(photo by Jim Lindquist)
A look at the list of letterwinners tells the story of the 2011 FHS boys track season.
A strong 12-man senior class and a potentially even stronger group of 15 freshmen gave the Tigers a productive 2011 season and hopes for even better things to come in 2012 and beyond.
Farmington finished fifth in the eight-team Missota Conference and ranked 10th in a 15-team field at the Section 1AA Championships. The freshmen won their Missota Conference meet by a wide margin.
"Injuries hurt our senior class much of the season," coach Brian Helmstetter said, "so we had to depend on young athletes at some of our big meets and that made it difficult to compete for the top spots.
"That caused this to be a rebuilding year more so than we were hoping. But we gained a lot of varsity experience and that should hopefully benefit us as soon as next year."
The 12 senior letterwinners included Zach Wyatt, John Schimmel, Tyler Grubb, CJ Record, Charlie Wicks, Carl Elmer, Sam Hanson, Dillon Pariseau, Tyler Beckett, Matt Stephan, Drew Cayard and Cory Johnson.
Juniors Justin Hett, Joe Ouyang, Chad Retterath and Trevor Breezley earned monograms as did sophomores Tyler Lerbakken, Alex Chadwick, Connor Phu, Tommy Weigel, Adam Wallenta, Brad Dow, Alex Wilson and Tyler Petter.
The strong freshmen class included Mason Auge, Tanner Grubb, Jack Erickson, Dan Berg, Mac Bassett, Eric Stoeckman, Cullen Smith, Mason Gaylord, Jake Rudeen, Reid Taubenheim, Nick Ruark, Derek Klotter, CJ Wynings, Jake Lee and Sean McHenry.
Sprinter Tyler Grubb, high jumper Hanson and thrower Schimmel each earned all-Missota Conference honors while Wyatt received all-league honorable mention.
Hanson, who jumped a school record 6-7 early in the season, won both the conference and Section 1AA titles and finished in a 13th place tie in the event at the state meet.
Wyatt and Schimmel shared the team's Most Valuable Player Award while Lerbakken took home the Tiger Award for what Helmstetter termed "hard work and doing things right."
Helmstetter said he expects to see the Tigers fare better next spring but warned that will depend a lot on the improvement of the younger athletes.
"We'll only have four senior lettermen back," he said, "so we'll again have to depend on younger faces to get us back competing for championships.
"We will be working hard over the summer with weight lifting and speed work. Our middle school numbers were as high as ever so that should also give us a good boost of young talent."
Season-Best Performances:
4x800 relay: Eric Stoeckman, Jared Wolt, Trevor Breezley, Tyler Lerbakken, 8:51
110-meter hurdles: Dan Berg, 17.2
100-meter dash: Tyler Grubb, 11.54
800-meter run: Lerbakken, 2:05
4x200 meter relay: Mason Auge, CJ Record, Tyler Grubb, Sam Hanson, 1:34.7
400-meter dash: Tyler Grubb, 51.64
300-meter hurdles: Tyler Beckett, 42.84
4x100 relay: Jack Erickson, Charlie Wicks, Alex Chadwick, Mason Auge, 45.94
1600-meter run: Carl Elmer, 4:47
200-meter dash: Tyler Grubb, 23.26
3200-meter run: Elmer, 10:23
4x400 meter relay: Jake Hanson, Lerbakken, Tanner Grubb, Tyler Grubb, 3:32
High jump: Sam Hanson, 6-7 (school record)
Long jump: Zach Wyatt, Mac Bassett, 20-4
Triple jump: Wyatt, 40-5
Shot put: John Schimmel, 51-10
Discus: Schimmel, 144-5
Pole vault: Reid Taubenheim, 11-6
