Sports

by Tom Coombe
While Ely’s high school baseball team fell a game shy of the state tournament, one of its top players earned state recognition.
That was senior Tyler Housey, who landed a spot on the All-State Class A Team, as picked by the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association.
The award follows a brilliant senior season and a spectacular high school career for Housey, a four-year varsity starter.
This year, Housey helped lead the Wolves to 19 wins and a runner-up finish in Section 7A.
There were few better hitters in Class A baseball than Housey, who ripped 45 hits in 95 at bats, good for a sizzling .479 average.
Housey reached base 54 percent of the time, scored 28 runs and drove in 25 - both team-highs. He also swiped 11 bases and had 10 extra-base hits.
On the mound, Housey went 3-1 with 33 strikeouts in 28 innings pitched.

The Northeast Range Trap Team traveled to Alexandria on June 13 to compete in the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League Championship.
The nine-day event boasts being the worlds largest trapshooting competition and invites were open to just over 12,000 Minnesota athletes this year.
With 19 trap houses spread out over the course of a mile, teams that have competed online all spring finally came face to face to compete.
Each day of the competition features a conference and attendance averages about 1000 athletes per day and triples in attendance with spectators.
Opening ceremonies began with USA Clay Target League President John Nelson telling the crowd that, “In Minnesota, the state of hockey, trapshooting now has more participants than boys and girl’s hockey combined and continues to grow.”

by Tom Coombe
Ely’s high school baseball team has three all-conference honorees.
Seniors Tyler Housey and Trevor Mattson were repeat selections to the All-Arrowhead Conference Team, and they’re joined by Ely junior Dalton Schreffler.
The trip formed the heart of an Ely team that finished second in the conference, won 19 games and came within one game of a state tournament berth, falling to South Ridge in the Section 7A finals.
Housey, who moved to centerfield in his senior campaign, was one of the area’s hottest hitters, batting at a torrid .479 clip with 45 hits in 94 at bats, including 10 doubles. He also paced the Wolves with 25 runs batted in and swiped a team-high 11 bases, while also going 3-1 on the mound.
Mattson was one of the aces of Ely’s pitching staff.

by Tom Coombe
Brielle Kallberg climbed three spots in the standings but did not make the medal round at last weekend’s state track meet.
The Ely long-jumper, a junior, was eighth in her heat and 15th overall at the event held June 7 in sweltering conditions at Hamline University in St. Paul.
Competing in 90-degree heat, Kallberg had a leap of 15 feet, 10 inches.
That was about three-and-a-half inches shy of her leap at the Section 7A meet, where Kallberg took second, and well off her career-best of 16-9 during the 2018 season.
The top-nine jumpers moved on to the final round and Kallberg would have needed of at least 16-5.5 to move on.
“I was glad she was able to get one pretty good jump and no scratches,” said Ely Head Coach Jayne Dusich. “Unfortunately at state you need to have great jumps to move into finals.”

by Tom Coombe
South Ridge had its ace in the hole and the Ely Timberwolves ran out of aces.
That was the story late in the evening of June 6 at Duluth’s Wade Stadium, where the Panthers repeated as Section 7A high school baseball champions, riding the pitching of Mason Lane to a 9-0 victory in section finals.
Ely, which had won five straight elimination games, including a 9-8 win over the Panthers earlier in the day to force the winner-take-all showdown, went deep into its pitching staff in the finale.
South Ridge (20-6), meanwhile, had Lane rested and ready to go and the junior delivered, holding the Wolves to just two hits and recording nine strikeouts.
The Panthers put the game away early, scoring five times in the second inning against freshman starter Harry Simons and putting the game away.
The loss ended a stellar run through the playoffs for the Wolves, who finished 19-7.

by Kurt Soderberg
Photos by Barb Soderberg
At noon on Sunday, June 9, 2019, 39 enthusiastic golfers headed out under darkening skies to participate in the First Annual Polish Delight Par Three Tournament, sponsored by Zup’s as a fundraiser for the Ely Golf Club.
After a gloomy start the conditions turned to full rain and wind, but not one team failed to complete the 18 holes. The eventual winners of the event were Team Youngman, followed by Team Curtiss, and with Team Casey in third place. Most teams were mixed men and women, with ages from the 20s to the 70s. Many additional prizes were awarded for accomplishments on various holes.
Course Superintendent Jacob Curtiss shortened each of the nine holes to a Par Three length – mostly 100 yards or less – so that the emphasis was on skill and not power. The most notable change was hitting from near the top of the hill near Morse Town Hall over the trees to the number three green in the valley below.

by Tom Coombe
The state champion in the 800 meter run came right out of centerfield.
Instead of chasing fly balls, Luke Olson was being chased by his opponents in track all spring long - all the way up to last weekend’s state meet in St. Paul.
But nobody ever caught the Ely junior, who won the Class A title late Saturday afternoon with a blazing time of 1:55.48.
Olson, an all-state cross country runner who converted from baseball to track this spring, made history in many ways.
Not only did he win a state title in his first year of action, but he is believed to be Ely’s first-ever boys state track champion. Larry Berkner was the closest, finishing second in the 1,600 run in 1975.
Olson, who won the Section 7A title a week earlier, had the top seed entering the state meet and was first after the June 7 preliminaries.
In Saturday’s final, he was bound and determined and didn’t let up.

Connecting for a key hit - Ely’s Tyler Hoousey has been swinging a hot bat for the Wolves. Photo by Joe Bianco

by Tom Coombe -

One baseball season in Ely is winding down while another is set to start.
As the high school baseball playoffs (see related story) continue, the summer baseball season in Ely is moving forward on several fronts.
The Ely Baseball Association will hold its annual parent and volunteer sign-up session Monday, with team practices soon to follow and the first summer baseball tournament of the year on tap next weekend.
Ely’s Junior Legion team will host the ’Zup North Realty Classic, a seven-team, three-day event that opens Friday, June 7, at Veterans Memorial Field.
With the summer season fast approaching, registration continues and culminates Monday.
That’s when summer sign-up wraps up at the EBA session, slated for 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Field. All parents are invited to come to return registration forms and sign up for volunteer shifts in the concession stand and ticket booth.

by Tom Coombe -