.jpg)
A season-opening meet provided plenty of optimism about what may be ahead for Ely’s Nordic Wolves.
The state-ranked Ely boys team gave perennial powerhouse Duluth East a run for its money at the Proctor Invitational, while the Ely girls were strong on the trails as well on the way to a third place finish.
In boys action, Dylan Durkin finished fourth overall in the 4.5-kilometer freestyle event at Spirit Mountain, while teammates Aksel Skustad and Eli Olson were right behind in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Top-ranked Duluth East swept the top-three slots with junior Mark Goettel winning in 11:12, and the Greyhounds had six of the top-10 slots.
But the Wolves wound 19 points behind in second place, even with varsity skier Oliver Hohenstein absent from the event.
“Spirit Mountain is always a challenging course and for Duluth East that’s their home course for the early season,” said Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein. “It was all machine-made snow so that’s really fast. And it’s a course suited for technical skiers. For Aksel and Dylan, both of those guys are very good at tight courses so it played to their strengths. But it was a good first meet, a lot of getting systems in order.”
Junior Otto Devine returned after a year’s absence and finished 11th with senior Milo McClelland in 16th place.
The Wolves’ Caleb Larson took 32nd and Tory Hughley placed 34th.
Ely placed ahead of Cloquet- Esko-Carlton, Mora and Two Harbors in the varsity boys standings.
Senior Anna Dunn placed 16th to pace the Ely girls in the opener, with classmates Anna Larson (23rd) and Rena Johnston (31st) next in line.
Alison Poppler (33rd) and Aila Harding (36th) rounded out the Ely lineup.
Only Duluth East and Duluth Marshall joined the Wolves in fielding full teams and both were in front of Ely. Proctor/Hermantown’s Della Bettendorf was the individual winner with a time of 12:19.
“It was about what we expected,” Hohenstein said of the girls event. “We know it’s going to be a rebuilding year and some younger girls are going to end up part of that section team and that will continue to evolve and get figures out as we go through.”
Full results included: Boys (4.5K) 4. Durkin, 11:53;
5. Skustad, 12:02;
6. Olson, 12:08;
11. Devine, 12:53;
16. McClelland, 13:04;
32. Larson, 14:15;
34. Hughley, 14:17; Girls (4.5K) 16. Dunn, 15:05;
23. Larson, 16:35;
31. Johnston, 17:28;
33. Poppler, 17:36;
36. Harding, 18:10. The Ely teams will next take part in the Grand Rapids Invitational on Dec. 19.
“We’re hoping that they will be able to host a classic race, but there’s the potential that it’s another skate race,” said Hohenstein. “It’s always nice if we get one of each of the disciplines in the first part of the season. We’ll see how that goes.”
• In junior varsity action, Ely dominated, with Wyatt Devine and George Sponholz giving the Wolves a twothree individual finish and teammates Brooks Brenny (fifth), Tyde Brecke (seventh) and Oren Solum (eighth) all in the top-10.
Mattie Lindsay was the first non-Duluth East skier to cross the finish line among JV girls. She was fifth overall.
Full results included: JV Boys (4.5K) 2. Devine, 12:36;
3. Sponholz, 13:03;
5. Brenny, 13:14;
7. Brecke, 14:23;
8. Solum, 14:35;
12. Blake Houde, 14:59;
14. Mason Molden, 15:07; JV Girls (4.5K)
5. Lindsay, 15:45;
9. Molly Brophy, 16:09;
10. June Nelson, 16:20;
22. Isabella Macho, 19:24;
26. Lucy Dunn, 19:52;
31. Bela Moskowitz, 21:47
• Ely had a full slate of participants in the respective junior high races, with eighth-grader Addison Kannas leading the way with a second-place finish among the junior high girls, and classmates Cora Brecke (ninth) and Siiri Nelson
(10th) both making the top-10 in a field of 54.
Eighth-grader Brady Anderson finished 12th to lead the junior high boys team.
Full results included:
Junior High Girls (3K)
2. Kannas, 6:30;
9. Brecke, 6:54;
10. Nelson, 6:55;
12. Ivy Ohlhauser, 6:58;
13. Beck Sponholz, 7:05;
15. Maddie Johnson, 7:06;
17. Brynn Larson, 7:16;
29. Katy Brophy, 8:16;
38. Lucy Luthens, 8:45;
40. Sally Dunn, 8:52;
43. Annika Eastham, 9:26;
Junior High Boys (3K)
12. Anderson, 6:07;
18. Boden Devine, 6:25;
22. Emory Hohenstein, 6:45; 27. Toivo Forsman, 7:06;
28. Trynn Weisinger, 7:19;
32. Caleb Ebert, 7:40;
41. Carrington Kosinski,
8:18;
47. Avery Ellerbroek,
9:03;
