Ely’s high school cross country teams may have had their best day of the season on the grandest stage.
The Timberwolves not only competed, but thrived at Saturday’s Swain Invitational in Duluth.
With two of the top-11 individual finishers, the Ely boys were second in a 22-team field in the Skyline Invitational at the event held at Enger Park Golf Course.
The Ely girls were 10th in their division on a day in which both teams were matched up with some of the best in Minnesota - at one of the largest regular season events in the state.
Ely junior Blake Houde was fifth overall in 17:11.2, while teammate Wyatt Devine was six spots back in 11th in 17:30.9. That was in a field of 166 runners.
The Wolves secured their second-place showing with depth, as senior Oliver Hohenstein took 29th in 18:29.6, and Grady Anderson followed (18:33.9).
Mason Kurnava was 40th (18:47.9) with Oren Solum in 43rd (18:52.1) and Aksel Skustad 55th (19:09.7).
“It was the best times for Mason, Grady and Oren this year and much better times for all who ran this race last year,” said Ely Head Coach Jayne Dusich. “This year also it was cooler and cloudy while lasts year was hot and sunny.”
Ely finished second behind Proctor but ahead of the rest of the field in the Skyline division.
Among the girls, the Wolves secured a 10th-place finish while senior Molly Brophy took 23rd out of 151 runners. Her time was 21:22.5.
“Molly had a side ache the whole time that slowed her down but her time was not bad,” said Dusich.
Next up for the Wolves was Mattie Lindsay (21:44.2) in 32nd, with Ely eighth grader Katy Brophy taking 58th (22:43.9), followed by Isabella Macho (85th, 23:40.3) and Payson Kundinger (87th, 23:52.60 Rounding out the Ely girls varsity lineup were Lillie O’Neill (115th, 25:09.9) and Moxie Lindsay (122nd, 25:37.7).
“While Katie and Lillie had their best times of the year and better than last year, the rest also ran better than last year,” said Dusich.
In junior varsity action, Ely’s Grant Chittum took home a medal by placing 10th in the boys race in 19:14.2.
The Wolves’ Liam Kurnava (19:49.5) was 28th.
E m o r y Ho h e n st ei n and Trynn Weisinger also notched season-best times in the boys JV race.
The Wolves hosted more than 200 runners from around the area Thursday, at their lone home meet of the season.
Next up is the Iron Range Conference championships on Tuesday, at Hoyt Lakes, with Section 7A competition slated for the end of the month.
