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Ely skiers have strong season opener

Johnston takes first among 28 skiers in boys competition

Jay Greeney
Posted 12/20/18

HIDDEN VALLEY – The Ely Nordic ski teams are off to a strong start as the boys team finished first in last Thursday’s home meet, while the girls team took third.

Conditions were fast at …

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Ely skiers have strong season opener

Johnston takes first among 28 skiers in boys competition

Posted

HIDDEN VALLEY – The Ely Nordic ski teams are off to a strong start as the boys team finished first in last Thursday’s home meet, while the girls team took third.

Conditions were fast at Hidden Valley, and Ely sophomore Jasper Johnston took advantage to claim first place in a field of 28 skiers from five schools.

Johnston wasn’t alone, as the entire Ely boys team finished in the top 14 to claim first place overall. “Our boys team did very well.” said Ely Head Coach Paula Anderson.

On the girls side, eighth-grader Zoe Devine finished in fifth place overall. “Zoe had a break-out race finishing fifth in varsity after she was a junior high racer all last season.” The girls squad is dominated by underclassmen, but that didn’t stop them from placing three additional racers in the top 15 spots last Thursday..

“The girls were solid and will continue to develop as the season progresses,” said Anderson. “The skiers on both teams were given a great opportunity to get back into race mode,” she added. “Results are less important at this point of the season, we focus much more on racing prep and process.”

While her skiers performed well, Anderson cautioned that the results might not be indicative of what the team will face later in the season. “Many of the top skiers from other teams were not there yesterday so it is hard to fairly evaluate results,” she said.

The Wolves’ next scheduled meet is Thursday at Coleraine.

Here are the top individual performances by Ely and team results.