Joel Nelson, Adam Sobolik, Noah Azure, Zane Bennett (Photo via Devils Lake Firebirds Track and Field Facebook)
Most sports around North Dakota were canceled or postponed on Friday, but the Devils Lake track and field team was still at it at the Eastern Region meet in Fargo.
The Firebirds’ boys came in sixth as a team out of 11 schools, while the girls placed eighth out of 12. More importantly, the Devils Lake boys added five events to their list of state qualifiers, while the girls added two.
The 4×800 relay team of Adam Sobolik, Zane Bennett, Joel Nelson and Noah Azure got it done to start the day. The 4×400 team of Bennett, Sobolik, Caber Bryce Volk and Nelson qualified to end the day. Sobolik also qualified in the 800-meter dash, while Nelson qualified in the high jump. Tucker Bennett qualified in the pole vault.
On the girls’ side, Aubrie Lebrun and Tenley Triepke qualified in the triple jump.
The boys’ 4×800 relay quartet came in second place out of nine groups in the event. They posted a time of 8:38.52, behind only the 8:32.03 set by a West Fargo group. Sobolik, Nelson and Azure are all seniors, while Z. Bennett is a sophomore.
Three of the same four boys, combining with junior Bryce Volk, qualified in the 4×400 relay by coming in fifth place out of nine teams with a time of 3:49.43. Both groups were the first Devils Lake relay teams to qualify for state on the boys’ side this season.
Sobolik placed second out of 26 runners in the 800 with a time of 2:06.95. His performance on Friday gave him six total qualified events, the most of any Firebird boy. Nelson recorded a high jump of 5’10’’, which put him in a three-way tie for first place. It was his second qualified event of the season.
T. Bennett, a sophomore, qualified by coming in sixth out of 14 pole vaulters. He posted a mark of 11’6’’, the fourth-best score in the event (behind 13’6’’, 13’0’’ and 12’0’’). That was the only event he qualified in this season, earning him a spot on the bus to state in the last meet.
Out of 21 contestants in the girls’ triple jump, Lebrun and Triepke placed second and fifth, respectively. Lebrun, a junior, posted a score of 33’4.25’’. Triepke, just an eighth-grader, came in at 32’9.5’’. They’d each qualified in two relay events already, entering Friday.
Sophomore Sara Kraft, who’d already qualified in the triple jump earlier this season, placed sixth on Friday. She qualified for six total events, tied with Sobolik for the most among all Firebirds.
The girls ended up qualifying in 16 events throughout the season. The boys totaled 13.
Here’s the list of all Firebirds who qualified to compete in the state track meet, which is scheduled for May 22-24 at the Bismarck Community Bowl.
Boys
Oliver Wirth: High jump
Adam Sobolik: 400-meter dash, 300-meter hurdles, 200-meter dash, 800-meter dash
Braxton Rance: Shot put, discus
Joel Nelson: Shot put, high jump
Zane Bennett: Mile
Adam Sobolik, Zane Bennett, Joel Nelson, Noah Azure: 4×800 relay
Tucker Bennett: Pole vault
Zane Bennett, Adam Sobolik, Caber Bryce Volk, Joel Nelson: 4×400 relay
Girls
Sara Kraft: Long jump, 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, triple jump
Ella Wass: 300-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash, 200-meter dash
Riley Schmiess: 3200-meter dash
Sara Kraft, Ella Wass, Siri Bryce Volk, Raeleigh Myklebust: 4×200 relay, 4×100 relay
Dottie Goss, Tenley Triepke, Aubrie Lebrun, Riley Schmiess: 4×800 relay
Ella Wass, Tenley Triepke, Josie Vetsch, Aubrie Lebrun: 4×400 relay
April Miller: Triple jump
Aubrie Lebrun: Triple jump
Tenley Triepke: Triple jump
