Hyytinen, Pacheco fare well at state

Sophomore Justin Hyytinen finished 29th at the 2012 Class AA State Cross Country Championships

Justin Hyytinen and Maricia Pacheco, Farmington's two representatives at the Class AA state cross country meet held Saturday in Northfield, performed well in their respective races.

Sophomore Hyytinen, who finished third at the Missota Conference Championships in his first year out for the sport, ranked 29th overall in a 176-runner field, covering the challenging 5000-meter course at St. Olaf College in 16:11.4.

"Justin ran a personal record time which met his goal of running his fastest time at the last meet of the season," coach Lisa Lippold said.

"The race started fast but Justin did a good job of hanging on. He was running against the best in the state and learned a lot from the experience. I'm looking forward to seeing what the track season will bring for him."

Junior Maricia Pacheco was the first Tiger female to run at state since 1997

Pacheco, a junior who won all-Missota Conference honorable mention for the second consecutive time last month, finished the 4000-meter course in 15:51.4 and ranked 134th out of 174 finishers.

"The course was very hilly and added to the level of difficulty compared to most courses we ran this year," coach Heidi Revels said. "We had a chance to run the course together on Friday which really helped.

"Maricia felt good about her race and was happy with her finish. She said next year will be much easier now that she knows what to expect... I love her confidence. She deserved to be there and earned her spot with lots of hard work and dedication. I felt privileged to be there with her."