NER swimmers rely on youth

By Tom Coombe, Ely Echo

Northeast Range/Ely won’t have as much experience as most, if not all of its high school girls swimming opponents this fall.

In fact, the Nighthawks may field the youngest team in Section 7A.

But that’s just fine with head coach Cheri DeBeltz, who says the 2024 season, which started last week with the Rock Ridge Relays, may have a different purpose than in previous years.

“I think our goals this year will be figuring out what each swimmer’s individual goal is and working toward that,” said DeBeltz. “It may not translate into winning meets, more of what each person wants to do and where they settle in.”

The reason for that is relatively simple, given a roster that has only one senior and with 10 of 20 athletes in either eighth or seventh grade. “We’re very, very young,” said DeBeltz. “Over half of our kids are fairly new to the sport. We want to make sure they enjoy the sport and we don’t want to burn those young kids out.”

At the varsity level, the Nighthawks return an All-Section 7A honoree in Anna Larson. She was 10th in the section in the 100 butterfly in 2023, 11th in the 59 freestyle, and part of an eighth-place NRE relay team.

“We have our senior captain coming back,” DeBeltz said of Larson.

Larson will be part of a small but experienced nucleus for the Nighthawks, one that also includes juniors Via DeBeltz, Tuuli Koivisto, Sabrah Hart and Alyssa Ice. DeBeltz was the only other NRE individual to make the section finals a year ago, taking 15th in the 200 freestyle.

She also was part of two top-10 section relays, as was returning ninth-grader Jorden Borchert. Ice, Hart, and sophomore Grace Flynn were all part of one top-10 relay last fall. “All of those girls are returning, and we have some young girls stepping into new roles,” said Cheri DeBeltz.

Sophomores Madison Jonas and Moon Vetos-Keen are part of the varsity roster, while Borchert and Bela Moskowitz are the only ninth-graders. The rest of the group is made up of seventh and eighth-graders and the lack of depth might make NRE shorthanded for some varsity events during the course of the season. “We’d just like to see the girls improve and improve on their own times,” said DeBeltz, who is assisted by Sue Pasmick.

Once again this year, the roster is dominated by Ely although the program is hosted by Northeast Range. Koivisto is the only Northeast Range student on the 20-swimmer roster. DeBeltz said she was happy with the turnout. “I’m very happy,” she said. “You kind of wonder is that the Olympic spirit, and did that give us a little help. I know with the girls that we have in the younger grades, that we’ve got some pretty strong swimmers. If they stick with it we can become a pretty competitive program.”

Northeast Range/ Ely Girls Swimming 2024 Schedule

Aug. 22: at Rock Ridge Relays, 1 p.m.

Aug. 27: Int. Falls Aug. 29: Proctor

Sept. 5: at Mesabi East

Sept 10: at Rock Ridge

Sept. 14: at Hibbing Invite, 1 p.m.

Sept. 19: Chisholm

Sept. 14: at Hibbing Invite, 1 p.m.

Sept. 24: Two Harbors

Sept. 26: Stella Maris

Oct. 1: at IRC Meet, Aurora

Oct. 5: at Lumberjack Invite, Cloquet

Oct. 8: Cloquet

Oct. 12: at True Team Sections, Grand Rapids

Oct. 15: at Int. Falls, 4:30 p.m.

Oct. 24: at Pumpkin Quad, Aurora

Nov. 7: at Section Prelims, Grand Rapids

Nov. 9: at Section Finals, Grand Rapids

Meet time 5 p.m. unless noted.