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."

Boys X-Country: Improvement all around

Justin Hyytinen: MVP, all-conference, state meet qualifier

 The Tigers improved in just about every area during the 2012 season.

Farmington's fourth place finish in the Missota Conference represented a three-spot move up in the league pecking order and it's sixth place showing at the Section 1AA meet was a three-place improvement from 2011.

In addition, Justin Hyytinen's appearance in the Class AA state meet was the first for a Tiger runner since Elliott Fenske made the field in 2010.

"When I compare the times and places from the previous two years to this year, our team continues to run faster and place higher," coach Lisa Lippold said. "This is great to see. I'm excited to see what the next couple of years hold for us."

Ten Tigers earned varsity letters for their efforts during the season just completed, including seven seniors: Adam Wallenta, Tyler Lerbakken, Caleb Eiffert, Clayton Webb, Alec Wilson, Charles Anderson and Zach Batta.

Sophomore Hyytinen, who finished third at the conference meet and 29th at state, junior Sean Dougherty amd freshman Alex Hart were the three underclassmen letterwinners.

A long list of 29 others, received certificates of participation at the team's post-season banquet, including nine underclassmen: seniors Tommy Weigel, Blake Ross and Jake Manning and juniors Joe Hoeve, Austin Long, Santana Perdomo, Hunter, Sevenich, Trent Kortenbusch and Myles Heetland

Underclassmen participants included sophomores Matthew Anderson, Nash Kirchoff, Peyton Woller, Zach Teiken, Zach Steffen, Michael Sasso, Dylan Pitzen, Jaylen Johnson, Ethan Hensch and Richard Halverson and freshmen Jackson Schneider, Alex Wurst, James Thompson, Ryan Newton, Luke Mikiska, Jake Herrera, Josh Grimm, Coleman Farthing, Joe Cardinal and Lucas Berg.

Alex Hart (left), Rookie of the Year; Adam Wallenta (right): Most Improved Runner

Hyytinen earned the team's Most Valuable Player award while Wallenta, who served as a co-captain with Lerbakken, was tabbed as the Most Improved Runner. Hart won the Rookie of the Year honors.

Lippold said the on-course highlights were obvious but she was also pleased with her team's running the homecoming game ball from Chaska as well as the team's first-ever trip to Duluth to run in the Swain Invitational.

"It was a fun season," she said. "We had many more runners do summer training and show up for Saturday practices. We're hoping that even more of them will do that this summer."

As for the near future, Lippold said she and her staff will be moving the expectations bar even higher for next season.

"Next year we want to be in the top three in the conference and section," she said, "and hopefully get more runners to state."

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."

Girls Soccer: Simply the best

The 2012 Tiger season could be described adequately in two simple words: Best Ever.

Farmington finished the campaign with a school-record 12-5-2 record and tied for the Missota Conference championship, another school-best. The Tigers hosted and won their first section quarterfinal game and advanced to the section championship game for the first time in the sport's history at FHS.

For a little post-season exclamation point, two Tigers, defender Izzie Ferm and keeper Ashley Becker received all-state recognition. Ferm made the Coaches Association first all-state team and Becker received honorable mention.

"The record and the chemistry this team had," coach Rob Carpentier said. "This was the total package."

Carpentier honored 23 Tigers with varsity letters for tehir work during the record-breaking season, including eight seniors: Naomi Wood, Callie Kittelson, Kaylie Sorensen, Tina Oppedisano, Emily Pulido, Alex Frost, Sydney Eckert and Leah Zak.

Underclassmen winning varsity monograms included juniors Ferm, Kelli Elmer, Kelly Kornmann, Rachael Welzin, Kenya Macias, Kayla Kucala, Hannah Miller and Marissa Muelken; sophomores Becker, Kali Andriano-Allard, Emily Johnson, Destiny Schmitz, Nicole Doran, Megan Graham and Sarah Zak.

Carpentier also singled out the season-long contributions of junior student manager Ryan Thompson.

Kayla Kucala All-Missota Conference (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Leah Zak All-Missota Conference (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Becker, who was in on a school record 11 shutouts (10 of them wins) received the team's Most Valuable Player award and was also named the Most Outstanding Player.  She, Ferm, Kucala and Miller all landed spots on the all-Missota Conference squad. Miller and Frost each garnered all-league honorable mention.

Junior captain Hannah Miller (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Most Improved: Sydney Eckert (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Eckert was picked as the team's Most Improved Player and Graham was tabbed as Rookie of the Year. Wood was the recipient of a special coach's award. Eckert, Zak, Frost and Miller served as team captains.

