Elliot Fenske capped his distinguished Missota Conference career with another top five finish as the Tigers placed sixth at the Missota Conference Championships held Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the New Prague Golf Club.
Favored Red Wing won its second straight league crown with a 44-point total. Conference newcomers Chanhassen and Chaska took the second and third spots with 59 and 83 respectively, followed by Shakopee 114, Farmington 126, Northfield 126, Holy Angels 177 and New Prague 183.
Farmington finished with an identical point total as Northfield but won the sixth place nod on a tie-breaker because its sixth runner had a a better time than Northfield's.
Fenske, who finished fifth in the 2009 meet, moved up to fourth in standings, finishing the 5000-meter course in 16:33.
"Elliot ran tough," coach Keith Revels said. "He always does. The guys in front of him could make some serious noise at the state meet."
The Tigers could just have easily moved up another notch in the standings but Carl Elmer, their No. 2 runner all season, battled upper leg cramps most of the way and was the sixth Farmington finisher for the day.
"I feel bad for Carl," Revels said. "He has run well all season. He had to stop but fortunately he got doing again. He ended up being that sixth runner who got us the tie-breaker."
Dan Block broke the 18-minute barrier to finish 26th in 17:59 and grab the second spot for the Tigers. Ben Olson placed 30th (18:10); Lincoln Kirchoff 32nd (18:11); Adam Wallenta 34th (18:15); Elmer 43rd (18:46) and Alec Wilson 50th (19:15).
"If we had a healthy Carl, we'd have made a run at fourth," Revels said. "All in all, it wasn't a bad outing."
The Tigers now prepare for their final meet, the Section 1AA Championships slated for Thursday, Oct. 28, at Brooktree Golf Club in Owatonna. Fenske will have special motivation for the section as the top finishers move on to the state meet the following week. Fenske placed 28th at state last fall.
