On Thursday, Sept. 22, the Becker boys and girls cross country teams ventured to Buffalo to take on ‘the hill’ for the Buffalo Bison Invitational at the Buffalo Heights Golf course.  

Boys Results

“I have always enjoyed getting to have the team compete at the Buffalo meet,” said Becker Head Coach Dustin Weege. “They often do such a great job of working to overcome obstacles to achieve some nice performances” 

Weege says he talks to his runners about “the hill” in prep for the race and discusses that “even though we will often have mountains to climb in this world, we can conquer them as long as we continue to move forward while also recognizing that we are all part of a team.”

Junior High 

“With four PR paces within the crew, it was a nice way to start,” said Weege.  

Brandt Hemmelgarn was the top Dog on the day as he finished 16th in the race. Weston Denne and Carson Schuster were a little ways behind.   Mavrick Pink was next as he finished 43rd.  Tanner Schmitt and Keaton Colford both capped off the race with some notable PRs.  The junior high team placed seventh.

Varsity

In the varsity competition, it was a hard fought battle with a number of quality teams.  The Bulldogs were again led by the trio of Tanner Felton, Mason Becker, and Parker Spindler as they pushed each other to achieve more.  Felton earned another PR with his 17:13, which earned him an eighth place medal.  Mason Becker  was next in at 17:33 with Spindler coming in at 17:45.

“These guys have been running well considering that it wasn’t that long ago that just getting under 18 minutes was a big feat to accomplish and now they are consistently there,”   said Weege.

Evan Hubbard captured the number four spot for the Dogs with his time of 18.20.  Alex Swanson was 20 seconds back from Evan to earn 38th place.   Jase Tobako (19:09) ran well as he again got very close to breaking into 18’s.  Senior Caleb Reckelberg finished the race as he pressed onward through some trials and demonstrated his good hard-working character.  

As a team, the Bulldogs placed fifth.  Team scores were: Buffalo - 58, Monticello - 71, Delano - 74, Orono - 101, Becker - 118, Sartell - 129, Shakopee - 146, PriorLake - 196, ProvidenceAcademy - 278, STMA - 298, St. Francis - 321.

Junior Varsity

“The guys really attacked the hills well and the results showed as six of the eight runners PR’d for the day,” Weege said. “They shaved nearly six minutes off collectively.”  

Mason Tschida had a time of 19:16, which was  over one minute of improvement.  Alex Schermer was next with a 38 second PR to crack below the 20 minute mark at 19:59 with a 40th place finish.  Noah Bloch (21:21) and Jonathan Drury (21:40) charged the hills and saw positive racing outcomes.  Aiden Frommelt (22:44) crossed the line with over a one minute PR.  

Following Frommelt, was Jacob Kurhajetz (23:48) and then Denlan Harmoning (23:33).  Denlan’s pace yielded a 41 second PR and he was followed up by teammate Thomas Cota, who pulled off a crazy two-minute, 17 second PR in the race.  

“He looked like a whole different runner during the race as he truly pursued a mission and climbed that mountain toward success,” said Weege.  

The JV team placed ninth in the event.

Foley Invite

The Bulldogs also competed on Thurs., Sept. 29 in Foley, but results were not available in time for publication. Check back next week.

Up Next

This year, the Bulldogs host the annual Becker Invitational on Tues., Oct. 2 at the beautiful Pebble Creek Local 9 course.  A youth racing opportunity starts at 3:45 p.m.  Then the junior high team will race at 4 p.m., followed by varsity girls at 4:20 p.m., then varsity boys at 4:50 p.m.  The JV girls will race around 5:15 p.m. and will be followed by the JV boys at 5:45 p.m.  

“The Bulldogs would love to see a good crowd out to support the racing as runners work to chase a prize,” said Weege.

Girls Results

Twelve teams including the #1 ranked class AAA team Minnetonka participated.  

As predicted, the Skippers won the meet handily with 31 points with Becker taking second. 

Team scores:  Minnetonka 31, Becker 81, Monticello 91, Wayzata 102, Waconia 138, Delano 185, Shakopee 202, STMA 216, Buffalo 241, Sartell 248, Providence Academy 279 and Orono 302.

 The challenge of the “big hill” greets the runners at this meet but when they realize that there is also a downhill to balance things out, they handle it better.  

“Our girls ran their downhills aggressively and maintained on the uphill,” said Becker Head Coach Trish Kealy. “Our team had seven season best times and two personal record times.”

Becker was once again led by Adele Changamire, Lexi Rose and Olivia Babler as their top three runners. Adele placed sixth equaling her PR time 19:29.6. 

“As a seventh grader, she is gaining experience and confidence with every race,” said Kealy.  

Rose was just two positions behind Adele and came in eighth with a time of 20:06.3. 

“She is a very competitive person and pushes herself every race,” the coach said.  

A season best time of 20:23.6 was run by Olivia Babler for 14th place. The top 15 racers earned medals.  

Alea Briggs, Bella Duncombe and Brooklyn Karel ran together well and pushed one another.  Alea placed 26th in a PR time of 21:06.8, Bella 27th in 21:11.8 for a season best. Brooklyn dropped back a bit to 39th with a time of 22:00.2. 

“As our sixth runner, Brooklyn had an important distinction of finishing ahead of Monticello’s fifth runner, which is huge,” said Kealy.  

Rounding out Becker’s varsity team at this meet was Natalie Trenz in 61st at 23:05.3.  There were 80 finishers in the varsity race. 

“It really shows that our girls put in more summer miles this year as their times are ahead of last year at this time and the work is paying off,” said Kealy.

Junior Varsity

Becker’s JV team placed 6th out of 11 teams at this meet. 

For Becker, Kayla Gruenes raced a season best time of 22:51.2 and was in 22nd place. Regan Hausmann took 28th in a season best time of 22:55.3, followed closely by Tasha Berthiaume in 32nd (23:00.5).  Sophia Malisheski also had a season best time (24:12.9) for 67th , Raelee Lyon was 74th (24:25.9) and Raegan Leaders had a season best of 25:14.4 in 95th. There were a total of 200 finishers in the JV race.

Junior High

In the 3000 meter junior high race, Becker’s girls placed fourth out of eight teams.  

In 13th place, was Kendall Olson, 16th was Ava Scheiber, 25th Laney Hodel, 27th Lorelei Swanson, 35th Aria Deidrick, 58th Abby Frey and 71st  was Lillee Stevens. There were106 finishers in the junior high race.

“These girls ran a much more competitive race at this meet and I am proud of how hard they worked,” Kealy said. “Overall, we are excited for what is to come for our season and how our teams are pulling together and supporting one another.”

Up Next

Becker’s next meet was Thursday at the Falcon Invitational in Foley — check back next week for full details.