Summit Tigers mountain bike team caps season with 7th-place finish at state
After placing first overall at the Yampa Region Championship race in Fruita on Oct. 6, the Summit Tigers mountain bike team traveled to Glenwood Springs eager to once again perform highly at the Colorado High School Cycling League’s state championship meet.
Taking place on Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, on the Colorado Mountain College campus in Glenwood Springs, riders from across Colorado converged to battle across the trails.
Following a fifth-place finish at the 2023 state championship event, the Tigers took to the start line hoping to once again place within the top five of the Division 2 team ranks.
The freshman boys race led off the action on Saturday morning with 154 athletes taking off from the start line for the two-lap, 11-mile race. Among the rollicking field were two Summit athletes — Leo Zazueta Reynoso and Nico Florio.
The two Summit cyclists put themselves in the race early on and proudly represented Summit. Florio put together a smart race, going through the first lap in a time of 30:41 before clutching down on the pace on the second, 5.5-mile loop.
Florio completed the second lap in 29:54 in order to place 50th overall in a total time of 1:00:35.53. Florio secured 286 points for his performance to begin team scoring before Reynoso crossed the finish line in 107th place.
Reynoso finished in a total time of 1:05:46.77, scoring 229 points.
The freshman girls race featured a strong group of four Summit athletes. Leaning on each other for support during the race, Piper Rabinowitz and Marin Little both finished within the top 50.
Rabinowitz was the first Summit cyclist across the line in the freshman girls race, taking 39th in 1:10:31.12 and Little followed two spots later in 41st (1:10:36.04). Little was then followed by Elsie Robinson in 73rd and Sonja Waldes in 86th. Robinson finished the race in 1:22:15.10 and Waldes was pulled from the race after the first lap.
Also taking place on Saturday morning, the junior varsity boys charged from the start line and took on the two-lap course.Leading the way for the Tigers was sophomore Devin Mumford. Mumford recorded a time of 29:01 through the first revolution of the course before shedding some time on the final lap.
Mumford crossed the finish line in 57:41.64 to place 74th out of 154 competitors. Junior Axel Crawford followed Mumford in a time of 59:45.30 for 114th place.
In the final race of the day on Saturday, Summit junior Kate Williams received 304 points for her performance in the junior varsity girls race. Williams hung tough against 112 other cyclists to take 72nd overall in a time of 1:14:55.31.
The sophomore boys race spearheaded action on Sunday morning, Oct. 20. Near the front of the pack early on was Trent Granshaw. Following a standout sophomore season on the bike, Granshaw leaned on his fitness and confidence to take 11th overall in a time of 55:09.96. Granshaw scored the most points out of any other Summit athlete, recording a total of 420.
Granshaw was followed by Braydon Ernst in 70th (1:01:27.20) and Jude Kaltenbach in 84th (1:03:48.35). Gabi Bonta rounded out the results for Summit in the sophomore boys race, finishing in 101st in a time of 1:05:44.72.
Two Summit cyclists placed within the top 50 of the sophomore girls race. Heidi Frey crossed the finish line in 1:14:31.65 for 45th place while June Baniewicz took 47th in a time of 1:15:18.60.Charlotte Wolf was the final Summit athlete to cross the finish line in the sophomore girls race, taking 65th in 1:22:57.18.
The 2024 mountain biking state championships concluded with the varsity boys and girls races. Knowing it was the final opportunity to secure a wide swath of points, Summit took to the three-lap, 16.5-mile course and attempted to finish as high up in the results as possible.
Senior Isaac York earned 349 points towards Summit’s final team score, placing 62nd in 1:20:12.97. A little over two minutes later, junior Noah Dippenaar crossed the finish line in 77th place (1:22:01.70).
Senior Mason Wescott took 105th in 1:24:58.73 before senior Nicolas Bonta valiantly crossed the finish line after falling on the penultimate lap of the race. Despite getting the wind knocked out of him, Bonta knew he needed to finish in order to contribute points towards the team. Bonta finished the race in 1:26:09.13 to take 112th.
“I didn’t exactly have a great race,” Bonta said. “I crashed in my second lap and I got the wind knocked out of me. It got me out of my groove and it was hard to catch back up with everybody. Overall, I think the varsity boys did pretty well. We had some better placings and it was a good, tough race. It was a good way to end my senior year.”
Senior Eli Love and senior Reid Litwiller battled to the finish line of the varsity boy race. Love narrowly edged past Litwiller, taking 117th place (1:26:46.22) while Litwiller followed in 118th (11:26:46.79).
Summit closed out the state championship event in the varsity girls race where senior Aila Harmala and junior Fiona Florio were both able to secure top-50 finishes. Harmala took 26th overall in 1:36:08.97 and Florio finished in 48th (1:46:22.35). The two athletes gave Summit a final push in the team ranks, combining for a total of 782 points.
Summit dropped two places from last year’s state competition, placing seventh overall in Division 2 with a total of 3,401 points.
“I know it felt super great for me and for the team just because we had done so well throughout the season,” Bonta said. “It felt good to see our results and know that there are a pretty good amount of us seniors who will be leaving this year. It is nice to see us go out with a bang and see that the last season was worth it.”
Durango took first with 5,103 points, Steamboat Springs took second (4,458) and Lake County finished in third (3,970).
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