.jpg)
Only in eighth grade, Ely’s Violet Udovich made a big splash at the biggest meet yet of her young high school track career.
Udovich was Ely’s only individual winner at the Iron Range Conference meet, taking first in the 400 dash Tuesday afternoon at Rock Ridge.
The victory helped the Ely girls to a fourth-place finish at the seven-team event, only a half-point behind third-place Chisholm on a sunny afternoon.
This Saturday’s Kerzie Invitational, also at Rock Ridge, serves as a final tuneup before subsection competition Wednesday at Aurora, and the Ely girls are rounding into form.
Udovich, who has taken a major step forward at the varsity level, was also part of a second-place relay at the IRC event and won the 400 with a personal-best time of 1:01.90.
Ely’s only other firstplace finish came in the four-by-800 relay, as sophomore Elsa Ellerbroek teamed with freshman Molly Brophy, eighth-grader Mattie Lindsay and seventh-grader Katy Brophy to win in 10:53.4.
Udovich teamed with her first cousin, freshman Lydia Shultz, along with seniors Grace LaTourell and Sarah Visser to place second in the four-by-400 relay (4:17.93).
The Wolves would add two third-place individual showings at the IRC event, with Visser taking third in the discus with a personal- best 86-11.5, and Molly Brophy coming in third in the 1,600 run (5:49.83).
Fourth-place finishes went to Lindsay (1,600 run, 5:59.08), Shultz (high jump, 4-6); Rachel Carter (discus, 84-6) and Addison Forsman (long jump, 14-8).
Ely’s four-by-100 relay group of Shultz, Anna Larson, Miriam Messerschmidt and Carmen Nelson took fifth (55.86), and Visser added a fifth in the triple jump (29-9.25). Ivy Ohlhauser, a seventh-grader, took fifth in the 800 in 2:50.63.
Other top-12 finishes went to:
• 100 dash - 9. Shultz, 14.29;
• 200 dash - 6. Larson, 29.61;
• 800 run - 11. Chantel Ridings, 3:08.45;
• 1,600 run - 6. Katy Brophy, 6:12.21;
• 3,200 run - 8. Ellerbroek, 14:09.45; 10. Anna Dunn, 14:46.15;
• Four-by-200 relay - 6. Messerschmidt, Alyssa Ice, Larson, LaTourell, 1:59.69;
• Shot put - 6. Carter, 27-3;
• Discus - 7. Forsman, 80-8;
• High jump - 12. Udovich, 4-0;
• Long jump - 11. Ice, 135.5; 14. Dunn, 12-6.75;
• Triple jump - 8. Forsman, 29-4.5.
Rock Ridge amassed 169 points to win the team title over Greenway/Nashwauk- Keewatin by four points. Chisholm (82), Ely (81.5) and International Falls (81) were evenly matched from third through fifth place while Mesabi East (73) and Deer River (46) followed.
Ely placed fourth out of eight teams at the May 9 Tingstad Invitational at Hibbing.
The field events were the Wolves’ strong suit with defending section champion Kaylin Visser, a freshman, wining the discus title with a throw of 96-4.5.
Her older sister Sarah, meanwhile, captured first in the long jump (14-10) and edged past Forsman, who was the runner-up.
Sarah Visser was also fifth in the triple jump (304.5) and sixth in the discus (80-0).
Molly Brophy (5:41.49) and Lindsay (5:52.04) gave Ely a second and fourth place finish in the 3,200, while the Wolves had two second-place relays.
Shultz, Sarah Visser, Udovich and LaTourell teamed to take second in the four-by-400 (4:15.71), while it was Lindsay, Ellerbroek, Katy Brophy and Molly Brophy finishing as the runners- up in the four-by-800 relay (10:57.09).
Ely’s Katy Brophy placed fifth in the 1,600 and Larson took sixth in the 200.
Dunn ran to a fifth-place finish in the 3,200 (15:20.8) and the team of Ivy Ohlhauser, Maddie Johnson, Lucy Dunn and Isabella Macho wound up fourth in the fourby- 800 relay.
