After a miserable Monday in the cold and rain, conditions for cross country running on Tuesday in Grand Rapids were near-perfect.
The Ely Timberwolves took full advantage, not only with a third-place varsity finish for the girls but with an even better day for the boys.
Four Ely boys were in the top-11 overall, and the Wolves stunned several larger schools and took first place in the Paul Bauer Invitational.
Ely responded to its best weather day of the year with its best performance of the year, downing Duluth East, host Grand Rapids, Hibbing and several other foes.
“It was a great meet for everyone finally,” said Ely Head Coach Jayne Dusich. “The weather was cooler and all times were one-to-two minutes better than their best times this year.”
The Wolves experienced great weather in Grand Rapids after working out just 24 hours earlier, in Ely, in pouring rain.
Dusich joked the breakout performance on Tuesday “must have been (due to) the running in the cold and rain yesterday.”
Junior Wyatt Devine led the way for the Ely boys but he wasn’t alone near the top. Devine took fourth overall in 17:09.7, with teammate Blake Houde a tenth of a second behind in fifth. They trailed winner Carson Gil‑bertson of Duluth’s Stella Maris Academy by about 30 seconds.
Ely senior Oliver Hohen‑stein (18:03.5) also cracked the top-10 and placed eighth, with Aksel Skustad taking 11th in 18:31.9.
The Wolves’ Grant Chit‑tum was in 32nd (19:48.4) and Liam Kurnava finished 35th (19:50.3).
In varsity girls action, Ely’s Molly Brophy and Mat‑tie Lindsay formed a potent one-two combination.
Brophy was eighth on the 5,000-meter course in 21:02.1, and Lindsay finished 13th (21:39.6).
Those finishes helped the Wolves to a third-place team standing, behind only Duluth East and Grand Rapids and ahead of North Shore, Stella Maris Academy, Deer River/ Northland/Hill City and Rock Ridge.
Behind Brophy and Lind‑say in the Ely lineup was Isabella Macho, who wound up 22nd in 22:22.
Macho was followed by teammates Payson Kunding‑er (29th, 22:50.4), Katy Bro‑phy (32nd, 22:59.4), Moxie Lindsay (38th, 24:01.3) and Lucy Dunn (40th, 24:22.7).
In junior varsity action, Ely’s Khalil Lightfeather, who is a student at Tower’s Vermilion Country School, ran away with the boys race in a time of 17:23.1. Ely and VCS have a cooperative agreement for several sports including cross country running.
Trynn Weisinger was 47th in the same race.
Ely had two finishers in the JV girls race as Lillie O’Neill took ninth and team‑mate Sally Dunn was 16th.
The Wolves were also well represented in the C-squad races at Grand Rapids, with Elliot Eastham (fifth), Alden Harding (seventh) and Boden Devine (ninth) all cracking the top-10 among the boys.
Jenna Bermel was 10th in the girls C-squad event.
• The Wolves also com‑peted in the Sept. 10 Titan Invitational, hosted by Gre‑enway/ Nashwauk-Keewatin at Eagle Ridge.
Devine took 16th in the boys race in 17:48.5, followed by Houde (20th, 18:15.9), Ho‑henstein (29th, 18:55.1), Kur‑nava (37th, 19:12.6), Oren Solum (47th, 19:29.6), Grady Anderson (55th, 19:53.6) and Skustad (56th, 19:56.4).
Brophy was 30th in the varsity girls race with a time of 22:52.6.
Other Ely varsity girls finishers were: 36. Mattie Lindsay, 23:02.4; 63. Kundinger, 24:12; 64. Macho, 24:16.65; 71. Katy Brophy, 24:34.1; 78. Moxie Lindsay, 24:58.7; 82. O’Neill, 26:47;
