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Ely’s high school boys Nordic skiing team completed a year-long mission on Wednesday.
By the near-narrowest of margins, the Timberwolves toppled perennial state powerhouse Duluth East and captured the Section 7 title at Giants Ridge.
Senior Dylan Durkin built a big early lead in the morning classic race and cruised to victory in the pursuit, winning the section individual title with almost 30 seconds to spare.
Three other Wolves - Aksel Skustad, Wyatt Devine and Otto Devine - were all in the top-seven while teammates Eli Olson and Oliver Hohenstein combined to win the boys sprint relay.
Add it all up, and the Wolves eked out a four-point victory over Duluth East to place first among nine teams.
Both the Wolves and Greyhounds will advance to the two-day state meet, which starts Wednesday, Feb. 12 at Giants Ridge.
The rebuilding Ely girls, who got a state-qualifying, 10th-place individual finish from senior Anna Dunn, took fifth in the section.
Hopes for the Ely boys were sky-high entering the section competition, particularly on the heels of consecutive close wins over Duluth East at back-to-back meets that finished the regular season.
“It was a very close competition with Duluth East,” said Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein. “But the boys skied some of the best that they have had this season, and this was something this group, these seniors, have talked about the last two years. This has been a long-time goal of theirs, so they felt great.”
Durkin was first individually in both contests, and he kept that streak going at sections, bolting out to a big lead in the classic and finishing first in 15:23, about 23 seconds ahead of eventual runner-up August Capps of Duluth East.
In the pursuit, Durkin didn’t let up and crossed the finish line with nobody near him, taking the overall title by about 28 seconds.
“It seems that he’s extending his lead a little bit,” Hohenstein said of Durkin. “I think a little bit of what’s happening is he’s finding out he can push himself a little harder each time and he’s finding a few more seconds.”
Skustad, a sophomore, climbed from fourth to third in the pursuit for a combined time of 31:12, while Wyatt Devine maintained his sixth-place standing and finished in 31:56.
Otto Devine was next, moving up a spot to take seventh, while Milo McClelland was not far behind in 13th.
Cementing the win was the relay duo of Olson and Oliver Hohenstein.
Both have been key individual skiers in longer races this winter but they combined for the sprint to provide key points in the quest for the section team title.
Nobody could keep pace with the Ely combination, as they won the final over a Duluth East relay in 14:01, a whopping 26-second margin.
“There was a little bit of calculation and looking at the historic scoring of past section meets, past state meets, to come up with the decision to put Eli and Oliver in the relay,” said Hohenstein. “We just really felt that having a strong relay would give us that midday advantage, and thought that going into the afternoon race that if we had a good relay it would give us the momentum and ability to push to ski their best. And it worked out great for us.”
Despite its standing as section champion, the Wolves in many ways will head into the single-class state meet in an underdog role, duking it out with many Twin Cities suburban schools that are 10, 15, even 20 times as large as Ely.
The boys took eighth in the state meet in 2024 after advancing as the section runner-up and they have their sights set higher this time around.
“A top-five finish would be awesome,” said Hohenstein. “There’s an outside chance that we as a team could make the podium with a third-place finish, but a lot of things would have to come together. The biggest thing right now is for everybody to keep healthy and being sure we don’t have any big missteps along the way.”
• In the section girls meet, Dunn met a career-long quest of advancing to state.
She did so by placing 10th overall as an individual, with a combined time of 38:46.
“This has been a goal for her all season trying to work toward earning her way to state,” said Hohenstein.
Proctor/Hermantown, led by section winner Della Bettendorf, slid past Duluth East by one point to take the section title, and Dunn finished behind only skiers from the top-two teams as well as two skiers from Duluth Marshall.
Next up for the Wolves was sophomore June Nelson, who finished 22nd in 41:57.9.
Teammate Elsa Ellerbroek, a junior, was one spot behind in 23rd (42:39) and senior Rena Johnston closed out her prep skiing career by placing 24th (42:41.4).
Senior Anna Larson placed 30th in just over 44 minutes.
The Wolves had the fifth-place sprint relay team with two young skiers - Mattie Lindsay and Molly Brophy - combining to take fifth.
“It was the first time for both of them to ski in a section meet, and it was a big learning experience for them as younger skiers,” said Hohenstein.