Carpentier was also on the receiving end of some recognition, pickling up his 100th career coaching victory and winning Section 1AA Coach of the Year honors.

The Tigers also set a new Missota Conference record. Their two goals allowed (in six games) broke the old mark by a goal.

"We would have liked to have beaten North in the section finals," Carpentier said, "but that would have been punching above our weight a bit. Other than that there were no disappointments."

The Tiger coach said his program should be well-positioned for another big run in 2013.

"We only lose four regulars so we should be very good," he said. "Owatonna will be tough in the section and Shakopee will be strong in the Missota, but we should be right there."

Carpentier said he couldn't put the 2012 season to bed without some words about his senior class.

"I have always had good senior leadership but this year's seniors along with junior Hannah Miller take the cake," he said. "They led, the team followed and I had the best seat in the house.

"I always say that next year's captains have a lot to live up to. Well, next year's have that and then some."

Valley turns back Tiger rally to win section

The Tigers take the field for Section 3AAAAA title game (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Apple Valley built a 28-7 halftime lead that Farmington chewed down to a touchdown with 11 minutes to play and then exploded for three scores in the game's final 4:35 to defeat the Tigers 49-21 in the Section 3AAAAA title game played Friday night in Apple Valley.

With the win the Eagles move on to the Class 5A state tournament where they will open against No. 1 ranked Totino-Grace. Farmington, who finished 3-6 in 2011, closed the books on its 7-3 season.

"I am very proud of how we came back in the second half," Tiger coach Mark Froehling said. "We came out and ran the football like we knew we could and we gave Darren (Beenken) much better protection. The defense made some key stops and we got back in the game."

Not much of that happened in the first two periods as Valley moved the ball at will against an under-sized and over-extended Tiger defensive unit.

"They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in the first half," Froehling said. "They have some big, strong athletes and we aren't the biggest team in the world."

Johnny Dittman scored the first Tiger TD on a 55-yard pass (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Ironically, the Tigers got on the board first. After the Eagles drove deep into Farmington territory on their first possession, Joe Rucci pounced on a loose ball at the Tiger 20. Five plays later, Beenken hooked up with Johnny Dittman for a 55-yard touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead.

The Eagles pulled to within 7-6 late in the first period and then reeled off three unanswered scores in the second to build its 21-point halftime cushion.

The halftime stats were even more lopsided than the score. Apple Valley had 15 first downs to just two for the visitors. The Eagles rolled up 354 total yards in the half with 240 of them coming on the ground. The Tigers netted just 81 total yards in the first two periods.

"We knew we were better than that," Froehling said. "It was a matter of going out and doing it."

The Tigers got moving on their first possession of the second half, marching 69 yards in 11 plays behind the passing of Beenken (4-4 for 33 yards) and the running of Derek Klotter (36 yards on six carries). A 13-yard throw from Beenken to Mac Bassett scored the six and brought the mammoth Farmington crowd back into the contest.

John LeBlond's recovery set up the final TD (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Early in the fourth John LeBlond's fumble recovery set up a 21-yard scoring strike from Beenken to Bassett and all of a sudden the rout had turned into a game.

But Valley responded with an impressive 13-play, 74-yard scoring drive that ate up as much clock as it did yardage. With 4:35 to play in regulation the Tiger deficit had ballooned to 14 at 35-21.

Farmington's failure to convert on fourth down led to Valley's sixth touchdown and with 3:20 remaining. A long interception return set up the final score with just 34 seconds to play.

The Tigers held the Eagles to fewer than half their first half total after intermission but the winners still eclipsed the 500-yard mark in total offense. Farmington finished with 201.

"We never quit," Froehling said. "We played tough all the way to the end. That's what we try to do as a team....We win together together, we lose together. We celebrate together and we suffer together."

Most of the Tiger yardage came through the air where Beenken was 12 of 21 for 145 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Bassett, Dittman, and Jordan DeCroock each had three receptions.

Mason Auge, Kevin Clifton and Nick Ruark topped the Tiger tackling charts. LeBlond and Rucci each had fumble recoveries and Jack Erickson and Mason Gaylord recorded an interception apiece.

No team likes to see its season end, especially a game short of the state tournament, but Froehling said the 2012 campaign contained more than a few highlights.

"Winning a conference championship and getting to the section finals are always milestones on our list of goals," he said. "We had great senior leadership that saw us through some pretty exciting football. We had a lot of fun. It was a great year."