(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Cassidy Gerber carries the baton in the 4x100 meter relay
The Tigers picked a perfect day to open their home season, hosting a four-team co-ed meet Tuesday, Apr. 12, at Tiger Stadium. Temperatures stayed in the high 60's for most of the meet and light breezes produced some good early season performances.
South dominated the girls competition with 132 points, followed by Northfield Farmington 47 and Woodbury 6.
Lakeville South won the boys meet with 107 points. Woodbury finished with 80.5, Northfield 47 and Farmington 37.5.
Maria Kiminski provided the lone Tiger win in individual competition in the girls meet with an impressive victory in the 800-meter run.
Farmington also racked up a relay win with the 4x200 foursome of Alyssa Parco, Courtney Johnston, Isabelle Ferm and Erin Hickey leading the field.
The Tigers scored a trio of second place finishes in the other relays: Mary Cline. Kelli Elmer, Ferm and Hickey in the 4x100; Meghan Graham, Hickey, Nicole Clifton and Kiminksi in the 4x400 and Kiminski, Maddie Strid, Bailey Opsal and Clifton in the 4x800.
Two other Tigers scored second place points, Parco in the 300-meter hurdles and Victoria Jacoby in the 3200-meter run.
Marciella Pacheco ranked third in the 3200 and Hickey finished third in the long jump.
"We got a good taste of what we need to do to be successful going forward," coach Tom Hart said. "We had some bright moments, but we know there is a whole lot of hard work ahead of us to be a championship caliber team.
"We were able to involve a lot of athletes last night, so that was a major positive, and it was fun getting to see the kids compete on their home track."
On the boys side of the ledger, high-jumper Sam Hanson continued his fine early season run with a first place effort, clearing the bar at 6-2.
The Tigers also put together second place finishes in three relays: Jack Erickson, Darren Beenken, Alex Chadwick, and Mackinley Bassett in the 4x100; Mason Auge, CJ Record, Tyler Grubb and Hanson in the 4x200 and Tyler Lerbakken, Tyler Wolt, Trevor Breezely and Eric Stoeckman in the 4x800.
Four Farmington individuals scored third place points, including John Schimmel in the shot put, Zach Wyatt in the triple jump, Lerbakken in the 800-meter run and Jake Rudeen in the 3200-meter run.
"Some of our relay teams had their fastest times of the year," coach Brian Helmstetter said, "and our three milers all broke five minutes. Our 4x400 relay team of Reid Taubenheim, Jeff Hansen, Eric Stoeckman, and Tanner Grubb broke the freshmen record and also had our best time of the season.
"We don't have many individual top times yet, but as a group we are better in many areas than we have been the past few years."
Both Tiger teams head to Lakeville North Friday for the highly competitive Mega-Meet and then the boys return to Tiger Stadium Tuesday, Apr. 19, for the six-team Tiger Invitational. The girls host their annual invitational meet on Thursday, Apr. 21.
