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Ely finishes 1-2 again

Timberwolves dominate at Grand Rapids even without their top skier

Keith Vandervort
Posted 12/18/19

COLERAINE – Ely’s Nordic ski teams posted another one–two finish last Saturday at the Grand Rapids Invite at Mt. Itasca, and did so even without their usual top finisher Jasper …

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Ely finishes 1-2 again

Timberwolves dominate at Grand Rapids even without their top skier

Posted

COLERAINE – Ely’s Nordic ski teams posted another one–two finish last Saturday at the Grand Rapids Invite at Mt. Itasca, and did so even without their usual top finisher Jasper Johnston. The Timberwolves’ boys team took first place for the second meet in a row, while the girls brought home yet another second-place finish.
Six Ely boys skiers finished in the top 10, including Gabriel Pointer, who finished the 5K race in second place with a time of 15:03.1, just 11 seconds behind winning Grand Rapids skier Matej Cervenka.
Raif Olson was next in the parade of Ely skiers with a third-place time of 15:08.1, followed by Nate Nettifee, in 4th, at 15:47.4, Ethan Bremner, in 5th, at 15:53.7, Jon Hakala, in 8th, at 16:27.0, and Micah Larson, who finished 10th, at 16:40.5.
The Ely boys team posted 390 points, followed by Grand Rapids, at 369, Mesabi East, at 345, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, at 343, and Proctor-Hermantown, at 336.
“It was nice to see the boys win without Jasper,” said Head Coach Paula Anderson. “He was at the Junior National qualifying event held last weekend.  He’s hoping to make it to Cross Country Junior Nationals again this year, which involves four weekends of racing, so he’ll be gone for our meet Thursday as well.”
Zoe Devine finished in third place for the Wolves with a time of 18:06.4. Other Ely finishers, with place and time, included, Phoebe Helms, in 7th, at 18:53.4, Kalyssa Eilrich, 8th, at 18:59.0, Brooke Pasmick, 10th, at 19:03.3, Cora Olson, 12th, at 19:16.6, Julia Schwinghamer, 13th, at 19:18.3, Gracie Pointer, 16th, at 19:50.7, Ana Bercher, 18th, at 20:20.6, and Abigail Thompson, 29th, at 24:38.7.
The Ely girls team scored 376 points, just behind Mesabi East, with 384 points.
“It’s nice to see them starting to come into some ski and race form,” said Anderson. “The field was smaller as Duluth East, Denfeld, and Marshall weren’t there.  The boys were solid and the girls are making progress as well. There are many young girls vying for top spots on our team this year which should raise the bar for all a bit. Mesabi East has a very competitive girls team again which will make Sections interesting.” 
The Timberwolves were scheduled to compete in the Cloquet Invite on Friday, Dec. 19, and will host the Ely Time Trials at Giants Ridge on Saturday, Dec. 28.

ely skiing, nordic skiing