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| Junior Maricia Pacheco |
Maricia Pacheco (left) and Sofia Chadwick (below) hit the finish line just .01 of a second apart. Pacheco placed 28th in 16:29.1 and Chadwick 29th in 16:29.2.
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| Sophomore Sofia Chadwick |
The Tigers took their act north on Saturday to test their hill climbing abilities at the 61st running of the Swain Invitational at Enger Park in Duluth.
The girls seemed to find the challenging up-and-down course to their liking, placing 10th overall in a talented 24-team field.
"I was very happy with the results," Tiger coach Heidi Revels said. "It's definitely a much hillier course than the team is used to, but the results proved that all the tough hill workouts at practice are paying off."
Maricia Pacheco squeezed by teammate Sofia Chadwick at the finish line as the Tiger duo placed 28th and 29th respectively in times of 16:29 and 16.29.2. Chadwick's time was nearly a minute faster than she clocked last year in the Port City meet.
The next Three Tigers in the chute finished in a tight 12-second span: Maricella Pacheco 62nd, 17:10.2; Sami Hyytinen, 70th, 17:21.6 and Maria Kiminski, 72nd, 17:22.9. Sarah Cummings ranked 133rd in 18:26.6 and Courtney Kimmel 155th in 18:42.7.
"Our top five runners finished within one minute of each other," Revels said, "with Sami (Hyytinen) making a strong finish within that group for the second race in a row."
Tuesday the Tigers return to metro area competition with a trip to the Shakopee Invitational at Memorial Park in Shakopee.
