Despite the usual “snowball” thrown this spring by Mother Nature, the Bulldog spring sports teams are gearing up for another busy season.
Here’s a look at the teams, their coaches and a few predictions for the upcoming season.
Girls Track
Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy returns to guide the Becker girls track team, and they are loaded with talent and balance in both the field and running events.
Reimer-Kealy notes that the team will have excellent veteran senior leadership, including Olivia Babler, Avery Boyer, Alea Briggs, Kylee Morton, Kayla Paulson, Lexi Rose and Lauren Woelfel.
“We have some athletes that have a real shot at advancing to the state meet,” Reimer-Kealy says. “Our numbers are a bit up this year and we are excited to see what all of our kids will accomplish this year!”
One thing appears certain for the team and that is that they will be well-tested by the time the Section meet comes around.
“With the good competition in the Mississippi 8 Conference, we will get some good experiences before our Section 5AA meet,” Reimer-Kealy adds.
Boys Track
Paul Schmidt returns as head coach and has excellent numbers in the program. The boys team will also feature great balance, as well as some elite performers who have already built a state tournament resumè in the past several seasons.
“We would like to defend our section 5AA championship and again move as many as possible onto state,” Schmidt says. “We are hoping to compete again for a conference championship all while enjoying the sport of track and field.”
This year’s captains are Kaleb Thuftedal (12), Carter Reckelberg (11), Owen Angell (11), and Mitchell Soltau (11).
Whatever the team accomplishes this year, Schmidt knows that they are doing it with an overall young squad.
“We are very young this year with only one senior on our team,” Schmidt says. “We are very balanced with the rest of our team having about 10 to 12 athletes in each grade 9 through 11.”
Baseball
Brett Knudsen takes the reins for his first year as head coach for the Bulldog baseball team, and he inherits a strong core of seniors who have high expectations for the season. As always, the spring will be challenging, as the Bulldogs will end the month of April with a test of their pitching depth as they play eight games in 13 days. Health will also be a key for the Bulldogs, who have a number of players who are capable of giving the team a few innings on the mound.
Knudsen expects the lineup to have offensive depth, with the team capable of scoring runs once the offense starts hitting on all cylinders.
His goals include having his team to challenge for the conference and section titles, with three captains leading the way: Kellan Graning, Josh Groskreutz and Jase Tobako.
“After the team’s best finish in the section tournament in recent history last year, we are excited and hopeful for a deep playoff run,” Knudsen says. “We have a strong group of seniors with some key underclassmen to fill in roles.”
Golf
For the girls team, Anna Babler returns for her 7th year as head coach and she will guide a veteran squad who ran away with the conference title a year ago.
“We would love to take the Mississippi 8 conference title again this year,”Babler says. “I also have high hopes that we will have a few girls playing at the state meet in June at Bunker Hills.
Alexa Voller and Layla Mathews will serve as captains for the team this year, as the Bulldogs will also rely on senior leadership from Voller, Avery Johnson and Nora Pilarski.
“Hopefully the snow melts quickly and we can get the season started without too many schedule changes,” Babler says. “I am feeling great about the season.”
On the boys side, Dan Olson returns as the head coach for his 21st season after a short, 2 year hiatus where he coached the Middle School teams. The numbers in the program are strong, although overall the team will be a bit young.
“Our goals this year will be to help the kids become better people, both on and off the course,” Olson says. “We would like to finish in the top half of our conference.”
Brayden Graning is serving as team captain for this year, and the team hopes to kick off the 2024 season on Monday, April 15 at the Monticello Country Club.
Tennis
Coach Hokan Bengtson and the Bulldog tennis team will again be competitive, as they return a number of key players from a year ago.
Entering his 23rd season as the head boys tennis coach, Bengtson’s goals remain the same with the top one being: “to get better each day and to learn lessons about life and competing that will bear fruit for years to come.”
The Bulldogs will also be vying to win the M8 Conference, Section 8AA and to send players and the team to the State Tournament.
Zach Bengtson and Garett Lane will serve as captains, with Bengtson having made the state tournament two years in a row. He has 70 career wins and has played more matches at #1 singles than any player in BHS history. Garett enters his junior season after an 18-5 year at #3 doubles last year and earning the most dedicated award as a sophomore.
“We have made the state tournament the past two seasons and upset the #4 seed (Mahtomedi) at state last season, so the bar is set high for what a good season is,” Bengtson says. “This group will be a mix of experienced players and new guys. We have seven guys coming back with varsity experience, all of them have played a lot of varsity tennis and competed at a high level. The challenge will be to keep improving and grow as a team.”
