Adam Sobolik (Photo by Noah Clooten)
The Devils Lake track and field team continued to perform well at its second of three indoor meets this spring.
The Firebirds competed in the Dick Clay Open at Fritz Pollard Athletic Center in Grand Forks on Friday. Numerous teams from North Dakota and Minnesota were represented. Devils Lake tied for fifth place out of 26 teams on the girls’ side, and eighth out of 22 teams on the boys’ side.
New Rockford-Sheyenne also performed well in the meet. The Rockets placed 12th in the girls’ competition and tied for 15th in the boys’.
Moorhead High School was the winner for both the boys and the girls.
Girls’ competition
Devils Lake sophomore Sara Kraft had a strong day. She came in first place in the triple jump, third in the long jump and third in the 60-meter hurdles. She was also part of the 4×200 relay team that came in sixth place, alongside Ella Wass, Raeleigh Myklebust and Ealynn Yoder.
Kraft’s 33’ 8.75’’ score in the triple jump was a new Dick Clay Open record.
Wass placed second in the 300-meter hurdles. The 4×800 relay team of Livia Nelson, Tenley Triepke, Riley Schmiess and Dottie Goss came in fourth, while the 4×400 quartet of Goss, Nelson, Triepke and Wass came in seventh.
Goss and Triepke also placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 600-meter dash. With a time of 1:50.38, Goss broke her own school record that she set last week.
The Devils Lake girls totaled 33 personal records on Friday. They finished with 45 team points, tied with Oak Grove Lutheran for fifth. The two squads were narrowly behind Hillsboro/Central Valley’s 47 points. Moorhead blew out the rest of the competition with 160 points — over 100 more than second-place Detroit Lakes.
NR-S, with 19 team points, had a few highlights. Sophomore Emmie Belquist won the 60-meter hurdles out of 43 contestants. She posted a score of 9.81, one of only two in the competition to go under 10. Belquist also placed third out of 74 in the 400-meter dash.
Rockets freshman Jaida Schumacher placed seventh out of 146 runners in the 200-meter dash. She also came in 23rd out of 176 in the 60-meter. Eighth-grader Isla Jacobson placed ninth in the 600-meter dash.
Four Winds basketball standout Suri Gourd, co-opping with NR-S, also competed in the 60-meter for her indoor track debut. She was part of the Rockets’ outdoor team last spring.
Boys’ competition
On the boys’ side, Devils Lake senior Braxton Rance came in third in the shot put. Rance, a state runner-up wrestler this winter, is committed to continue both his wrestling and track careers at Minot State University.
Senior Adam Sobolik placed third in the 300-meter hurdles. The 4×400 relay team of Gerardo Sanchez, Sobolik, Caber Bryce Volk and Domingo Engberg also came in third. The 4×800 relay team finished seventh, consisting of Noah Azure, Aiden Ackerman, Rylan Bennett and Isaac Kraft.
Sobolik came in sixth out of 89 finishers in the 1600-meter. Sophomore Zane Bennett, the Firebirds’ top cross country runner last fall, placed eighth in the same event. Bennett also came in sixth in the 3200-meter run.
Senior Grant Quam tied for sixth place in the high jump.
The Devils Lake boys finished with 30.5 team points to come in eighth overall. Moorhead was once again the winner by a hefty margin, with 133 points compared to second-place Central Cass’s 76.
Next up for Devils Lake is the EDC Indoor Meet on Saturday, April 5 in Grand Forks.
For NR-S, senior Porter Granger and freshman Koy Zieman placed 18th and 28th, respectively, out of 184 runners in the 60-meter dash. The same duo came in fourth and 18th, respectively, out of 134 finishers in the 200-meter. Granger was also seventh in the long jump.
Junior Francis Belille, from Four Winds, placed 15th out of 148 contestants in the shot put. He was one of a handful of Four Winds athletes who competed in the event for the Rockets.
NR-S tied with H/CV for 15th with eight team points each.
Pembina County Indoor
Held in the same venue on the following day was the Pembina County Indoor. Seven teams competed; the Langdon Area/Munich boys and girls each placed second overall. Nelson County came in seventh place on both the boys’ and girls’ side.
Northern Cass won the boys’ competition, while Drayton/Valley-Edinburg won the girls’.
LA/M senior Cody Amble placed second in the 60-meter dash, third in the 200-meter and second in the triple jump. Junior Tanner McDonald came in fourth in the 300-meter.
For the girls, five Cardinals came in the top 16 of the 60-meter dash. Chief among them, in ninth place, was senior Meredith Romfo, a four-sport athlete who’s committed to NDSU as a javelin thrower. She’s the sister of UND quarterback Simon Romfo.
The top two placers in the 800 were both Cardinals, with sophomore Aubrey Badding winning the event and eighth-grader Mya Swanson placing second. Badding also won the long jump and the triple jump.
LA/M was well-represented in the 200-meter as well, led by seventh-grader Chloe Koons in sixth place. Eighth-grader Ella Goodman placed third in the 300-meter. Olivia Lorenz won the 3000-meter, while eighth-grader Fenja Lawson placed second in the shot put.
The winner of the shot put was Nelson County sophomore Dagan Slade. On the boys’ side for the Chargers, junior Tyler Cree-Beglau won the 800-meter and placed second in the 1500.
LA/M continues its indoor season with the EGF Indoor Meet #1 on Saturday, April 11. NR-S is set to participate in that meet as well. Nelson County competes in the Red River Valley Conference Indoor on Friday, April 4.
