October 28, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.
RNC team, Lester, Belanger crowned state mountain biking champions
RNC team, Lester, Belanger crowned state mountain biking champions
The Hodags put a bow on a Wisconsin High School Cycling League Division 2 state championship on Sunday, taking first place in the league's 2021 final at Trek Trails in Waterloo.
The RNC squad won all five rounds of this year's series and finished with a commanding 513-point gap over second-place Sauk Prairie. The team also capped off two individual state championship performances as Megan Lester and Joey Belanger won the final races in the varsity girls' and Division 2 JV-2 boys' classes, respectively.
The end result was almost identical to 2019 when the RNC squad had three individual state champions and claimed the Division 2 title. The WHSCL season was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, and Jon Lester took the helm of the program in the interim - receiving the torch from previous head coach Joel Flory.
"It shows its integrity through what happened last year. We were able to come back from last year and still do what we do," coach Lester said. "It was good for me too taking over as head coach, not to sound selfish, but it made me feel good that we could still hold on to what Joel had started and kind of keep it going. I'm still surrounded by a lot of the same coaches and the foundation that Joel built, but it was relief for me."
RNC is comprised of riders from several area high schools, including Rhinelander, Lakeland, Tomahawk and Three Lakes. The WHSCL breaks the squad into Rhinelander and RNC partitions for scoring purposes. Rhinelander finished 13th on the day in Division 1, and 15th in the final standings.
Belanger had his championship mathematically secured through four races, and all Megan Lester had to do was finish in the varsity girls' race to lock up the championship. Both, however, decided to end things in style by scoring their fourth win in five races this season.
Megan Lester had a number of close finishes through the first three rounds. But, just as she did the week prior at Nordic Mountain, she put the hammer down during the middle of the race, broke away from the lead pack and cruised to a nearly two-minute victory. She covered 16 miles in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 52.84 seconds.
"She was really focused on winning. It was cool," said coach Lester, her father. "We had another plan, her and I with this race. She was a little skeptical going in. She likes uphills. That's where she likes to lay down some attacks and there really wasn't a ton of that here. We found a couple of spots where she could attack and she waited until halfway into the race. She attacked and she didn't look back."
"She was stoked, it definitely was nice closing out as a winner," coach Lester added. "I think it gave her more motivation to continue on. She's looking forward to doing a little racing in college too."
Belanger won a sprint to the finish in the D2 JV-2 boys' class. He covered 11 miles in 43:06.05 seconds, and held off Westside Composite's Jade Kunkel at the line by 1.55 seconds.
"Joey's was close this time. It was a great race that way for him," coach Lester said. "He went out and gave it is all like he always does. He didn't act like, 'Oh, I don't have to win this one.'"
In all the Hodags had five riders on the podium, both for Sunday's race and in the overall standings. Senior Jakob Craig, in his final high school race, took fourth in the varsity boys' division and secured fourth in the final standings.
"I would dare say it was his best race this year as far as how he performed and how it unfolded," coach Lester said. "He had ultra nerves going into this thing. He was really nervous. He needed a lot of us talking to him, keeping him calm and keeping pointed toward the race course before the race. It all came together for him."
Jett Biolo finished third for the Rhinelander squad in the Division 1, JV-3 boys' class, covering 16 miles in 1:04:04.94. Despite missing a race, Biolo's performance shot him into third in the final standings, as the WHSCL uses a rider's four-best finishes for the overall standings and awards a 25-point bonus for riders who finish all five events.
"Jett had a great race," coach Lester said. "He's more of a downhill guy than an enduro-type bike race. Sometimes cross country racing can be 'boring' for him - not enough jumps and drops and things like that, but he even got the competitive spark lit. Going into the race, he said 'I want to win this thing.' For Jett to say that, that was pretty neat to hear. He wasn't disappointed by no means taking third. He put it all out there."
Macy Lester finished third in the freshman girls' race, pulling away from Janesville's Tatum Dalton by 30 seconds at the finish line. That result was enough for Lester to nip Dalton for third place in the final standings by one point.
"Macy, I'd say she had her best race of the season too," coach Lester said. "It was a great way for her to finish and to motivate her for next year. She had a tough race last weekend and she totally turned that around and had her best race."
Thirteen of the 14 high school riders the team sent to the starting line finished on Sunday. Sage Flory was seventh in the varsity girls' race and finished seventh in the final standings. Carter Johnson finished 14th and Tyler Marquardt was 21st in the boys' D2, JV-2 class. Kyle Siefert was 59th in the boys' D1, JV-2 race. Nathan Cordy was 51st in the boys' D1 freshman race. Lily Gleason and Emma Mankus took 25th and 30th, respectively, in the freshman girls' race.
"Trek never disappoints. It's always a fun venue in itself and then to have these athletes perform like they did was great," coach Lester said. "It was awesome. I'm very proud of them and their accomplishments."
Sunday's race marked the final ride for the team's four seniors -Megan Lester, Craig, Flory and Siefert.
"It's tough for them to go, and tough for me to let them go. They bring a lot to the table," coach Lester said. "I've been with Megan and Jakob and Kyle and Sage since the beginning. They're staples of the team, really right from its inception. Definitely tough, but they're great inspirations, all of them are, to their teammates and up-and-comers."
RNC had five eighth-grade riders compete on Sunday. Violet Biolo was fourth and Willa Bureta finished 15th in the eighth-grade girls' race. Cody Price, Holden Schmitz and Olin Slette finished 13th, 23rd and 49th, respectively in the eighth-grade boys' race.
Henry Schmitz led the RNC sixth-grade boys' contingent in 39th place. Austen Slette was 45th and Tyler Price finished 74th.
"We have a few eighth graders that will be great additions to the high school team ... We have some good, up and comers," coach Lester said.
Rain at the end of the event put a bit of a damper on the celebration afterward, but coach Lester said he left Waterloo with an even bigger prize when a coach from another team relayed a story of one of his top riders politely asking a lapped rider where she could overtake safely, and then offering words of encouragement to the slower rider on the way past.
"Hearing that feedback is as good as a win in my book, to have them do as well as they're doing and have that sportsmanship is great," he said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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