Coach Jeremy Norris has the race report from this past weekend’s Colorado High School Cycling League’s State Championships in Glenwood Springs.
This past weekend marked the end of the 2023 High School MTB season with State Championships in Glenwood Springs. Qualified NoCo high school athletes(Platte conference) lined up against the qualified riders from the other four conferences around Colorado making for the largest, fastest races of the season. The course was generously built by Colorado Mountain College on their Glenwood campus specifically for the Colorado League State Championships. This year featured dusty conditions, rocky trails, ripping fast berms, and every one of the 883 qualified athletes giving every ounce of energy to finish.
The State Championship races were split between Saturday and Sunday making for a full, tumultuous, and downright exciting weekend.
Freshman Girls was the first event of State Championships weekend on Saturday. Rocky Mountain’s Korryne Collins was put to the test in a close fight with athletes from other regions but came out victorious over the 83 other freshman girls to add a State Champion title to an already incredible 2023. Our neighbors from the Yampa region, Estes Park, had the next NoCo finisher in Freshman Girls with Eliana Kostadinov in 13th.
142 Freshman Boys were next up with the top NoCo finisher being Rocky Mountain’s Desmond Mohr in 8th. After missing two of the conference races during the main season, Desmond barely had the points to qualify for State Championships. He started last place and passed 134 athletes on dusty, rocky singletrack in his 55min race to finish in the top ten. The next NoCo finisher for Freshman Boys was Rowan Christiansen from Fort Collins.
JV Girls was next with Estes Park’s Nora Harrison in 10th as the top NoCo finisher, Rocky Mountain’s Alexa Naschold in 41st. JV Girls was the largest women’s filed of the weekend with 102 athletes starting the race.
The largest race of the weekend wrapped up Saturday’s racing as 156 JV Boys stampeded off the line. The top NoCo finisher was Kannon Johnson of Rocky Mountain in 38th, independent rider Sawyer Campion the next in 72nd.
Sunday’s racing began with Sophomore Girls, which did not contain any athletes from our NoCo community. The race was won by Lucy Trunnell of Cheyenne Mountain.
Sophomore Boys saw Horsetooth Composite’s Nate Lowe finish his season on the podium once again with a strong 3rd place, with teammate Zachary Watkins in 10th, Callen Solley of Rocky Mountain on his wheel for 11th.
Alaina Smith of Fort Collins represented the NoCo community in Varsity Girls with 21st in the world class State Championship field. The Varsity Girls Race was won by Freshman phenom Laura Carlin of Mountain Vista who also won 13-14 USAC State Championships, Gravel National Championships, and stood on the podium at MTB National Championships.
Ending the season with a bang, the Varsity Boys launched into the most chaotic race of the weekend. Senior Cade Shortridge of Poudre was the top NoCo finisher with 19th, Rocky Mountain’s Brodie Morrison next in 25th.
Varsity Boys was won by Fairview’s Senior Leif Bryan who is no stranger to state, national, and international podiums having won a National Series MTB race in Utah and worked for the podium of the late Magnus White in the Junior Tour of Ireland this summer on the skinny tires. Unfortunately, Andrew Morris’ season and high school career came to an unceremonious end after an impact at the start sent his rear derailleur into crash mode.
Thank you for following along for this 2023 Colorado League MTB season! For now, some rest, soon back to getting kids on bikes! Stoked to see the next generation of riders, racers, and champions our NoCo community produces. -Coach Jeremy
Norris races professionally for Health Advocates Racing Team, Coaches High School with Ciclismo Racing, and is a coach with Ignition Coaching.
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