Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall junior Colton Lindquist competes in the triple jump at the Class AA track and field championships, Friday at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

ST. MICHAEL — Colton Lindquist and Katelyn Leibfried got the Marshall Tigers off to a strong start at the first day of competition in the Class AA track and field championships on Friday. Each of the two medaled on the day, while the Tigers also had a number of other runners competing in preliminaries qualify for Saturday’s finals.

Making his state tournament debut, Lindquist was able to peak at the right time for Marshall in the boys triple jump. The junior jumper fouled on his first attempt and reached a 38-5.75 on his second, but he set a new personal record of 44-7.5 in his third jump to place fourth in the event.

“I had fun, you know. I had a couple jumps where I could have jumped further, but I’m not unhappy, I’m happy,” Lindquist said. He added that heading into the meet, his focus was just on staying healthy because he had been rehabbing an injury leading into the meet.

Lindquist will also compete in the boys long jump on Saturday.

Leibfried ran in the first event of the day, the girls 3200 meters. Having medaled at both cross country and track and field as an individual in past seasons, she continued to add to her trophy case by placing eighth in the event, running a time of 11:22.84 that was only 0.15 seconds shy of her season-best time.

“It feels really good because I’ve worked really hard this season. Just all the prep work was good,” Leibfried said.

The race marked Leibfried’s first time competing as an individual in the state track and field championships, though it was hardly her first time tasting success in the big meet. Leibfried was a part of Marshall’s state championship in the girls 4×800-meter relay last year, also earning a runner-up finish in the event a year prior as well as a seventh-place medal in the 2024 4×400-meter relay.

“I was still just thinking about my team the whole time,” Leibfried said when asked if competing as an individual state was any different from her experience as a member of a relay team. “I’ve just got to run as fast as I can for them.”

As a team, the Marshall boys’ 6 points currently have them in 14th place and the girls’ 2 points have them in 23rd heading into the final day of competition on Saturday.

Sam Deutz competed in the boys 3200-meter final on Thursday, placing 15th with a time of 9:47.57. The Tiger senior still has more left to compete for as he takes on the 1600-meter final on Saturday.

Aidan Schuerman competed in a pair of preliminaries and qualified for the final in each of them. He started the day with a time of 14.92 in the 110-meter hurdles, good for fourth place, and he placed fifth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 38.69.

Taleigha Bigler finished second in the 800-meter preliminary with a time of 2:16.06, trailing only Northfield’s Makayah Petricka’s 2:14.81. Bigler took third in last year’s 800-meter state championship at 2:15.28. The Marshall senior looks to add to her collection of nine state track and field medals, including state championships in the 4×800-meter relay in 2023 and 2025, when she competes in the open 800 and the 4×800-meter relay with Leibfried, Kaitlyn Soupir and Jasmine Murphy on Saturday.

Marshall’s Autumn Deutz is also slated to compete in the girls pole vault championship today after placing sixth in the state meet each of the last two years.

RESULTS

FINALS

Girls 3200m: 8-Katelyn Leibfried, 11:22.84. Boys 3200m: 15-Sam Deutz, 9:47.57. Boys triple jump: 4-Colton Lindquist, 44-7.5.

PRELIMINARIES

Boys 110m hurdles: 4-Aidan Schuerman, 14.92. Boys 300m hurdles: 5-Aidan Schuerman, 38.69. Girls 800m: 2-Taleigha Bigler, 2:16.07.