Photo via Devils Lake XC Facebook page
Devils Lake cross country shined in its second meet of the season on Tuesday.
The Firebirds’ boys took first place out of 10 teams at the “THUNDER” Cross Country Meet in Northwood, while the girls grabbed second out of six teams. They competed against small schools from around eastern North Dakota, with squads such as Langdon Area/Munich, Rugby and Grafton represented. After only five Firebird boys and two Firebird girls got to compete in the first meet, numerous kids received their first varsity action of the young season.
The Devils Lake boys’ team posted a score of 47, better than second-place Rugby’s 78.
Sophomore Zane Bennett, who was the team’s top runner last year, led Devils Lake for the second straight meet to start the season. He finished third overall out of 91 runners with a time of 17:07.55. The pack was led by senior Brock Freer for LA/M, which finished eighth overall.
Devils Lake senior Noah Azure was only narrowly behind Bennett, posting a time of 17:56.28 for sixth overall. Fellow senior Adam Sobolik was right behind him in eighth place, with a time of 18:11.22.
Sophomore Aiden Ackerman got his first varsity action of the season. He was 15th overall, at 18:40.51. Seniors Gerardo Sanchez and Ben Larson came in 20th and 21st, respectively, out of the 91 contestants.
Rounding out the rest of the Devils Lake boys were Taydon Triepke (33rd), Ty Kremer (36th), Tayven Wiberg (42nd), Kenneth Prince (64th), Caber Bryce Volk (67th), Kellan Wiberg (68th), Avery Eback (70th), Mitchell Gerhardt (72nd) and Isaac Vaagen (90th).
Over on the girls’ side, Devils Lake (score of 60) trailed only Rugby (score of 40).
Eighth-grader Riley Schmiess posted the fastest time among the 68 runners. She finished her 5,000 meters in 20:03.67. Schmiess competed in three varsity meets last year — including the EDC Championships and the state meet — but she never finished above 38th place. Her best time was 21:35.8, which she beat by more than a minute on Tuesday.
Fellow eighth-grader Tenley Triepke came in fourth overall with a time of 20:49.82. Freshman Dottie Goss was eighth with a 21:26.14.
Rounding out the Firebirds girls’ participants were Aubrie Lebrun (29th), Elicia Nelson (43rd), Rachel Vaagen (54th) and Mallie McCloud (65th).
Devils Lake’s next action will be in the Carrington Cross Country Meet on Sept. 3.
