CLASS AA TRACK AND FIELD: Marshall Girls 4 × 800 Relay Gains Experience in Top 12 Placement | News, sports, jobs

Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Bellamy Sukalski gets ready to hand over the baton to teammate Taleigha Bigler during the 4 x 800 meter relay at the Class AA meeting in St. Michael-Albertville on Saturday.

ST. MICHAEL – When the Marshall athletics team competed in the 2019 Class AA meeting, the girls’ 4 × 800 meter relay finished eighth. With a young group, the 4 × 800 squadron returned to the state meeting at St. Michael-Albertville High School on Saturday and finished 12th overall with a time of 9: 46.59. Wayzata took first place with a time of 9: 08.02.

The Marshall Girls’ trainer, Marie Sample, said she was proud of the way they competed, especially because she’s such a young team, and left everything behind.

“I’ve seen a lot of effort, just like we’ve seen all season, but to be honest, they’re so young and didn’t have a track last year; Taleigha is only a seventh grader and has never had a career and we asked a lot of them this year. “ Trainer sample said. “To lead the kinds of meetings we did during our conference and just smaller meetings and then for them to get to sections and put together a great race and then come here for the first time for the state meeting, with the exception of Bellamy , I felt like you were sticking together and doing a good job. “

Sukalski said it was an incredible feeling to be up against some of the best in the country, especially given the uncertainty of their season at the start.

“It’s pretty incredible” said Sukalski. “Coming here in a strange year like this where we weren’t even sure if there was going to be a state meeting earlier this year, it’s pretty amazing to be here and be in the top 16 teams in the state and the race too be.” against some of the best. “

Sukalski, a junior, was the only returnee of the 2019 season and has started the season. Seventh grader Taleigha Bigler ran the second stage, followed by Miracle Tucker in her sophomore year and the freshman Allyson Sample.

Sukalski said her key is figuring out where everyone will fit best during the season at the different stages of the season.

“We’ve been running with almost exactly the same team all year, trying to improve at every meeting, and changing positions throughout the season just to see what works best for us.” said Sukalski.

“And just try to do your best, even if you are ahead, because at the smaller meetings you have to do that, you have to tackle it.” Sample added.

It was the first state appearance for Bigler, Tucker and Sample. Some nerves were felt, but all three runners said it was a great experience.

“It was pretty great” said Bigler. “A little terrifying, but funny.”

The meeting was postponed for an hour due to an accident on I-94 that delayed several teams on the road. As the first event of the afternoon, Sukalski said they were about to check-in on the route when they heard of the hour-long delay.

“Luckily we were here [at the track] but we all panicked a bit. “ said Sukalski. “But we all brought it back together.”

With everyone coming back next season, Sukalski added that they look forward to training together over the summer and fall and working towards their return to the state meeting next spring.

“We will all go into the cross-country season together and run together over the summer so that we can train together for a whole year in order to grow as a team and grow faster.” said Sukalski.

Trainer Sample said they had a lot of experience as a group this season and hopes they can build on that over the next year.

“I think they were competitive all season and fought as best they could with what we could offer them in terms of competition and level of competition. I felt that this year they really grew and had great experiences. “ Trainer sample said. “Hopefully next year will be a little bit more normal again and they will keep growing and getting faster.”

“We have a great team and it’s been a great season and we’ll be back,” said Tucker.