The  Becker boys and girls cross country teams competed in the Big Lake Battle at Liberty Cross Country Invitational  Tuesday.

 

The weather was great and the meet was held on a fairly flat course with some trail running through woods and by farm fields behind Liberty Elementary School.

 

Both boys and girl’s teams had good days as many runners had multiple PRs and some season bests.

 

The varsity girls placed third of nine teams. 

 

Rhianna Rinke of North Branch was the overall winner with an outstanding time of 14:49.0 and was pushed by Sarah Olson of Blaine (14:58.0).  Alli Hendrickson and Lexi Dehmer  paced Becker, placing ninth (16:11) and 15th (16:34 PR) respectively with very good times. The top 15 finishers received t-shirts as “elite finishers”.

 

Sydney Mastey and Tate Spinner continue to push each other and work together well, placing 23rd (17:16.8.0 season best) and 24th (17:11.0 PR) as Becker’s number three and four runners. Jada Rositas also earned a PR for 46th with a time of 18:05.0. Not far behind her were Renee Tripp (49th 18:27) and Haley Benda (50th 18:31).

 

“We are having healthy competition for the varsity spots among the girls,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy. “That only helps to push them to better times each race.”

 

Team Scores: Monticello 30, Buffalo 66, Becker 117, Blaine 122, Princeton 142, Big Lake 161, North Branch 161, Cambridge-Isanti 167 and St Francis 211.

 

The Becker JV girls finished fourth of six teams. 

Ellie Schwartz ran very well, placing 10th in a PR time of 18:08 and was followed by Makenna Naioell in her first 4K race on JV placing 11th (18:12).

 

The rest of the JV also did well with Victoria Kolbinger 19:18 placing 24th, Shannon Sydow 19:20 (season best time 25th), Kayden Westin 19:44 (32nd), Deedra Lawrence 19:45 (33rd), Michaela Allen 20:20 (season best 40th) and Jessica Sandwith a PR time of 21:41.

 

The Becker junior high team placed fourth of seven.

 

Running a 3K consisting of 99 runners, Callie Coucette finished 12th, Alli Garding 20th,  Ashley May 31st, Bryanna Edling 32nd, Erika Miner 41st, Laura Pancoast 43rd, Karly Kowalsky 52nd and Grace Wilhelm 67th.

 

The Becker boys team placed fifth in a tough field with some very good races.

 

First for the boys in the 5K was Nate Souther (16:12) of Big Lak. Second went to Frank Graham (16:16.6) of Buffalo with Becker’s Luke Lahr coming in third. 

 

“All three had a great race which was very fun to watch and impressive times,” said Reimer-Kealy. “Luke's effort earned him a PR along with his  t-shirt award.”  

 

The rest of Becker boys varsity continues to step it up and improve.  Caleb Foster ran very well for a season best time of 17:50.0 to earn a t- shirt for 15th place.  Jonathan Novak placed 24th with a season best that just missed being a PR (18:29.0).  Dylan Gruba is racing well and tallied a PR time of 18:46 for 29th. Olsen Pancoast equaled his PR as well (19:04) for 31st.  Keith Sorensen bested his old PR by 35 seconds with a time of 19:14 for 36th and Devin Winter placed 41st in his second varsity race(20:23).

 

“These young men are really showing some determination,” said the coach.

 

Team Scores: Buffalo 54, Cambridge-Isanti 28), Blaine 59, Big Lake 90, Becker 102, North Branch 158.

 

Sam Somrock ran very well for 14th place with a PR of 19:29.0. Kyle Schroeder 55th(21:35.0), Nathan Sydow 56th (21:35.5), Lachlan Lahr 89th (24:16). Becker did not have a full team of five at this meet.

 

The Becker junior high boys team placed sixth in the 3K race.  Their first finisher was Aaron Gregory in 28th followed by Blake Soenneker in 38th, Jake Nelson 50th, Cris Rothfork 59th, Jimmy Hines 75 and Adrian Johnson 103.

 

Becker’s next meet will be Thursday at Buffalo.