Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall gymnast Kiera DeRuyter dismounts the bar with a flip during a prep gymnastics meet against Luverne and St. Peter on Thursday at Marshall Middle School.

MARSHALL — A strong performance from the Marshall girls gymnastics team wasn’t enough to snag a win in its home finale on Thursday. The Tigers hosted Luverne and St. Peter for a pair of duals — scored separately due to the St. Peter matchup being a makeup from a weather postponement — but the Tigers fell 126.925-114.3 to Luverne and 117.2-114.3 to St. Peter.

“We definitely wanted to keep up our team attitude, just keep working and show off some of our skills that we’ve been working on to prepare for sections next week,” Marshall junior Raya Goergen, the lone upperclassmen on the roster, said. “Just kind of keeping the atmosphere up, having fun and trying to be the best team that we can be.”

Shyann Murphy was the Tigers’ top all-around performer on the day, scoring a 29.6 to place third in the St. Peter dual and fifth in the Luverne dual.

Murphy’s 8.4 vault score and 7.65 score on the bars were both good for first against the Saints, with the latter also being the top score in the dual against Luverne. She also scored a 7.0 on the floor and a 6.55 on the beam.

Goergen scored a 7.45 on the floor and a 7.35 on the beam to place third in each event against St. Peter. Her beam score also earned her third place against Luverne while her floor score was good for fifth.

Goergen finished the day with an all-around score of 28.175.

“We had a lot of ups and downs this season, and we’ve really grown together as a team,” Goergen said. “Just relying on friends and trusting our coaches who know what’s best for us,” Goergen said. “We appreciate everything they do, and just our environment and relying on each other.”

Kiera DeRuyter placed fourth all-around against St. Peter and sixth against Luverne with a score of 28.45, finishing second among Tigers on the day. She scored a 7.8 on the vault, a 7.05 on the beam and a 6.8 on the bars and floor.

Emma Manke was Marshall’s fourth scorer on the day with an all-around total of 27.25. She recorded a 7.95 on the vault and a 7.35 on the floor.

“I’ve seen a ton of growth, especially having a younger team, so it’s really fun watching them progress in their skills from the start of the season to right now,” Marshall head coach Samantha Nielsen said. “As a team, we’re encouraging one another and that just makes them better.”

Marshall now prepares for its section meet on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Redwood Valley. With the program being cut next year, the meet will be the last opportunity for many of the gymnasts to compete in their sport. The meet is slated to start at noon.