Sara Kraft’s long jump state championship highlighted Devils Lake’s performance at the 2026 Class A state track and field meet.
Kraft led the Firebirds girls to a 13th-place finish out of 21 teams. It was her fifth trip to the state meet and first time winning an event championship.
Finley Wirth had a good showing to lead the boys’ performance.
Devils Lake boys: 8 points (20th place out of 21 teams)
Wirth, a junior in his first year on track and field, finished a successful season while competing in four state events.
He placed fourth in the long jump with a personal-best 22’2’’. He added a seventh-place finish in the high jump (personal-best 6’2’’) and eighth-place in javelin (personal-best 163’5’’). His only event where didn’t set a personal best was the 100-meter dash, where he still finished 14th with a time of 11.21.
Devils Lake competed in two other events.
Junior Zane Bennett ran a personal best in the 1600-meter, coming in 14th place with a 4:29.49. He finished one place and about nine seconds faster than his performance at last year’s state meet.
A Devils Lake relay quartet — senior Caber Bryce Volk, along with freshmen Isaac Kraft and Max Volk and eighth-grader Draike Haugland — came in 19th in the 4×100 with a 47.18.
Devils Lake girls: 20 points (13th place out of 21 teams)
Kraft’s mark of 19’1.5’’ was not only enough to win the long jump, or to set a school record — but it beat the rest of the field by more than a foot.
The next-best jump was 17’11.5’’, from West Fargo Sheyenne’s Kia Ray.
It obliterated not only Kraft’s competition, but her own personal best. Kraft’s previous best had been 18’3’’ at the Packer Relays on May 1. She jumped nearly a foot farther than her own personal best.
Even matching that 18’3’’, though, would have been enough to win the long jump.
Kraft competed in four state events. In the 100-meter hurdles, she placed fifth in both the prelims and finals. She ran a 15.61 and 15.76, respectively. She also came in 11th in the triple jump.
A quartet consisting of Kraft, freshmen Siri Bryce Volk and Raeleigh Myklebust, along with sophomore Ella Wass, placed eighth in the 4×100 relay finals after coming in ninth in the prelims. They set a school record of 49.76 in the finals to make the podium.
Wass also participated in four total state events. She placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles finals with a 46.43 after coming in eighth in the prelims. She added a 19th-place mark in the 100-meter hurdles prelims.
Devils Lake had relay teams in the 4×400, 4×800 and 4×200.
In the 4×400, senior Aubrie Lebrun, seventh-grader Scarlett Leiphon, eighth-grader Aubryn Wiberg and Wass came in 17th.
In the 4×800, Lebrun, eighth-grader Brooklyn Johnson, freshman Riley Schmiess and Leiphon came in 13th.
Bryce Volk, Myklebust, freshman Ealynn Yoder and senior Mallie McCloud finished 20th in the 4×200.
Finally, Devils Lake had three contestants in the 3200-meter run: Johnson (17th, personal-best 11:48.30), Leiphon (21st, 12:01.40) and Schmiess (12:57.31).
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