March usually brings a taste of spring and a blast of winter, and 2026 has been no exception in the Ely area.
Mother Nature both teases and frustrates Ely’s high school athletes, who have begun preparations for a spring season that’s totally dependent on the weather.
For now, practices have been largely limited to indoors for Ely’s high school baseball, softball, and girls and boys track programs.
Golf season is also officially underway, with the Northeast Range/Ely cooperative program run out of Babbitt and led by a new coach - Cheri DeBeltz.
If weather allows, most area teams will begin play in early-April.
The baseball team, led by longtime head coach Frank Ivancich, welcomes back several contributors from a team that finished second in 7A in 2025, including senior all-conference honorees Drew Johnson and Hunter Halbakken. The Wolves also have several other players who played key roles last summer on Ely’s state tournament Legion and Junior Legion teams.
The baseball team opens in southern Minnesota April 10-11, with games against Kenyon-Wanamingo, Hayfield and Blooming Prairie.
Ely’s softball team will have the same season-opening set, with second-year head coach Jeff MacKenzie in charge of a team that had a solid run in the 2025 Section 7A playoffs.
Senior pitcher Zoe MacKenzie and infielders Amelia Penke and Emma Perish are among the returning starters.
Ely’s track teams are buoyed by big turnout, with about 40 girls participating in grades 7-12 and about 30 boys. The girls are coached by Jill Ellerbroek, while Will Helms is back as head coach of the boys team.
Violet Udovich, a state medalist a year ago, is one of the state’s premiere mid-distance runners and she’s part of a deep nucleus that also includes previous state qualifiers Lydia Shultz and Kaylin Visser.
Wyatt Devine is among the section placers returning for the Ely boys.
Both Ely track teams are set to begin with an early- bird meet at Chisholm April 10.
