DULUTH— Ely Nordic skiers were headed into the Section 7 meet on Wednesday after a string of recent strong performances, particularly by senior standout Zoe Devine. (Note that sectional results were not available until after the Timberjay’s Wednesday presstime)
In their final meet ahead of sectionals, Devine again topped a girls field of 82 racers in the pursuit competition, a repeat of her first-place finish at the Ely Invite held Jan. 27.
Devine took second in the freestyle portion of the pursuit competition, 12 seconds behind her most persistent rival of late, Rowan Bixler of Duluth East. Devine, however, topped Bixler in the classic portion by nearly 45 seconds to claim first with an overall pursuit time of 29:29.0.
The girls team had help from strong performances from junior Claire Blauch, who finished 13th overall, junior Ava Skustad (15th) and senior Phoebe Helms, who finished 16th. The girls team, as they have most of the season, took second overall, behind only Nordic powerhouse Duluth East.
Sophomore Eli Olson was the top Ely finisher on the boys side, finishing 14th with a combined time of 30:00.7. Fellow sophomores Dylan Durkin and Silas Solum finished 18th and 19th overall in a field of 87 competitors with combined times of 30:26.9 and 30:46.6 respectively.
Those times left the boys team in third place among the ten teams in the competition.
Sectional results will be available Thursday at timberjay.com and in the Feb. 17 print edition of the Timberjay.