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Ely skiers set the pace at opening meet

It was a red-and-white sweep at the season-opening high school Nordic ski meet at Hidden Valley.The Ely Timberwolves were gracious hosts, but not gracious enough to give up the top spot in either varsity race.Senior Adam Shultz picked up where he left off a year ago and showed off the style that landed him a spot in the top-10 at the state meet. He cruised to victory on the 4.7-kilometer course, winning last Saturday’s race with ease.Ely’s Ellen Anderson turned in an even more dominating performance in the varsity girls event, blowing away the field and topping her next-nearest foe by about 45 seconds.Those efforts paced a good all-around day for the Wolves.Ely had two of the top four racers in both varsity races, and the girls had five of the top-30 en route to a second-place team finish.The Wolves, coming off a second-place finish in the 2005 state girls meet, were second only to rival Duluth East at Hidden Valley, and Ely skied without junior Carolyn Freeman, who missed the meet to take the ACT test.Even without Freeman, the Ely girls showed off good depth.Anderson was the class of the girls field, gliding to victory in 17 minutes, 43 seconds on the same 4.7-kilometer route used by the boys.Ely junior Casey Sovil was fourth overall in 18:35, and classmate Amelia Donars just missed out on a top-10 showing and took 11th in 19:24.Sophomore Zoe Lampman (21st, 20:47) and senior Mary Bruels (29th, 21:33) both finished in the top half of the race as well.Rounding out the Ely contingent were Audrey Kothe (41st, 22:56), Cassie Leoni (42nd, 22:58) and Kristin Mitchell (51st, 29:32).Duluth East claimed five of the top-10 finishes to take the team title.Ely had just two boys in the varsity race, but the Wolves were represented at the top.Shultz won in 15:18, 19 seconds better than runner-up Waylon Manske of Bemidji.Junior Nick Peterson, a state competitor a year ago, had a big day, as well, taking fourth in 16:04.Bemidji was first among 13 teams in the boys event, followed by Duluth East.• In junior varsity action , Ely’s Peter Schurke took third in the boys race. His time of 17:33 would have been good enough for a top-20 finish in the varsity race. Schurke is an eighth-grader.Jay Wilmunen (43rd, 23:22), Ben Baltich (47th, 23:55) and John Crane (48th , 24:05) also skied for the Wolves.April Levar was 32nd (29:11) and Jenn Zupancich took 33rd (29:22) in the junior varsity girls competition.• Ely showed off its depth in the junior high races, with 26 skiers taking part.Seventh-grader Jacob Dahlberg won the three-kilometer boys race, dominating en route to a time of 13:41, nearly 40 seconds ahead of the second-place skier.Jon Haaverson (fourth, 15:23) and Alec Osthoff (ninth, 15:57) also made the top-10.The rest of the Ely lineup included Michael Pengal (33rd), Zack Baltich (34th), Connor Peacock (36th), Ben Jesme (44th) and Drew Gustafson (46th).The Ely girls won the junior high race and had five of the top-10 finishes.Kathryn Van Every won in 16:14 with teammate Becca Klein right behind (16:26) for a one-two Ely finish.Jennifer Hakala was sixth in 17:01, while Berit Schurke (ninth, 17:48) and Emily Haag (10th, 18:04) were also high finishers. Other Ely skiers were Thea Gessler (16t h), Cindy Beans (19th), Samantha Halwix (20th), Maggie Jesme (21st), August Lah (25th), Kasha Hyde (28th), Sarah Anderson (29th), Linden Bulloch (37th) and Alana Larson (46th).• More than 300 skiers participated and the race drew teams from as far away as Anoka and Bemidji, as well as regional schools including Duluth East, Two Harbors, Duluth Marshall, Mesabi East, Cook County, Grand Rapids, Proctor, Duluth Denfeld and C loquet-Esko-Carlton

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