Marshfield coach Fran Worthen watches her team’s practice Monday. World Photo by Alex Powers.

Late Saturday afternoon, Ali Worthen and her mom, Fran, will finish their Marshfield careers together at Hayward Field — with Ali likely wearing more medals from the Class 5A state track meet and Fran possibly clutching another trophy for the school’s trophy case.

It’s a fitting conclusion for Ali, Marshfield’s stellar senior athlete, and Fran, who is finishing her eighth — and final — season as head coach of the Pirates.

This time next year, Ali will be competing in the heptathlon for Seattle-Pacific University and Fran and her husband, Jerry, will be bouncing back and forth between watching Ali and watching Leah, her older sister, who competes for the University of Oregon.

“It’s bittersweet,” Ali said of her final state meet. “I’m sad that I’m never going to wear a Pirate uniform again, but I’m excited about Seattle-Pacific and my future.”

Both Worthens will go down among the best athletes in Marshfield history, and Fran also as one of its better coaches.

Fran won a combination of 10 individual and relay state titles for the Pirates — in addition to leading Marshfield to one team championship — before graduating in 1972, and went on to be one of the top female sprinters and long jumpers in the nation.

Those accomplishments rarely get their proper recognition, said Rich McIntosh, one of Marshfield’s assistant coaches and a 1971 graduate.

“Pre was spectacular, but he never led a team to the state championship,” McIntosh said of famed distance runner Steve Prefontaine, widely acclaimed as Marshfield’s best track athlete.

Today, Fran is widely recognized as a great coach.

“I don’t know of any finer person I’ve ever met — and I’ve worked with a lot of outstanding military officers,” McIntosh said. “I can’t tell you what a wonderful person she is.”

McIntosh has trained hurdlers at three different schools and worked under several head coaches, and said he always looks for three coaching traits — knowledge, work ethic and concern for kids.

“None of the other coaches had all of them,” McIntosh said. “Fran has all three. That’s what’s made her successful. More than that, the kids love her.”

Hunter Fales, another veteran Marshfield coach, first worked with Fran when she joined him coaching South Coast athletes in the Junior Olympics program, and said she greatly improved the organization’s structure and helped create the current Pre Track Club, which has broadened opportunities for the area’s students.

“She took a program that needed direction, provided direction, and developed respect for the program around the state,” Fales said.

But that’s not why he calls her “the best head coach I’ve ever worked for.”

“I think the highest compliment you can give anyone is she has integrity,” he said. “The thing about Fran is she’s very genuine — solid. She cares.”

North Bend head coach Steve Greif, a classmate of Fran at the old Coos Catholic School until after their eighth-grade years, has similar respect for his cross-town counterpart.

“I appreciate what she does for the whole sport of track, not just what she’s done for Marshfield High School,” Greif said. “By that, I mean that she put a lot of energy into the Prefontaine Track Club, that she worked with me to get this (automated) timing system going, that she donates her time to the Prefontaine Memorial Run and the (Prefontaine)Memorial Committee, that she went the extra mile to make the county meet special for everybody. To me, she is the epitome of what sportsmanship and love of the sport is all about.

“I know Marshfield does understand this, but I hope they realize how wonderful she has been for their program. She is just such a great character.”

Fran also has proven popular with the athletes throughout her career as head coach.

“She just relates to the kids on a personal level,” said Ali. “She’s like a mom to the whole team out there.”

Ali loves having her mom as coach.

“We take our coaching and competitive season home a lot,” she said. “We talk about it at dinner. That’s kind of nice to be on that level with a coach.”

Fran joined Marshfield’s staff as an assistant in 1998, and was able to coach her daughter Kelly, who is several years older than Leah, during Kelly’s final seasons. She always will feel rewarded to have had a chance to coach all three, and to coach the entire program.

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity,” Fran said.

“It’s been great. It’s been a challenge. I’ve grown in so many ways. It’s been one of those jobs that just challenges you, and I have to dig deep and find new ways to do things.”

One of the biggest highlights came in 2005, when Leah was a senior and Ali was a freshman and the Pirates won the state title.

“That was amazing,” Fran said, quickly adding, though, that the team’s success has only been a part of what has made the job rewarding.

“I’ve had the privilege of working with coaches like Stan Solomon and Hunter Fales, who have been my mentors all the way through. And the community support and the Pre committee (have been outstanding). I’ve always had people behind me helping me every way they could.”

Perhaps the biggest supporter has been Jerry, who has played the role of father and husband in a busy track family.

“Jerry and I knew when I took on the head coaching job that it was going to be tough,” Fran said. “I don’t think either of us realized how much time it would consume.”

They look forward to enjoying time together during coming springs.

“I’m sure we’ll find something to do,” Jerry said, joking, knowing that they still will spend time at the track, though more as spectators.

“We will travel around and watch the kids compete in new venues,” he said of Leah and Ali. “That’s something we always look forward to.”

Fran also will help at Marshfield’s home track meets — though in a reduced role — and remain involved in the Prefontaine Memorial Committee; the Star of Hope, where she is a board member; and in a bigger way in her church.

“I’ve got a lot of things I really want to do,” she said.

First, though, she gets to coach Ali in one more high school meet.

“It’s exciting,” Fran said. “I think she’s going to have her greatest challenges yet. I think she’s ready to compete. I’m hoping she just rises to the challenge.”

Ali has been an all-year standout — she was the Midwestern League’s co-MVP in volleyball and a first-team all-league player in basketball. But track always has been her favorite sport.

She is the two-time defending state champion in the high jump and also won the 300-meter hurdles last year. In addition to those events, she’ll compete in the high hurdles and long jump.

“I’m nervous,” Ali admitted Tuesday. “I’m not usually a nervous person. This year, I’ve been sick to my stomach all week.”

Ali doesn’t have the top mark in the high jump entering the state meet, and that’s always been her favorite event, going back to when she won a Junior Olympics national title as a 10-year-old.

But she hasn’t jumped as high as she wanted this year.

“I have a lot of my own expectations,” she said. “I haven’t met them yet.”

Fran noted that among Ali’s achievements, including being on Marshfield’s top-10 list in numerous events, she hasn’t set a single school record. But she has a hunch that might change this week.

“I’ve noticed the last couple weeks that she’s just faster and stronger,” Fran said. “It’s like all the training we’ve done for 13 weeks is starting to come together.”

Just in time for a fitting Marshfield finale.