Boys X-Country: Lucky 13 at Faribault

Justin Hyytinen finished 18th in a 125-runner field

For the second straight season the Tigers ranked 13th out of 18 teams at the high-octane Faribault Invitational held at Alexander North Park in Faribault.

State power Stillwater literally ran away from the field with a low meet total of 32 points. Owatonna was well back in the second spot at 89 with White Bear Lake 134, Brookings, South Dakota 144 and Totino-Grace 158 rounding out the top five. Farmington finished at 327, 57 fewer than last year.

Despite the same finish in the team standings as a year ago, Tiger coach Lisa Lippold was upbeat about her team's performance.

"We didn't have everyone available," Lippold said. "Dan Block ran in the JV race because he is coming back from an injury. I would rather have him back for later in the season then rushing him back now.

"We're away ahead of where we were last year at this time as far as time goes and we have several new runners who are still getting used to running at this level."

Sophomore Justin Hyytinen again led the Tiger pack with a medal-winning time of 16:42 over the flat and fast course, good enough for 18th place in the 125-runner field.

Freshman Alex Hart placed 59th in 17:40.8, followed by senior Adam Wallenta (75th; 18:06); senior Tyler Lerbakken (78th; 18:09.1); senior Caleb Eiffert (97th; 18:43.1); senior Clayton Webb (111th; 19:06.6) and freshman Ryan Newton (121st; 20:02).

Caleb Eiffert (right) and Ryan Newton stride out at Faribault

Junior Sean Dougherty and senior Block ran the JV race in 18:48 and 18:52 respectively to put them in the hunt for a spot in next week's varsity lineup.

Next Friday the Tigers run in another mega-meet, the AppleJack Invitational scheduled for Aronson Park in Lakeville.