The early goings of the track and field season continued on Friday in Fargo with the North Dakota State Class A Indoor Meet. Devils Lake, after a solid opening meet, struggled this time around in the 17-school competition. The boys took last place, while the girls took 14th.
The Firebird girls collected eight points, putting them ahead of only Mandan, Fargo North and Fargo South. Bismarck came in first place with 88.5 points.
Devils Lake had four top-eight finishes. Bella Tangedal placed sixth out of 59 participants in the 400 meters with a time of 1:04.37. The team of Tangedal, Ella Wass, Raeleigh Myklebust and Sara Kraft came in seventh out of 13 groups in the 4×200 relay. Devils Lake placed seventh in the 4×400 as well, with Tangedal going once again alongside Aubrie Lebrun, Wass and Kraft. In the 4×800, Gabrielle McLaurin, Lebrun, Tenley Triepke and Dottie Goss came in eighth out of 10 teams.
Per the track and field team’s Facebook page, the Firebirds had only placed in one relay at this meet since 2017. This year, they placed in all three.
Tangedal’s 400-meter performance was a personal record for her. Lebrun and Chassidy Rodacker also set PRs in the 400. Numerous other Firebirds set PRs across the board: Izzy Orness did so in the 60-meter, while Chaylee Hewson and Mallie McCloud achieved them in the 200 and McLaurin in the 800. McCloud, Hewson and Orness set PRs in the 60-meter hurdles, while Lauren Stiven, Ella Clooten and Isaabella Zuercher did so in the shot put. Four jumpers set PRs: Hewson and Savanna Lebrun in the long jump, and Lebrun and Triepke in the triple jump.
The boys, meanwhile, finished with just one point and came in last among the 17 schools that competed. Bismarck won with 119 points. Edging out Devils Lake were Shanley with three points, Jamestown with five, Minot North with six and West Fargo with seven.
Two Firebirds placed in the 60-meter dash: Leo Franco 81st, and Caber Bryce Volk 86th. Bryar Exner came in 67th in the 200 and 33rd in the 400.
Zane Bennett placed 30th in the 800 and 15th in the 1600, while Aiden Ackerman came in 21st in the 3200.
The Firebirds had three relay teams compete. Bryce Volk, Franco, Gerardo Sanchez and Adam Sobolik placed 17th out of 18 teams in the 4×200, while the quartet of Exner, Joel Nelson, Bryce Volk and Marquese Dubois came in 16th out of 17 in the 4×400. Bennett, Noah Azure, Ackerman and Sanchez placed eighth out of 13 groups in the 4×800.
In the shot put, 69 individual athletes competed. Devils Lake’s Braxton Rance and Josh Deckert came in 28th and 29th place, respectively.
Nelson, a basketball standout who recently helped end the boys’ 99-year title drought, did well in the jumping events. He tied for 11th out of 39 participants in the high jump with a 5-foot-10 leap, and 24th out of 62 in the long jump.
Then in the triple jump, Grant Quam came in 30th place.
The Devils Lake girls have another meet on Thursday in Williston. The next meet after that won’t be until April 6.
