All Conference honors were awarded to individuals placing first or second  and to relays placing first.  Standards based on the previous years results may also be met for all conference.

 

Becker had eight girls earn all conference this year: Cassidy Pleoger 100M and 200M, Keeley Holm 400M, Lexi Dehmer 800M, 1600M and 4x400M relay, Julia Bengtson 1600M, 4x400M relay, Miranda O"Brien 100M hurdles, Alli Hendrickson 3200M, high jump, Madi Kerzman discus, Dani Nuest 4x400M relay, Jessica Gruenes long jump, 4x400M relay.

 

In the high jump, Hendrickson tied for second with a jump of 4'9".

 

In the long jump, Jessica Gruenes and Cienna Pleoger set personal records with Gruenes placing third (15'10 1/2) and Pleoger  fifth (15'6 1/2).

 

Pleoger placed fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 32'4 3/4 and Abby Maruska just missed out on points, placing ninth (30'4").

 

Seniors Madi Kerzman and McKenna Edling were fifth (Kerzman 33'8") and sixth (Edling 32'1 1/2) in shot put.  They also earned points in the discus.  Kerzman placed second (100'8) to earn all conference and Edling was eighth (84'4).

 

In  the 4x800M relay, Victoria Kolbinger,  Abby Nelson,  Whitney Schug and Hendrickson, Becker jumped out to an early lead only to see the girls from Foley overtake Hendrickson on the last leg at the line.  Becker ran 10:38.83 to Foley's 10:38.74.  

 

Miranda O’Brien and Kayden Westin won their heats of the 100M hurdles to advance to the finals. O’Brien placed second with a PR time of 16.57 and Westin was seventh in 17.36. 

 

Prelims had Cassidy Pleoger advancing in the 100M dash taking second  with a time of 13.26.  

 

Pleoger also placed second in the 200M in 27.55.  

 

In the 4x200M relay, Pleoger was first, handing off to Westin, who transferred to Abby Maruska  and finally Sydney Stommes. These girls ran well with a season best time of 1:53.29 to place second to Foley.

 

In the 1600M, Lexi Dehmer defended her title for the third year in a row, running an excellent race. Dehmer was pushed by  Julia Bengtson the entire race with Albany's Kristine Kalthoff and Becker's Dani Nuest not far behind.  Dehmer ran it in 5:16.42, Bengtson was second at 5:16.82, Kalthoff third at 5:27.14 and Nuest fourth at 5:32.97 — a personal record and 14 seconds ahead of fifth place.  

 

In the 4x100M relay, Stommes, Calllie Doucette, Maruska and O"Brien placed fifth with a season best time of 54.41.

 

In the 400 meters, Keeley Holm placed second with a  PR time of 63.16.  Jessica Gruenes placed seventh in 66.39. 

 

O'Brien and Westin ran  the 300M hurdles where O'Brien placed fifth (50.87) and Westin sixth (51.11). 

 

The 800M featured returning winner from last year, Bethany TenHaken from Milaca and this year's 400M winner, Cheresa Bouley from Zimmerman. TenHaken retained her title in record time of 2:22.05. Dehmer (2:26.53) outpaced Bouley (2:27.62) down the home stretch for second.  Bengtson and Nuest were closing in at the finish line and placed fourth and fifth (2:28.62 and 2:32.92).

 

In the 3200M, Hendrickson won with a time of 11:56.16 and Kolbinger placed third (12:25.72). Abby Nelson earned the eighth place spot in a time of 13:16.08.

 

In the 4x400M relay, Albany easily won the event with a new conference record 4:12.79. The rest of the teams battled it out for second place with  Becker's team of Dani Nuest, Lexi Dehmer, Jessica Gruenes and Julia Bengtson running their season best time of 4:17.84 for second place.

 

“It was really exciting to be able to keep the championship again, and to achieve it on our home track is even more special,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy.

