It was a long trip to Deer River and weather and trail conditions weren’t ideal, but the Ely Timberwolves returned home with a pair of first-place finishes.
The Ely boys led a 10-team pack while the girls were first among five high school cross country teams at Tuesday’s Deer River Invitational.
Ely, which has its annual home meet this Thursday, Oct. 8, returned to action after being idle for nearly two weeks and had a series of strong showings.
That was most notable in the boys race, where Blake Houde and Wyatt Devine gave the Timberwolves a one-two individual finish.
Houde won the race, which encompassed 5,000 meters, in 17:36.7, while Devine was less than three seconds behind at 17:39.1.
Senior Oliver Hohenstein was sixth (18:29.8) and Grady Anderson just missed the top-10 and settled for 11th overall in 19:24.8.
Ely’s Aksel Skustad placed 14th (19:33.1) and Grant Chittum was two spots back in 16th (19:54.4).
The Wolves won with 34 points, easily outgunning second-place Mt. Iron-Buhl (96) and the rest of the field.
In girls action, Molly Brophy helped complete the Ely sweep.
The standout senior took fourth overall in 21:40.2 and joined the rest of the field in chasing winner Ava Dahl of Cromwell, who won in less than 21 minutes.
Behind Brophy in the top-10 was Ely’s Mattie Lindsay, who was seventh in 22:21, while senior Isabella Macho took ninth in 22:54.2.
The three top-10 finishes helped power the girls to the team title, as Ely wound up with 31 points, doubling up on runner-up East Central (64) with three other teams further behind.
Ely’s Katy Brophy placed 13th (23:49.1), followed by teammates Lucy Dunn (15th, 24:43.5), Lillie O’Neill (23rd, 26:15.6), and Sally Dunn (26th, 27:23.9).
The Wolves’ Khalil Lightfeather, who is a student at Tower’s Vermilion Country School, again ran away with the boys' junior varsity race in a time of 17:51.5. Ely and VCS have a cooperative agreement for several sports, including cross country running.
Trynn Weisinger was third in the same race.
The Wolves were also well represented in the C-squad races at Deer River, with Elliot Eastham, Boden Devine and Alden Harding taking the top three spots in the boys 2,500 meter event. Connor Macho took fifth and Fletcher Chopp finished eighth.
Ely’s Jenna Bermel was the runner-up and Kelsie O’Neill wound up 12th in the C-squad girls event.
• The action begins at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Ely Golf Course for the only home meet of the year.
The event usually attracts 200 or more runners from up to 10 area schools.
