The Becker High School cross country teams held their awards potluck Monday night at the school. 

 

 On the academic side, the boys team received the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association gold award and the girls received the silver award.

 

The boys scholar athlete was Sam Somrock and the girls scholar athlete was Allyna Storms.

 

Academic all conference were: Siera Knick, Shannon Sydow, Alli Hendrickson,  Storms, Logan Lahr, Somrock and Jonathan Novak.

 

The MVP for the boys was Caleb Foster;  most improved was Luke Pappenfus;   most dedicated was Keith Sorensen;   the rookie award went to Basil Ricker.

 

On the girls side, the co- MVP’s were  Hendrickson and Lexi Dehmer;   most improved went to Victoria Kolbinger;  most dedicated was Hendrickson and   the rookie award went to Julia Bengston.

 

The coaches Bulldog award was presented to Olsen Pancoast.

 

The boys letter winners were Foster, Logan Lahr, Pancoast, Brett Parson, Somrock,  Sorensen,  Lachlan Lahr, Novak, Pappenfus, Ricker and Bennett Edling.

 

The girls letter winners were Knick, Sydow, Jada Rositas, Storms, Hendrickson, Alli Garding, Gabrielle Imm, Kolbinger, Abby Fingarson (manager), Tate Spinner, Sydney Stommes, Dehmer, Callie Doucette and Bengston.

 

The boy’s all-conference runner was Foster and the girls were Dehmer, Hendrickson, Bengston, Stommes and Kolbinger.  All Conference  honorable mention went to Imm.

 

“We celebrated successful seasons for both the boys and girls teams with the boys having their highest finish in our conference meet as a team in many years,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy. “And we finished in second place in three of our meets. All the while working well as a team.”

 

The girls team had a great season with four first place team finishes (and one in second place due to a tie breaker).  The girls repeated as the Granite Ridge Conference champions, defending the title earned last year.  In their conference meet, the top three individuals were Becker runners with Dehmer as the team’s conference champ, followed closely by Hendrickson and Bengston in second and third.

 

The girls JV team had five  first place team finishes, including the conference meet with a perfect score of 15 points.

 

“We are also excited for Dehmer to be competing in the Minnesota State High School Cross Country State Meet this Saturday at St Olaf.  She will be running at 10 a.m.,” said Reimer-Kealy.

 

Reimer-Kealy will be losing six boys and two girls this year to graduation. Knick, Sydow, Foster and Sorensen have been with her team for six years. Somrock for five years, Pancoast five years (four with Becker), Parson four years and Logan Lahr for three years.

 

“This group has done a great job including the younger members of our team and being supportive,” Reimer-Kealy said. “Each one of these kids brings something unique to the team. It has been fun to see this group grow through years. This is the largest graduating group we have had in 10 years and they will all be missed and we wish them well.” 

 

Reimer-Kealy gives a shout out to assistant coaches Dustin Weege and Corinne Steele for their wonderful job with the athletes, showing great dedication and she is “really appreciative of all they do.”

 

She also wants to thank the following people: Dave Niemi and Jesse O’Neill in the activities office — “always there when we need help with anything and work so very hard for all the activities.”

 

“We have had some extremely supportive parents and love having them at our meets cheering the team on,” she said.

 

Barb and K.C. Foster have been the team’s inspiring coordinators for the parents for several years. 

 

“They have made everything so much easier for everyone and helped keep everyone in the know and organized so much,” Reimer-Kealy said.  “We cannot give them enough thanks and will really miss their involvement and presence.”

 

A full report on how Dehmer does at state will be included in next week’s Citizen coverage.