Ely’s Violet Udovich came within inches of a state championship on Wednesday.
The freshman was edged out at the finish line by section rival Trinity Giddings of Two Harbors in a riveting Class A Girls 400 meter dash state final at St. Michael-Albertville.
Giddings prevailed in 56.5 seconds while Udovich finished neck-and-neck with a time of 56.84 to come home with the silver medal.
The second-place finish was Ely’s best at the state meet, although sophomore Kaylin Visser set a personal-best in the discus - and set a school record in the process - on the way to an eighthplace finish.
The Wolves’ third state participant, Lydia Shultz, took 18th in the high jump.
For Udovich, the 400 meter final capped a wild postseason ride that included section titles and records in both the 200 and 400, an injury, and some decisions on the fly during Tuesday’s preliminary round.
The finals stacked up as an epic showdown involving Udovich and Giddings.
In the preliminaries, Giddings was ahead by .03 seconds and the final was another evenly matched affair.
“It was tough,” Udovich said Thursday. “All the nerves were building up and it was hard to stay calm. In the final, the two-time champion Addison Hoof was racing to my right, and Trinity Giddings was on my left, and Trinity ran a great race.”
Udovich slipped past Giddings at the Section 7A meet two weeks earlier, at an event where both broke the old section records in both the 200 and 400.
At state, it was an even affair. Both runners were tied at the 300 meter mark and it was Giddings who had just enough to prevail and bring a state title to the North Shore.
Udovich settled for the silver medal on the state podium, but her thoughts have already turned to the future.
“I think I could have done better,” said Udovich. “It’s kind of a lot take in, and everything being new. It’s motivational too. Actually I surprised myself this year I was hoping for a sub-one (minute) and reached a 56. Next year I’m going to try for a 55. Next year I’ll be ready. I’m coming.”
Udovich also reached state in the 200 meters but a nagging hip injury that occurred at sections forced a strategic decision Tuesday, after she had already qualified for Wednesday’s final in the 400. She opted to jog the 200 preliminary and lagged back in the pack.
“I’ve had a hip muscle (strain) and it was tight after the 400 prelims,” said Udovich. “So I was kind of iffy. I wasn’t sure if I was ready so me and my coach, Jill Ellerbroek, talked about (saving herself for the 400 final). It was kind of a tough decision.”
Ellerbroek said, “I was really proud of Violet for having the cour- age to jog the 200 in front of all those people. I know that was really a lot for her, especially as a ninth-grader.” “She had the hip muscle injury after her 400 and she could feel like it was getting ready to pull,” said Ellerbroek. “So she had a few options. She could run the 200 and run the risk of pulling it and being out of everything, or she could take it easy in the 200, or hopefully run the 400 the next day because she’d have overnight to rest.” Udovich said she was very grateful for the support she received all year.
“I’d like to thank Jill and my trainer Chuck Lobe and the town of Ely for supporting me,” she said. “They really helped. For the summer, I’m going to kind of take it easy on the hip, but I’m going to get back to training and trying to get stronger, bigger and faster.”
Meanwhile, Visser earned an eighth-place finish with her best day yet as an Ely track athlete.
Not only did she set a new personal-best with a throw of 119 feet, one inch, but she shattered a 46-year-old school record that had been held by Hannah Tjader.
“Kaylin did fantastic,” said Ellerbroek. “Her goal was 120 and she had 119 and one inch. She was very excited. All of her throws were 114,116, all really well done. She had a fantastic state meet.”
Visser, who was seeded 17th coming into the meet, climbed nine spots to take eighth overall.
Clearbrook-Gonvick senior Allison Lavine blew away the field with a throw of 146-3 to take first.
After advancing to state as a member of a relay team in 2024, Shultz competed in the high jump and finished 18th in Class A with a lep of five feet.
“She made five feet and 5-2 was her record, so Lydia was a little disappointed but she just didn’t go as high as she wanted,” said Ellerbroek. The state meet was held before thousands of people in St. Michael-Albertville, providing an atmosphere nothing like the Wolves see during the regular season.
“It was overflowing with people and the stands were loaded,” said Ellerbroek.
