ELY— The hills at Hidden Valley echoed with the excitement of hundreds of young athletes as Ely held its annual high school Nordic ski invitational on Saturday.
“We had a great day,” said Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein. “The trails were fantastic considering the low snow year, all because of the hard work from the grooming crew at Hidden Valley.”
A total of ten teams took advantage of the conditions as the skiers geared up for sectionals later this month, and Ely skiers made their mark, as has become the team’s tradition, despite being among the smallest schools in the section.
“The boys had a solid performance on the day,” said Hohenstein. Ely’s top performance came in the sprint relay competition as the team of Aksel Skustad and Silas Solum took first with a final time of 15:10. While other schools are likely still determining their sprint lineups for sectionals, Hohenstein said Saturday’s strong performance by Skustad and Solum shows they are well matched for the event. “Both Aksel and Silas have dynamic and explosive skiing styles that make them great sprinters,” said Hohenstein. “Our team is deep enough that we can have top level skiers in both the pursuit and relay events.  We understand just how important those relay points are in the section meet format and we want to compete for the top spot.”
Ely, of course, will be up against Duluth East, which has become the state’s Nordic ski powerhouse and they demonstrated that once again as they dominated the top slots in both the freestyle and classic events in the girls and boys competitions.
In the boys pursuit competition, Ely junior Dylan Durkin took sixth overall, the top finish for an Ely skier, with a combined time of 31:18. Freshman Oliver Hohenstein finished in ninth place with a time of 31:55. Juniors Milo McClelland and Eli Olson took 11th and 12th places with times of 32:19 and 32:48 respectively. Olson had finished in seventh place in the freestyle competition in the morning but had a tough fall on a challenging hill to fall back in the classic portion of the competition. The pursuit competition combines the times in both the freestyle and classic events.
“The interesting thing is that you can see how each race may be different for each skier,” said Hohenstein. “An athlete may be a very strong skate skier and do very well in the morning race, but then struggle in the classic and slip back a few spots.  Our goal is to train a well-balanced skier.”
In the girls pursuit, senior Claire Blauch delivered the top performance for Ely, finishing in 11th place with a combined time of 35:51. Fellow senior Ava Skustad was right behind in 13th place overall, with a time of 36:09.
“Ava was excited to be out skiing in front of the home crowd and had a great morning race finishing 13th in the skate,” said Hohenstein. “Claire had a solid race and finished 16th. In the afternoon race, Ava maintained her position and finished 13th overall, while Claire put together a great effort and passed five skiers to earn the 11th spot overall.”
In the girls sprint relays, Ely’s young team of Molly Brophy and June Nelson qualified for the finals and finished in fifth place in the finals competition. “Molly and Nelson impressed us with their willingness to take on this role for the team,” said Hohenstein. “It was a challenging classic course on a warm day.”
At the junior varsity level, Ely showed considerable depth for the future, as the team placed four boys in the top ten in the freestyle event, including eighth-grader Wyatt Devine, who took first, freshman Brooks Brenny, who took third, and freshman Mason Molden who finished in fifth place. Freshmen Tyde Brecke finished seventh.