Photo by Brian Leibfried: Marshall girls cross country team members Jasmine Murphy (6649), Kaitlyn Leibfried (6656) and Claire Kruse run together in a pack during the Lions Meet of Champions at Arrowwood Country Club in Alexandria on Saturday. Leibfried led the Tigers with a 19th-place finish while Kruse and Murphy finished 34th and 47th as the girls placed ninth out of 20 teams in the event.

ALEXANDRIA — Katelyn Leibfried’s top-20 individual finish led the Marshall girls cross country team to a ninth-place finish out of 20 teams at the Lions Meet of Champions on Saturday. The field consisted of many of the top teams in the state, including 139 girls individuals and 146 boys individuals.

The Marshall girls finished with a team total of 264 points, sandwiching them between Becker at 258 and White Bear Lake Area at 273. Perham, Mounds Park and Chaska took the top three team slots at 64, 120 and 121.

On the boys side, Marshall placed 20th out of 22 teams with 561 points. The Tigers beat out Albany at 564 and Staples Motley at 579, and finished just behind Thief River Falls at 509. Sioux Falls Washington (S.D.) won the meet with 89 points, followed by Mounds View at 94 and Perham at 112.

Leibfried was Marshall’s top individual in the meet, placing 19th on the girls side at 20:12.3, while Claire Kruse placed 34th at 20:29.1.

Aidan Schuerman was the top boys finisher for the Tigers in 59th place, running a time of 18:04.7.

Jasmine Murphy was the Marshall girls No. 3 runner in 47th place, crossing the line at 21:01.5. Kaitlyn Soupir and Madysson Hasert rounded out the Tiger scorers in 68th and 98th, clocking in at 21:37.9 and 23:03.0.

Charles Mueller-Thompsoon was the Marshall boys’ No. 2 runner, placing 75th at 18:23.6.

Tony Wambeke placed 138th for Marshall at 20:32.6 while Gunnar Ruud and David Lanoue placed 144th and 145th at 21:30.6 and 22:55.7.

Jenna Sanders and Brooklyn Purrington also ran for the Marshall girls, finishing at 25:20.9 for 124th place and 26:39.2 for 136th place. Valentin Gonzalez also placed 146th on the boys side at 23:56.2.

Staples-Motley’s Audrey Brownell was the top girls individual at 18:31.9 while Sioux Falls Washington’s Cole Reilly won the boys meet at 16:00.9.

Marshall next races at the Big South Conference meet on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m. in Luverne.