On the day of competition, Sara Kraft recalled coach John McLaurin telling her he’d had a dream where she jumped 19 feet 2 inches.
“Long jump is one of my favorite events to do in track, so I was pretty excited already,” Kraft said. “But when he told me that, I honestly just — I didn’t believe I could do it right away. But once I started jumping, I tried to hit that.”
Coming into the 2026 Class A state track and field meet, Kraft’s best distance in long jump was 18 feet 3 inches. She set it on May 1 this season at the Packer Relays.
In a way, that jump had been a long time coming. Back in 2023 — when she was only in eighth grade — Kraft jumped 18 feet at the state meet and came in third place. Until this year, she was yet to jump in the 18s again.
Kraft still isn’t quite sure how she accomplished such a feat while in middle school.
“I honestly don’t know,” she said about that performance. “I can picture it, but it’s just like — I remember jumping it, too. I can still picture it. My coaches were so happy and so excited and everything. I just didn’t believe it when I was in eighth grade. I just was in shock, honestly.”
Since 2023, amidst all of the other success the Devils Lake junior has had — going to state every year while setting school records in 10 events — Kraft has been aiming to return to the 18-plus range in long jump.
“I definitely have been trying to reach that again,” she said. “Just trying to get that feeling back of hitting a big PR and everything. And yeah, that was definitely something that was on my mind, trying to do the same thing that I did when I was younger.”
The 2026 spring track season was business as usual for Kraft. She qualified for state in nine events. The maximum one athlete can compete in is four, so she had the luxury of choosing her favorite ones.
The first of those nine was, naturally, the long jump. She jumped 16 feet 11 inches in the first outdoor meet of the year.
She went on to place either first or second in long jump at every meet this season.
Kraft set outdoor school records in five events this year — including a relay. Over the last three years, she owns or has been part of six outdoor school records and four indoor school records.
“Just keeping a positive mindset has really helped,” Kraft said of her success. “Sometimes when I don’t do good, it brings me down, but my teammates help me to stay positive, and that really helps. And talking with other people, and just making me laugh and everything, it really does help, instead of being in that negative mindset.”
That loose camaraderie, Kraft said, carried into the state meet.
There were 28 Class A girls competing against Kraft in long jump at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck on May 21. Kraft was the only one not from the Fargo, Bismarck, Minot, Williston or Dickinson areas. From the sound of it, there were no bitter rivalries — just a bunch of athletes trying their best and rooting each other on.
Kraft turned her 11th-place long jump state finish as a sophomore into first place as a junior.
“Just talking with my opponents … being able to chat with them, and they kind of relieved my stress of that,” Kraft said. “And just being able to have fun with them, because they were all supporting me as well. They were all really happy for me. And so I think that was a big part. It just felt like a better atmosphere, I think.”
As she landed in the sand, she had an inkling she’d beaten her personal best.
But she didn’t realize that McLaurin’s dream had come true — at least, 0.5 inches short of true.
“It felt definitely longer than my usual jumps,” Kraft said. “And then I looked over at my coaches, and they looked pretty hyped. So I was expecting something big. But I was not expecting 19 or anything. I was expecting to still be in the 18s.”
The party started once Kraft learned her distance.
It was 19 feet 1.5 inches.
“I was just so happy. I was jumping up and down,” she recalled, laughing. “It was a really good video. I’m just jumping and down, so excited and hugging my friends and stuff. It was pretty special, honestly, because all of my teammates and everyone were really happy and just supporting me through that.”
The next-best distance was 17 feet 11.5 inches, by West Fargo Sheyenne’s Kia Ray.
Kraft beat second place by more than a full foot and her own best by nearly a foot as well. Her distance set a school record.
“It was just kind of unreal,” she said. “I was not expecting to beat my PR by that much. I was expecting maybe to go a little bit higher, but definitely not by that much.”
Kraft’s performance in her other three events wasn’t too shabby, either. She took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and 11th in triple jump.
Her personal highlight, though — outside of the long jump championship — came in the 4×100 relay, where she placed eighth alongside three underclassmen: freshmen Siri Bryce Volk and Raeleigh Myklebust, along with sophomore Ella Wass.
“I was really happy with that. We weren’t expected to even place,” Kraft said. “So even placing felt really good. And getting my teammates to also place and get an award and everything really felt good, and getting some points for our team. … And hurdles, I was just happy to place in that one.”
Kraft’s long jump distance would have put her in sixth place at the 2026 Summit League Outdoor Championship, ahead of many Division-I juniors and seniors. It would have been 13th in the Big Ten.
The next level is now on the horizon for the incoming senior.
“It’s definitely something that I’m looking into, is doing track in college,” Kraft said. “I’ve had a few colleges reach out to me and stuff, so it really just depends on what happens this next year.”
With a long jump state championship under her belt, and numerous records, Kraft doesn’t necessarily have a whole lot she still needs to prove.
But there’s no reason for her to stop here.
“I’m looking to place really high in basically all my events next year at state,” Kraft said. “Reaching personal bests is one of my main goals. … Hopefully try and hit 19 during a regular meet, even, and just get higher.”
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