OVMTB week 17, season wrap up

[OVMTB]

Week 17!?!?  Where did the time go?  Just like the sealant in your tires, it's gone now but was put to very good use!

 I'm a little late in telling you about it, but our team had an unprecedented win at the State championships in Sierra Vista that you might not have heard about.  A few of our parents got together and turned our pit zone into a Halloween highlight.  Creepy doll in the trees, spider webs everywhere, black lights, crime scene tape keeping the monsters out, some poor soul crushed under a fallen tree limb and no shortage of candy for the trick or treaters. The ACA held a contest for best decorated pit and OVMTB won first place!  Halloween is a tough weekend to hold a mountain bike race for young athletes, but thanks to our parents and parents across the ACA league the kids still had a great Halloween night.

The very next day the OVMTB middle schoolers managed to get up early and put in a huge effort against the best middle school riders in the state.  The Wren Arena course had our riders earning their miles with tricky descents, rocky climbs, loose and fast dirt roads, all at an elevation that has your brain thinking "we're fine..." and your lungs screaming  "I'm outta here!!".  All of our riders went out and again put in an impressive effort for their last race of the season.  Here's a quick list of riders that finished top 10 in their category for state:

8th Grade boys:  Greyson Golder 2nd, Bentley Woodings 9th

7th Grade boys:  Peter Wonderly 8th

6th grade boys: Ace Holmes 8th

8th grade girls: Regan Holmes 1st

7th grade girls: Savannah Botazzi 3rd

6th grade girls: Madeline Culpepper 1st

Shortly after the middle school races were done, the optional high school relay races started, each team made up of a varsity, an JV1, and JV2 and a freshman rider each riding one lap.  CDO and OV composite both put together teams- CDO assembled Andrew Vossler, Torren Sutherland, Deegan Kasmar and Sophia McCoskey and OV composite gathered Ellie Struse, Elle Meyers, Jonah Lowe and Olivia Wonderly.   The race went really well for both teams with no major mechanicals or issues; CDO placed 2nd in Division 1 and OV composite finished 3rd in Division 2.  This is out of the fastest riders in Arizona, folks.  OVMTB has got some traction!

On Sunday the high school races started early, and against some tough northern conference competitors .  Who literally live in the mountains, riding their mountain bikes, on mountain trails, as part of their mountain-ish lives.  No matter though, our riders rode strong and to the best of their abilities, yet again showing resilience and determination, or as some call it...GRIT.  Some had great races, some had more difficult races, but they all put in an effort befitting of the season finale.

A quick list of high school finishers in the top 10 of their categories:

Varsity boys, Emmet Brown 10th

JV1 Div1 boys Torren Sutherland 4th Ryder Vroom 8th

JV2 Div1 boys Tanner Neasham, 7th

JV2 Div2 boys Thaddeus Stypa, 4th

Freshman D2 boys Noah Botazzi, 3rd

Varsity girls Ellie Struse, 6th

JV2 girls Lydia Vargo, 6th

Freshman girls Sophia McCoskey 6th Olivia Wonderly 8th

Division 1 teams, CDO 5th

Division 2 teams, Oro Valley Composite 3rd

If you're doing the math on all of that above and the finishes all season....well it's complicated, but it basically says that our coaches better keep riding in the off season, because next year's team is going to be on fire.

I look forward to seeing you all on Nov 15 at the church clean up at 7am and then the end of year banquet at Steam Pump ranch at 4pm.  Take a look at the signup genius to RSVP for the banquet here 

And lastly... Thank you all for letting me steer the ship this season.  I already knew the folks involved with OVMTB were great and would help at any request, but the tsunami of support was amazing. We had a coaches appreciation dinner last week where we were able to discuss how things went.  We had some great feedback and evencame up with a few small ideas to hopefully help keep smiles on rider's, coach's and parent's faces going forward. 

Thanks,

Ryan

   

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Ryan McCoskey

OVMTB Head Coach

www.ovmtb.org