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| Maricia Pacheco (front) won a medal for her 13th place finish at Faribault |
Friday afternoon the Tigers ranked fifth among 20 schools at the 20-team, talent-rich Faribault Invitational held at Alexander Park. Farmington finished fifth among 18 schools at the same race last fall.
Lakeville North and Burnsville tied for the low score in the meet with 76 points with North winning the title on a sixth-place runner tie-breaker.
White Bear Lake took third with 95 points, followed by Totino Grace 114, Farmington 176, Stillwater 240, Mankato West 248, Apple Valley 273, Faribault 285,, Edina 292, Owatonna 306, Rochester Mayo 332, Math and Science Academy 339, Rochester Lourdes 341, Rochester Century 351, Albert Lea 360, Winona 403, Mankato East 416, Brookings (SD) 509 and Kasson-Mantoville 590.
Maricia Pacheco ranked 13th in a 140-runner field and earned a medal for her 13th place finish in a time of 16:08 over the 4000-meter course.
The next four Tiger runners all cracked the top 50. Lauren Peterson placed 30th in 16:35.2; Sofia Chadwick 40th in 16:57; Anna Palodichuk 44th in 17:06.9 and Sami Hyytinen 49th in 17:19.4
Maricella Pacheco finished 62nd in 17:31.7 and Alexis Johnson placed 67th in 17:38.1.
Coach Heidi Revels was also pleased with the effort of her five-runner junior varsity team that placed ninth overall in a 19-team field. Members of that team include Sara Cummings, Hannah Morgan, Mariana Montbriand, Abby Bolling and Emily Schaeffer.
"It was an exciting start for our team," Revels said. "It's encouraging to see improvements so early in the season. The combination of experienced runners and newcomers can be a challenge, but so far they are meshing well in practice and already learning to work together in a racing situation.
Next Friday the Tigers make the short trip to Aronson Park in Lakeville for the Lakeville North Invitational.
