Last weekend, the third race of the Colorado High School league season took 40 GVYC athletes to the stunning landscape and trails of Eagle, CO. Once again, GVYC team athletes left it all out on the trail and put down some of their best results of the season. With 7 podiums and 12 top 10’s for the GVYC, GJHS took the team win and held onto the top spot for the season in D2 while Palisade was the 2nd place team on the day and stayed in 3rd in the D3 overall standings. Fruita Monument took a strong 10th place and jumped to 10th in the D3 season standings.
In the hyper competitive Varsity Boys, Ben Garmany moved up a spot from the previous 2 races and claimed the 2nd spot on the day while teammate Jon Azbell finished in 11th. Evan Pipkin showed off his bike handling skills on a more technical course and had one of his best finishes in 16th. In the varsity girls, GVYC riders charged to a 5th (Scarlett Hardie), 6th (Kate Rizzo) and 7th (Siena Guzman-Newton).
Izabelle Barney’s rode to season best 6th place followed closely by Kate Grossman in 8th in the JV Girls division. Sofia Reitz also rode to season best 13th place. Juliette Berry (15th), Mina Bless (18th), and Indica Dobbins (22nd) rounded out a great day for the GVYC JV girls.
In the hard charging JV Boys groups, GVYC riders placed 3 riders in the top 10. Riley Grimes (4th), Finn Sharp (5th) and Rowan Ferguson (6th) finished within 2 minutes of each other. Daniel Lawrence (18th) and Ty Gardner (19th) raced into the top 20 followed closely by Owen Hoffman (21st) and Porter Landis (22nd). Strong finishes by other JV boys include Mason Znamenacek in 27th, Brody Elliot in 69th and, hobbled by a couple of flats, Lucas Preslan in 90th.
Alma McGowan and Beck Sharp sped away from the rest of the Sophomore Girls to once again finish 1st and 2nd. 5 GVYC riders had solid races in the Sophomore Boys. John Kuzminski (17th) was followed by Weston Hildebrandt (35th), Wyatt Schaefer (49th), Colton Carter (52nd), Dylan Pickering (56th) and Parker Hudson (61st).
In the Freshman categories, finished dead last by almost 15 minutes in 25th place in the Freshman Girls. The results don't tell the whole story, though. Kyra flatted her rear tire a few minutes into her 1st lap forcing her to walk several sections of the course. She completed the first lap several minutes behind the rest of the field. By accepting outside assistance to fix her flat, she took a 5 minute penalty. The fix didnt hold, however, and her tire flatted again on the 2nd lap again forcing her to walk parts of the course. At GVYC, drive, determination and perseverance are the true indicators of a great race effort. Kyra truly embodied those traits. Nothing was going to stop her from finishing her race crossing the finish line knowing she did everything she could in a tough situation.
Talen Hoffman raced his way onto the podium in 3rd place for the Freshman Boys. Max Xu and Elijah Meyer finished 15th and 16th with Cade Gardner (22nd), Jaxon Engbarth (28th) and Liam Preslan (62nd) filling out the GVYC squad.
In the season overall standings, Alma McGowan held on to her Points Leader Jersey in the Sophomore Girls followed by Beck Sharp in 2nd. Ben Garmany sits in 3rd on the season for Varsity Boys. Jon Azbell is in the top 10 at 9th. Scarlett Hardie moved up to 4th in Varsity Girls followed by Kate Rizzo in 6th. Izabelle Barney cracks into the top 10 JV Girls in 8th overall. Riley Grimes (4th), Rowan Ferguson (5th) and Finn Sharp (8th) all sit in the Top 10 out of 115 riders in the JV Boys.
The 4th and last race of the league season is October 7th in Nathrop, Colorado followed by State Championships Oct 21st and 22nd in Glenwood Springs.
For detailed results:
Individual Results by Category