First published in the March 31 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
La Cañada High School’s mountain biking team continues to climb the standings, earning their best finish ever on Sunday at Vail Lake, finishing fifth overall in Division 1. Racing against more than 60 Southern California teams, La Cañada was led by seniors Dane Grey and Philip Klemmer who finished third and 15th, respectively, in the varsity boys’ race, and freshman Maya Debrouwer who was fifth in the varsity girls’ race.
Stellan Klemmer and Derick Tomasian contributed to the team win by finishing eighth and 34th in the boys’ junior varsity 1 race, followed by Joey McCord (42nd) and Lucas Dien (45th).
In the freshman competition, Arya Namazie and Nolan Carney finished on the podium for a third consecutive race. Namazie won the race followed by Carney (fourth), Aidan Dahya (36th) and Vaughan Thurston (37th). In the girls’ freshman race, Lily Bingham was an impressive eighth in her first race of the season.
In the middle school races on Saturday, Samson Ross and Keon Namazie raced to top-five finishes with Ross placing fourth in the 8th-grade race and Namazie fifth in the 7th-grade race despite battling chain issues. Eighth-graders Zachary Do and William Kallin finished 24th and 29th, respectively.
In Saturday’s final race, 6th-graders Jonathan Contes and Eric Basset finished 18th and 30th, respectively.
“This weekend was about the team coming full circle,” said coach Bill Barker. “We had our very first racer, Dane Grey, come back and race his final event with the team and our first-year co-head coach Bill Sauro come out and cheer on the team. We had our best team finish ever — placing fifth — and saw great results from our newest racers, freshmen and middle schoolers.”
