The Becker boys and girls track teams competed in two meets this week, one at St. Francis and the other at Albany.

 

The Becker boys and girls track teams captured first place at the Albany Invitational Thursday.

 

Andrew Davalos won four events.  He won the long jump 19'1", the 400 meters (52.58), and was part of the winning 4x200 team with teammates Gabe Dertinger, Sidney Boros and Kevin Andres.  Davalos was also part of the 4x400 relay team with teammates Boros, Andres and his brother, Matthew Davalos.

 

Boros won the 200 meters in a time of 23.73 and Andres was a close second with a 23.88. Alex Meidt grabbed a fifth place in the 200. Dertinger finished the 100 meters in second place and Austin Hemmelgarn was fourth.

 

The 4x100 relay team of Dertinger, Meidt, Austin Hemmelgarn, and Hunter Golden finished second and Golden finished third in the 300 Intermediate hurdles.

 

Dillon Radunz finished strong with a second place finish in the shot put and the discus with throws of 48 and 138 feet.  Dawson Thom had a personal best in the discus, throwing 112 feet.

 

Sam Ricker barely got edged out in the 3200 meter and finished second with a time of 11:01 while Olson Pancoast finishing fourth with a personal best of 11:17.

 

William Schendell added points for the team in the pole vault (10 feet) with a fourth place finish and the high jump 5'2" (fourth place).  Brady Scheely picked up a second place in the triple jump and the boys 4x800 team finished second with members Brett Parson, Jonathan Novak, Pancoast and Sam Ricker.

 

“It was a good meet for Becker as we finally picked up our first win as a team,” said Head Coach Paul Schmidt.

 

Team scores: 1). Becker 121; 2). Little Falls 89; 3). Albany 88; 4). St. Cloud Cathedral 68; 5). St. Cloud Christian 18.

 

Becker had six first place finishers and 14 personal records at Albany.

 

Alex Johnson earned two of those first places in the high jump and the triple jump. Her high jump of 4'10" was a personal record.  Also in the high jump, Sam Angell was third with a PR of 4'8" and Morgan Youngdahl fourth with a 4'8".  Johnson had a PR in the triple jump for first  with a jump 31'6- 3/4.   Also getting a PR in the triple jump was Bailee Thorson (25'9).

 

The 1600 meters had Alli Hendrickson take first with a convincing time of 5:39.29 (13 seconds better than the runner up). Jackie Yoerg improved her previous time to 6:10.5 for sixth.

 

A highlight was the 3200 meter run with Julia Bengtson and Lexi Dehmer running away from the group to take first and second respectively. Both girls ran exceptional times that placed them on the Minnesota high school honor roll. They raced together the whole way until the last lap with Bengtson ending up two seconds ahead of Dehmer. Their times were 11:48.75 and 11:50.9.  

 

Also earning fourth place in that race with a PR time of 13:03.67 was Victoria Kolbinger.

 

Becker’s 400M runners  saw Payton Anderson placing second (PR 67.65) and Kayden Westin  placing third (PR 67.65).

 

Along with her place in the high jump, Angell took first place in the 300 hurdles in a time of 53.73 and third in the 100 hurdles (17.97).  Also in the hurdles, Miranda O'Brien PR’d in the 100 (18.61) and was third in the 300 hurdles (54.02). Shannon Sydow was fifth (54.76) in her first attempt at that event.

 

Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy decided to mix up her line ups for relays Thursday and the 4x800 placed second in 10:36.75 (Hendrickson, Courtney Nuest, Bengtson and Jada Rositas).

 

The 4x200 was third in 1:58.95 (Johnson, Kayden Westin, Payton Anderson and Sydow). The 4x100  team of Sydow, Youngdahl, Johnson and Bengtson placed second but no time was made available to the Citizen-Tribune. Becker’s 4x400 had its best time of the season, placing second with 4:34.45 (Westin, Angell, Miranda O'Brien, Nikki O'Brien).

 

Field events also had a good day for Madi Kerzman, who took first in the discus with a throw of 94'9 and second in the shot put with a 33'8" mark.

 

Youngdahl also placed third in the long jump (13'10 1/2).

 

“It was a good effort by all our kids,” said Reimer-Kealy.

 

Team scores: 1). Becker 120; 2). Albany 109; 3). Little Falls 100; 4). St. Cloud Cathedral 58; 5). St Cloud Christian 15.

 

The Becker boys took third and the girls sixth place in Saturday’s outdoor meet in St. Francis.

