COLERAINE – Ely Memorial High School cross country boys and girls teams both scored fourth-place finishes in the GNK Triple Tri last Thursday, held at the Eagle Ridge Golf Course.
“I thought our runners ran much better in this meet,” said Ely CC Coach Jayne Dusich. “Almost everyone improved their times from last week.”
With public health protocols in place due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, normal high school cross country meets look vastly different this fall.
“The problem is many runners are running by themselves so it’s hard to push themselves,” Dusich said. “With the limited teams and individuals, running is really spaced out, so looking at the results when all teams are added in might look different if they actually raced against each other.”
The Ely girls team, paced by sophomore runners Zoe Devine and Phoebe Helms, amassed 92 points for the day. First-place Hibbing ran away from the field with 38 points, and Grand Rapids was a distant second with 82 points. Greenway-Nashwauk-Keewatin (GNK) was third with 84 points. Mesabi East trailed the Timberwolves with 94 points, and Virginia had 113 points.
The top five girls runners included Lydia Skelton, Mesabi East, 20:14.6, Aune Boben, Hibbing, 21:00.7, Zoe Devine, Ely, 21:13.6, Jocelyn Strukel, Hibbing, 21:16.7, and Phoebe Helms, Ely, 21:35.3.
Other Ely runners and times included Laura Holmstrom, 24:20.6, Brynn Vollom, 24:26.9, Gracie Pointer, 24:38.3, Julia Schwinghamer, 24:56.4, Sydney Durkin, 25:12.8, Elsie Vollom, 27:49.6, Abigail Thompson, 27:57.0, Amelia Pluth, 28:09.3, and Juliet Stoufer, 31:42.8.
The Ely boys team scored 69 points, tied with Virginia, and took fourth place on the tie breaker. GNK took first with 42 points, and Grand Rapids second with 62 points.
The Timberwolves were paced by senior runner Emmet Faltesek who posted a time of 17:18.2, for fifth place, followed closely by senior Jasper Johnston with a sixth-place time of 17:20.5.
Other Ely runners included Gabriel Pointer, 18:12.7, Jake Cochran, 18:38.3, Joey Bianco, 19:45.4, Jon Hakala, 20:26.2, Leo Stalmer, 21:49.0, Ben Cavalier, 23:19.3, and Riley Bishop, 35:24.9.
Ely runners were set to compete Thursday, Sept. 17 at the Virginia Double Dual at Olcott Park. The Timberwolves are also scheduled to compete at the Arrowhead Conference Double Tri in Britt or Eveleth-Gilbert on Friday, Sept. 25, and will return home on Friday, Oct. 2 for the Ely Double Tri at the Ely Golf Course.