John Schimmel 1st in shot put, discus
The Tigers got exactly what they wanted from Thursday's three-team Pat Foley Classic in Northfield, a quality warm-up for this Thursday's (May 26) Missota Conference Championships scheduled for Tiger Stadium.
No points were tallied at Thursday's three-team meet featuring Farmington, Northfield and Rochester John Marshall but both Tiger boys coach Brian Helmstetter and girls coach Tom Hart liked what they saw at the conference tune-up.
"We had some surprises and some very hard fought races," Hart said. "It was just nice to be in a meet with good weather conditions. Overall, I'd say we had a pretty good day."
"It's a unique meet that's a reminder of the team champion approach," Helmstetter said. "They draw an event out of a hat and the winner of that event gets to keep the traveling trophy for a year. Today it was the boys 300 hurdles so Northfield gets to keep the trophy.
"As for us, we had some personal bests and we got a couple of our injured athletes back. Some of our upperclassmen are reaching last year's form and overall, the meet went well for us."
Boys
Senior thrower John Schimmel led the Tigers to seven first-place finishes, capturing the shot put and discus titles. He threw the shot 49-9 and set a personal-best in the discus with a throw of 144-5.
Senior sprinter Tyler Grubb also had a hand in two first place efforts, winning the 100-meter dash and joining Mason Auge, Jake Erickson and Charlie Wicks to claim top honors in the 4x100 relay.
Other first place winners included Tyler Lerbakken in the 400-meter run; Eric Stoeckman in the 800-meter run and Sam Hanson in the high jump.
Farmington also managed a trio of runner-up finishes in individual events: Grubb in the 400-meter dash; Carl Elmer in the 3200-meter run and Connor Phu and Reid Taubenheim (tie) in the pole vault.
The 4x100 relay foursome of Tommy Wiegel, Auge, Wicks and CJ Record and the 4x400 quartet of Grubb, Record, Wicks and Tyler Beckett each earned second place points.
Elmer took third in the 1600-meter run as did Bradley Dow in the 3200-meter run, Beckett in the 300-meter hurdles and Mason Gaylord in the triple jump.
Girls
Freshman Izzie Ferm won two individual events and combined with Meghan Graham, Erin Hickey and Alyssa Parco in winning the 4x200 meter relay to pace the Tiger girls. Ferm captured the 400-meter run (59.66) and the long jump (16-2.5).
In addition, Farmington scored four other firsts in individual events: Nadia Lorencz, 100-meter hurdles; Mary Cline, 100-meter dash; Hannah Seitzinger, 800-meter run and Maria Kiminski, 300-meter hurdles.
Four Tiger individuals tallied second place points, including Lorencz in triple jump and pole vault; Jordan Bridges in the high jump and Jessica Arey in the 300-meter hurdles.
Finishing third for Farmington were Hickey in the 400-meter run and Kesley Lindell in the high jump.
Both Tiger coaches are excited about hosting the conference meet for the first time in school history. The meet begins at 1:30 and will close under the bright lights of Tiger Stadium sometime in the early evening.
