The Becker Bulldog boys and girls track teams participated in the Saints Invite at St. Francis High School last Saturday.
It was a nice sunny day, with a bit of a wind and good competition as Becker finished sixth out of 11 teams.
Girls Varsity
Hannah Schmidt was the scoring leader for the girls team, tying for first in the high jump at 5' and placing second in pole vault at 9'6 and fifth in the 200 (28.77) . She also ran on the sixth place 4x400 relay team.
Also in the 200 race, senior Michaela Manifold placed seventh (29.4).
Becker’s middle distance and distance girls continue to improve their times and be very competitive. Alli Hendrickson, Lexi Dehmer and Jada Rositas all earned personal records in the 1600 meters. Hendrickson took 12 seconds off her previous best to place fourth (5:40.35) and Dehmer took 16 seconds off to place fifth (5:43.21). Both girls earned spots on Becker's honor roll with those performances. Rositas placed 10th, taking nine seconds off her previous best time (5:54.21).
In the 3200 meters, Victoria Kolbinger placed eighth in her first try at that distance (13:49.4).
Becker’s hurdlers saw Sam Angell placing eighth in the 100 hurdles (18.82) and Aubree Lahr also placing eighth in the 300 hurdles (52.11).
Several girls finished ninth in field events including, Haley Hubbard in the triple jump, Madi Kerzman in discus, Deedra Lawrence in the high jump and Lahr and Kassidy Severson in pole vault.
Each of the team’s relays did well with improved hand offs. The Bulldogs continue to change the lineups in the relays as Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy checks out the combinations.
The 4x100 team of Sydney Stommes, Summer Somrock, Haley Hubbard and Emily Cox ran for fifth place (56.44).
The 4x200 team of Stommes, Manifold, Angell and Cox placed fourth (1:55.28) for a season best time.
The 4x400 team of Lahr, Alli Garding, Schmidt and Rositas placed sixth (4:39.32).
The 4x800 team of Garding, Dehmer, Kolbinger and Rositas took fifth with a season best time of 10:43.37.
“(I was) very pleased with our efforts Saturday,” said Reimer-Kealy. “Especially since we were missing several teammates.”
Team scores:
1). Rocori 143; 2). Bemidji 129.5; 3). St Francis 104; 4). Mahtomedi 97; 5). Fargo Shanley 73.5; 6). Becker 53; 7). Hibbing 43; 8). Concordia Academy Roseville; 9). St Clair 12; 10). St Francis JV; 11). Columbia Heights 1.
Boys Varsity
The boys track team had a nice showing Saturday, finishing with 54.5 points and placing sixth out of 12 teams.
“We had a bunch of personal best performances from our athletes,” said Head Coach Paul Schmidt.
The boys 4x800 team started the meet out on a good note with a seventh place finish and a season best time of 9:44. Jonathan Novak, Olsen Pancoast, Josh Drury and Luke Pappenfus were the team members.
The boys 4x200 meter team of Sydney Boros, Matthew Davalos, Andrew Davalos and Kevin Andres also had a season best time and a second place finish with 1:35.59.
These 4 boys also made up the 4x400 meter relay team that placed fourth with a 3:44.31 time, which again was three seconds faster than their previous best.
The 4x100 team of Bhavin Bhakta, Logan Anderson, Conner Huebner and Blake Paulson ran a nice race, finishing in sixth place with a season best time of 47.1
Individual places went to Luke Lahr, who won the 3200 meters with a 10:14.53 and placed second in the 1600 with a 4:40.08. Andrew Davalos was Becker’s other first place finisher in the 400 meter with a personal best time of 52.39. Boros place eighth in the 400 with a time of 54.16.
Andres ran a nice 200 placing seventh with time of 24.63 seconds.
Two pleasant surprises came when Andrew Davalos made the finals of the long jump with a 18'5" jump, finishing ninth. Brady Sheeley made the finals in the triple jump with a 37 foot jump and then proceeded to increase that distance each of his next three jumps and ended the meet with a 39 foot jump to place sixth.
Brady Roesler had a personal best throw in the disc with a toss of 91'7" and Blake Angell finished in sixth place in the pole vault with a vault of 9'6".
“Overall, a very nice day for the Becker boys track team,” said Schmidt.
The boys and girls track team competed at Pierz Friday night and a full report on the meet will appear in next week’s Citizen. Thursday they travel to Pillager for a 4 p.m. invite.
