Girls X-Country: Big jump at Faribault

Time Check: Maria Kiminski checks her watch at the two-mile split

Farmington finished exactly in the middle of a quality 18-team field at the Faribault Invitational run Friday afternoon at Alexander North Park in Faribault. The Tigers ranked 15th in the same meet last season.

Totino-Grace and Lakeville North, two of the top teams in the state, finished at the top of the standings with 69 and 93 points respectively. White Bear Lake (128), Apple Valley (136) and Stillwater (140) ranked third through fifth.

Farmington's point total was 220. The Tigers finished at 321 in the same meet last year.

The Tigers continued to run in a pack with the difference between the first and last finisher a mere 1:10.

Junior Maricia Pacheco led the group for the second straight week, earning a medal for her 19th place in the 125-runner field. Pacheco clocked 15:49.7 over the 4000-meter course.

Sophomore Sofia Chadwick and senior Amy Kiminski were not far behind. Chadwick placed 26th in 16:00.4 and Kiminski 38th in 16:01.8.

Sophomore Sarah Cummings took 64th in 16:49.4; sophomore Alexis Johnson 73rd in 16:55.2 and freshman Maricella Pacheco 78th in 16:59.1.

Pre-race preparation

"I'm so excited about our results," Tiger coach Heidi Revels said. "Maricia set a goal to beat 16:00 and she did it. Her time was 57 seconds better than she ran last year.

"All the varsity finishers timed in under 17 minutes. Maricella had one of her best races ever. It's her first time breaking 17 minutes and her time was 1:17 better than last year. Alexis Johnson also finished 1:11 faster than last year's time. I'm very proud of all the girls."

Friday the Tigers head to Lakeville for another large meet, the AppleJack Invitational held at Aronson Park.