Mountain Biking Finished top 25 at State

Over 100 High School Mountain Bike Teams convened from across the great state of California. Just shy of 800 racers assembled with team tents, trailers, bikes and bbq. The honor of qualifying for this event came with plenty of food and friends, and lots of dust and dry grass in the rolling coastal hills of central California about an hour south of San Luis Obispo: a place outside Los Olivos called Dirt Club. Marin Catholic’s Mountain Bike Team showed up with new tents, a new trailer, and a new pride in what this team has built this season. Every one of our six riders - and their parents - came for Saturday’s pre-ride in preparation for Sunday’s race. Then, on Sunday’s main event, the tire tread hit the track for the final race of the season. Freshman Dawson Gordon started us off in the first wave, and finished 51st in a field of 82. Next, sophomore Nick Abell started strong but broke a chain in the first lap, and still managed to fix the chain and finish the race. In the third wave, Freshman Siena McGibben made it into10th out of 50 in her field. Then, in the fourth and final race of the day, and the last of the season, juniors Andrew Nash and Morgan Schmitz both finished well in their field of 94: Drew in 23d, and Morgan in 43d. After their races, athletes and their families enjoyed a lunch of kabobs and salads, worked together to break down the pit zone, then started the six hour drive home in preparation for the last two weeks of school before final exams. 

As a team, this group of racers succeeded in placing Marin Catholic Mountain Biking 25th out of the 89 Division 2 teams across the entire state of California. That’s something to be proud of, and also something to work on topping for next year. This team represented MC well, and expects to do so again -even better - next year. Go Cats!