At a busy track and field meet with 27 teams from North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada, the Devils Lake boys and girls each managed to finish in the top three.
The Firebirds girls took second, while the boys took third, in the Mike Grandall Invite at the Fritz Pollard Athletic Center in Grand Forks on Friday.
New Rockford-Sheyenne competed in the meet as well. The Rockets finished in a tie for 10th on the girls’ side.
Boys
Team results
Devils Lake came in third out of the 21 teams with official places. The Firebirds scored 46 points, trailing only Grand Forks Central (149) and Grand Forks Red River (92).
NR-S did not place on the boys’ side.
Highlights
Finley Wirth, after a strong season opener, had another good showing in Devils Lake’s second meet of the year.
He took third in the 60-meter dash prelims, running a 7.31. Then he took second in the event finals, topping his previous time with a 7.27.
He also placed fourth in the 200 with a 23.61.
Wirth, a junior, is in his first year on the track and field team.
Cross country standout Zane Bennett placed sixth in the mile. He ran a personal-best 4:53.34. He was one of eight runners to beat five minutes. The eighth-place winner, a senior from Wadena-Deer Creek in Minnesota, happened to be named Grant Nelson.
Bennett also placed third in the 3200-meter run, with a time of 10:56.98.
Devils Lake’s Isaac Kraft and Rylan Day placed seventh in the 400-meter and 600-meter, respectively.
Tucker Bennett came in fourth in the pole vault with a personal-best 11’0’’.
Girls
Team results
Devils Lake’s score of 54.5 was the second-best out of the 25 teams that placed. It trailed only Grand Forks Red River’s 64.
NR-S scored 26 points, tied with Pembina County North for 10th.
Event champions
Devils Lake junior Sara Kraft won the long jump for the second time this season already.
In the season opener, she set a personal best at 18’1.5’’. She settled for 17’10.75’’ this time. It was still enough to win the event by more than a full foot.
Other highlights
Kraft also came in 15th out of more than 100 runners in the 200-meter dash. She set a personal best of 27.59.
Six additional Firebirds set personal bests in the 200, including Raeleigh Myklebust and Emily Kraft, who joined Kraft in the top 30.
S. Kraft also placed third in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best 10.00.
Senior Aubrie Lebrun placed third in the 600 with a personal-best 1:52.57. Sophomore Ella Wass was third in the 300-meter hurdles at 51.36.
Cross country standout Brooklyn Johnson, just an eighth-grader, came in third in the 3200-meter run. She set a personal best of 12:34.57. Riley Schmiess and Scarlett Leiphon finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the same event.
Devils Lake’s Charlie Soderstrom and Kinley Johnson tied for eighth in the jump, each setting a personal best with a jump of 4’6’’.
NR-S was led by junior Emmie Belquist, who placed second in the 400-meter with a personal-best 1:01.35. Ava Peterson joined her in the top 10, coming in eighth. Belquist, Peterson and four other Rockets set personal bests in the 400.
NR-S freshman Isla Jacobson placed sixth in the 600 with a season-best 1:55.24.
The Rockets also had two relay teams with strong placements. Jaida Schumacher, Peterson, Belquist and Kaci Weisenburger placed second in the 4×200; Schumacher, Belquist, Peterson and Jacobson placed third in the 4×400.
Up next
Devils Lake’s next meet is Tuesday, March 24 in the Braves Invite at the Byron Dorgan Youth Wellness Center.
NR-S is scheduled to compete in the Dick Clay Invite at the Fritz Pollard Athletic Center on Friday.
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