Saturday, the boys and girls Becker Bulldog cross country teams traveled east to compete in the 31st annual Roy Griak Invitational held at the Les Balstad golf course and hosted by the University of Minnesota.

 

The conditions were very challenging as the course was very soggy due to the heavy rains in the days leading up to the event.  

 

Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy said her runners “really rose to the challenge and ran some impressive races.”

 

The Bulldog girls team placed seventh out of 51 teams in the maroon division.  There were 450 runners in the race.  

 

Alli Hendrickson ran an outstanding race and placed fourth overall, with a time of 20:30.  Lexi Dehmer also ran well, placing eighth in a time of 20:47. These two were very nearly joined on the awards stand by Victoria Kolbinger, who placed 24th in 21:31.

 

The remaining Bulldog girl runners were Madison McDonald (115th 23:10), Adeline Kent (142nd 23:34), Allyna Storms (163rd 23:54), Gabrielle Imm ( 165th 23:55), Grace Smith (204th 24:09), Tate Spinner (238th 24:32) and Sydney Stommes (295th 25:11).

 

The Bulldog boys team had a good day as well, placing 31st in a field of 54 teams.

 

There were 494 runners in their race.

 

 Becker’s Luke Pappenfus was the team’s #1 runner, placing 36th in a very gutsy race (18:42).  Basil Ricker (19:41, 159th) outkicked teammate Jonathan Novak  (19:51,  163rd) just before the finish line.   

 

The remaining Bulldog  runners also included good efforts by Justin Kringler (202nd, 20:07), David Myres (263rd, 20:50), Evan Schafer (328th, 21:53) and Lachlan Lahr (333rd, 21:57).

 

“All our kids performed very well and reacted well to the difficult conditions,” said Reimer-Kealy.

 

The Bulldogs host a 13-team meet at Pebble Creek Tuesday.

 

Saturday, they head to Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria to take on the Cardinals at 10:30 a.m..