ELY — On a beautiful day in a beautiful fall setting, the Ely boys cross country team raced to a solid victory on Tuesday in the Ely Invitational at the Ely Golf Course.
With slightly overcast skies and the race time temperature hovering around 70 degrees, conditions for running were almost ideal, and the Wolves took full advantage. With 74 runners from nine schools toeing the start line, the Ely squad took off in a pack, with Wyatt Devine quickly bolting to the front of the field.
As the runners separated along the course, Devine settled into third place behind Cooper Lucarelli of Hermantown and Brady Forsberg of Mesabi East, and that’s where he finished the 5K race, with a time of 17:35.2.
All six runners scoring for Ely finished in the Top 20. Otto Devine placed 10th with a time of 18:29.5. Brooks Brenny ran the course in 18:43.2, placing 12th. Blake Houde was just three seconds behind him in 13th with a time of 18:46.9. Coming in 15th with a time of 19:06.3 was Mason Kurnava, and Drew Johnson crossed the finish line in 17th with a time of 19:17.3.
Other runners for Ely included Oliver Hohenstein, 18th, 19:19.2; Aksel Skustad, 23rd, 19:32.2; Grant Chittum, 25th, 19:49.2; and Mason Molden, 60th, 23:46.5.
Ely’s team score of 53 was five points lower than runner-up Proctor with 58. Stella Maris Academy finished a distant third with 98 points.

Girls place second
It was also a good day for the Ely girls as they claimed second place on their home turf. Hermantown dominated the competition with five runners placing in the top ten and logging a score of 27, easily outdistancing the Wolves at 74.
Molly Brophy led the charge for the Wolves, placing ninth in the 56-runner field with a time of 21:18.3.
Katy Brophy narrowly finishing just outside the Top 10, coming in 12th with a time of 22:03.9. Elsa Ellerbroek and Isabella Macho came close to crossing the line together, with Ellerbroek’s time of 23:12.4 slotting in at 16th and Macho placing 17th in 23:16.4. Payson Kundinger ran the circuit in 24:36.5, good enough for 26th, and Lillie O’Neill rounded out the team scoring with a 32nd-place finish and a time of 25:27.3. Lucy Dunn also ran for the Wolves, placing 35th with a time of 25:57.4.