The Becker girls and Mora boys teams each took first at the Granite Ridge Conference Championships in Foley Tuesday afternoon.

 

Becker's girls varsity team successfully defended the conference title they won last year in commanding fashion, taking first place with a score of 31.

 

Becker’s Lexi Dehmer took first (19:30.03), Allison Hendrickson took second (19:34.90) and Julia Bengtson took third (19:37.33) to lead the Bulldogs, who won by 38 points over Mora.

 

“Alli (Hendrickson) got of to a good start to lead the race with the rest of our team spending time in the chase pack,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy. “It wasn't long before Lexi and Julia, along with Mora's Wedin (4th 19:42.05) separated from the group.” 

 

The last one-third of the race was exciting as the runners spread out and Dehmer kicked it in and passed all the others enroute to the victory. Dehmer is Becker's first individual conference champion in many years.

 

Kristine Kalthoff placed ninth (21:07.60) for Albany, Andrea Wintheiser took 18th (21:47.80) for Cathedral, Amelia Krasha placed 21st (22:08.01) for Little Falls and Megan Braun finished 36th (23:42.87) to lead Foley.

 

Hendrickson and Bengtson were second and third and Becker’s Sydney Stommes and Victoria Kolbinger placed 12th and 13th with the exact same time of 21:33.32.

 

“They were really sprinting strong for the finish along with Gabby Imm (who finished 16th in 21:37.20. Jada Rositas was the final member of the team, coming in at 27th (22:32.01) out of the 50 runners in the race.

 

 All conference honors go to the top 15 runners and honorable mention goes to runners 16 through 20.  

 

“We are proud to say the girls have five all conference and one honorable mention runners,” said Reimer-Kealy. “They are all three such strong runners and are still learning their strengths.”

 

The head coach says she is  so proud of how her girls have handled their season so far, “working well together and showing such support for one another and grace whether they win or not as they compete.”

 

Team scores: 1). Becker 31; 2). Mora 69; 3). Albany 86; 4). Zimmerman 97; 5). Milaca 101; 6). St. Cloud Cathedral 149; 7). Little Falls 153; 8). Foley 230.

 

Mora, which won with a score of 34, was led by Alec Sanbeck (16:27.49). Sanbeck took second place and Michael Schwinghamer (16:38.95) finished third.

 

Little Falls’ Tyler Moore took first in the boys’ race (16:24.94). Sam Medvec took ninth (17:40.50) to lead St. Cloud Cathedral, Caleb Foster took 12th (17:55.50) to lead Becker, Joe Bastian finished 17th (18:05.90) for Foley and Eli Weiss placed 19th (18:08.56) for Albany.

 

The Becker boys varsity team ran well at the meet and moved up in the standings from last year’s fifth place to fourth place this year.  

 

“This is the highest finish for the boys team in quite some time,” said Reimer-Kealy. “We really congratulate this team on the way they have come together as a team to be competitive every time they run a meet.”  

 

Foster ran another fine race for the Bulldogs, placing 12th to earn his goal of all conference honors. 

 

“You could really see the determination as he passed several other runners in the last 1,000 meters and in the last 200 he was sprinting in to the finish,” said Reimer-Kealy. “It was fun to see.”  

Luke Pappenfus was Becker’s #2 runner with a strong race, placing 22nd (18:27.69) and gaining another personal record performance.  Jonathan Novak and Olsen Pancoast came in 25th and 26th  with times of 18:34.00 and 18:36.25, pushing one another at the finish.  

 

Rounding out the Bulldogs’ team was Keith Sorensen in 32nd (19:06.67), Basil Ricker in 35th (19:15.99) and Sam Somrock in 36th (19:17.44).

 

Team scores: 1). Mora 34; 2). Little Falls 50; 3). St. Cloud Cathedral 67; 4). Becker 117; 5). Albany 148; 6). Milaca 160; 7). Foley 164; 8). Zimmerman 200.

 

The girls JV team won their race with a perfect score of 15.

 

Taking the top five places in the race were Tate Spinner (22:15.28 PR), Allyna Storms (22:15.28 PR), Callie Doucette (22:30.14 PR), Siera Knick (22:37.78 PR) and Alli Garding (22:55.02).

 

Coming in ninth was Cayla Pauman (23:30.23) and 13th was Elli Schwartz (24:02.29).

 

Other finishers: Renee Tripp 14th (24:02.7), Haley Benda 15th (24:03.39), Kayden Westin 18th (24:29.91PR), Deedra Lawrence 27th (25:29.43), Alyssa Thielen 31st (25:38.45), Shannon Sydow 32nd (25:42.79), Caylah Chonsky 36th (26:08.7), Karly Kowalsky 47th (26:55.79) and Jessica Sand 48th (26:57.82).  

 

There were 68 runners in the race.

 

The boys JV team placed fifth with Bennett Edling and Lachlan Lahr placing 24th and 25th (20:05.22 and 20:07.25 PR). 

 

Brendan Potter also ran well for 36th place with a PR time of 20:44.80. He was followed by David Myres 49th (21:32.56), Brett Parson 50th (21:33.97), Erik Parson 61st (22:22.31 and Logan Lahr 68th (23:23.37). 

 

“It’s nice to see the improvement these boys have made over the season,” the head coach said.

 

The Becker girls junior high team placed third as a team and their top five runners were Abby Nelson, Madi McDonald, Olivia Mateyka, Trinity Olson-Burkman and Jaden Kraus.

 

Becker’s junior high boys team placed seventh and their  top five runners were Blake Soenneker, Cade Stommes, Tucker Schmoll, Jack Budd and Wyatt Hiltner.

 

Tuesday was the last competition for the JV and Jr High teams. 

 

Becker’s varsity team will be competing at the Section 8AA meet in Monticello Oct.  29. That meet is the qualifier for the MSHSL state meet at St. Olaf Nov 7.