The Becker boys track team might be small in numbers, but they continue to be big when it comes to their individual performances.  Head Coach Paul Schmidt reports that his team performed well in a pair of meets in the past week.

Pioneer Quad

Last Thursday, the Becker Boys ventured back to Pierz for a quad meet with Holdingford, Zimmerman and the host Pioneers.  The boys came ever so close to a victory, finishing just five points behind winner Holdingford.  Team Scores had Holdingford at 93, Becker at 87.5, Pierz 57, and Zimmerman with 32.5.

“This was another good performance by our boys led by our two 8th graders Carter Reckelberg and Owen Angell, as well as sophomore Tyson Ricker,” Schmidt said.

Carter Reckelberg picked up first place finishes in the long jump with a personal best of 19’1” and in the Triple Jump with a leap of 35’ 2.5”.  

“Every week we are seeing Carter better his distance in these two events,” Schmidt said.  “It is really fun to watch him improve.”

Reckelberg also scored a 3rd place finish in the 200 for the Bulldogs.

Owen Angell had a personal record in the pole vault with a vault of 10’6” and he followed that up with a win in the 300 IH with a time of 46.66.  He also grabbed a 3rd place finish in the high Jump.  

Ricker scored two victories, first in the 1600 with a time of 4:52.3 and then in the 3200 with a personal record time of 10:18.5.  

“Tyson has been so strong in the distance this year,” Schmidt said.  “He has dominated each performance this year.”

Other strong finishers for the Bulldogs were Lukas Karel, who placed second in a pair of events, including the 1600 (5:08), and the 3200 (10:54).  

Cade Stommes earned three second place finishes: the pole vault (10”), the triple jump (34’ 2.5”) and the 400 (55.8).  

Wrapping up the individual places were Michael Schmitz (fourth in the 110 hurdles) and Caleb Reckelberg (second in the 800 and 4th in the 1600).  

On the relay side, the boys 4x200 team of Carter Reckelberg, Luke MacDonald, Carter Leither, and Ben Howe took a first place finish with a time of 1:42.26, while the 4x400 relay team of Stommes, Angell, Leither and MacDonald took second.

M8 Quad

Tuesday, the team hosted a quad meet with Cambridge-Isanti, North Branch, and Chisago Lakes.  This was a split gender meet as the teams had to follow MSHSL guidelines pertaining to the number of participants allowed and Becker faired well, finishing third in the final team standings and only a few points out of second place.  Cambridge-Isanti won the meet convincingly with a score of 133, followed by Chisago Lakes with 58, Becker 48 and North Branch 31.

“It was a good day for a meet and while our team is smaller than it has been in the past years our performances were outstanding,” Schmidt said.

Owen Angell again led the way for the Bulldogs with personal bests in the pole vault at 11’ 6” (2nd place), and in the High Jump at 5’6” (4th place). 

Angell also had a personal best in the 300 hurdles where he took a 3rd place with a time of 45.9.  

Carter Reckelberg also placed high in his events and improved his personal best jumps with a second place finish in the triple jump at 36’ 1” and a third place finish in the long jump at 19’ 3”.  He also placed fifth in the 200 (26.72) and started Becker’s 4x200 relay team with teammates Carter Leither, Luke MacDonald, and Ben Howe that went on to win their event with a time of 1:43.23.

Another first place finish came from Tyson Ricker, in the 1600 with a personal best time of 4:39.15.  

“We are still waiting for Tyson to get pushed in the 1600,” Schmidt said.  “He has gotten out to such large leads that he is often running by himself.  It will actually be good when he has some competition and has to race somebody else.  I see his time going down even further then.”  

Karel ran a good 3200 race and finished 2nd (10:59), while taking a 3rd place finish in the 1600 (4:53.89).  Schmitz took a 3rd place finish in the High Hurdles with a time of 18.49.  

Stommes placed 4th in the triple jump (35’ 0.5”) and third in the 400 (55.32).  Teammate Carter Leither took a fourth place finish in the 400 with a time of 55.4.

“Competition for this meet was definitely steeper against these Mississippi 8 teams as Cambridge brings about 60 boys and Chisago Lakes has about 70,” Schmidt said.  “I was really pleased with how our team and individuals did . . . we may not have had the quantity of athletes as in the past, but our quality really shined through.”

Becker’s next meet is at Princeton on May 11th.