400-meter dash winner and part of the winning 4x200 relay team
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
The Tigers finished behind Burnsville and Shakopee in Tuesday's home triangular but coach Brian Helmstetter saw more than a few positives in his young team's performance.
"Overall I thought the meet was a move in the right direction," he said. "The boys know they have a long way to go, but the majority of them had a mark or time that helped them see the off-season work had paid off.
"We have identified events that we need to improve on and hopefully will have some guys step up in the next couple of meets to give us a taste of where we are at this point in the season."
Burnsville scored 75 points to win the meet. Shakopee finished with 63 and Farmington 48.
The Tigers won four events, including the 1600-meter run where Ty Hyytinen set a new ninth grade school record with a time of 4:42.54.
"That's been a race we've needed to improve on over the past few years," Helmstetter said.
Reid Taubenheim cleared 12-0 to win the pole vault and Tyler Lerbakken claimed the 400-meter dash in 53.05.
Mason Gaylord shows winning form in the 4x200 relay
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
The Tigers also won the 4x200 relay with Mason Auge, Sean McHenry, Lerbakken and Mason Gaylord carrying the baton.
Three Tigers combined for four second place finishes: Joe Ouyang in the shot put and discus; Josh Baker in the high jump and Connor Phu in the pole vault.
Justin Hett had personal bests in both the long jump and triple jump to finish third in each event. Chad Retterath took third in the 3200-meter run and Bret Hoffman placed third in the shot put. Dan Berg scored third place points in the high jump.
Next up for the Tigers is an appearance at the New Prague Invitational Thursday, Apr. 12.