 

Ten teams from all over the states of Minnesota and North Dakota competed Saturday and Becker finished in third with 88 points behind Chisago Lakes Area (100.5) and Mahtomedi (128.5).

 

The boys’ 4x200 and 4x400 meter relay teams had great days as the 200 team of Beau Pauly, Andrew Davalos, Kevin Andres and Sidney Boros ran a season-high best time of 1:33.72. The 400 team (Boros, Andres and the Davalos brothers) also had a top time of 3:39.41 in their race.

 

Becker's 4x100 team — Gabe Dertinger, Alex Meidt, Austin Hemmelgarn and Pauly took second.

 

Dillon Radunz had a throw of 50 feet to finish second in the shot put and he was third in the discus with a throw of 130-10.

 

Head Coach Paul Schmidt said Pauly, who is also playing baseball for the Bulldogs, “has been a huge part of our success this year as he also scored nice points by placing fifth in the 200 (24.06) and fifth in the long jump (19'8.5") — both personal bests.

 

Austin Hemmelgarn and Alex Blomgren had great jumps for Becker of 18'10.5"(seventh) and 18'5.5" respectively.

 

William Schendel placed sixth in the high jump with a personal best of 5'8" and fifth in the pole vault with a jump of 9'6".

 

The boys 100M runners were  tight as they took fifth, sixth, and eighth places with Dertinger running a 12.04, Hemmelgarn a 12.06 and Andres a 12.12.

 

Andrew and Matt Davalos went sixth and eighth in the 400 with times of 53.68 and 56.43.

 

The 4x800 team of Brett Parson, Jonathan Novak, Justin Kringler and Olsen Pancoast finished fifth with a personal best time of 9:10.

 

Hunter Golden picked up a nice seventh place in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 19.10. Pancoast and Keith Sorenson battled out for fifth and sixth place in the two-mile with times of 11:34.78 and 11:35.06.  

 

Brady Scheely grabbed  eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 38'7".

 

“Our depth in events is really paying off and we are picking up a lot of mid level places that are really helping out our team score,” said Schmidt.

 

With the solid showings in the 4x100, 4x200 and shot put, all recorded times and throws  made the state honor role.

 

The girls placed sixth out of 11 teams and had eight personal record performances and two entries into the Minnesota honor roll.

 

Hannah Schmidt was second in the pole vault with a vault of 10 feet for the Becker girls and earned honor roll. 

 

“She still is not full strength but has been handling things well and we look forward to the day she can come back fully,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy.

 

Also entering the honor roll was the 4x800 meter relay team, which cut 38 seconds off their previous time from this year.  Julia Bengtson, Alli Hendrickson, Alayna Lindquist and Lexi Dehmer ran outstanding legs for Becker to place second with a time of 10:08.2. First place went to Hibbing with a 10:04.

 

The Becker distance girls had a good day.  In the 800 meters, eighth-grader Lexi Dehmer ran a PR in a very competitive race with some talented runners.  Her time of 2:28.34 placed her sixth.

 

Seventh-grader Bengtson finished second in the 1,600 with a 5:31.15 in her first-ever outdoor event.

 

Hendrickson and Victoria Kolbinger placed in the 3200 meter race with Alli taking second in 12:24.89 and Victoria earning fifth place with a PR time of 13:03.57.

 

Sam Angell placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 17.44 in her first race at that distance this year.

 

Becker’s other relay teams saw the 4x400 (Kayden Westin, Bengtson, Miranda O'Brien, Dehmer) place seventh (4:36.23).

 

The 4x200 foursome (Angell, Shannon Sydow, Payton Anderson and Kayden Westin) took eighth (1:58.54).

 

The 4x100 squad (Lexi Michels, Morgan Youngdahl, Alex Johnson and Bailee Thorson) finished 11th  (56.45).

 

In the field events, Madi Kerzman was seventh in the shot put with 31'11.  Youngdahl took fourth in the high jump at 4'8" and Johnson was sixth in the same event with the same score (4'8). 

 

“It was great to get a meet in with such nice weather and good competition,” said Reimer-Kealy.  “We are off to a very good start.”

 

Team scores: North Branch 116, St Francis 111, Rocori 99, Mahtomedi 75.5, Shanley 59, Becker 55.5, Hibbing 53.5, Concordia Academy Roseville 53.5, Forest Lake 40, Chisago Lakes 25, St Croix Prep 13.

 

The track team’s next meets are Tuesday in Becker and Friday in Pierz.