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Ely boys dominate home meet

Take all four top spots in pursuit

David Colburn
Posted 1/30/25

ELY – The Ely boys Nordic skiers thoroughly dominated the competition on their home slopes at Hidden Valley on a windy, snowy Saturday, claiming the overall team title over Duluth East with the …

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Ely boys dominate home meet

Take all four top spots in pursuit

Posted

ELY – The Ely boys Nordic skiers thoroughly dominated the competition on their home slopes at Hidden Valley on a windy, snowy Saturday, claiming the overall team title over Duluth East with the top four finishers in pursuit, the top three in freestyle, and second in the relay.
Consistency was the name of the game for pursuit winner Dylan Durkin, who placed second in both heats for the fastest combined runs around the circuit, clocking 15:49 and 15:14 for an overall time of 31:03. Aksel Skustad took second with a combined time of 31:25. Eli Olson led at the end of the first heat, but slipped to third and was edged by Skustad in the final standings, also clocking a time of 31:25. Rounding out the Wolves quartet at the top of the leaderboard was Wyatt Devine, who vaulted from sixth after the first run to third in the second run and fourth overall in 31:33. The Wolves’ Otto Devine cracked the top 10, placing seventh with an overall time of 31:47. Milo McClelland, 17th, 34:23, and Brooks Brenny, 18th, 34:29, capped the Ely crew that finished in the top third of the 58-skier field.
The Ely boys claimed the team title in pursuit over runner-up Duluth East, 237-224, with CEC taking third with 199 points. Grand Rapids, Proctor-Hermantown, Two Harbors, and Cook County completed the field.
The Wolves scored a trifecta in the freestyle race, with Eli Olson claiming the top prize with a time of 15:32.8. Durkin nailed down second in 15:38.2, and Skustad came in third at 16:02.5. Close behind was Wyatt Devine in sixth in 16:15.8 and Otto Devine in seventh in 16:24. Milo McClelland, 14th, 17:16.3, and Brooks Brenny, 16th, 17:25.3, were additional Wolves who finished in the top third of the field.
In the relay, Tyde Brecke and Caleb Larson teamed up to place second with a time of 11:31. Adding the relay results to the pursuit results gave Ely a second overall team win on the day.
“Saturday was a high point in our season,” Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein said. “We have been competing with Duluth East all season to answer the question, ‘Who is the best team in Section 7?’ In December, they were outskiing us. Well, the last couple meets it seems that things have shifted in Ely’s favor. We were very surprised watching the guys come into the stadium and take first through fourth. They all skied great, but our top two seniors lead the effort. Dylan and Eli are pulling everyone else up to their level of skiing and it’s making us very hard to beat. There is definitely a home course advantage with skiing a trail that you know where every bump and dip are found, so it will be interesting to see how things fall when we ski at Duluth East’s home course on Thursday in our last regular season meet.”
Girls
The Ely girls finished third as a team in the pursuit competition, with a trio of Wolves finishing in the top third of the 47-skier field. Anna Dunn cracked the top ten by making a huge jump in her second run from 15th to fifth, slashing two minutes and 27 seconds off her initial run for a combined time of 38:07, placing tenth. Mattie Lindsay placed 12th with a time of 38:41, and Molly Brophy finished 16th with a time of 39:59.
Izzy Macho and Lucy Dunn paired up for a sixth-place finish in the relay with a time of 14:01, good enough for the Wolves to hold off Cook County and claim third in the combined pursuit/relay scores as well.
Mattie Lindsay skied to an 11th-place finish in freestyle, coming in with a time of 19:23.4. Anna Larson crossed the line in 14th with a time of 20:06.3, and Anna Dunn was the last of the Wolves to place in the top third of the field, claiming 15th in 20:16.8.
“Our girls team has made steady improvements over the season,” Hohenstein said. “We are excited about the growth that some of our younger skiers have made in the last couple weeks. It will be tough to compete for a team qualification to the state meet this year, but that doesn’t define success for us. The girls have set their own goals this season and have worked hard to reach those goals.”
Hohenstein expressed gratitude for all the help the team received in hosting the event.
“Putting together a home meet like ours is a huge undertaking,” he said. “We are very lucky community members step up to volunteer their time and energy to make our meet a reality. Over 50 volunteers took on different tasks to make sure the ski venue at Hidden Valley was ready to accommodate approximately 250 racers. We had a great day all around for our program.”