Four 7A titles for Ely girls

by Tom Coombe

The top of the medal stand was a familiar spot for the Ely Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Four different times, Ely athletes placed first in an unprecedented day for the program at the Section 7A high school girls track meet.

Standout Violet Udovich won three events while teammates Lydia Shultz grabbed a section titles of her own on a sunny day at Duluth’s Malosky Stadium.

The first-place finishes helped the Ely team to a third-place finish in 7A, and the section titlists will be joined by Isabella Macho, who took second in the 300 hurdles, and discus runner-up Kaylin Visser at the state meet this week at St. Michael-Albertville.

Udovich, Shultz and Visser had piled up a slew of victories already this spring and they followed through at the 7A event with another big day.

In the 100, Udovich sprinted to victory in 11.79 seconds but that was only the first of her three wins.

She followed by blowing away the field in the 400, blazing across in 56.87 and topping her nearest foe by nearly four seconds.

Udovich closed out with a time of 25.19 seconds in the 200, good for a third first-place medal.

Shultz has been one of the area’s best high jumpers all spring and she lived up to top billing in Duluth, grabbing a 7A championship with a leap of 5-3.

In the discus, Visser punched a return visit to state with a throw of 110-11, taking second place on the day.

Macho gained her own trip to state individually by taking second in the 300 hurdles in 49.52 seconds.

The firsts and seconds allowed the Ely girls to pile up 85 points, trailing only Esko and Crosby-Ironton in the 7A team standings.

The Wolves scored as follows in the 7A event:

• Four-by-800 relay - 4. Mattie Lindsay, Elsa Ellerbroek, Macho, Molly Brophy, 10:26.34;

• 100 hurdles - 7. Annika Eastham, 17.8;

• 1,600 run - 15. Katy Brophy, 6:14.7;

• 400 dash - 3. Shultz, 1;01.65;

• 300 hurdles - 9. Lindsay, 53.62;

• 200 dash - 9. Miriam Messerschmidt, 28.56;

• 3,200 run - 14. Payson Kundinger, 13:49.58;

• Four-by-400 relay - 3. Shultz, Macho, Lindsay, Molly Brophy, 4:23.34;

• Long Jump - 5. Shultz, 15-3.25;

• Triple Jump - 10. Addison Forsman, 30-11.5;

• Discus - 5. Kylie Mosher, 96-1.

Girls win subsection

Six days prior to the 7A competition, the Ely girls offered a glimpse of yet to come by winning the team title at the 7A North Subsection Meet, held at Aurora.

Udovich had another clean sweep, winning the 100 (12.26), 200 (25.11) and 400 (54.95) with ease.

Macho added a first in the 300 hurdles (49.4) and Visser won the discus with a personal-best throw of 121-10.

In the high jump, Shultz was victorious in 5-4 and she also teamed with Macho, Lindsay and Molly Brophy to win the four-by-400 relay (4:22.73).

The four-by-800 relay combination of Lindsay, Ellerbroek, Macho and Brophy placed second (10:32.57).

Shultz also advanced with a second-place finish in the 400 (1:00.61) and Messerschmidt (200 meters) and Forsman (long jump) wound up with subsection third-place showings.

Other placers were:

• 100 dash - 20. Sydney Cooley, 15.46; 27. June Nelson, 16.26;

• 200 dash - 19. Kaija Shultz, 31.98;

• 400 dash - 12. Lizzy Merriman, 1:11.11;

• 800 run - 8. Ivy Ohlhauser, 2:47.27; 11. Maddie Johnson, 2:50.02; 15. Siiri Nelson, 2:57.22;

• 1,600 run - 7. Katy Brophy, 5:58.61; 8. Ellerbroek, 6:15.52; 11. Addison Kannas, 6:29.25;

• 3,200 run - 7. Payson Kundinger, 13:37.47; 12. Lucy Dunn, 15:23.64;

• 100 hurdles - 7. Eastham, 18.69; 13. Lillie O’Neill, 19.84;

• 300 hurdles - 5. Lindsay, 51.84; 15. O’Neill, 59.29;

• Four-by-100 relay - 6. O’Neill, Chantel Ridings, Cooley, Eastham, 59.78;

• Four-by-200 relay - 6. Stella Koivisto, Merriman, Kaija Shultz, Messerschmidt, 2:00.8;

• Shot Put - 10. Mosher, 27-5; 13. Kira Boes, 24-1; 16. Maddie Tome, 23-5.5;