GIANTS RIDGE— Ely may be one of the smallest schools in high school Nordic ski competition, but they demonstrated here yet again that they consistently punch well above their weight.
During last Saturday’s Mesabi East Invite, the Ely boys finished second to Duluth East in an immense field of 51 teams representing high schools from around Minnesota, including some of the largest in the state. The competition had all the excitement of the state tournament, with hundreds of competitors along with friends and family, backing up parking at Giants Ridge out onto the adjacent county road. Much of the course was lined with spectators cheering on their favorites.
Despite on-and-off and occasionally heavy snow showers throughout the day, consistency proved key as Ely’s six designated skiers all finished well up in the rankings on the 5K courses. Ely junior Oliver Hohenstein took fifth place in the classic competition with a time of 16:56. Ely sophomore Wyatt Devine wasn’t far behind, finishing ninth with a time of 17:12.5. Senior Otto Devine finished 19th at 18:02.8. A total of 121 boys took part in the classic competition.
In the freestyle, junior Aksel Skustad clocked the top Ely finish with a time of 17:20.6, good for 13th place in a field of 131 racers. Junior George Sponholz took 30th with a time of 18:03.4, while junior Brooks Brenny brought up the rear in 51st place with a time of 18:53.3.
The Ely girls had a good day as well but finished 22nd out of 46 teams competing on the day. Molly Brophy notched the top finish for the Ely girls, taking 37th in the freestyle competition with a time of 21:49.5. Mattie Lindsay finished 38th in the classic race with a times of 22.28.8. Senior Alia Hardy finished in 24:41.1, good for 71st place, while junior June Nelson finished 77th with a time of 25:01.8.
In the freestyle, junior Isabella Macho finished well behind Brophy, with a time of 24:53.5, good for 78th place. Senior Alison Poppler finished for Ely with a time of 26:21.1.
Ely Head Coach Todd Hohenstein said his teams, particularly the boys, seem to key off each other’s success.
“I think the boys were very excited to be up on the podium as a group and receive their second-place medals,” Hohenstein added.  “They thrive on skiing well as a group.  If one guy has a great performance to lead things off, they all have this sense of ‘now it’s my turn to do my part.’  Oliver was able to ski from a difficult spot, going out fourth overall, and set a very good time.  The snow was coming down pretty heavily during the classic races and that makes things more challenging.  Aksel had a similar performance in the afternoon skate race and with great efforts from Wyatt and Otto in the classic and George and Brooks in the skate, they ended up putting together a very good cumulative score.  We have high caliber individual skiers that finish in the top 10 but it’s most satisfying when everyone steps up and competes at their own edge of personal potential.”
Hohenstein noted that Ely’s junior varsity teams also finished near the top of the field on Saturday.
“It was a great sign of things to come,” he said.