Brooklyn Johnson (Photo via Devils Lake XC Facebook)
By Mojo Hill
Devils Lake was led by eighth-grader Brooklyn Johnson in a solid team showing at the state cross country meet this past Saturday.
Johnson finished 12th out of 176 runners. Of that group, just 17 were eighth-graders, of which Johnson had the fastest mark. She earned Devils Lake’s first all-state cross country selection in 22 years.
Johnson’s time in the girls’ 5k came in at 19:13.8. It was her second-fastest time of the year, slower than only the 19:11.2 she put up in the EDC meet. She competed in six varsity meets this season and broke 20 minutes in every single one.
Johnson, who also plays volleyball and runs track, only joined the cross country team this year. Speaking in September, Devils Lake head cross country coach Nick Kavli said that Johnson’s love for running was ignited during the spring track season.
In the first meet of the year, back on Aug. 23, Johnson ran the middle school 3k. She came in first place by 39 seconds. Kavli quickly moved her up to varsity, where she placed first in each of her first two meets.
At the time, Kavli was still waiting for her to see some increased competition. In each of Johnson’s first two wins, she beat 20 minutes by less than 10 seconds, but was going against smaller schools. Her biggest test came in the Border Battle on Sept. 27, where she ran a 19:24.6 — which, at the time, was her personal record. She merely placed 17th overall, but it was in a field of 186 runners from some of the biggest schools in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
In the EDC championships on Oct. 11, Johnson ran her personal best and placed sixth overall. She nearly matched that mark at the state meet.
The 11 runners who beat Johnson were all high schoolers from places like Bismarck Century, West Fargo Sheyenne and Williston. She finished just 0.3 seconds behind 11th place.
“You’ve got somebody that really enjoys running and is gifted in a way that is pretty special,” Kavli said earlier this season. “She’s been able to help out our team competitively a lot, and we’re excited to see how far she can go with this program.”
Johnson’s standout mark led the girls to a 10th-place overall finish out of the 19 teams that placed. Williston won the meet with a score of 41. Devils Lake’s 274 beat 11th-place Dickinson’s 287 and fell short of ninth-place Minot’s 222.
The Firebirds supported Johnson’s excellence with a 40th-overall finish from another young runner, seventh-grader Scarlett Leiphon. Like Johnson, Leiphon also started this season competing at the middle school level. She was one of 14 seventh-graders in the field.
Leiphon ran a 20:17.4. It was short of the personal-record 20:03.5 she posted at EDC. But it was only the third varsity meet of her career.
Devils Lake had three others in the top 100: Riley Schmiess, Livia Nelson and Ella Wass.
Dottie Goss, Elicia Nelson, Tenley Triepke, Ealynn Yoder and Anna Kraft rounded out the Firebirds’ group of girls.
Over on the boys’ side, the ever-consistent Zane Bennett led Devils Lake to a 13th-overall finish out of the 21 teams that placed. With a score of 417, the Firebirds beat 14th-place West Fargo’s 452 and trailed 12th-place Fargo North’s 388. Bismarck won the meet with a score of 39.
Bennett posted a time of 16:53.2 to set his season best. It was the second-best mark of his career, behind only the 16:38.9 he put up at EDC in 2023. He beat 17 minutes in each of his last four meets this season, after not beating 17 minutes at all in 2024.
Bennett’s mark placed him 22nd overall in a field of 185 runners.
Bennett, a junior, has one more cross country season left in high school.
Freshman Isaac Kraft also rounded out a nice season with a 62nd-overall finish. Kraft’s season record this year, 17:06.1, was over a minute faster than his season best from last year. He ran a 17:40.1 on Saturday. After running an 18:33 in the season opener, his final seven meets were all under 18 minutes.
Aiden Ackerman and Rylan Bennett added 99th and 100th-place finishes.
Ty Kremer, Caber Bryce Volk, Blake Nelson, Keifer Wanner and Rylan Day rounded out the group of Firebirds in the boys’ state meet.
It was another solid year of growth for the Devils Lake cross country program. The boys’ and girls’ teams are both heavy on younger athletes, which should set up more success for the immediate future.
