ELY— With a northwest wind heralding an Arctic blast, hundreds of the region’s high school Nordic skiers gathered at Hidden Valley a day early to beat the cold that was forecast to hit the following day. It’s prep time for the sectional competition set for next Wednesday, Feb. 8, so racers were competing in the pursuit competition (combined freestyle and classic), as well as sprints.
In the pursuit, Ely senior Zoe Devine continued her recent dominance, sweeping the field on her home course, finishing first in both the freestyle and classic races for a combined time of 33:49.9, a full 49 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Rowan Bixler of Duluth East.
Devine, at 17:19.2, beat Bixler by 23 seconds in the classic competition, and by 26 seconds in the freestyle event, with a time 16:30.
“Zoe skied very well,” said Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein. “She, like many of our athletes, understands when to relax and ski efficiently, conserving for key areas of the race course to make a move and open up gaps or close them down on other skiers.”
Other Ely competitors had strong meets as well. Ely sophomore Eli Olson finished seventh in the freestyle with a time of 16:48.6 and was Ely’s top boys finisher, placing 11th overall in the pursuit with a combined time of 34:05.9.
“Eli had a solid first race, but really came through in the afternoon skate race and made up a bunch of time,” said Hohenstein. Sophomore Dylan Durkin was right behind Olson, in 12th place, with a combined time of 34:10.2. Fellow sophomore Silas Solum and eighth-grader Oliver Hohenstein both cracked the top 20 overall in a field of 59 racers, with combined times of 35:20.6 and 35:58.9 respectively.
“We know we’re a young boys team and that there are teams in our section that are heavy with senior experience,” said Hohenstein. “It will be a challenge to compete for that second place finish at sections and we’re trying to set ourselves up to be in the best possible spot to compete.”
For the Ely girls, senior Phoebe Helms finished in 14th with a time of 38:07.7, with juniors Claire Blauch and Ava Skustad finishing 15th and 16th with times of 38:15.8 and 38:41.5 respectively.
Hohenstein lauded Helms’ progress this year in the face of adversity. “She is really coming on strong towards the end of the season, exactly when her team needs her and what she had hoped to be able to do working through an early season injury,” he said. “Overall, the girls were very solid in their effort. If we can stay healthy going forward, I’m very excited to see what the girls can do.”
In the sprint competition, the Ely boys team of Tory Hughley and Milo McClelland took second with a net time of 10:23.0. Ely girls sprinters Kelly Thompson and Sydney Durkin finished third, with a time of 11:41.9.
Duluth East, as usual, dominated in the team competition, placing first in the overall scoring, which counts the top three pursuit places plus the sprint relay score. Ely finished second in both the boys and girls team competition.