The Becker boys and girls cross country teams held their first and only home meet Tuesday night at Pebble Creek.

 

They competed against Princeton, Big Lake, Foley and Milaca.

 

 

The girls came up with wins in both the varsity and junior varsity races.

 

It was a cool temperature kind of day which is typically good for racing. The team scores for varsity were: Becker 25, Princeton 32, Big Lake 87, Foley 105 and Milaca was incomplete. 

 

Dani Nuest and Victoria Kolbinger continue to impress with their teamwork and run times.  Nuest battled it our for first place with Princeton's Lexi Duscher, with Duscher outkicking Nuest for the win. Dani's time was 19:58.6.

 

 Kolbinger finished in third place, running a consistently competitive race (20:27.6). 

 

The Bulldogs were once again without one of their stars —Lexi Dehmer and hope to see her return Saturday.  In her absence, the remaining varsity girls all stepped up, out of their comfort zones to perform well.  

 

Kayla Gruenes followed the race plan and stayed very close to Kolbinger, finishing  sixth with a new personal record time of 21:04.1.  Adeline Kent once again ran well, coming in seventh (21:07.4), not far behind Gruenes. 

 

In 10th place overall was Abby Nelson, who ran a season best time of 22:09.9.  

 

Also running in their first varsity races were seventh graders Tasha Berthiaume and Alexa Voller.  They placed 12th and 13th respectively, with good PR times of 22:16.7 and 22:20.4. 

 

“Really a fun race to watch to see the girls not just run but race,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy.

 

 

The JV team nearly had a perfect score this meet. Team scores were: Becker 16, Princeton 56, Big Lake 62, Milaca 93, Foley incomplete.

 

Alli Garding won the JV race by a wide margin with a season best time of 22:45.1. Second was Jaden Kraus (23:23.7), third Callie Doucette (24:05.8 season best), fourth Madison McDonald (24:06.3), sixth Cayla Pauman (24:37.3 season best), eighth Bryanna Edling (25:15.8 season best), 11th Tate Spinner (25:39.3), 12th Maddy Schmitz (25:48.5 PR), Olivia Mateyka (27:16.3 season best) and Grace Wilhelm (27:49.9). 

 

The junior high team placed third out of four teams with Monticello gaining first (23), Foley second (40), Becker third  (74), Big Lake fourth (105) and Milaca incomplete. 

 

Alea Briggs once again paced Becker in the 3200 race, finishing in 13th place (14:41.6). She was followed by Abby Berning in 15th (15;02.9), Olivia Babler 17th (15:17.3), Raegan Leaders in 21st (15:30.4) and Anikah Hall in 23rd (15:35.7).

 

“I’m super proud of all our girls at this meet,” said Coach Reimer-Kealy.  “It is always fun at our home meet to give the hometown folks a chance to come out and see what we can do.”

 

 

It was a pleasant day for hosting the annual Becker Invitational on Coach Dustin Weege’s favorite course of the season.  

 

The day started off with a good number of sixth graders racing for the prize in the youth run at 3:45 p.m.  After warming up as a unit, they took off at the sound of the gun to race 1800 meters to the finish line with some fast running and great attitudes.  

 

“It was fun to see and get to work a bit with the sixth graders that were able to come out to run,” said Weege.  “They certainly were working hard and I loved their enthusiasm for the racing.”

 

The Bulldogs ran fast as four varsity runners achieved personal records (PRs) along with four JV runners and a couple of junior high runners.  Senior Basil Ricker marked his senior home meet in a big way as he chased the lead cart throughout the entire course with a race that had him running on his own for quite a while.  

 

Ahead of the next finisher by nearly 20 seconds, Ricker captured the Becker Invitational individual title with a great win.   

 

Lukas Karel finished in fourth place as he broke into the sub-18 (minute) club with his time of 17:50.1  —a 12 second PR for him.  Next for the Bulldogs was eighth grader Tyson Ricker as he improved his PR by seven seconds for his 16th place finish (in 18:42.4).

 

Teammates Kellen Hurt (19th-18:52.9), Wyatt Hiltner (20th-18:55.9) and Cade Stommes (23rd-19:07.9) were close behind Tyson.  Hurt and Hiltner accomplished 16 second PRs as they both broke into the sub-19min club with their racing.  Jake Nelson finished 32nd.

 

The scores helped the team accomplish a second place finish out of six teams.

  

The varsity boys team scores were: Monticello 55, Becker 60, Foley 61, Big Lake 90, Princeton 103, Milaca 162.  

 

Scoring for a cross country meet is accomplished through totaling up the places of the top five racers on the team while the sixth and seventh runners potentially bump opponents runners to a higher number.

 

 

In the JV race, six Bulldog runners made the top 20 and three achieved PRs.  Aaron Gregory (sixth-19:41.9), Ethan Tobako (11th-19:59.5), Nathan Zimmerman (13th-20:17.3), David Myres (16th-20:33.2), Brock Ramola (18th-20:38.2), Bennett Edling (20th-20:38.3), and Cris Rothfork (30th-21:32.4) scored for the Bulldogs.  Ramola, Rothfork, and teammate Keegan Murphy achieved PRs with 15, 21 and 24 second improvements.  

 

The JV team finished second along with Adrian Johnson (43rd-22:34.9), Emery Olson (44th-22:43.2) and Levi Tesmer (49th-25:34.2). 

 

For the junior high boys, they just missed the team title, placing second on the home course.  Ryan Boecker saw a good race again as he placed second in the two-mile race with a time of 12:20.1.  Bruce Kraemer was just a second behind, as he placed fourth with a pace that was about 26 seconds better than his previous PR.  

 

Owen Kolbinger also bettered his best pace time by five seconds as he placed 10th.  Ben shared a nice performance as he placed 13th in 13:27.4.  Isaac Bauer placed 16th(13:42.6), Landon Lahr placed 24th(14:20.9) and Caleb Reckelberg placed 25th (14:23.5).  Braeden Heinen placed 35th, Bryce Berger placed 36th and Hank Bjerga placed 50th.

 

“It was special to have many Bulldogs on the awards stand especially since our fantastic parents provided treats for the top competitors at the meet,” said Weege.  “We have some really great runner families that really helped make the event a success along with the support of the drivers, course and chute helpers, and the Becker Community Center and the Pebble Creek Golf Course staff.  It takes a village to make great things happen and the many hands that helped make this event a success are so appreciated.”

 

 

Today (Saturday) the boys and girls travel to the Alexandria Meet of Champions hosted by the Alexandria Lions Club.  It is a large meet (22 teams)  with a lot of talent and should be exciting.

 

Beyond that, the Bulldogs head to Zimmerman  Oct. 16 for the Granite Ridge Conference Championship meet and then to Thief River Falls Oct. 25 for the Section 8AA Championship meet.