Ely’s high school cross country teams are heading into section competition on a very strong note.
The Timberwolves won both the girls and boys competitions Tuesday at International Falls, home of the Hial Pike Invitational, while junior Molly Brophy won the girls individual crown and sophomore Wyatt Devine was second among the boys.
Those performances came on the heels of solid outings for the Wolves at the Oct. 9 Iron Range Conference Championship, where three girls and seven boys won All-IRC honors.
Ely has plenty of momentum going into the Section 7A meet, which is slated for Thursday, Oct. 23 at Coleraine.
Both Ely teams are contending for top honors in the section, while Brophy and Devine are among those who figure to contend for individual berths in the state meet, which takes place Nov. 1 at the University of Minnesota.
The Wolves are running strong, particularly after Tuesday.
“It was a great race for many of the runners,” said Ely Head Coach Jayne Dusich. “Finally we got a cooler day and a lot of personal bests for the year.”
Brophy cruised in the 5K girls race, winning in 19:47.2 and beating runner-up Linneah Harren of Warroad by 36 seconds.
It was a parade of red-andwhite at the front of the line, with Ely runners taking four of the top-five slots.
Sophomore Mattie Lindsay was third in 20:35.1, with Katy Brophy (fourth, 21:23.6) and Isabella Macho (fifth, 21:38.5) right behind.
Rounding out the Ely lineup were Moxie Lindsay (16th, 23:34.1), Payson Kundinger (19th, 23:47.6), Lucy Dunn (21st, 24:31) and Lillie O’Neill (22nd, 24:33.5).
Ely easily outpaced International Falls, Warroad and Deer River/Northland in the team standings.
The boys race was similar, with Wyatt Devine just four seconds out of first place at 17:12.5, and his older brother Otto, a senior, in fourth at 18:05.4.
The next four spots all belonged to Ely runners with Brooks Brenny in fifth (18:30.9) and Blake Houde (18:31.1), Drew Johnson (18:34.5) and Oliver Hohenstein (18:42.8) following.
Ely’s Mason Kurnava (19:11.6) was in 12th, followed by Aksel Skustad (15th, 19:29.2), Grant Chittum (19th, 19:59.6), Oren Solum (24th, 20:38.6) and Mason Molden (32nd, 22:25.9).
The Wolves more than doubled-up second-place Warroad in the team totals, with Lake of the Woods and International Falls lagging further behind.
Ely’s Grady Anderson won the 3,200 meter boys race with teammates Elliot Eastham and Liam Kurnava in third and fourth, respectively, followed by Hayden Engen (sixth), Leo Shock (seventh), Jimmy McCarter (eighth) and Connor Macho (ninth) all in the top-10.
Sally Dunn and Jenna Bermel gave the Wolves a one-two finish in the junior high girls race.
• At the IRC meet last week, Ely trailed only Greenway in both events.
Wyatt Devine took second in the boys individual competition, trailing Greenway’s Brayden Nielsen and finishing in 17:25.
Otto Devine was seventh (18:26), with teammates Houde (eighth, 18:26), Kurnava (11th, 18:57), Hohenstein (12th, 18:58) Brenny (14th, 19:15) and Johnson (15th, 19:17) all gaining All-IRC acclaim.
Other Ely boys finishers were Skustad (21st), Chittum (26th) and Molden (35th).
Molly Brophy took third among the girls in 20:08, with Mattie Lindsay in seventh (21:12).
Katy Brophy (12th, 21:59), Elsa Ellerbroek (18th, 23:09) and Macho (19th, 23:11) all made the top-20 individually in the conference event.
