Sports

Ely's American Legion baseball team displayed its pitching depth in its season-opener: a 6-1 victory at Marble last Monday night.<BR><BR>Post 248's top three returning pitchers - Josh Mathson, Tim Scott and Josh Weckman - combined on a three-hitter and were in command throughout the contest.<BR><BR>Mathson worked the first three innings. Scott came on for the next three and Weckman pitched the seventh.<BR><BR>They allowed one hit each and combined to strike nine Marble batters, including two straight 'Ks' by Weckman to end the game.<BR><BR>"We wanted to get all three of those guys some work and I thought they were all sharp," said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe.

From the opening meet of the season all the way through to the state competition at Blaine, Ely’s Steve Milkovich just kept getting better and better and better.<BR><BR>The result was the sophomore’s first state appearance and an impressive fourth-place finish in the triple jump at the Class A championships, held June 12 at the National Sports Center.<BR><BR>Milkovich set a school record at the Section 7A meet with a jump of over 41 feet, but just eight days later he shattered that mark by over a foot, finishing at 42 feet, five inches.<BR><BR>“He went and set the school record the week before and then he goes and sets it again by a foot and an inch farther,” said Ely Head Coach Darren Visser.

The return of three top pitchers gives Ely’s American Legion baseball team three good reasons to be optimistic about the 2004 season, which starts today with a 7 p.m.

Getting to the state high school track meet, especially when one does it on a relay with seniors who won’t be back next year, can aptly be called a once-in-a-lifetime experience.<BR><BR>A month-long trip to Germany with high school classmates fits the same description.<BR><BR>But what happens when one once-in-a-lifetime experience conflicts with another?<BR><BR>That’s the dilemma that faced Ely junior Jenna Klein last week.<BR><BR>On June 4, Klein joined teammates Raychal Zupancich, Julie Anderson and Casey Sovil on a 3,200 meter relay team that finished second at the Section 7A meet in Duluth and earned a spot in the state meet, set for June 10 at Blaine.<BR><BR>But there was one, not so small, catch.<BR><BR>On Tuesday, Klein was scheduled to depart with more than a dozen Ely classmates for Germany, in the once-every-two-years tour of Europe coordinated by German instructor Bob Braff.<BR><BR>Despite

At meet after meet this spring, Ely sophomore Steve Milkovich stood out in the crowd.<BR><BR>The Section 7A competition at Duluth was no different, as the Ely athlete recorded top-five finishes in three events and landed a berth in the state meet in the triple jump.<BR><BR>Milkovich had a leap of 41 feet, four inches, good enough for second place in the triple jump and a spot in Saturday’s State Class A competition in Blaine.<BR><BR>In third place after the preliminaries, Milkovich needed a clutch jump to advance. That’s exactly what he got.<BR><BR>“He went into the finals in third place by an inch, and this was his last jump and he just nailed it,” said Ely Head Coach Darren Visser.

Ely’s high school girls track team knew that it would take an extraordinary performance to advance one or more of its athletes to the state meet.<BR><BR>But an extraordinary performance was exactly what the Timberwolves got out of their 3,200 meter relay team, which shaved over 20 seconds off its season-best time, finished second overall at the June 4 Section 7AA meet in Duluth and qualified for state competition by time standard.<BR><BR>Seniors Julie Anderson and Raychal Zupancich, junior Jenna Klein and ninth-grader Casey Sovil formed the relay team, which led for three-fourths of the race but fell to second in the final leg, completing the course in 9:49.22.<BR><BR>“To better our time by almost 22 seconds was just phenomenal,” said Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein. “We thought going into the section meet that basically we had to take first to go to state.

Ely’s high school baseball team got no favors when the Minnesota State High School League realigned teams for the 2004 season.<BR><BR>With eight starters back, including standout pitchers Josh Weckman and Tim Scott, the Timberwolves had every reason to believe they’d contend for the Section 7A crown this spring.<BR><BR>But once the season rolled around there was just one problem: Ely was no longer in 7A.<BR><BR>Instead of being lumped in with the area’s smallest schools, and local rivals such as Nashwauk-Keewatin, Cherry and Babbitt-Embarrass-Soudan-Tower, the Wolves found themselves in the middle enrollment division in the state’s three-class system for high school baseball.<BR><BR>Ely was bumped up to Class AA, joining some of the area’s heaviest baseball hitters - Esko and Hermantown to name two - and some schools with enrollment twice as large - Proctor, Virginia and Mora to name three.<BR><BR>That made the Wolves’ ques

Ely’s Katie Spangler finished in the middle of the pack at last week’s Section 7A high school girls golf meet.<BR><BR>The ninth grader, making her second straight section appearance, shot an 18-hole 109 during Tuesday’s event at Giants Ridge.<BR><BR>That was good enough for 22nd in a field of 44 golfers.<BR><BR>“She finished right in the middle, which is kind of where she should have been,” said Ely Head Coach Rob Simonich. “She would have liked to have done better, but she did well.

Esko pitcher John Geving’s fastball was clocked at an impressive 83 miles per hour when he took part in a Seattle Mariners tryout camp held May 29 at Ely’s Veterans Memorial Field.<BR><BR>Last Thursday, members of Ely’s high school baseball team got a firsthand look at an arm that impressed professional scouts.<BR><BR>The Esko ace fired a three-hitter and outdueled the Timberwolves’ Josh Weckman in a dandy Section 7AA playoff matchup at Hinckley.<BR><BR>Geving and the Eskomos won 2-1 when Esko (20-3) pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh.<BR><BR>Alan Schmidt’s two-out single brought home Ryan Hall with the winning run and ended Ely’s season.<BR><BR>“It was a great high school baseball game between two very good pitchers,” said Ely Head Coach Frank Ivancich. “It was tough to lose, but we played our hearts out and have nothing to be ashamed of.

Steve Milkovich and Mike Krunkkala earned section meet appearances in four events each and led Ely’s high school boys track team to a solid second-place showing at Wednesday’s subsection meet in Hibbing.<BR><BR>Milkovich won the 110 meter hurdles and finished second in three other events, while Krunkkala took first in the 200 dash, fourth in the long jump and was part of two winning relays as the Timberwolves piled up 140 points and finished second in a field of 11 teams.<BR><BR>But perhaps more impressive than the team standing is the slew of athletes the Wolves will send on to the Section 7A meet, set for this Friday at Duluth.<BR><BR>Ely has section qualifiers in 12 different events, and in all the Wolves have 13 athletes who will either participate in the section event or be there as an alternate, much to the pleasure of head coach Darren Visser.<BR><BR>“I thought as a team we did oustanding,” said Visser.