1st 4x100 relay; 3rd long jump; 5th high jump
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Much of the track season, members of the talented Tiger freshman class went head-to-head with upperclassmen in varsity meets. Predictably they found only modest success.
The Missota Conference ninth grade meet was a different story, however. The young Tigers used their superior talent and depth to dominate the league meet held in Shakopee.
Farmington won three of the four relay events and captured three individual titles to rack up a winning 213-point total. Chanhassen was a far-distant second with 96, followed by New Prague 76, Chaska 68, Holy Angels 64, Northfield 60, Red Wing 58 and Shakopee 47.
"Our numbers along with great individual effort allowed us to dominate," Tiger coach Brian Helmstetter said. "It reminded me of our teams from a few years ago as we had great performances all over the field.
"In a team setting, it's nice to have first place finishes, but it is even better to have two or three in the top eight to maximize points."
Two of the three Farmington individual wins came in the throws where CJ Wynings swept the shot put and discus. Reid Taubenheim cleared 11-0 to win the pole vault by a full two feet.
The Tigers also dominated the relays winning the 4x800 (Caleb Gochenour, Jared Wolt, Hunter Meyers, Eric Stoeckman); 4x200 (Mason Auge, Tanner Grubb, Wynings, Jack Erickson) and the 4x100 (Derek Klotter, Mac Bassett, Sean McHenry, Auge).
The 4x400 team of Stoeckman, Mason Gaylord, Erickson and Grubb took second as did Jake Rudeen in the 1600 and 3200-meter runs, Gaylord in the triple jump, Brandon King in the discus and Cullen Smith and Dan Berg (tie) in the high jump.
Third place finishers included Berg in the 110-meter hurdles; Auge in the 100-meter dash; Erickson in the 200-meter dash; Eric Schimmel in the shot put; Bassett in the long jump; and Smith in the triple jump.
Other Farmington point-scorers:
110-meter hurdles: 4. Nickolas Ruack; 7. Jacob Rogers; 8. Hunter Sevenich
100-meter dash: 3. Auge
400-meter dash: 5. Gaylord
300-meter hurdles: 6. Berg; 7. Ruack
800-meter run: 5. Wolt; 7. Gochenour
200-meter dash: 8. Wynings
3200-meter run: 6. Jeffrey Gutierrez
Shot put: 6. Alex Burton
Discus: 5. Burton; 7. Schimmel; 8. Jake Lee
Long jump: 6. Berg and McHenry (tie)
Triple jump: 5. Klotter 8. McHenry
High jump: 5. Bassett
Pole vault: 7. Trace King
