COLERAINE — Ely’s Molly Brophy is getting to be a familiar name at the Class A state cross country meet, as she qualified for the event for a fifth time at last week’s 7A sectional meet at the Eagle Ridge Golf Course in Coleraine.
Brophy, a junior, raced around the 5K circuit with a time of 19:33.3, good enough for sixth in a competitive 104-runner field. Olivia Pascuzzi, of Chisholm, took the title with a time of 19:21.3.
Brophy has qualified for state every year since she was a seventh grader in 2021, when she finished 91st. She’s steadily climbed the standings since then, placing 54th in 2022, 46th in 2023, and 35th in 2024.
Joining Brophy at the Les Bolstad Golf Course at the University of Minnesota will be North Woods freshman Kahlil Lightfeather-Spears, who scored an individual invite with a ninth-place finish with a time of 17:45.5. Lightfeather-Spears finished 113th in last year’s state meet running for the South Ridge Panthers.
It was the end of the line for the other local area cross country runners, as boys and girls teams for Ely and South Ridge failed to place in the top two at sectionals and all finished out of the individual qualifying spots.
The state meet will be on Saturday in Minneapolis.