Last week, the Becker boys cross country team headed to Chisago Lakes for the Wildcat Invite and came away with a fifth place finish.

“We embarked on the trek as that site will be the location of the Mississippi 8 conference meet in mid-October and this was the first time that we have ever been to that course which was held at the Ki-Chi-Saga County Park in Lindstrom, MN,” Coach Dustin Weege said. “The Bulldogs were glad to get there to experience the course and to further prepare for the competitive conference meet.” 

The event was run pretty quickly as the hosts combined the varsity and JV races, meaning there were over 230 runners at that start line so Weege said the Bulldogs worked to get out strong. 

“Tanner Felton took the reins as the top Dog for the meet with his impressive second place finish in 16:51, while teammate Alex Swanson (17:02) roared into the finish to achieve fourth place,” Weege said. “Evan Hubbard (17:38) accomplished 13th place for the Bulldogs with his time that averaged under 5:40 per mile during the 5km race.”

Rounding out the top runners for the Bulldoges were Jase Tobako (19:07), Alex Schermer (19:33), Mason Tschida (20:11) and Jonathan Drury (21:17). 

“The course was filled with several different race challenges including hills, wooded trails, long, drawn stretches of quiet spaces, and across baseball fields,” Weege said. Weege also had praise for the rest of his squad, including Juniro Varsity runners Brandt Hemmelgarn, Holden Hubbard and Weston Denne (20:38). Teammate and first year Senior Sam Rusin was able to cross the line in his first career 5k with a time of 21:31. 

“I was glad to see Sam race as he’s been a nice addition to the team and has been working hard in this new venture along with his teammates,” commented Coach Weege. Aiden Frommelt (21:44) and Mavrick Pink (21:47) were the next runners to finish the JV race, while eighth grader Cooper Pany (22:57) captured the #7 spot in his first ever 5k race.