The MSHSL State Cross Country Championship was held at the Les Bolstad Golf Course on the University of Minnesota campus last Saturday. The Becker Bulldogs were estimated to come in 10th place, but that just pushed the team to do better than predicted. 

With a final score of 219 points, the Bulldogs managed to pull off a seventh place win.

After a school hallway send off on Friday and a parent farewell on Saturday, the Bulldogs were off to the meet.  

“It was fun to race in the state meet the last couple of years, but it was really special to be able to race as a team this year as we’ve been working toward this goal for a while now,” said Parker Spindler. 

The Bulldogs started the race off in box seven of 24 which placed them closer to the middle of the field. The terrain was difficult with multiple hills sporadically appearing throughout the race.

The Bulldog runners were meeting their one mile mark times and by the two mile mark, it was no different. 

Spindler was the leader for the Bulldogs with his 16th place finish and overall best time of the season (16:09.8). With a 21st finish, Tanner Felton was the second Bulldog to cross the finish line (16:19.5). The third Bulldog to finish the race was Alex Swanson, who came in 72nd place (16:57.5). 

Following Swanson was Evan Hubbard with his 117th place finish (17:28.6). Brandt Hemmelgarn achieved his season best time and finished in 124th place (17:42.0). In 139th place came Holden Hubbard after pushing himself on the course (17:55.6). In his final high school 5km, Alex Schermer finished the race with a time of 18:57.0. 

All racers worked hard in the meet whether they were racing or alternates (Mason Tschida, Weston Denne, and Jonathan Drury). 

“I am proud of these young men while I look forward to seeing what each of them can achieve in many arenas in their future,” said Head Coach Dustin Weege. 

During the award ceremony, Spindler and Felton both received All-Sate status, which means they are in the top 1% of runners in the state. Academic All-State was also awarded to Spindler at the ceremony. Gold Status for academic performance was awarded to the team as a whole. 

“I look forward to continuing this journey with the Bulldogs as we work to continue to achieve in many ways,” exclaimed Weege.