Joel Nelson (Photo by Noah Clooten)
Devils Lake sent a handful of athletes to the Class A state track and field meet, held this past weekend at the MDU Resources Community Bowl in Bismarck.
Competing amongst the best athletes in the state, the boys placed 13th out of 21 teams with 9.5 points. The girls did not place but had some solid performances in a competitive field.
The boys were led by seniors Joel Nelson and Braxton Rance.
Nelson placed fourth in the high jump with a personal-best 6’2’’ jump. He’d only reached six feet one other time this season, and had settled into 5’10’’ territory before his big jump this weekend.
Oliver Wirth, whose season-best was 6’2’’, jumped 6’0’’ to tie for 11th out of 15 total placers.
Rance placed fourth in the shot put with a mark of 54’ on the dot. He set not only his personal record, but his own school record.
Nelson and Rance are both planning to continue their track and field careers as two-way athletes at the college level. Nelson will be doing basketball and track at Valley City State University, while Rance will be on the wrestling and track teams at Minot State University.
The girls, who were unable to join the 22 placing teams at state, still got a few notable performances from standout sophomore Sara Kraft. She’s been running varsity track since seventh grade and led the Firebirds at the state meet last year.
She came in ninth out of 22 contestants in the 100-meter hurdle prelims with a time of 15.84. The top nine went to finals, where Kraft came in ninth but improved her score to 15.62. Her personal best is 15.53, set earlier this year.
In the long jump, Kraft came in 11th out of 31. She jumped 16’4.75’’, short of her season best of 17’6’’ (which would have been the fifth-best at the state meet). Her personal long jump record came all the way back in the 2023 state meet as an eighth-grader, when she jumped 18 feet exactly and came in third place. That score would have placed second at this year’s state meet.
Kraft also had a solid showing in the triple jump, coming in 10th out of 28. She recorded a distance of 35’, slightly short of her season best of 35’4’’. She set her personal record in the triple jump last year with a mark of 36’.
Eighth-grader Riley Schmiess came in 13th out of 32 runners in the 3200-meter. She posted a time of 11:54.39 — her personal best.
Full results from the meet can be found on athletic.net.