 

Team Scores: 1). Becker 162.75; 2). Foley 148.5; 3). Little Falls 100; 4). St. Cloud Cathedral 67.5; 5).  Albany 66; 6).  Zimmerman 65.5; 7). Mora 53.75; 8). Milaca  33.

 

“Along with our coaching staff we want to thank Mr. (Dave) Niemi and Jesse O'Neill in the activities office. They were invaluable and Mr. (Josh) Ihrke as our announcer meet manager really helped things run smoothly.  Not to forget our JV and junior high workers,” she said.

 

 

The Becker boys track team shook off the disappointment from missing out on a wild card berth to the State AA True Team Meet by claiming their third straight Granite Ridge Conference track title Tuesday.

 

The Bulldogs captured  the meet crown with 162.5 points.  Second place was Zimmerman, who scored 120 and third place went to Mora with 115.5.  The field was rounded out with Foley placing fourth (76.5) fifth place was Albany ( 72),  sixth was Little Falls (64.5),  seventh went to Cathedral (51) and eighth to Milaca (38).

 

The Becker boys placed 10 athletes on the All-Conference list.  Austin Hemmelgarn for the 100M and 200M, Kevin Andres for the 400M and 4x400M relay.  Jordan Gruenes, and Justin Kringler in the 800M, 4x400M, and 4x800M relays, Sam Ricker in the 1600M and 3200M, David Meyers in the 110M high hurdles and 300M intermediate hurdles, Sidney Boros in the 4x400M, Jonathan Novak in the 4x800M, Basil Ricker in the 4x800M and Ethan Holm in the triple jump.

 

The 4x800M team of Novak, Kringler, Basil Ricker, and Gruenes got Becker started out right by easily winning the race.  

 

“This is the first time in a long time that we have won the conference in that event,” said Head Coach Paul Schmidt.  

 

In the 110M high hurdles, David Myres broke the conference record and broke a 47 year-old school record with a time of 15.53.  After that, he followed with a 300M intermediate hurdle record with a time of 41.58.

 

“He has been amazing all year for us,” said Schmidt.   In the 100M, Austin Hemmelgarn snatched a second place and Andres added a fourth place.  

 

The 200M saw Hemmelgarn again take second and Sidney Boros grab fourth.  

 

In the 400 meters, Andres placed second with Boros again taking fourth place.  All three of those races were won by Mora's outstanding runner, Cal Wright, who also won the long jump for a clean sweep in his events.

 

The 800 meters was a nice turning point for Becker in the point standings as Gruenes and  Kringler battled for first and second place with Gruenes prevailing by 22 hundredths of a second.  Both boys ran top times of the year with 2:04.4 and 2:04.62.  Noah Fakhreddine also got in the mix, picking up a seventh place finish with his best time of the year at 2:14.29.

 

The 1600M was dominated by Ricker as he won again with personal best and a top time of 4:31.8. Novak ran a great race with a personal best of 4:53.52.

 

Ricker also finished strong in the 3200M by taking second place and his brother Basil finished in third.  Their times were 10:17.7 and 10:44.35.  

 

“Sam has one of the toughest jobs on our team when he runs the 1600M and 3200M,” said Schmidt.  “It's a great sacrifice because he is also one of our top 800M runners but he puts that aside to help the team score points.”

 

The 4x400M relay team of Boros, Gruenes, Kringler and Andres came ever so close to breaking the school record by winning the race with a time of 3:28.63. That time was good though to be the new GRC record.  

 

In the field events, Ethan Holm captured  fourth place with a triple jump of 39'9.25" and an eighth place in the long jump with a leap of 18'6".

 

Nick Radunz placed third in the shot with a toss of 41'2" — just one inch out of all conference honors.  Radunz also captured  fourth place in the disc with a throw of 118' 1".  Nick Goth and Nate Croal added a sixth and eighth place in shot put.  

Jack Belde finished sixth in the long jump (18'9") and Holm finished tied for fourth in the pole vault with a 10'8" vault.

 

 

Becker will compete in the Last Chance Meet at Zimmerman Tuesday. The following week will be Section 8AA playoffs.