The Bulldogs Girls Cross Country team had an outstanding day at their home meet Tuesday, with the varsity and junior varsity teams taking 1st place and the junior high team coming in 2nd.

Although the sky was overcast and rainy for the Becker Invitational, the girls didn’t let that stop them from having a great showing in front of their home crowd, with eight personal records and five seasonal bests accomplished during the meet.

The varsity girls took home 1st place with 26 points, followed by Princeton with 40, Chicago Lakes 87, Big Lake 97 and Foley 112. The top 10 placers received t-shirts, with the Bulldogs taking home five of the 10.

Lexi Dehmer, who has been consistently under the 20-minute mark throughout the season, placed 2nd with 19:42.9. Coming in 4th, 5th and 6th was the trio of Dani Nuest (20:05.6), Alexis Rose (20.10.4) and Adeline Kent (season best 20:39.1).

Natasha Berthiaume placed 9th with 20:57.3, and just missing out on the t-shirt awards were Morgan Vee, 11th place with 21:08.6 (a personal record in her first varsity race), and Alexa Voller (a personal record with 21:29.2).

The JV team also came in 1st with a perfect score of 15 and took the top seven spots. Ella McDonald placed 1st with a personal record time of 20:47.8, Abby Nelson was 2nd with a personal record of 21:14.8, and Hannah Dierkes 3rd with a personal record of 21:36.9.

Coming in 4th was Bella Duncombe (22:17.1), 5th was Jaden Kraus (season best 22:37.6), 6th Nora Pilarski (22:39.6), and 7th went to Kayla Gruenes (22:51.5).

Wrapping up Becker’s runners were Shelby Dawson 10th (23:44.5), Jess Gruenes 11th (personal record 23:47.2), Regan Hausmann 12th (personal record 23:54.6), Callie Doucette (season best 24:18.8), Megan Gregory (24:43.4), Raegan Leaders (season best 25:20.9), Maddie McDonald (season best 25:25.7), and Grace Wilhelm (personal record 27:14.6).

The Jr High team came in second in the 3200 meter race behind Monticello and ahead of Big Lake. Natalie Trenz came in 8th (15:34.3), Alea Briggs 9th (25:34.9), Olivia Babler 11th (15:38.5), Anna Kuklok 17th, Emilia Hansen 18th, Anikah Hall 28th and MacKenna Smith 32nd,.

“All the girls really worked well together and we’re working on our pack running,” said Coach Patricia Kealy. “We’re seeing lots of improvement and great attitudes as we work towards the second half of our season.”

The team extended thanks to Pebble Creek Golf Course and community center for helping to put on a successful meet, to their workers, the parents for putting on a great concession stand, and everyone for their support.

Next up for the Becker Girls Cross Country runners is the Alexandria Meet of Champions Saturday (today) and the Princeton Invitational next week.