Girls X-Country: Pack mentality pays off

Junior captain Maricia Pacheco: MVP, all-conference honorable mention, state meet qualifier

Absent a gold medal-type runner, Tiger coach Heidi Revels preached all season the importance of running in a pack and individuals pushing each other in every race.

The philosophy paid dividends in solid improvement, both in individual times and team standings. Farmington equaled or exceeded its 2011 finish in every meet it ran in this fall.

The Tigers' biggest improvement came in the final meet of the year where they placed sixth at the Section 1AA Championships in Owatonna. They placed 14th in the same meet a year ago.

"I couldn't have asked for a better season," Revels said. "I'm so proud of the girls for their improvement every meet and their sticking together during each meet to finish even closer together.

"The athletes worked hard on being positive and building a strong team bond while aiming high as individuals."

Senior captain Maria Kiminski was the only 12th grader on the roster and led a group of eight runners earning varsity letters. Other monogram winners included junior captain Maricia Pacheco; sophomores Sophia Chadwick, Sarah Cummings and Alexis Johnson; freshman Maricella Pacheco; eighth-grader Sami Hyytinen and seventh-grader Alexandra Laube.

Six other Tigers received certificates of participation at the team's post-season banquet: juniors Cora Cobb and Fernanda Atria; freshmen Breana Sutter, Hannah Morgan and Courtney Kimmel and eighth-grader Ashley Steffes.

Maricia Pacheco was named the team's Most Valuable Player. Pacheco earned all-Missota Conference honorable mention honors for the second straight year and her 12th place effort at the section meet earned her a berth in the state meet. The state meet appearance was the first for a Tiger female since boys coach Lisa (Dingman) Lippold made the cut in 1997.

Maricella Pacheco: Most Improved Runner

Maricella Pacheco took home the Most Improved Runner award and Hyytinen received Rookie of the Year honors.

With the big improvement in both individual and team performances, Revels said the only disappointment in the 2012 campaign was her team's second straight sixth place finish in the conference.

"That will continue to be a goal for our team," she said.

With only Kiminski gone from this year's squad, the Tiger coach said the outlook for next year and beyond is bright.

"Maria will be a loss," she said, "but we will add a handful of middle schoool runners that have shown strong potential.

"There is becoming a mindset that year-around training will result in a stronger season and with that commitment, our future is looking good."