Girls Lacrosee: Welzin named All-State

Rachael Welzin-All-State Selection

For the second year in a row a Farmington girls lacrosse player has has landed a spot on the Coaches Association All-State team.

Junior Rachael Welzin will be officially recognized at a state post-season awards banquet scheduled for Monday. Last year Tiger Haley Bradshaw earned all-state honors.

Welzin had a breakout junior year, tying Bradshaw's regular season school record for goals with 42 and establishing new marks in assists (14) and total points (56).

"Most importantly, Rachael is a tremendous leader, someone the girls can look up to on and off the field," coach Dan Pickens said. "She works hard in practice, makes good decisions off the field, and does well in school. 

"She is a very fast, strong, athletic, and competitive player. When she puts those cleats on and steps on the field she does whatever it takes to win games...More good things are coming for her. I can't wait to see what kind of a product we are going to put on the field next year, including our leading goal scorer."

Softball: Betzold All-Metro x 2

Ashley Betzold StarTribune and Pioneer Press All-Metro (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Tiger Ashley Betzold received a double dose of good news Tuesday when the Minneapolis StarTribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press announced the senior righthander had made their All-Metro teams.

Betzold  has been a staple in the circle for the Tigers since she was an eighth-grader and will take some impressive statistics into Thursday's 2013 Class AAA tournament in Mankato.

So far this spring, Betzold has thrown 143 innings and compiled a stingy earned run average of 1.08. She has recorded almost a strikeout (130) an inning and owns a 19-5 record.

"Ashley is a battler," Tiger coach Paul Harrington said. "The tougher the situation, the tougher she gets.

"She is also an amazing defensive player. She never hurts herself in the field. Having her there is like having another shortstop up the middle."

While best known for her pitching ability, The Tiger senior also carries a big bat, leading the team with a .410 average and 17 RBI while hitting in the third spot in the batting order.

Harrington said that in addition to her obvious pitching and hitting skills, Betzold supplies leadership to a young team that sports just one other senior.

"She's not what you would call a vocal leader," he said, "but she leads by example. The other kids see how hard she works and they want to do the same. They don't want to let her down."

Betzold, the only Missota Conference player to make either all-metro team, will attend St. Mary's University in Winona next fall where she plans to continue to her softball career.

Girls Lacrosse: Tigers give South a battle

Defender Kylee Glen

When the Tigers squared off with Lakeville South during the regular season the unbeaten Cougars (12-0) rolled to an easy 17-7 win.

South won the rematch 12-6 last Friday in the Section 1 semifinals but according to Tiger coach Dan Pickens his team gave the top-seeded Cougars a battle.

"It was a good game, much closer than the final score showed," Pickens said. "The girls came to play. We stuck to our game plan and executed very well. Overall we gave it a good fight and I am proud of our effort and execution."


The first half was a back-and-forth affair until the Cougars scored three late goals to take an 8-5 halftime edge.

The score was still 9-6 with five minutes to play when South put together another 3-0 closing run.

Rachael Welzin 3 goals (photo by J. Lindquist)

One of the reasons for the closer game was the defensive effort of Kylee Glen who drew the tough assignment of shadowing Cougar standout Abby Ness. Ness cored three goals and had 12 assists in the first game, but Glen held her to just one goal and no assists the second time around.

Rachael Welzin netted three goals for the Tigers' offense. Lindsay Benson had two and Delaney Johnson one in the final game of the 2013 season.

Maddie Kohlbeck had a solid night in net with 14 saves on 26 South shots on goal.

"Maddie had a great game," Pickens said.

The Tigers finished the season with an 8-7 record, including a six-game winning streak heading into the section semifinals.

2013 Honor Athletes

2013 HONOR ATHLETES 
(action photos by Jim Lindquist)

Darren Beenken-Male Athlete of the Year

Maria Kiminski-Female Athlete of the Year

Alex Chadwick-Oscar Lubke Award

   

Sydney Eeckert-Leslie Lindell Award

Tyler Lerbakken-Tom Rolloff Scholar Athlete

Morgan Elliot-Tom Rolloff Scholar

Rachael Peroutky-AAA Award

Patrick Shea-AAA Award

Boys Track: Hyytinen, 3 relays going to state

Justin Hyytinen to state in 3 events (all photos by Jim Lindquist)

Eight Tiger athletes earned the right to perform on the big stage of the state track meet with first or second place efforts at last Saturday's Section 1AA Championships held at Lakeville South.

Sophomore iron man Justin Hyytinen had his fingerprints on three of the Farmington state qualifying efforts, taking second in the 1600-meter rum in 4:23.58 and running a leg on the winning 4x800 and second place 4x400 relay teams.

Tyler Lerbakken, Devon Webb and Jared Wolt joined Hyytinen in winning 4x800 relay in a school record 8:03.80 and Lerbakken, Hyytinen, Tommy Weigel and Tanner Grubb made up the victorious 4x400 team that clocked 3:28.14.

The quartet of Mason Auge, Ryan Parco, Weigel and Grubb took second in the 4x200 in 1:30.79  to earn its trip to state.

"This meet is all about getting people to the state meet," Tiger coach Brian Helmstetter. "Winning the team championship would be nice but that would be a bonus."

Tyler Lerbakken on two state relays

The Tigers didn't win the team title but did finish in a second place tie with Owatonna with 70 points, 12 fewer than champion Rochester Century.

Lakeville North and Faribault finished two points back in fourth place, followed by Winona 64, Kasson-Mantorville 56, Lakeville South 52, Austin 45, Rochester John Marshall 40, Rochester Mayo 39, Red Wing 21, Northfield 17, Dover-Eyota/St. Charles 5 and Albert Lea 5.

Two Tigers finished within a place of making the state meet field. Lerbakken ranked third in the 400-meter run and Wolt took third in the 800-meter run.

Nehemiah Rockett finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and Grubb scored fourth place points in the open 200 meters.

Auge clocked a season-best in his sixth place finish in the 100-meter dash and Dan Berg placed seventh in the high jump.

Conner Phu took eighth in the pole vault and Jacob Earp placed eighth in the long jump.

"The boys knew what they had to do today and for the most part they did what we expected," Helmstetter said. "It will be interesting to see how they do next week."

Tanner Grubb anchored two state meet relays

Helmstetter stayed away from making any predictions for next weekend, saying only that he expected his state entrants to be "competitive" at state..

"There are some awfully good times around the state in the events we will be running," he said. "Stillwater may break the state record in the 4x800. It will be great competition."

The state meet finals are slated for Saturday morning at Hamline.

Mason Auge

Ryan Parco

    

Devon Webb

Tommy Weigel