The Becker Bulldog boys track and field team achieved the ultimate goal last week by capturing the MSHSL State Track and Field Championship.   

Seniors Owen Angell and Carter Reckelberg were amazing in the competition, each capturing state titles in individual events along with the team title.

“We had talked about the possibility of winning the title all year, but we did so quietly,” said Coach Paul Schmidt, who shepherded the team through multiple injuries all season.  “I only brought it up to Owen and Carter once we were healthy, and I knew it was possible because I know what those two guys are capable of.”

Schmidt sang the praises of his entire team, but it’s hard to ignore the dominant effort of the two seniors.

“”I don’t want to ignore the contributions of the entire team because it was all important, but what those two did was truly unbelievable.”

In the state meet, the top nine places earn team points, including 12 points for a win, and then 10,8,6,5,4,3,2,1 for the rest of the places.

Reckelberg and Angell would go on to have a hand in 60 of the team’s 64 points.

“Our motto all year was to just let Owen and Carter do what they do,” Schmidt said.

The meet started last Wednesday with several preliminary events and some finals, as Parker Spindler ran in the 3200 race and placed 17th overall.  

Angell was also running in the hurdles that day and one race interrupted his preparation for the pole vault competition, meaning by the time he had returned to the field event, the height had skipped all the way up to 14’6”.  Angell cleared that height with fewer misses than his competitor, capturing the state title in the pole vault and with it, 12 important team points.

“Owen did a great job and has been a top pole vaulter for several years,” Schmidt said.

Thursday’s drama started with the 4x800 team running in the “slow” heat, as they had missed the top bracket by just .02 of a second in the prelims.

It turned out to be fortunate, however, as the Bulldog crew of Evan Hubbard, Tanner Felton, Parker Spindler and Brant Hemmelgarn won their heat (in a school record time) and had the sixth fastest time overall to earn a very important four team points for the Bulldogs.

Reckelberg then was sent through a grinder due to his prowess in multiple events.

His long jump warm-ups were put on hold because he was busy placing second in the 100, and a MSHSL state meet rule made him delay those warm-ups even more as he was required to stay for the podium celebration.

“Then when Carter went to finally warm up for the long jump, assistant coach Tony Miller had to send him over to run in the 4x200 finals,” Schmidt said.  “It was only the fourth time this year that this exact crew of four had run the race together and we finished second.”

Tarver Schendzielos, Isiah Boyer, Angell and Reckelberg teamed up for the important 10 points.  But it also meant Reckelberg’s warm-up jumps were placed on hold due to another podium ceremony.

“Carter had by far the toughest turn around of any athlete at the meet,” Schmidt said.  “He’s the top jumper in the entire state of Minnesota, and he’s standing on the podium while every other competitor is getting in their warm-ups.”

But Schmidt knew his stellar senior would come through.

“I looked at the other coaches and told them I knew we would end up with 64 points because Carter was going to win the 200 and the long jump, but I didn’t know if it would be enough to win the title,” Schmidt said.

When Reckelberg finally arrived at the long jump, the competition had already started and he was thrust right into the event.

His first jump wasn’t good enough to qualify for the finals, but then he went 21’11” to make the final round.

“Carter looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I can’t feel my legs’,” Schmidt recalled later.  

Reckelberg would go on to capture the state title, his third in the event, with a leap of 23’7”, even though he later cleared 24 feet (which couldn’t count as an official record because of a slight wind-aid).

From there, it would all come down to the 200, as Alexandria (56 points), Becker and Monticello (52 points each) were all near the top with three events remaining.  The final two events, the 800 and 4x400 relay, didn’t have any athletes from the three teams in them so the 200 would determine the state title.

“I looked at Carter and told him he needed to win the event and the Alexandria runner would need to finish fourth or worse and we could win the title,” Schmidt said.  “Carter went out and won the race and we would never root against another athlete, but when the board showed that the Alexandria runner (Kludt - who will be Reckelberg’s roommate next year at NDSU) wasn’t in the top four, we knew we had it.”

From there, with the championship trophy and numerous school records in tow, the Bulldogs headed for home, where they received an escort from the Becker Police and Fire Departments all the way to the fieldhouse, where a strong contingent of Bulldog fans greeted them for their welcome home celebration.