FARMINGTON (KFSM) - It's been a year of firsts for Farmington High School.
The Cardinals moved up to class 5A this year and they just opened a brand new gymnasium and it does not disappoint.
"We are extremely excited about this facility, the doors that it opens for our kids and our community," Farmington athletic director Brad Blew said. "The gym that we were in was over 30 years old. Our school board and superintendent and myself, we’ve put a lot of hard work and effort to build a first class facility and we’re pretty happy with what we’ve got."
What Farmington has is an arena that rivals any school in the state. It houses a $35,000 weight room, a film room, a state of the art training room and a playing surface that sees some of the best girls basketball around.
"We’re certainly proud of this arena," Farmington girls coach Brad Johnson said. "It’s something that I’ve told as many people that will listen to me, our community deserves an arena like this. They deserve to be able to come in and watch a team that can go out and play well."
The Lady Cardinals are seeing more than just moderate success in their first season in 5A. Farmington is off to a 15-3 start, and more important sit at 5-1 in the 5A-West heading into Friday's showdown at Vilonia.
"It’s the toughest game of the year and we’re going to have to play as hard as we can," Farmington senior Kristi Duchanois said. "It’s to come out as the number one team in the conference so we’re going to have to play together and come out and play our toughest."
"We’ve got to come prepared," senior Tahlon Hopkins said. "We have to play as a team. Hopefully do our best and pull out a win."