The Becker Bulldog girls and boys cross country teams visited Big Lake Tuesday for their first event of 2021.

The Big Lake Invitational Battle at Liberty was held Tuesday August 31. Boys results were not made available to the Patriot in time for press.

“It was our first meet of the season and we are so excited to be able to run at a more normal meet,” said Bulldog girls coach Trish Kealy. “Last year we were limited to running in meets of three teams or fewer. Today we had 10 schools attend.” 

The varsity girls scores were Monticello 51, Becker 53, Rogers 80, Rockford 81, Cambridge-Isanti 122, Buffalo 133, Big Lake 178.  Delano, St Francis and North Branch had incomplete teams.

“It was an exciting race with Monticello and Becker finishing so close in the  point totals,” Kelay said. 

The Bulldogs were paced by sophomore Lexi Rose, who was Becker’s #1 runner last year. She placed fifth overall while running with a knee that was not 100%. Her time was 21:34.43.  

Junior Bella Duncombe was Becker’s second-best runner, placing seventh with a time of 21:40.47. Sophomore Olivia Babler came in ninth with a time of 22:01.86. 

“Both Bella and Olivia put in a lot of work this summer and their efforts paid off with PR times for each of them,” said Kealy.

Tasha Berthiaume worked hard and placed 15th in 22:54.1, Brooklyn Karel 21st in 23:26.14, Ella McDonald was 23rd in 23:29.14 and Kayla Gruenes rounded out the Bulldog scores in 30th with a time of 24:13.62.  There were 53 total runners in the race.  

In the JV race, the Bulldogs took first place with a total of 36 points. The nearest team was Monticello with 56 and eight teams fielded complete teams.

Katelyn Brower took second place in 23:25.5, which was a 33 second PR for her. Alea Briggs and Natalie Trenz were next placing fifth and sixth with Natalie also getting a PR while Alea ran her first 5K race.

Raelee Lyon came in 10th in 24:46.5 and Regan Hausmann’s 13th place finish in 25:37.5 rounded out Becker’s top five JV runners.  There were 72 runners in the JV race.

“We are very excited to get our season started and the girls all did a great job today,” said Kealy. “We are looking forward to what our season brings!”

Becker’s next race will be Thurs., Sept 9 at Rockford.