3rd place 100 breaststroke
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Visiting Rochester Century overcame some strong individual Farmington performances to score a 96-82 dual meet win over the Tigers Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Dodge Middle School pool.
The Panthers built an early lead, winning the first three events before Christopher Kirchmann (50 freestyle) and Evan Carufel (diving) posted back-to-back wins. Century went on to win five straight contests before swimming the final two events in exhibition status.
Nick Stephan (100 breaststroke) and the 400 freestyle relay team of Aaron Lane, Zach Holton, Conner Kealy and Kirchmann recorded wins in the final two events of the meet.
"Century gives us a great view to what to look forward to for our section meet," Tiger coach Ryan Hamen said. "They out-swam us in a number of events but we stepped up today and improved in a lot of ways.
"Many swims still need turn work and fine tuning but many are dropping times or getting closer to their personal bests. Kirchmann swam a 49.81 in the fourth leg of the 400 free. Holton swam under 53 seconds, and Conner Kealy got good times after coming back from being sick.
"Dalton Bell dropped some great times in his 50 and 100 free trying to get to the next level of competition and Evan Carufel continues to improve and lead the younger divers."
Four Tigers scored runner-up finishes: Holton (100 butterfly); Jonathan Bovee (diving); Spencer Kabran (100 breaststroke) and Kirchmann (100 freestyle).
Four more Farmington entrants placed third, including Holton (200 freestyle); Andrew Schmidt (diving); Aaron Lane (100 backstroke) and Ben Cohoon (100 breaststroke).
This Saturday, the Tigers who last weekend won the True Team Section 1AA championship, return to the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center for the True Team state meet.
