The Becker Bulldog boys cross country team recently celebrated its successful season with its annual end of the year banquet.

The gathering was a time for Coach Dustin Weege to hand out a number of awards and to recognize the many individual performances that made this one of the best seasons in program history.

Academically, the team was also superb, as collectively they won the Gold Award from the Mississippi 8 Conference and the Silver Award from the MN Coaches Association.  Additionally, many of the team members received Spotlight on Scholarship Awards from the MSHSL for achieving a “B” or better grade point average.  

Four members of the team (Tanner Felton, Alex Schermer, Parker Spindler, & Thomas Cota) received All-Conference Academic Awards and Spindler also earned All-State Academic honors for performances in the classroom and in races.  

“We are proud of their strong commitments to being great student-athletes and surely celebrate those achievements,” Weege commented.

A season recap showed that the team again finished in the top third of every competition that they were a part of, placing first in the Becker Invite and the Tiger Invitational.  

Individually, the team had a number of personal records.

“The guys worked hard to make a lot of accomplishments,” commented Weege as he remembered the early morning practices and the runs in the rain and sleet.  

Weege also credited the team’s captains, Jase Tobako, Alex Schermer, Thomas Cota, and Parker Spindler, who “did great work in unifying the team and building a great team atmosphere.”  

The Bulldogs finished third in both the M8 and Section 5AA meets.

“Those finishes weren’t quite what we had hoped for, but we know that the team worked hard against those strong competitors and it just wasn’t in the cards for us this year.”   

The team acknowledged 14 team participants for their efforts: Sam Rusin, Aiden Frommelt, Denlan Harmoning, Cam Northenscold, Aiden Jacobs, Jacob Kurhajetz, Weston Denne, Maverick Pink, Carson Schuster, Hunter Heitkamp, Cooper Pany, Tanner Schmitt, Henry Peckskamp and Owen Young.

The 11 letter-winning runners were: Jase Tobako, Thomas Cota, Alex Schermer, Jonathan Drury, Tanner Felton, Evan Hubbard, Parker Spindler, Alex Swanson, Mason Tschida, Brandt Hemmelgarn, Holden Hubbard and team manager Hudson Spindler.

Tobako was announced as the “Most Valuable Teammate” while Parker Spindler again received the “Most Dedicated” award.  It was Alex Swanson that received the “Most Improved” award, while Weston Denne was recognized as the “Most Improved JV/JrHigh”.  

The ”Rookie Award” was given to Brandt Hemmelgarn, while Sam Rusin was awarded the ”JV/JrH Rookie” certificate.  Alex Schermer was honored with the “Bulldog Award” and also was the recipient of the “Scholar Athlete” award.

Coach Weege then recognized his two seniors, Jase Tobako and Sam Rusin, reflecting on how he would miss both runners.

He urged them both to continue to “write [their] stories in this world” as they venture onward into winter seasons and beyond.  

“Our two seniors have been great and I believe they will continue to positively influence the world with all of their future endeavors,” Weege concluded.