The Devils Lake cross country boys and girls each have a clear standout.
However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any competition or depth. The Firebirds have returned another strong group in the cross country program that has grown over recent years.
“We’re doing good [on numbers],” head cross country coach Nick Kavli said. “We’ve been having a strong 50-plus kids for a number of years now, and that’s where we’re at again this year. A little heavier on the boys’ side than the girls’ side to fill out that number 50, but still a good number. Still something we can work with and stay competitive and stay respectable within this sport.”
On the boys’ side, it’s Zane Bennett leading the way. Bennett, who first started competing in varsity meets as a seventh-grader, is now a senior. He’s coming off his best season yet, where he placed 22nd at the Class A state meet.
“It’s gonna be weird without him there,” Kavli said. “We do have three senior boys on the team, with Zane, Aiden [Ackerman] and Ty [Kremer]. And they’ve all been around for quite a while. But yeah, they’re gonna get some pressure.”
Bennett’s all-time fastest score is 16:38.9, which he set at the 2023 Eastern Dakota Conference championship. His best time last year was 16:53.2. His best through the first four meets of this season was 17:13.9 at the Devils Lake Invitational — nearly 19 seconds faster than his time in the same meet last year.
But it’s not just Bennett making noise at the top.
At the Carrington meet on Sept. 1, fellow senior Aiden Ackerman finished one place ahead of him. Ackerman was second overall with a 17:32, while Bennett was third with a 17:58. It was a personal best for Ackerman, who had never beaten 18 minutes until the Hatton-Northwood meet the week before.
Bennett, typically the fastest Devils Lake male runner in a given meet, had to give way to Ackerman.
“He’s gonna get some pressure from [the other seniors], and Zane welcomes that,” Kavli said. “It’s healthy. He’s set that bar high for these kids for a long time. So just having him for all those years, setting that bar high, he’s got a pack now that for years have been trying to get up there with him. And it helps the whole program when you have somebody like Zane, or other seniors, or Aiden right now, who’s put in a lot of miles over the summer, just hoping to be up there with Zane. So by Zane having that in the past, it encourages someone like Aiden to put in the extra work to try to get there and try to get that spot as well.”
Other Devils Lake boys consistently finishing near the top have been Ty Kremer, Blake Nelson and Rylan Bennett. And they’ve been improving from meet to meet, too.
Younger kids like Alexander McLaurin, Draike Haugland and Keifer Wanner are getting some varsity experience as well. McLaurin, an eighth-grader, already achieved a top-40 finish at the Carrington meet and placed 12th at the Devils Lake Invitational.
The girls, meanwhile, are led by young phenom Brooklyn Johnson.
Johnson was a revelation last season after she joined cross country for the first time as an eighth-grader. She won a middle school meet before being bumped up to the varsity team — where she won the first two meets she competed in. She ended up placing 12th at the Class A state meet.
And now she’s actually in high school.
“I think she realized how much she liked running in seventh-grade track, so then that carried over,” Kavli said. “She’s dual sports with volleyball, so we have to share her with that. But she’s just a person that loves running, and I think having a program available for someone that loves running to be able to step into it and do it successfuly is something we’re trying to do.”
Johnson posted a personal-best 19:10 to win the Hatton-Northwood meet on Aug. 25. It earned her statewide recognition, coming in sixth out of the top 10 Class A girls in the Aug. 26 coaches poll.
“She’s looking healthy, and she’s running great,” Kavli said. “It’s just good to have somebody on your team that has that high bar set for them to chase.”
Last year, Johnson was Devils Lake cross country’s first all-state runner since the early 2000s.
Johnson didn’t compete at the Carrington meet, however, so sophomore Riley Schmiess took the spotlight instead. Schmiess placed second at the meet with a 19:46, her first time beating 20 minutes this season. Her personal best is 19:27.5, which she set at the 2024 EDC championship.
Schmiess also grabbed a second-place finish at the Hatton-Northwood meet.
“You’ve got Riley, who was our lead runner for a long time, who’s gonna be right there with [Johnson],” Kavli said. “She’s healthy this year. Starting to run fast again, and you just have that high bar set, and you’re gonna have girls chase them. And we have some good junior-high girls running that can look up to them.”
Behind Johnson and Schmiess, several runners have stepped up. Junior Jossalin Carpenter placed 24th at each of her first two meets of the season. Randi Toso, who’s only an eighth-grader, took a couple of 27th-place finishes. Ealynn Yoder and Rachel Vaagen have been in the top 40.
As a team, the boys had the best hypothetical scores at the Hatton-Northwood and Carrington meets. The girls were second at the Hatton-Northwood meet and third at the Carrington meet. The boys won the Devils Lake Invitational while the girls came in fourth.
Devils Lake travels to the Blue and White Invitational at Valley City Town and Country Club on Saturday, Sept. 19.