The Becker boys and girls cross country teams welcomed 12 teams to Becker Oct. 5 for the annual Becker Invitational held at the Local 9 of the Pebble Creek Golf Course. The event served as a preview event for the Section 5AA teams as Becker is scheduled to host again for the Section Championship meet Thurs., Oct. 28.

“We are so grateful for all of the helpers that really made this meet happen as there were a lot of partnerships needed for it to be successful,” said Becker boys head coach Dustin Weege.  “We appreciate the Pebble Creek staff, the community center, the police department, school administrators and staff, the pep band members and director, parents, families, friends, and additional helpers.  We are certainly blessed with so many great people here in town and it was fun to see so many shining!”

A Blast From the Past

“It was neat as well as some history of Becker CC came out during the event with the race timer being Bob Schneider, who had coached the Bulldogs in the past,” Weege said.  

Another coach, Steve Whitaker served as the starter for the day and Jon Tweten was set to make an appearance.  

“It was fun to gather some reminiscent stories from Ron Hubbard and others as they spoke about racing around ‘in the field’ that used to exist on the site of the meet prior to the golf course and community center being added,” Weege said.  

“There were stories being shared about state place-winners Jackie and Charlene Hubbard (‘82 state champion and ‘83 state runner-up) and the state teams of 1982 (placed fourth in state) and ‘83 (placed third) while 1997 state entrant Jesse Babler ran around the course.”

The Gudmundson’s (Linda and Scott) reflected on the many section meets that have been held in town including that of the 2004 state girls team which placed fifth in state and returned to state in 2005 and again in 2008.  

“The familiar faces of the Lahr family also ventured around the course,” said Weege.  “There was a lot of Becker cross country history going on there, and the Bulldogs are excited to continue to make more history.”

Boys CC

The racing for the day started off with a group of youth runners that stepped up to take on the one-mile youth run challenge.  The young runners raced around the course with some blazing fast times and they demonstrated some positive prospects for future Bulldog harriers.  

“I loved seeing them on the course,” said Weege. “I am always grateful to see student-athletes working hard to achieve positive goals.”  

The runners were chasing the lead cart which had a plastic bone hanging from the back of it while the Bulldogs were “chasing the prize”.

The next group chasing the prize was the junior high runners as they made two laps on the course.  The boys and girls started their race together but were scored separately for the day.  The Becker junior high boys team had stellar performances from the runners as they gained the first place team spot on the day.  All eight of the junior high runners managed to be in the top 35 with Mason Tschida, Tanner Felton, Evan Hubbard, and Parker Spindler in the top 10.

In the Varsity realm, the Bulldogs placed fifth behind three state ranked teams of Big Lake, Monticello, Northwest Nighthawks, and the team from St. Cloud Apollo.  The Bulldogs saw nice competitive times on the day and they are continuing to progress well.  

Ryan Nelson, Jacob Peterson, and Alex Kinney raced with times in the 21 minute range while Caleb Reckelberg (19:42) continued his progress with his sub-20-minute time.  Jase Tobako achieved a nice season best on the course with his time of 18:31 while Mason Becker (18:12, 17th place) and Tyson Ricker (17:09, sixth place) both neared their best times as well. 

“Tyson has led the Bulldogs throughout the season and continues to progress as he followed close behind state-ranked runners,” said Weege.

To cap off the night, the boys JV team raced to earn seventh place.  Alex Schermer (21:50) led the JV crew.  Jonathan Drury and Noah Bloch accomplished times in the 22 minute range.  Landon Lahr and Denlan Harmoning were a little ways back.  Ben Howe returned to racing action again and ran 

with teammate Aiden Frommelt for portions of the race.  Thomas Cota came in with a startling two minute, 14 second season best time.

Girls CC

Twelve  teams participated in this meet.

The Monticello girls took first place with 36 points and the Becker girls team were close behind for second with 41 points.  The remainder of the scores were, Spectrum 93, Northwest 94, St. Cloud Apollo, 132, Foley 135, Big Lake 180, Milaca 215. Princeton, St. Cloud Tech, St. Francis, and Sauk Rapids-Rice had incomplete teams.

The medalist at the meet was Spectrum’s Hannah Boese.

The Lady Bulldogs once again ran a very good pack and had a nice 50 second spread from their first through fifth girl. Becker had four season best times and six personal best times.

Placing seventh, Lexi Rose notched a season best time of 21:01.1. 

In eighth and ninth, Becker  had Ella McDonald and Olivia Babler pushing one another the entire way with times of 21:12.2 for a season best for Ella and 21:12.3 PR time for Olivia.   

“The way the girls are dropping times we are looking for sub 21 minutes soon,” said Becker Head Coach Trish Kealy.

Brooklyn Karel placed 13th with a PR time of 21:46.2 while making great strides this season.  Bella Duncombe ran a nice time of 21:51.2, dropping 50 seconds from last week and placing 14th.  Tasha Berthiaume came in 20th with a time of 22:19.2 and Katelyn Brower 29th in 23:00.6. There were 67 runners in this race. 

The Becker JV girls placed second in their competition.

Natalie Trenz continues to show the results of her off season training by again earning a fine PR of 22:40.6 to capture third place.  Alea Briggs and Kayla Gruenes also ran well placing fifth (22:54.2) and sixth (23:08.1).  Raelee Lyon took eighth place with a well earned PR time of 23:21.1.

Regan Hausmann placed 14th in 24:53.2. Also earning a season best time was Anna Kuklok and MacKenna Smith, who earned a PR time. There were 56 runners in the JV race.

Becker’s middle school runners had an incomplete team. There were 39 runners in the middle school race. Sophia Malisheski was Becker’s first girl, running hard and placing eighth. Naiya Hanson came in 12th and Chloe Peterson 27th.

 “We very much appreciate the folks at the golf course for all their help and cooperation with this event.  They have been great,” said Kealy.  “Also all of our workers and the activities office for their help and organization.”

Up Next

Check back here in the Patriot next week for results from the Bulldog’s Saturday meet in Alexandria and Tuesday’s meet at Princeton.