson placed fourth with a personal-best time of 49.35 to trail only Totino-Grace’s Josiah Young at 48.9, East Grand Forks’ Jez Jones at 49.11 and Providence Academy’s George Nelson at 49.29. He also anchored the Tigers’ 4×400-meter relay team of Aidan Schuerman, Leibfried and Anderson to a sixth-place finish at 3:23.98.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t place better as a team right there in the last race, I could have run a little better in the open, but honestly it was a great season and a great state meet, so I’m very, very happy with me and my team,” Franson said.

Franson split a 49.69 in his leg of the relay, earning him his fourth state medal after going home with a fourth-place finish in last year’s individual 400 at 50.03 and a runner-up finish in the 4×400, with Anderson, Leibfried and Bly, at 3:24.98. 

“It’s a great feeling [to close out my time at Marshall like this],” Franson said. “I’ve always wanted to do this since I’ve been in elementary school, middle school.”

Running both events in the span of an hour, Franson said that there’s always some fatigue heading into the second, but trying to stay warm, rested and building off the energy of his relay teammates helps him execute.

Franson also helped Marshall to an 11-win improvement in basketball from last year to this year as the team’s leading scorer and will continue his athletic career with the Concordia College mens basketball team in Moorhead.

Senior Paige Gillingham closed out her prep athletics career with a sixth-place finish in the shot put, marking the second time she received the medal after finishing in the same place in 2023. While the medal was the same, Gillingham improved her performance from a distance of 37-4.25 in the 2023 state championships to 38-3.25 this time around.

“I think two years ago, I went into the state meet with the same mentality of, ‘Do your best, give it all you’ve got, don’t leave anything out there,” Gillingham said. “Yesterday, even when we were running in the 4×100[-meter relay], it was the same thing… Walk in there, be serious, focus up.”

Gillingham added that it felt good to close out her high school career on a high note, saying that she takes pride in the work she puts into both throwing and basketball. She’ll be competing in both sports at Dakota Wesleyan University next year.

The winning throw of 41-06.5 was put forth by Northfield’s Alaina French, followed by Alexandria’s Lydia Oldenkamp at 40-10.25 and Rocori’s Brianna Schneider at 40-00.75.

In the high jump, Autumn Deutz also received her second career sixth-place medal for the Tigers. The Marshall junior — who ran alongside Gillingham in Wednesday’s 4×100-meter relay — reached a height of 11-00 in the event, tying her mark from last season.

“I think [having that experience] helped with the nerves a little bit coming back a second year,” Deutz said. “I’m hoping next year that I can place a little bit higher, but I think it went well today.”

Milaca’s Taylar Bokoven, North Branch’s Ella Dick and Mankato East’s Rylie Hansen took the top three spots in the event, each reaching a height of 12-03.

Josh Leibfried placed ninth in the boys 800 meters at 2:05.64, Boeck placed ninth in the girls 400 at 1:00.44 and Jack Meier placed 27th in the boys high jump at 5-10.