Girls Track: Tigers 3rd at Section True Team

Lauren Peterson won the 1600-meter run; Maricia Pacheco (left) took 8th (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington finished third at the 10-team Section 1AA True Team Championships held Tuesday at Lakeville North.

State powerhouse Lakeville South dominated the meet, finishing with a winning team total of 1183 points. Lakeville North took second with 946.5, followed by Farmington 820.5, Rochester Century 750, Owatonna 727.5, Rochester Mayo 686, New Prague 644, Mankato West 636.5, Northfield 546.5 and Rochester John Marshall 390.5.

"I wanted to vie for second place and have a shot at the at-large spot in the state meet," Tiger coach Tom Hart said.  "We had a few events where we did not finish as highly as I thought we could have, but the kids really gave it their all. 

"We had some very tired athletes last night, and they definitely came to compete. We also got a chance to see many of our section teams and what events they looked strong in, so that was a bonus."

Only one Tiger entry scored first place points at the meet. Seventh-grader Lauren Peterson, who seems to get better with every race, out-sprinted New Prague's Maria Berg down the stretch to claim the 1600-meter run in 5:16.04.

Later in the meet, Peterson finished second to Rochester John Marshall's Emma Christensen in the 3200-meter run.

Megan Graham 3 top 10 finishes (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Farmington 4x400 relay quartet of Alicia Hett, Jennifer Miller, Shannon McKnight and Megan Graham closed the meet with a second place finish.

Hett picked up third place points in the 800-meter run and two relay teams put together fourth place finishes: the 4x100 foursome of Racquel Beckett, MaKayla Ford, Kelli Elmer and Morgan Cecchittini and the 4x800 grouping of Hett, Morgan Mach, Maricia Pacheco and Emily Schaffer.

Emma Record recorded the fifth best time in the 100-meter dash and Destiny Schmitz finished fifth in the triple jump.

Other Farmington top 10 finishers:
200 meter dash: 6. Isabelle Ferm; 8. Record
400-meter dash: 10. Graham
1600-meter run: 8. Maricia Pacheco
100 hurdles: 10. Jordan Walls
4x200 relay: 6 (Miller, Record, McKnight, Graham)
High jump: 9. Kaylin Finstad
Pole vault: 6. Walls
Long jump: 9. Cecchittini
Discus: 9. Aly Grebner
Triple jump: Ferm

Alicia Hett 3 top 10 finishes (photo by Jim Lindquist)