The Becker Bulldog boys and girls track teams competed in the Section 8AA finals last Saturday at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School.

 

“It was a day of success and disappointment at the same time,” said Head Coach Paul Schmidt.  

 

Five times the Becker athletes came up “just short” with third place finishes (the top two go to state).  

 

“Taking nothing away from the outstanding performances of our athletes, it was disappointing to not have anyone make it down to the state meet,” said Schmidt.

 

Becker’s string of third place finishes started with Austin Hemmelgarn in the 100 meter dash.  Hemmelgarn came in with the third fastest time of the prelims and was able to hold that position by finishing in that same spot with a time of 11.22 seconds.  

 

“This was a personal best for Austin and was only two-hundredths off of the second place finish, which went to state,” said Schmidt.

 

Next came Kevin Andres, who along with Sidney Boros made the finals in the 400M.  Andres was in lane eight and Boros in lane six when the gun went off. Schmidt said this race contained a bit of strategy as Boros “went out hard in the first 200 meters to give Kevin someone to chase.”

 

“This gave Kevin a great opportunity to make it to state and at the same time saving Sidney for the all important 4x400 relay later in the day,” said Schmidt.  “With Sidney just coming back off of an injury, we knew it would be tough to run the 400 in a day.”  

 

Boros’s strategy worked almost perfect as he ran aggressively. Andres came up just short of making it to state with a third place finish, but garnered a personal best time of 50.28.

 

Becker’s third, third place came from Matt Davalos, who ran a great race and was able to end his hurdling career on a high note. He came within two-tenths of second in advancing to the state tournament in a race that he previously broke the school record in.

 

“Matt wasn't necessarily your traditional hurdler,” said Schmidt. “But I have never seen anyone run so hard in between each hurdle.”

 

Hemmelgarn hoped to have a different result in the 200 meters and ran a great race finishing in 22.92 which tied his personal best from the prelims three days prior.  

 

“Austin definitely picked the right time to peak this season and again was really close to making it to the state meet,” said Schmidt.  “He will be a force to contend with next year.”

 

Becker’s final third place came in the 4x400 meter relay.  

 

“We joked before the race about how it was time to break this jinx,” said Schmidt. “But it wasn't meant to be.”  

 

Boros got the relay squad off to a great start with a 51 second split. Davalos nearly matched that with a 52 split.  

 

“It was between the handoff with Matt and Austin that things went wrong,” said Schmidt.  “As Matt was handing the baton to Austin, we were in second place along with Moorhead and Willmar. 

 

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the second runner for Wilmar accidentally knocked the baton from Davalos’ hand.  With quick reaction, Hemmelgarn stopped and picked up the baton but lost crucial seconds.  Austin turned in a 50 second split to get Becker back into third place, but couldn’t overtake Bemidji and Moorhead by the time Andres got the baton.  Andres’ last push came up just short as the Bulldogs ended up only four-tenths of a second behind Moorhead for the second spot in the state tournament.  

 

“On a bright side, even with a dropped baton, our boys broke the school record by running a 3:28.28, besting the record set by Nathan Nohner,  Cameron Cox, Jostin Rositas and James Polworth six years prior,” said Schmidt.

 

Other great finishes on this day were Becker’s 4x800M team that placed sixth with a time of 8:35.  Team members were Jonathan Novak, Jordan Gruenes, Justin Kringler and Mason Makarrall.  Sam Ricker also had a seventh place finish in the 1600M with a personal best of 4:36.82.

 

As a team, Becker finished 10th with 39 points.

 

“While no one qualified for the state meet this year, we did finish tied for ninth place (out of 16 teams)with Monticello,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy.  

 

Becker’s top finisher for the day was Lexi Dehmer in the 1600M, despite battling an upper respiratory infection.  She placed fifth, just ahead of Becker's Julia Bengtson.

 

“They both ran well, with Lexi leading for the first two laps and Julia right there as well, before being passed by Hanson of Willmar, Finstad of Thief River Falls, and Miller of Brainerd,” said Reimer-Kealy.  “Just passing them at the very end was Hamrin of Bemidji.”  

 

Dehmer's time was 5:20.28 and Bengtson’s was 5:20.74.        

 

Aubree Lahr finished in sixth place in the pole vault with a vault of 9'1". She competed in the triple jump also, placing 13th with a jump of 33'4". 

 

Also in the triple jump, Haley Hubbard soared to 32'3" and Cienna Pleoger captured a personal record of 32'.   Pleoger also earned a PR in the long jump  at 15'5", which moved her onto the Becker honor roll.  Miranda O'Brien also notched a PR in the long jump with 14'4".

 

Madi Kerzman threw the discus 105'5" for 12th place and McKenna Edling 79'.  Both girls also competed in the shot put, with Edling earning a PR of 32'10, giving her a spot on the Becker honor roll. Kerzman marked at 31'9".

 

The 4x800M relay team of Alayna Lindquist, Jackie Yoerg, Victoria Kolbinger, and Alli Hendrickson ran 10:19.55 for eighth place.

 

The 4x200M relay team of Cassidy Pleoger, Kayden Westin, Payton Anderson, and Sydney Stommes put together a great race and cut 2-1/2  seconds off their previous season best to finish in eighth place with a time of 1:51.20, placing them on the Becker honor roll.  

 

The 4x100M relay team placed 10th with a time of 52.78, a season best. The foursome was Hubbard, Jayna Adu-Gyanfi, Keeley Holm and Stommes.

 

Finishing out the meet was the 4x400M relay team of Anderson, Bengtson, Adu'Gyanfi and Dehmer who ran a season best time of 4:20.74.

 

Team results:  1). Alexandria 153.5; 2). Willmar 99; 3). Rocori 72.5; 4). Brainerd 72; 5). St Cloud Tech 62; 6). Moorhead 54; 7). Thief River Falls 43; 8). Little Falls 24; 9-tie). Becker 20 and Monticello 20; 11). Sartell St Stephen 19; 12-tie). Fergus Falls and Bemidji 18; 14). Detroit Lakes 14; 15). Sauk Rapids/Rice 10; 16). St Cloud Apollo 3.

 

“A big shout out to each of our team members this year,” said the head coach.  “It was a great group to work with and we will miss our seniors, Allyna Storms, Haley Hubbard, Kassidy Severson and Aubree Lahr.  We wish them the best in their future.”