Tigers among leaders; O'Reilly, Taubenheim sign

Jamin LeDuc is ranked 3rd in the metro among 113-pounders (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Several Tigers winter sports athletes are among the StarTribune's metro area statistical leaders released Wednesday, Feb. 12.

Four Tiger wrestlers made the list in their respective weight classes. Jamin LeDuc led the way with a 30-3 mark, good enough for third in the 113-pound division. Joe Hoeve (26-6) is fifth at 182 pounds; Taylor Venz (24-8) 10th at 120 pounds and Matt Rustad (24-9) 11th among 132-pounders.   

Justin Novak ranks 13th among boys hockey scorers with 44 points on 13 goals and 31 assists. The 31 assists ties for fifth among metro leaders.

Teammate, Nick Schoening who owns a 6-1 season season record, is sixth among metro goaltenders in save percentage with a .930 mark.

Farmington basketball has two players among the metro leaders. Zach Speikers and his 19.4 points a game average rank 34th among boys scorers and Sofia Chadwick (16.2 points per game) is 39th among the girls.

Tiger Molly Singewald finished with the third best save percentage among Missota Conference goaltenders with a .904 mark. Former Tiger Ashley Corcoran, now at Red Wing, led the league at .923.

O'Reilly on to Naval Academy

(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Tiger senior Kaitlyn O'Reilly, a nine-time all-state swimmer, will attend the United State Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland next fall where she will continue her competitive swimming career. O'Reilly is the first Tiger girls' swimmer to sign a NCAA Division I National Letter of Intent.

Taubenheim signs with North Dakota

(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Reid Taubenheim, who owns all of the FHS placekicking records, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play football for the University of North Dakota next fall.

Boys Swimming: A Missota tune-up

(photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington tuned up for this Saturday's Missota Conference Championships with a 94-92 non-conference dual meet win over Rochester John Marshall at the Dodge Middle School pool.

The Rockets won the battle for first place points by winning eight of the meet's 12 events but the Tigers won the overall war by piling up the points in places two through five.

"We did well," Farmington coach Ryan Hamen said. "JM has some very strong swimmers. We stacked up the way we want to swim Saturday at our conference meet."

The Tiger individual winners included Jonathan Bovee in one-meter diving; Ian Alexander in the 500 freestyle and Daniel Berg in the 50 freestyle.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Berg, Garrett Haugen, Brandon Dion and Eric Schimmel also scored first place points.

Adam Dougherty 3rd in diving (photo by J. Lindquist)

Farmington racked up eight runner-up finishes, seven in individual events and one in a relay.

The individuals included Alexander, 200 freestyle; Haugen, 200 individual medley, Dion, 100 butterfly; Berg, 100 freestyle; Tristen Butoi, 500 freestyle; Ben Gunderson, 100 backstroke and Robin DeCatro, 100 breaststroke.

The other second place effort came from the 400 freestyle relay quartet of Berg, Haugen, Dion and Schimmel.

Seven other Farmington individuals came in third: Schimmel, 100 and 200 freestyle; Dion, 200 individual medley; Adam Dougherty, 50 freestyle; Sean Dougherty, one-meter diving; Brock Lange, 100 butterfly and David Bovee, 100 backstroke.

The Missota Conference Championships will be held Saturday (Feb. 8) at the Dodge Middle School pool starting at 10:00 a.m.

Tiger Scoreboard: February 4, 2014

Boys Swimming
Farmington 94 Rochester John Marshall 92

Gymnastics: Saving the best for last

Tahra Eckert second in vault

The Tigers recorded their highest team score of the year in their final meet of the regular season, a 146.925-138.25 Missota Conference loss to New Prague Friday night at the District Service Center.

"What a great last home meet," coach Lynn Bauman said. "The girls are really steppin' up...Once again beam was our weak point. We lost three points in falls. We stay on, we go over 140.  I know we can do it and we will."

The Trojans finished first in all of the events but several Tigers turned in impressive performances.

Tahra Eckert took second in vault and tied teammate Amanda Davenport for third in all-around to pace the Tiger effort. Davenport also placed third in vault and  fourth in floor exercise.

Abby Schwartz finished fifth on the uneven bars and Rachel Kiminski checked in at fifth place in floor exercise. 

New Prague won the junior varsity meet 130.45-125.4 with the Tigers scoring three first place finishes: Kiminski in vault; Gina Mercurio in floor exercise and Sidney Comes in all-around. Kenzie McCudden took the runner-up spot on the balance beam.

Friday the girls head to Chanhassen for the Missota Conference Championships. The following Friday they travel to Rochester Century for the Section 1AA meet.

 

 

 

Girls Hockey: Tigers settle for tie in finale

Shelby Klotz scored late to tie the game at 2-2 (photo by Jim Lindquist)

A win would have bumped the Tigers regular season record to the .500 mark but they had to settle for a 2-2 with Holy Angels in the regular season finale played Saturday afternoon at Richfield Arena.

The draw left coach Jon Holmes' squad with a final record of 11-12-2 heading into this week's Section 1AA tournament. Farmington finished 3-6-1 in Missota Conference play and ranked fourth in the six-team league standings.

The Tigers started the season 2-8-1 before closing on a 9-4-1 run over their final 14 games.

Farmington got the better of the play against the Stars, out-shooting them 25-21 for the game, including a decisive 10-3 margin in the third period, but could not come up with the game-winner.

After a scoreless first period the Stars netted the only goal of the second to lead 1-0 heading into the final 17 minutes of regulation.

Megan Stivers knotted the score with a power play score 36 seconds into the third period on an assist from Ellie Moser but Holy Angels countered with a goal of its own to re-take the lead.

Dani Wright assisted on tying goal (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Shelby Klotz re-tied it the game's final minute after the Tigers pulled goalie Molly Singewald in favor of another attacker. Moser and Dani Wright assisted on the tying goal..

Singewald has another good outing in net for the Tigers, sopping 19 of 21 shots. Singewald finished the regular season with an 11-7-2 record and 2.09 goals-against average.

"We came out flat and continued that way until the third period," Holmes said. "It was  a good show of when we want to play, we can dominate.  Hopefully, we will take this to heart and show up for three periods in our section game on Wednesday."

The Tigers drew the No. 6 seed and will open Section 1AA play Wednesday night with a road game at No. 3 Rochester John Marshall. The Rockets downed Farmington 5-2 when the two teams met in the second game of the season at Schmitz-Maki Arena.