September 30, 2021 at 8:02 a.m.
RNC mountain bike team wins again in Eau Claire
RNC mountain bike team wins again in Eau Claire
The RNC squad recorded four podium finishes and edged Sauk Prairie by nine points to take first in Division 2 Sunday at Lowes Creek in Eau Claire. The Rhinelander High School squad, down a few riders, took 21st in Division 1.
All eight high school riders, and the five middle school riders, the team sent out made it to the finish - with six of them recording top-five finishes in their respective classes.
"That was a big thing, everyone got to the finish line again," coach Jon Lester said. "We had a lot of races with some goals in mind and they achieved those goals, so that was really cool to see."
Senior Megan Lester won her second straight varsity girls' race, covering the approximately 16-mile course in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 15.97 seconds as she beat Port Washington's Emma Kasza-James to the line by just over 20 seconds. Jon Lester said Megan Lester made her move a little earlier this time, after taking Race 1 of the season two weeks earlier in Waukesha in a photo finish.
"She did it a little different. It didn't come down to a sprint at the end. She actually attacked on the last hill with probably a half mile to go," he said. "She attacked the person she was riding with there and managed to hold her off. She was about 15-20 seconds ahead of her for the rest of the lap."
Joey Belanger, who opened the season with a victory in the boys' D2 JV-2 category, finished third on Sunday, roughly 40 seconds off the pace in his 11-mile race, though his finish was still good enough to retain the white jersey as the overall points leader in the division.
"Joey, he went to homecoming the night before and still managed to come out and took third without pre-riding or anything like that. That was pretty good, pretty neat to see," coach Lester said.
Jakob Craig improved one spot in the varsity boys' division, finishing fourth overall, just over two minutes behind the lead trio following a 21-mile race. Coach Lester said Craig ran a strong race, tactically, to finish on the podium.
"His goal was to hang with the chase group, which he did," Lester said. "He hung with the chase group, which was four strong, and then he attacked group that last lap and broke away and stayed away from them for fourth place."
RNC also got podium finishes from Jett Biolo, who finished fourth in the boys' D1, JV-3 race and Macy Lester, who was fourth in the freshman girls' race.
"Macy, her big goal was to hit the podium because last race she was sixth place, just missed the podium. She hit the podium, which was great to see," coach Lester said. "Jett wasn't feeling it (going into) this race, so he was shooting for top 10 and he crushed top 10."
Other finishers for the RNC squad including Tyler Marquardt in 24th in the boys' D2, JV-2 race, Emma Mankus in 25th in the girls' freshman race and Kyle Siefert in 62nd in the boys' D1, JV-2 race.
Coach Lester said the terrain at Lowes Creek lent itself to a different style of racing than what the WHSCL experienced during the season opener at Minooka Park.
"It was definitely flatter and faster. Instead of all these hills we had to climb it was more of who can corner the fastest. It was fast and furious," he said.
In the middle school ranks, Violet Biolo finished fourth in the girls' eight-grade race, covering six miles in 31:40.98. Sixth grader Clara Pudlowski finished 13th in her racing debut. Holden Schmitz was 37th in the eighth-grade boys' race while Henry Schmitz and Austen Slette were 32nd and 42nd, respectively, in the sixth-grade boys' race.
"Clara was a first-time racer and she did awesome. She started at the very back of the pack and worked her way right up to 13th, pretty awesome," coach Lester noted.
Round 3 in the five-round WHSCL season takes place this Sunday at Nine Mile Forest in Wausau. It's the closest RNC will have to a home race this year, and Lester said he expects a strong turnout because of it.
Racing in the middle school divisions will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday, with division going out through out the day, leading up to the varsity and JV-3 boys' races, which will start at 1:45 p.m.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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