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| Nadia Lorencz Class AA state champion 100-meter hurdles and long jump (photos by Jim Lindquist) |
Saturday morning the talented junior did it again, pulling off what may have been the biggest upset of the meet when she defeated defending champion and state record holder Jessica January of Richfield in the 100-meter hurdles.
Lorencz, who finished second to January in last year's state finals, clocked 14.36 in the race to break her own school record. January was a half step behind in 14.39.
Later in the meet, Lorencz added a little icing to her sweet state meet performance with a fourth place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 37-4.5
"I definitely wanted to win the long jump," Lorencz said of her ambitions heading into the state competition. "I knew the hurdles would be tough because Jessica (January) is such a great athlete...
But early this week I made up my mind that I could win it. I knew I had to stay focused from the start and stay positive. That's what I tried to do and it worked."
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| The section champion 4x400 relay team ranked 6th at state |
"I don't think January has been pushed this year," he said, "and I told Nadia if she could win the first three hurdles, she could win the race. When she gets it in her head she can do something, she usually gets it done."
After finishing ninth in Friday's preliminaries to barely sneak into the finals, the Tiger 4x400 relay team of Alyssa Parco, Alicia Hett, Megan Graham and Izzie Ferm moved up to sixth place on Saturday with a finishing time of 4:00.28.
Ferm also placed in two individual events, ranking eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 36-5 and sixth in the 400-meter dash in a personal best 58.16.
The state meet was a bittersweet one for Parco, the only Tiger senior competing at state this year.
She ran quality 400-meter splits in the 4x400 relay on both days but stumbled over the final hurdle and fell to the track in the preliminaries of the 300-meter hurdles on Friday.
"Everyone felt bad for Alyssa," Hart said. "She had the second fastest seed time coming in and she was way ahead in her heat when she fell...She probably could have rolled to the finish line and qualified but I think the fall dazed her a little."
Parco finished seventh in the 300 hurdles at the 2010 state meet before moving up to third place last spring.
Overall, the Tigers put up their second straight top-five finish in the team standings. They tied for fourth with defending champion Hopkins with 40 points. Lakeville South won the title with 56.5 points.
Farmington finished in fourth place in 2011 with 34 points.
"Alyssa's fall on Friday took a lot out of everyone," Hart said. "but sometimes you're given lemons and you have to try to make lemonade. I think that's what we did for the most part. I'm very proud of all the girls."
