BIWABIK - It wasn’t the day Ely was hoping for when the season began.

But with six of seven skiers returning next season, and the lone senior moving on to state, plenty of silver linings were present at Thursday’s Section 7 meet in Biwabik.

The biggest highlight for the Wolves, who finished fourth as a team, belonged to senior Simon Stouffer.

Stouffer began the day in 12th place after the freestyle competition, then passed the two skiers he needed to catch in the classic race to nab the final individual berth to state, placing 10th in 32:16.5.

“I was thinking I was in the range of making it, but knew it was going to be tight and at that point I was just really focusing on passing whoever I could and not getting passed,” Stouffer said.

While not the day Stouffer and the Wolves hoped for as a team, the trip to state marked a fitting conclusion to a career of hard work and dedication.

“It was pretty bittersweet coming across the finishing and having (coach Paula Anderson) say she thought I’d made it, but then just not seeing any of our boys coming across. I felt pretty terrible to be honest realizing I was the only boy who was gonna ski at state. I really felt as though I’d let my team down.

“State as an individual and as a team has been of goal of mine since eighth grade when I first skied varsity, so hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of training, sweat and prayers later I had reached my goal, so that was awesome.”

Ethan Hasz was the next finisher for the Wolves, taking 16th place in 32:57.6.

Next were James Schwinghamer (33:31.4) and Gavin Blauch (33:39.8) finishing back-to-back in 19th and 20th place, respectively, followed by Elijah Olson (33:52.3), Ben Gustafson (33:57.9) and Nate Nettifree (35:31.8).

In the end, it just wasn’t the Wolves’ day.

“The top three boys on our team each had a bad day,” Ely head coach Paula Anderson said. “Ben was sick, so that was very disappointing and frustrating for him. Simon managed to come back enough in the classic race to snag that last individual qualifier spot, which was a big relief since he is a senior.

“The rest of the team skied great. Ethan Hasz had a breakout race, so that was fun to watch. The other teams weren’t better than they’d been in past weeks, most boys finished where they had been finishing. We just weren’t where we should have been, but that’s sport. The good news is that six of the seven boys will be back next year.”

Grand Rapids took the team title with 364 points in the 10-team field, with Ely finishing with 339 points.

The state meet was scheduled to be held Thursday at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.