The Becker Bulldogs Boys Cross Country runners continue to race hard and improve, finishing 5th at their Sept. 16 meet and 3rd at their home meet on Tuesday while achieving a number of personal records and season best times.

Sept. 16 the harriers traveled to Buffalo, where four of the racers accomplished a top 30 finish. Lukas Karel remained the top Bulldog racer, coming in 11th with 17:57. The second Bulldog to cross the line was Tyson Ricker, 15th with 18:03, followed by Ethan Tobako 28th and Cade Stommes 29th.

During the race Wyatt Hiltner and Bruce Kraemer challenged each other to some strong race times, with Hiltner achieving a season best and Kraemer a personal best. Mason Becker tried out his first varsity race and matched his time from the previous week, finishing 41st. 

In the JV race, the Bulldogs saw the return of Jake Nelson with a great time of 19:18, placing 14th. Keegan Murphy and Nathan Zimmerman fed off each other to advance and finished the 5km around 20:16, which was a 10 second personal record for Murphy.

Other JV racers were David Myers 20:46, Ryan Boecker 20:58, Caleb Reckelberg 21:41, Brock Ramola 22:26, Ben Howe 23:09 and Mason Doucette 25:00.

The Jr. High team also saw a lot of good racing, achieving four personal records. Jase Tobako, finishing 5th, Jace Weinemann finishing 9th, Jacob Peterson and Alex Kinney.

The other Jr. High racers also worked hard, with Denlan Harmoning the 5th Bulldog finisher, Landon Lahr finished 74th, Jonathan Durry 89th, Marty Huwe, 120th and Hank Bjerga 167th. 

Oct. 1 the Becker Bulldogs hosted the 28th annual Becker Invitational. All the rain created some extra challenges, but the harriers had a good day, with 17 of the 25 Bulldogs achieving personal bests or season bests.

The meet started with local 6th grader Troy Nuest winning the annual youth race.

“He worked hard chasing the lead cart and it was fun to see his performance,” said Coach Dustin Weege. “He was focused through the area and there was no way that the weather was going to distract him from accomplishing a goal.”

The varsity team finished the meet 3rd with some wonderful performances. The first Bulldog across the line was Lukas Karel in 4th place with a personal record time of 17:30. Tyson Ricker 10th, Cade Stommes 17th, and Ethan Tobako 24th, also accomplished top 25 finishes with their significant personal record times. 

Wyatt Hiltner and Jake Nelson were just a little behind with season best times, while Bruce Kraemer also put in a lot of hard work to remain under 20 minutes in the 5km race.

There were also many great performances in the JV competition, with the team finishing 2nd. David Myers looked for medals at the end of the first mile as he lead for the first third of the course. His leadership motivated his fellow Bulldogs teammates as almost all of the JV racers finished with personal records or season bests that were over 30 seconds faster than previous.

Mason Becker and Keegan Murphy challenged each other well as they achieved nearly 1 minute personal records with low 19 minute race times for the 5km. Ryan Boecker and Myres met up and worked together during the race, finishing 12th and 19th respectively. 

Caleb Reckelberg and Luke MacDonald paired up to move forward with personal records and accomplished 28th and 30th respectively. Brock Ramola and Ben Howe finished 35th and 37th, while Mason Doucette closed out with a 20 second personal record.

In the Jr. High race, Alex Kinney, Jonathan Drury and Hank Bjerga accomplished personal record paces and helped the team win 1st place in the competition. Jase Tobako led most of the race, finishing 2nd. Also in the top 20 were Kinney 7th, Jace Weinemann 8th, Jacob Peterson 9th, Denlan Harmoning 17th, and Landon Lahr 20th. Drury finished 22nd and Marty Huwe finished 24th. 

Bjerga had a nice personal record race and showed great improvement as his time was 14 minutes faster than the previous year.

“We have some really great runner families in our community that really helped make the event a success,” said Weege. “We’re grateful for the support of our families, activities staff, meet workers, the Becker Community Center Staff and the Pebble Creek Golf Course staff. It takes a village to make great things happen, and the many hands that helped make this event a success are so appreciated.”

The Bulldogs Cross Country runners are in action again Oct. 5 (today) at Alexandria.