Photos by Noah Clooten
Devils Lake hosted its second of two track and field meets on Monday on the Myron Loberg Track at Joe Roller Field.
The Firebird boys came in first place out of eight teams, while the girls placed second out of nine.
Highlights for the boys included senior Adam Sobolik, who qualified for state in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.22, good for a third-place finish out of 24 contestants. He also won the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.57.
Senior Braxton Rance, who already qualified in shot put this year, added discus to his list of state track events. He won the event with a score of 149. He also won the shot put again with a 52’6.75’’ score.
Senior Noah Azure and sophomore Zane Bennett each grabbed a first-place finish in a running event. Seniors Oliver Wirth and Joel Nelson came in first and second, respectively, in the high jump. And sophomore Tucker Bennett won the pole vault with a score of 11’6’’.
The Firebirds led the field with 195 team points. Right behind them was New Rockford-Sheyenne with 127 points.
The Rockets’ boys had two state qualifiers. Senior Kage Walford qualified in the javelin with a 155’5’’ throw and third-place finish. Francis Bellile, a junior from Four Winds co-opping with NR-S, came in third in the discus at 136’, which qualified him for state as well.
NR-S senior Porter Granger continued his season dominance. He won both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, including a personal-record 22.71 in the 200. He also announced this week that he’ll be continuing his track and field career at Valley City State University.
The Rockets also got second-place finishes from Easton Benz (400-meter dash) and Koy Zieman (triple jump), along with wins in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays.
Benson County’s boys came in third place with 84 team points. Junior Grant Engebretson won the long jump with a 20’9’’ jump, qualifying him for state. He added a third-place finish in the pole vault and fifth place in the 100-meter dash. Senior Holdyn Jacobson won the 3200-meter dash and placed second in the 1600.
North Star was seventh out of the eight teams, with Tag Yoder and Mikais Yoder placing fourth and fifth in the 800 and 1600, respectively.
On the girls’ side, Devils Lake’s 136.5 team points were behind only Carrington’s 141.
Freshman Ella Wass qualified in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.89, good for second place. She also came in third in the 100-meter hurdles.
Three of the top four triple jumpers were Firebirds, with Aubrie Lebrun (first), April Miller (third) and Tenley Triepke (fourth).
Benson County was only narrowly behind Devils Lake in third place with 135 points. Freshman Lacie Fautsch won both the shot put (34’3’’) and discus (112’11’’). Addisyn Faul and Evyn Jacobson won the 800 and 1600-meter dash, respectively. Aubrey Kenner and Kami Arnston added second-place finishes in the 800 and 400, respectively.
In fourth place, with 88.5 team points, was the NR-S girls’ team. Eighth-grader Neecie Swart qualified for state in the 100-meter dash, posting a time of 12.87 and qualifying for state. The 4×400 relay team of Jaida Schumacher, Paige Knatterud, Kaci Weisenburger and Emmie Belquist also qualified, coming in second place with a time of 4:17.46.
Belquist, a sophomore, also won the 100-meter hurdles (15.95) and 300-meter hurdles (47.92). Junior Ava Peterson won the javelin (111’9’’) and placed third in the 400-meter dash (1:08.68).
Junior Lovelee Holybull won the long jump with a jump of 15’9’’.
For the eighth-place North Star girls (five team points), Claire Weber placed sixth in the javelin and Autumn Vangen seventh in the discus.
Many of the Bearcats were at a different meet on the same day, competing in the Mariya Tate Memorial in Rugby. Hunter Hagler qualified in the high jump over there (6’2’’), while Genevieve Ahlberg won the girls’ high jump and set a girls’ school record of 4’10’’.
The regular season is now complete for track and field. Devils Lake competes in the NDHSAA East Region Meet on May 16 at NDSU. Class B teams head to the North Central Region Meet in Rugby on the same day. The state meet is scheduled for May 22-24 at the Bismarck Community Bowl.
