MINNEAPOLIS – Ely sophomore Molly Brophy had the highest finish among the three Ely and three North Woods runners competing in the Class A cross country championships in Minneapolis on Saturday.
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 this year finishing 35th in the field of 160 runners. Brophy ran the 5K circuit at the Lee Bolstad Golf Course in 20:02.04.
Ely freshman Mattie Lindsay finished in the top half of the field, placing 62nd with a time of 20:36.3.
North Woods senior Alex Burckhardt, the anchor for the South Ridge Panthers boys team, finished off his high school career by placing 44th in the field of 160 with a time of 17:04:06. It was Burckhardt’s fourth trip to the state meet.
Ely’s Caid Chittum, making his third trip to the state meet, finished back in the pack in 87th position with a time of 17:42.2, well off the pace of his third-place sectional meet qualifying performance.
North Woods junior Lincoln Antikainen climbed the ladder from last year’s 134th-place finish, placing 110th with a time of 17:58.8. Teammate Kahlil Lightfeather-Spears, a North Woods eighth-grader making his second appearance at the state meet, was close behind in 113th place with a time of 18:00.2. The South Ridge boys qualified as a team for the state meet and placed 13th in the 16-team field.