Beckett wins 800, 4x400 sets record

Talk about it

Farmington's final running event of the day made the most noise at last Thursday's Missota Conference Championships.

The foursome of Jackie Beckett, Anna Findsen, Kaitlyn Mincke and Nicole Clifton combined to circle the track four times in 4 minutes, 2.03 seconds, breaking their own school record and the meet record of 4:02.99, previously set by New Prague last spring. The event win cemented fourth place and a total of 106 team points for the Tigers, well ahead of fifth-place Red Wing's 85 points and over 30 points off the pace of third-place Shakopee's 139.50. Prior Lake ran away with the team title, 218-181, over runner-up New Prague.

Beckett also claimed Farmington's lone individual victory, besting the field in the 800 with a time of 2:20.05. Teammate Devyn Albert was seventh in 2:33.83.

Both runners were part of the Tigers' 4x800 relay that finished first but was disqualified the next day when coach Tom Hart discovered Bailey Opsal also competed in the 800 and 3,200. Minnesota State High School League rules state that an athlete may only compete in two events of 800 meters or longer per meet. The Tiger boys team violated the same rule with their 4x800 team a few minutes later, but that was noticed while the meet was still in progress.

The Tigers turned in strong performances in two other relays, as well, placing third in the 4x100 and fifth in the 4x200. Callie Doffing, Rilee Carufel, Amy Kiminski and AJ Olatunji completed the 4x100 in 50.70 and Lauren McHenry, Nicole Clifton, Doffing and Kiminski ran the 4x200 in 1:46.98. The top five 4x200 squads crossed the finish line in a span of 1.76 seconds.

Another tight finish came in the open 400 where Clifton's time of 59.46 seconds left her in second place, 22 hundredths of a second behind New Prague standout Brit Rynda. Findsen was sixth in the same race in 1:01.62.

Katrina Fitzgerald and Alex Johnson provided a solid scoring double in the pole vault, placing second and third as both cleared 10 feet. Nekeya Broadnax was fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 33-02.

Also earning a fourth-place finish for the Tigers was Betsy Anderson, who turned in a time of 17.13 in the 100 hurdles. Anderson followed that with a fifth-place time of 48.98 in the 300 hurdles.

Doffing earned a fifth-place finish of her own in the 200, where she crossed the finish line in 26.90. Carufel was eighth in the same race in 26.97 and seventh in the 100 in 13.17.

Mincke added a sixth-place time of 5:18.16 in a tightly-contest 1,600. Holy Angels' Chelsea Pettit won the event in 5:10.46, but finishers three through six all crossed the line within 16 hundredths of a second of each other. Mincke is one of several athletes Hart figures has a shot at advancing to the Class AA State Meet with a strong performance at tonight's Section 1AA meet at Lakeville South High School.

"The team competed very well, and we are looking forward to the section meet," Hart said. "Nicole Clifton in the 400, Jackie Beckett in the 800, Kaitlin Mincke in the 1600, as well as our four relays look to be very competitive in the section meet and challenge for a spot to the state meet."

Tags: sports, track, missota, conference