Race 5 Report

The solid sense of community and team support continue to be the hallmark of Marin Catholic Mountain Biking, and the team moms were especially appreciated by all on this Mother’s Day (as are the dads, for sure, but it’s Mother’s Day, gents!), especially including this Team Director. It was quite a weekend, and the Monterey Peninsula proved to be a beautiful backdrop for this NorCal Championship race, the last for two of our seniors, but not for our very promising younger racers, whom we look forward to not only cheering on at the State race, but to an even more engaging and competitive next year. MC finished 12th this day, which was strong enough to place our small team in the top half (17th out of 34 NorCal D2 teams) at the end of this NorCal racing season, despite being hit by a greater-than-normal season quotient of injury and illness. 

Freshman Kyle Hammer’s race was only one step off the podium, finishing 6th, and he and we were blessed to have his proud mom there. Sophomore Siena McGibben also placed 6th in her race, also just missing a podium, and she and we were also blessed to have her mom and sister for the weekend. Both Kyle and Siena are ranked 7th in NorCal as they head to the State Race. In JV, Evan Sabadell finished his season ranked 48 in the huge field of 94 D2 JV riders, and he and we were blessed to have his proud mom there as well. Nick Abell finished the race 25th, a personal best, and is now ranked 32nd overall. Nick is blessed - as are we - to have a proud mom behind him as well. He looks forward to State, and to being the senior rider on next year’s team. Senior and Team Chaplain Drew Nash crossed the finish in 28th, and he and we were blessed to share it with his mom and entire family who trekked to Monterey for this last NorCal event after 4 years of riding. He, too, looks forward to completing at State. Team Captain and senior Morgan Schmitz and his mom - and everyone’s team mom - were out this last NorCal race due to injury, but were definitely reminded of blessings on Mother’s Day. 

Marin Catholic Mountain Biking will finish our season on Sunday May 22 at the State Race near Los Olivos, hosted by the SoCal League. We are excited to complete. We have much to be grateful for. We look forward to the future!