Bialey Opsal and Maricia Pacheco
The young Tigers had four runners crack the 17:00 minute barrier while finishing sixth at the Missota Conference Championships held Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the New Prague Golf Club.
Chanhassen and Shakopee tied atop the final standings with the Storm gaining the championship on the tie-breaker, higher finish by the sixth runner. New Prague ranked third at 90, followed by Chaska 126, Red Wing 132, Farmington 142, Northfield 156 and Holy Angels 172.
Farmington's top two runners ran in each other's shadow most of the 4000-meter course with freshman Maricia Pacheco finally edging junior Bailey Opsal for 20th place in almost identical times of 16:06.
Pacheco's last second surge earned her all-Missota Conference honorable mention (13th through 20th) recognition; Opsal missed by a place.
Sophomore Maria Kiminski ranked 31st (16:50); eighth-grader Sofia Chadwick 33rd (16:52); eighth-grader Victoria Jacoby 37th (17:02); junior Marissa Stewart 44th (17:26) and seventh-grader Maricella Pacheco 50th (18:15).
"We had four girls finish under 17:00 and our fifth was two seconds over," coach Heidi Revels said, "so as far as times went I was pretty pleased.
"I was a little bit disappointed in our sixth place finish but when you don't have more runners up at the top that's what happens."
The Tigers have one more meet on their 2010 schedule, the Section 1AA Championships scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 28, at Brooktree Golf Club in Owatonna.
