Ten Becker Bulldog harriers competed at the, “Prestigious Roy Griak Invitational.”
This is meet one of the largest and most competitive meets in the nation as colleges from around the nation compete in the morning and 110 high school teams from the nation compete in the afternoon.
The heat of the day led meet officials to revamp the time schedule in order to protect student-athletes and fans, so the Bulldogs team had to hurriedly modify their plans for the day following their annual Friday Homecoming Football Run.
Shortly after arriving at the event the team learned that their typical 5km race was modified to a 2-mile race again in order to protect student-athletes and fans.
The Bulldogs responded well to the change with Basil Ricker coming in 48th place (11:10), Sam Ricker in 56th place (11:13), Luke Pappenfus in 97th (11:26), Justin Kringler in 144th place (11:43), Jon Novak landed in 180th place (11:52).
Next in was Lukas Karel in 343rd place (12:39), David Myres in 359th place (12:45), Bennett Edling in 383rd place (12:55), Jake Nelson in 408th place (13:03), and Lachlan Lahr in 448th place (13:23).
In 2016, the team placed 31st, whereas this season the team moved up dramatically and inverted those numbers to earn 13th place. The Bulldogs Maroon Division race contained 502 runners which is a large group to try to race through, but the Bulldogs held their own and competed well.
The heat was certainly a challenge, but the Bulldogs worked to move up during each step of the race and achieved a pretty pleasing outcome.
The day was extra special as well as the team was able to connect with some alumni that are currently competing Collegiately.
Luke Lahr, a junior at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, made his way over to the team camp to uplift the Becker team at the competition.
Also, Olsen Pancoast, a sophomore at Concordia College-Moorhead, brought support to the Becker team and spent time celebrating successes with the squad.
Becker Boys CC hopes that residents will come support them at home Tues., Oct. 3.
