Sports

The return of several section qualifiers and plenty of depth are two of the strengths of Ely’s high school girls track team.<BR><BR>Ely placed third in subsection competition a year ago. Most of that team is back, and many of the Timberwolves’ key athletes were either on the school’s section championship cross country running or Nordic ski teams.

For the Tower-Soudan Golden Eagles, it was a dream season.<BR><BR>A number-one state ranking, 24 straight wins and a huge and loyal local following were all part of the 2003-2004 campaign for the Golden Eagles’ boys basketball team.<BR><BR>But while the Golden Eagles and their faithful had their alarm clocks set for Saturday, when the state tournament concluded in Minneapolis, to wake up from their winter-long dream, the Nashwauk-Keewatin Spartans had other ideas.<BR><BR>The March 19 Section 7A final at Hibbing wasn’t a nightmare, Tower-Soudan fans, it was reality.<BR><BR>The Golden Eagles’ hopes for the program’s first state tournament berth in nearly 60 years ended when N-K won 51-37 before a near sellout crowd of 3,500 fans at the Hibbing Arena.<BR><BR>For Tower-Soudan, the loss was a bitter end to an otherwise extraordinary season.<BR><BR>A highly-touted nucleus, who together had won the state sixth-grade ti

If the Two Harbors Agates always shot as well as they did against Ely, they might never lose a game.<BR><BR>During the regular season, an 80 percent first-half shooting performance lifted Two Harbors to a lopsided win over the high school boys basketball team.

The Ely Timberwolves won't find nearby foes such as Cook, Mt. Iron-Buhl or Babbitt-Embarrass in the Section 7AA high school boys basketball tournament.<BR><BR>Nor will Ely, 14-9, find perhaps the area's hottest team - undefeated Tower-Soudan.