Photos by Noah Clooten
The Devils Lake boys and girls were both champions of the Ray McDaniel Meet held Monday on the Myron Loberg Track at Joe Roller Field.
It was the first of two track and field meets Devils Lake will host this year.
There were 11 teams in each of the boys’ and girls’ competitions — including North Star, Nelson County, Langdon Area/Munich and Warwick. Devils Lake finished at the top in both by a fairly sizable margin. Sara Kraft and Braxton Rance each broke their own school records in the process.
The girls totaled 183 points, beating out second-place Carrington’s 127.
Kraft, a sophomore, was the star — as she has been all year. She’s already qualified for state in six events. She ran the 100-meter dash in 12.72 seconds, beating her own record of 12.77 (which was tied with Emily Black). She was first out of 37 runners in the event, with the next three all coming from Devils Lake: Raeleigh Myklebust, Siri Bryce Volk and Emily Kraft placed second, third and fourth, respectively.
Kraft also set a personal record in the 200-meter dash with a 26.33. The time ranks fourth all-time among Devils Lake girls.
Ella Wass posted Devils Lake’s fourth-best 100-meter hurdles time (16.97), and Aubrie Lebrun posted the school’s fourth-best triple jump distance (33’4’’). Kraft won the 100-meter hurdles on Monday but did not break her personal record.
The top two runners in the 3200-meter dash (out of 14) were both Firebirds as well, with Riley Schmiess (5:44.25, PR) and Brooklyn Johnson (5:45.84, PR).
In fourth place was LA/M with 106 points. The Cardinals were led by sophomore Aubrey Badding, who was first in the triple jump, second in the long jump and third in the 400-meter dash. Christine Joyner and Taya Feist had first-place finishes in the discus and high jump, respectively, while Joyner was also second in shot put.
Sixth-place Nelson County (64 points) was fueled by standout sophomore shot putter Dagan Slade. She didn’t set her personal record, but she still heaved it nearly seven feet farther (41’3’’) than the second-place finisher (Joyner’s 34’4’’). The girls’ shot put had 50 official contestants.
For eighth-place North Star (19 points), seventh-grader Genevieve Ahlberg continued to soar. She placed second in the 400-meter dash (1:03.53), seventh out of 37 runners in the 100-meter dash (13.55) and fifth in the high jump (4’6’’).
The Devils Lake boys, meanwhile, won their competition with 152 points, ahead of second-place Bottineau’s 105.
Rance, who’d already qualified in the shot put, broke his own personal and school record with a mark of 53’3’’. He came in first place by nearly three entire feet.
Fellow senior Joel Nelson was two spots behind him with a score of 48’3’’, a personal record for Nelson. There were 49 official contestants in the boys’ shot put. Nelson also placed first in the javelin (144’4’’) and second in the high jump (5’10’’, a fraction behind fellow Firebird Oliver Wirth). Mason Haugen (136’5’’) was right behind Nelson in the javelin in second place.
Sophomore Zane Bennett placed second in both the 800-meter and 1600-meter dash. He was also part of the first-place 4×400 relay team with a time of 3:42.01, alongside Caber Bryce Volk, Nelson and Adam Sobolik.
Sobolik, a senior, placed first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.17. He also came in fifth in the 200-meter with a 23.58.
Senior Amiri Francis also helped bolster Devils Lake’s all-around successful day with a second-place finish in the discus (135’8’’).
Right behind Bottineau’s 105 points, with 96 points in third place, was LA/M. Cody Amble won the triple jump while picking up three second-place finishes (100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump).
Nelson County was seventh on the boys’ side with 28 points. Junior Miles Fincher grabbed fifth-place finishes in the 300-meter hurdles and high jump.
The North Star boys came in last place with just four points, but they still got a sixth-place finish from Tag Yoder in the 800-meter dash. Logan Stephens was 16th out of 44 javelin throwers.
Warwick was also represented by seven athletes between the boys and girls: Adam Demarce, Brooklyn Abraham, DeQuan Keo, Tara Jackson, Audrina Black, Isabelle Jackson and Isabella Baer.
Devils Lake now heads to Thursday’s Fargo Rotary Track Meet before hosting the Devils Lake Rotary on Monday, May 12. The East Region Meet is the following Friday, May 16, at NDSU.
