The Becker Bulldog boys and girls track teams participated in the finals of Section 8AA Saturday at Rocori High School. Becker had already qualified Dillon Radunz and Hannah Schmidt for state and they added two more as Samantha Angell qualified in the girls 100 meter hurdles and Luke Lahr in the 1600.

 

“Sam (Angell) has done an outstanding job in her first year of track and field,” said Head Coach Trish Reimer-Kealy. “She has progressed consistently with her events that usually takes quite some time to really master.”

 

Angell placed second to Meleah Biermeier from Thief River Falls in the hurdles with a time of 15.87. Biermeier is one of the top hurdlers in the state and she finished with a time of 14.65.  Brainerd's Jenna Degan was third  at 16:06. 

 

“I’m really happy with the focus and competitive spirit shown by Sam,” said Reimer-Kealy.

 

“Luke Lahr’s race was one of the three most exciting races I've seen since I've been at Becker,” the head coach said. “I’m so glad for him as well.”

 

Reimer-Kealy is extremely proud to see four tracksters going on to state in four different events.

 

She was also excited to see her 4x800 team score a point in the relay.  

 

“Our girls were not predicted to place and ran in the 'slow' heat of the race,” she said.

 

The foursome placed second in that heat and their time placed them eighth overall. Running in the event for Becker were  eighth-grader Alli Garding, eighth-grader Tate Spinner, ninth-grader Kayden Westin and 10th-grader Jada Rositas.

 

Schmidt just missed qualifying in the pole vault, placing third with a vault of 9'7". Reimer-Kealy said the girl who placed second appeared to get a “lucky bounce” on a vault where she nicked the bar but the bar stayed on the standard after bouncing a bit.

 

Alli Hendrickson placed 11th in the 1600 with a PR of 5:35.40; Lexi Dehmer was 17th with 5:39.72.

 

The 4x100 relay team of Sydney Stommes, Kassidy Severson, Haley Hubbard and Shannon Sydow had a time of 55.17.

 

The 4x200 relay team ran their best time of the season to place ninth, just one spot out of earning a point. Running that event in 1:52.70 were Aubree Lahr, Angell, Emily Cox and Schmidt.

 

Running the 4x400 relay  to a 12th place finish was Michaela Manifold in her last race for Becker. The senior ran the best split of the relay for the Bulldogs to finish her career in style.  The rest of the girls on the  team also ran well, including Lexi Dehmer, Aubree Lahr and Emily Cox (who ran a fine anchor leg). Together they ran a season best time of 4:28.50.

 

As a team, Becker placed 12th out of 16 teams with Alexandria taking first place, Detroit Lakes second, Bemidji third, Rocori fourth and Willmar rounding out the top five.

 

“Last week, I said Luke Lahr ran the race of his life breaking the school record for a second time this season,” said Head Coach Paul Schmidt.  “Well that was short lived because Luke topped that on Saturday by winning the 1600 and earning a berth at the state meet  Saturday.”  

 

Schmidt said the race was tight through 3.5 laps when the runner from Little Falls decided to make a break with about 500 meters to go.  Lahr saw this as an opportunity to go with him but was boxed in.  So at the 400 meter make,  Lahr saw an opening and took it and he sprinted the last 400 meters and out-kicked the field to win the race in 4:38.73.

 

Other good performances were Andrew Davalos, finishing eighth in the 400 and the 4x200 team finishing seventh.  Team members were Kevin Andres, Sidney Boros, Matthew Davalos and Andrew Davalos.  It was also the 4x200 team’s top time.

 

Jonathan Novak finally broke the 5:00 mark in the 1600, which has been a goal of his all year and Sidney Boros ran one of his best times this year in the 400.

 

Radunz had a personal best in the discus, tossing it 125 feet.

 

“The guys had an outstanding year and with many young track and field athletes the future looks good,” said Schmidt. 

 

Awards went to  Tanner Neidenfeuhr as the rookie of the year.  Luke Lahr was highest point scorer and most dedicated.  Most improved went to Radunz.  Scholar athlete was awarded to Lahr.  

 

Next years’ captains were elected as Parker Friedman, Andrew Davalos, Olson Pancoast and Dillon Radunz.

 

Becker’s four state-qualifiers competed Friday at Hamline, with Angell in the prelims. Radunz and Schmidt have finals that same day and Lahr runs Saturday. A full report on the results will appear in next week’s Citizen.