Five of the six Farmington state meet qualifiers were seniors, but when all was said and done at the rain-soaked 2009 Class AA Championships last weekend at Hamline University, it was junior thrower Logan Hussung who had provided the main Tiger story line.
Hussung (right) took third in the discus and seventh in the shot put to account for 11 of his team’s 22 points as the Tigers finished in an 11th-place tie among 65 teams scoring points.
Hussung tossed the shot 52 feet, 4.75 inches in Friday’s finals, a good
four feet shorter than his season best. Tiger coach Brian Helmstetter
said that might have given his hard-working thrower some extra
incentive for Saturday’s discus competition.
“I know Logan was frustrated with his performance in the shot,” he
said. “He hasn’t necessarily been a bad weather competitor but he was
determined and I know he was pleased with his performance. ... I’m
guessing he is already out practicing for next year.”
Hussung ranked fourth heading into Saturday’s discus final. He fell as
far as sixth in the final round before saving his best for last,
reaching 154-2 with his final throw.
The five Tiger seniors also distinguished themselves at the state
finals. Hurdler Josh Zitzmann placed sixth in the 110-meter high
hurdles against some stiff competition and ran well in the
preliminaries of the 300-meter intermediates, missing the finals by two
places.
Sprinter Josh Jackson (right) chipped in with a pair of eighth-place efforts in
the 100- and 200-meter dashes. He broke his own school record in the
200 in Friday’s preliminaries.
Long jumper Mike Amofah scored an eighth place finish and the 4x100
meter relay team of Derek Waldbillig, Adam Sturm, Zitzmann and Jackson
that set a school record in the prelims took ninth.
“We wanted to get as many of our athletes into the finals as possible
and we made it in seven out of eight events,” Helmstetter said. “That
is the big thing I will take from this weekend. Some of our kids may
not have performed as well on Saturday as they felt they should have,
but we scored in seven of the eight events we qualified. That’s
outstanding.”
Helmstetter also took note of his team’s lofty final ranking,
unofficially the best ever for a Farmington boys team, saying that it
was no small accomplishment.
“We had as many if not more athletes in the finals than the three top
teams (Buffalo, Wayzata, and Rosemount),” he said. “Maybe not the first
place finishes, but we are starting to hang out with the big names. We
are incredibly proud.”
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