Zane Bennett (Photo by Noah Clooten)
The Devils Lake cross country team has never been bigger or more popular than it is right now.
The program welcomed 20 new athletes at the start of this season. The boys’ varsity roster features 27 runners, including 10 freshmen, seven eighth-graders and four seventh-graders. The girls’ roster consists of 20 runners, including seven freshmen and four middle-schoolers.
This team is young. And it’s only continuing to expand.
“I think probably one of the things that I’m most proud of as a coach, and having the assistant coach that I have, Laura McLaurin, is that I think we create a positive program,” Devils Lake head cross country coach Nick Kavli said. “Whether you’re a top athlete or not, it’s a good program to be part of.”
Last year, the boys’ team was relatively older than the girls’. The boys lost some solid seniors, while the girls didn’t lose any seniors.
But the boys are still led by Zane Bennett, who’s now in his junior year. He came in second place overall in the Firebirds’ second and third meets of the season. In the ninth annual Grahams Island Invitational, he ran five seconds faster than in last year’s home meet.
Bennett got his first varsity action as a seventh-grader in 2021. He set his personal record of 16:38.9 in 2023 and has been a top runner for the Firebirds since.
“We’ve had Zane Bennett leading the group for a couple years there,” Kavli said. “He’s been just an outstanding runner.”
This year, Kavli said, there’s a little more in-house competition against Bennett. Perhaps the most drastic improvement has come from freshman Isaac Kraft.
Last fall, Kraft picked up three first-place finishes at the junior high and junior varsity level. He participated in five varsity meets as well, with his best time coming in at 18:14.9.
In the second meet of this season, he shattered that time with a 17:29.8. He came in first place overall — even beating Bennett.
“It’s nice to see a couple boys chasing [Bennett] at practice,” Kavli said.
Junior Aiden Ackerman has been another one in that group, finishing only narrowly behind Bennett and Kraft. Kavli said the competitive nature within the team benefits everyone.
“Good leadership there,” he said. “They’re running well. They’re staying healthy. They’re working hard at practice. And I think we’ll see a lot of personal records and even some nice placing at EDC at the end of the year from some of our top runners.”
On the girls’ side, eighth-grader Brooklyn Johnson has burst onto the scene. It’s her first year running cross country, and she’s already dominating.
Johnson ran track last spring, igniting a passion for running that she’s decided to carry into cross country. She also plays volleyball, so she’s a member of two fall teams.
“Running is just something that she really enjoys, too,” Kavli said.
Johnson won a junior high meet on Aug. 23, running a 3k in 11:35.0. It didn’t take long for Kavli to bump her up to varsity, where she placed first overall in each of the next two meets as well.
At both varsity meets, she was the only female runner from any school to break 20 minutes.
“We haven’t put too many real competitive runners in front of her yet, with the level that she’s at,” Kavli said. “So it’ll be exciting to see once we get to the Border Battle race and maybe the Valley City race — where, just looking at how other runners in the EDC state are running, there’s gonna be a group that’ll be around her at that level.”
The Firebirds’ top girl runner from last year, freshman Riley Schmiess, was injured for the Grahams Island Invitational but came in the top 10 overall at the prior meet. Fellow freshman Tenley Triepke has kept at it as one of Devils Lake’s other top runners. She placed 12th overall at the Hatton-Northwood Invitational and 13th at Grahams Island.
Sophomore Dottie Goss is another one of the girls’ top returners. She was dealing with an ankle injury during the early part of the season, but made her 2025 debut at the Grahams Island Invitational with a 17th-overall finish.
On the leadership end, the Firebirds are bolstered by senior Livia Nelson, who joined the program in the middle of last year. She set a personal record of 21:12.8 in the Hatton-Northwood meet, placing sixth overall. She added an 11th-place finish at Grahams Island.
Sophomore Ella Wass is another addition after excelling in track. She has more experience in sprinting, Kavli said, but she’s fit right in with a 15th-overall finish in the Grahams Island Invitational.
Kavli also mentioned Aubrie Lebrun and Ealynn Yoder as fast runners who make the group even deeper.
More and more athletes are deciding to join cross country. It’s a sport where kids at any grade level can succeed — not like other sports that might be dominated by juniors and seniors.
The Firebirds now have a formidable group of athletes of a wide age range.
“We talk a lot about just being a healthier person. Whether it’s nutrition, sleep; all those things that go to being a good athlete,” Kavli said. “Any kid can have on a place on our team regardless of ability. And then to have those numbers create an atmosphere where you can pick up somebody like a Brooklyn Johnson, that’s part of our community but didn’t realize she could run like that — but then has this team behind her. … It draws people in when they see these kids do what they can do.”
Devils Lake travels to Moorhead, Minn., for the Andrew Nelson Classic Meet on Sept. 11.
