(photos by Jim Lindquist)
Tiger coach Tom Hart said if he could change anything he would like a re-do of a hand-off in the 4x200 relay and add an inch to Nadia Lorencz's triple jump distance but all in all, he was impressed with his team's performance at the Section 1AA Championships held Saturday at Lakeville South.
"There are always things you can look back on and think you should have done this or that differently," Hart said, "but the girls had a good day over all.
"In addition to the state qualifiers we had some personal bests and relay teams get to the podium even though they didn't run in the fast heat. The girls gave their best and as a coach, that's all you can ask."
Farmington placed fifth in the 14-team meet and qualified athletes for the state meet in four events: Lorencz in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles; Alyssa Parco in the 300-meter hurdles and the 4x400 relay team of Parco, Erin Hickey, Izzie Ferm and Maria Kiminski.
Lakeville North defeated crosstown rival Lakeville South 140-105 to win the team championship. Rochester Mayo finished third with 93 points, followed by Rochester Century 74.5, Farmington 62, Northfield 51, Rosemount 50.5, Faribault 45, Albert Lea 21, Owatonna 17, Red Wing 16, Winona 14, Austin 12, Rochester John Marshall 1.
Lorencz set a new section and school record in the long jump with a leap of 18-8 and placed second in the hurdles in 15.45 to qualify for two events at this weekend's Class AA state championships in St. Paul. She barely missed making the cut in a third event, finishing third in the triple jump, an inch short of the state qualifying standard with a 35-10 effort.
Parco won her third consecutive trip to state by winning the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 45.90. She placed seventh in the event at the 2010 state meet.
4x400 relay team (l to r)
Maria Kiminski, Izzie Ferm, Erin Hickey, Alyssa Parco
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
The 4x400 team shaved almost a second off its own recently set school record to finish second in 3:59.37 and beat the state qualifying standard of 4:01.09.
The same four runners led the 4x200 relay race headed into the last leg when a mishandled exchange resulted in a third place finish.
Hickey added to her success in the relays with a fifth place finish in the triple jump and a sixth place effort in the long jump.
Ferm also added points in an individual event with a fifth place finish in the 400-meter dash.
The 4x100 relay squad of Mary Cline, Jessica Arey. Kelli Elmer and Kelly Kornmann took seventh and the 4x800 team of Alex Frost, Maddie Strid, Meghan Graham and Hannah Seitzinger ranked eighth.
