The Becker boys and girls track teams converged on Mora High School Tuesday to compete in  the Granite Ridge Conference Championships. Girls Varsity Track

Becker girls really stepped up for this one and earned 14 PRs in the process. Becker placed second as a team with 110.5 points and earned 14 personal records in the process. They were edged out by just 3- 1/2 points by Little Falls (last year's winner) who had 114 points. 

 

“While we are disappointed not bringing home the win, we are so very proud each of the girls and their efforts at this meet,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy.  “Four of our girls earned ‘All Conference’ honors, which are awarded to first and second place finishers individually and first place in relays.” 

 

Honorable mentions went to third place finishers. 

 

All conference: Sam Angell in the 100 and 300 hurdles; Alli Hendrickson in the 1600 meters; Lexi Dehmer in the 1600 meters; Hannah Schmidt in the high jump, pole vault and was named honorable mention for her 200 meters.

 

Becker’s 100 meter hurdlers started out strong with two of the three (Angell and Aubree Lahr) making finals and the third, Haley Hubbard, getting her season best time.  In the finals, it was a great race won by Allie Terpstra of Milaca in 15.66.  

 

Angell ran her best race so far this year to gain a personal record and place second with a 16.33, qualifying her for the MSHSL honor roll and moves her into fourth on Becker's all time honor roll. 

 

Lahr ran an outstanding race, running for third place right up until the second-to-last hurdle when she hit it and fell. She got up as quickly as possible and placed eighth, earning a point for her team. Her prelim time was her personal record time of 17.62.

 

In the 100, the Bulldogs were pleased to have two girls make the finals. Schmidt ran a personal record in the prelims (13.36) and placed fifth in the finals (13.53) while eighth grader Sydney Stommes placed eighth (13.82).

 

The 1600 meters was another highlight for Becker. It was an exciting race with Alli Hendrickson (5:36.05 PR) running strong, leading all the way and Lexi Dehmer close behind. Zimmerman's Nikki Jurek stuck close to the Bulldog girls and passed Dehmer on the final curve, but Lexi fought back to pass her in the final straight to give Becker  first place with a 5:36.69 time. Jada Rositas ran a super race for a PR (5:49.16) to give Becker fifth place.

 

Michaela Manifold ran her best 400 of the season and just missed earning points by 1 /100th of a second (67.91). 

 

The Bulldogs had all three of their entries place in the 300 hurdles.  Angell, improving every time out, won the race in 49.77 (PR). Lahr recovered from her 100 hurdles fall to capture fourth (52.26) and Miranda O'Brien placed sixth (53.12 PR).  

 

Dehmer came back in the 800 (2:36.70) to place seventh overall in a tough field and Rositas again got a personal record best with a 2:42.38, missing out by just one place.

 

Schmidt earned honorable mention for her third place in the 200 (28.15) and Stommes just missed by placing ninth (29.03).

 

The Bulldogs suffered a blow in the 3200 meters when Hendrickson had to pull out of the competition due to a knee injury. She was ranked second, but Becker’s other runners did their best to make it up. Tate Spinner (13:20.52) and Victoria Kolbinger (13:21.92) PR’d, ending just out of the points in ninth and 10th place.

 

In relays, the 4x800 team placed fourth with Alli Garding, Spinner, Kayden Westin and Victoria Kolbinger gaining a 11:00.22 time.

 

The 4x200 quartet of Stommes, Angell, Manifold and Shannon Sydow placed fourth (1:56.86) while Little Falls was DQ’d for bad hand offs. 

 

The 4x100 squad of Hubbard, Kassidy Severson, Summer Somrock and Shannon Sydow placed sixth overall (56.54).

 

The 4x400 team of Manifold, Dehmer, Garding and Nikki O"Brien ran their best time of the season (4:29.31).

 

“These girls knew we were close for the team trophy and never gave up,” said Reimer-Kealy.

 

Madi Kerzman placed fourth in the discus with a nice throw of 95'3 and was ninth in the shot put (28'9).

 

In long jump, Morgan Youngdahl placed seventh (14'7 1/2).

 

In the triple jump,  Hubbard had a season-best distance of 31'8-1/2 for seventh place.

 

In high jump, Schmidt soared to 4'10 for second place and Youngdahl placed in a tie for sixth at 4'8.

 

In pole vault, Schmidt vaulting beautifully for first place with a PR of 10'3. Lahr placed as well at fourth, clearing eight feet.

 

“Each one of our competitors did a great job regardless of whether they placed or not,” said Reimer-Kealy.  “We couldn't be more proud of the progress this group has made this year.”

 

Team Scores: 1). Little Falls 114; 2). Becker 110.5; 3). St Cloud Cathedral 95.5; 4). Foley 93; 5). Albany 78; 6). Milaca 76; 7). Zimmerman 73; 8). Mora 61.

 

Injuries, illness and a bit of misfortune caused the Becker boys track team to come up short of their goal of a top three finish Tuesday afternoon.  

 

The team was hoping to have the services of Andrew Davalos and Kevin Andres back after injuries from last weeks true team meet, but Davalos had to be scratched from all four events and Andres tried to run, but struggled and was eventually pulled from the relay team.  Along with that piece of bad luck, the team also lost the services of senior sprinter Conner Huebner and freshman Sydney Boros who were home sick.

 

“There are always some positives that come from adversity and Becker had some other athletes step up and perform on relay teams to fill the open spots,” said Head Coach Paul Schmidt.  

 

The 4x200 team consisted of Bhavin Bhakta, Matthew Davalos, Dylan Laudenbach and Andres.  They finished in third place with a time of 1:38.49.   

 

The 4x100 team welcomed Blake Paulson to the team of Bhakta, Logan Andersen and Colton Demant and they finished in fifth place, just 37 hundredths of a second out of second place.  

 

Becker’s 4x400 team also had a nice finish of fourth place with Matthew Davalos, Tanner Neidenfeuhr, Brady Sheeley and Parker Friedman running a time of 3:49.  

 

The Bulldogs had some outstanding individual performances from senior Luke Lahr and junior Dylan Radunz.  

 

Lahr ran a great 1600 in 4:43.04 and fought off the second place competitor from Mora to finish in first place by two-hundredths of a second.  Lahr then turned around and ran the 3200 for Becker in which he again fought hard down the last 100 meter stretch to edge out another Mora runner for second place with a time of 10:09.5.  

 

“ It is very hard to double in the mile and two mile but Luke was wanting to score as many team points as possible and was able to make all-conference in both events,” said Schmidt.  

 

Radunz also earned all-conference honors by taking second place in the shot put with a toss of 47' 8.25”.  

 

Other top performances for Becker came from Brady Sheely, who finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 38'1" — just 6" out of second place.  Matthew Davalos also ran a great 200, finishing in fourth place with a time of 24.25.  

 

Neidenfeuhr and Logan Gallus finished fifth and sixth in the 300 intermediate hurdles and Neidenfeuhr had a bit of misfortune, as he made the finals in the 110 high hurdles and was in fourth place until he clipped the seventh hurdle and went down.  Neidenfeuhr had to settle for eighth place in the event.

 

William Shendell jumped 5'2" in the high jump to take fifth place.

 

The boys ended up with 64.5 points, which placed them fifth behind Mora who won the meet with 155, Foley was second with 149.5 points.

 

Becker was hoping to compete in the JV conference meet Thursday in Albany, but that was cancelled due to weather.  Becker’s last regular meet before sections will be held Tuesday in Zimmerman.