The Becker Boys and girls cross country teams traveled to the “Big Sledding Hill” for the Buffalo Invitational at the Buffalo Heights Golf course last Thursday.  

Boys CC

“That was the hill that I grew up going to for winter sledding,” said Boys Head Coach Dustin Weege. “So it was fun to go back there and it was neat to have it happen during Becker’s homecoming week.” 

The Junior High race started with seven Bulldogs and the first three runners to cross the finish line were Parker Spindler (10:46), Tanner Felton (10:51) and Evan Hubbard (10:58).  Spindler continued his undefeated streak as he’s won each Jr High event so far this season with Felton and Hubbard right along with him.  

“It has been so great to see those guys working hard together in races this season and pushing each other to achieve more and more,”  said Weege.  

Mason Tschida (12:00) was next with a 12th place finish and helped the team gain first place.  Weston Denne (12:41) was fifth, guiding newcomer Carson Schuster(13:14), who finished his first race.  Schuster joined the team and has been meshing well with fellow seventh graders Denne and Maverick Pink (14:34) along with the whole rest of the team.  The Jr.High team scored 42 points to take the win by two points.  

“Each member of the team worked to make that happen,” siad Weege.

The second race was varsity in which four racers finished under 17minutes.  Tyson Ricker (17:11) was just outside of that with his fifth place finish.  

“He’s been in the top seven of every race this year and is continuing to progress toward his goals,” said Weege.   

Next came a 38 second season best for Mason Becker (18:15) as he had a stellar race.   Jase Tobako (18:52) had a good top 25 performance and Caleb Reckelberg (20:06) was 41st.  

“I was really impressed with the way the next group of three worked together throughout the race to achieve some good results,” said Becker’s head coach.  

Alex Kinney (21:05) and Ryan Boecker pushed each other throughout the course and shared the lead of the pack at different times. 

“Each challenged the others to improve and they were encouraging to each other during the race, which is really what we love to see as we journey through this life.”

For the JV race, the Bulldogs saw more improvements.  Alex Schermer (21:35), Jacob Peterson(21:39), Noah Bloch(23:01), Denlan Harmoning(24:14), and Thomas Cota(32:01) all saw improvements by over one minute from earlier times this year.  Additionally, Jonathan Drury (22:50) and Landon Lahr advanced their times with good performances.  Vincent Martin (24:32) and Aiden Frommelt (28:50) had decent races along with Ben Howe (25:17) who returned to the team to complete his first race of the season.

Homecoming Run

On the day after the Buffalo event, the Bulldogs embarked on the journey to bring the game ball back to Eppard field with the annual Bulldogs “Running of the Football”.  

The team collected the game ball from the Friday afternoon PowderPuff event and transported it on the bus to the Southwest toward Hutchinson.  The team then ran a relay in groups to carry the ball safely back for the Homecoming game with escorts ahead and behind for safety.  There were many cheerful honks and encouragement heard along the way on Co. Rd. 8 as the team got close to home and as they ventured to the field to hand the game ball to the officials.   

The Bulldog runners were able to enjoy a nice treat when they returned to Becker as some refueling was necessary following the run.  The Bulldogs were very grateful for the food afterwards and say thank you to  all that helped with that and thank you to all that helped the Running the football event happen.

Girls CC

The varsity cross country girls placed second to an outstanding team from Minnetonka at the Buffalo Invitational meet Thursday.

The Skippers (they are coached by Becker Coach Trish Kealy’s sister, Jane Reimer Morgan) scored a perfect 15 points at the meet and have been nationally ranked through this season. Becker’s girls ran well at this meet earning five season best and four personal best performances.  

Team scores were: Minnetonka 15, Becker 66, Chaska 84, Providence Academy 104 STMA 107, Buffalo was incomplete.

The  course, with a long hill, provided  a challenge to the runners. Lexi Rose ran an aggressive race to be Becker’s first finisher in a season best time of 21:19.7 for ninth place.  Olivia Babler placed 11th in 21:40.2.  just missing the awards stand by one spot. Ella McDonald and Brooklyn Karel finished 13 (21:56-SB) and 14 (22:00.5), pushing one another well. Becker’s fifth (and final scoring runner) was Tasha Berthiaume, who finished 19th- pushing herself to a season best time of 22:20.9.  Katelyn Brower came in 23rd with a time of 22:36.4. There were 36 total runners in this race.

The JV girls placed third out of seven teams.  There were 126 runners in their race. 

Alea Briggs pushed herself to a PR time of 22:33.9 to finish eighth as Becker’s first runner. Next was Natalie Trenz, who also ran a PR time, placing 16th in 23;14.1 which is a big improvement for her.  Raelee Lyon came in at 24th with a PR time as well.  Her time was 23:42.1.  Regan Hausmann ran a season best time of 23L53.5 for 27th place.  Meghan Swanson made her 5K debut on the Buffalo hill with a time of 24:11.1 for 32nd.

Middle school runners had 61 individuals in their race. Becker girls placed second out of six teams.

Becker’s Adele Changamire won the middle school race which was   approximately 3000 meters long.  She finished 54 seconds ahead of the second place girl from STMA.   Grace Mork from Becker ran a strong race, finishing fourth followed by Sophia Malisheski, Naiaya Hanson, Kaylyn Rickard and Chloe Peterson.  

Up Next

Becker’s next meet was Thursday at Sauk Rapids-Rice and their home meet will be October 5.