2nd in 4x400 relay; 4th in 200-meter dash; 6th in 100-meter dash
Saturday's nine-team Eden Prairie Invitational was run under mostly dreary, soggy conditions but the Tigers' day was made a bit brighter by a late appearance by the sun and a strong effort in the final event by their 4x400 meter relay team.
The quartet of Jeff Hanson, Tyler Lerbakken and brothers (senior) Tyler and (freshman)Tanner Grubb turned in the highest finish of the day for the Tigers, a second place effort that certainly brightened the day of coach Brian Helmstetter.
"Tanner passed two runners down the stretch," he said, "and gave everyone a shot of adrenaline going forward. We were able to leave feeling good about where we are."
Officially Farmington finished sixth in the team standings with 58 team points although Helmstetter noted that a couple of errors in the final results could have moved his team up a notch or two. Host Eden Prairie dominated the meet with 193.5 points.
In addition to the strong closing performance in the 4x400, Farmington grabbed a trio of third place finishes, two by thrower John Schimmel in the shot put and discus and another by Zach Wyatt in the triple jump.
The 4x100 meter relay team of CJ Record, Blake Ross, Charlie Wicks and Mason Auge took fourth as did Tyler Grubb in the 200-meter dash and Dillon Pariseau in the discus.
Helmstetter said that despite the weather conditions, the meet was a success for his team that has spent much of the spring battling the elements.
"We had 22 personal bests and a couple of our relays would have placed higher if it weren't for dropped batons," he said. "Even with that, they were able to get back in the race and score points for the team."
Helmstetter said the focus this week will be on depth with two upcoming meets where having multiple athletes in each event is the key to success: Tuesday's Missota Conference Relays in Shakopee and the following week's (Tuesday, May 10) Section 1AA True Team Championships at Rochester Mayo.
