First published in the April 7 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
Six La Cañada high School athletes earned top 10 finishes in a mountain bike race at Lake Castaic last weekend, led by senior Philip Klemmer’s season-best 10th-place varsity finish and freshman Maya Debrouwer’s repeat fifth-place girls’ varsity finish.
In junior varsity races, sophomore Stellan Klemmer placed fourth followed by Derick Tomasian (25th), Kyle Swanson (27th), Lucas Dien (36th) and Joey McCord (41st).
Freshman boys Arya Namazie and Nolan Carney finished first and second, respectively, for the second time this season, while Zachary Barsome was 38th.
Maeve Rodriguez repeated a seventh-place finish in the girls’ freshman race.
In the middle school races on Saturday, Samson Ross and Jonathan Krider finished fourth and 17th in the boys’ 8th-grade race and Mathilde Ayoub was 13th in the girls’ 8th-grade race. Seventh-graders Daniel Castano, Arshan Soltanzadeh and Matthew Reinoso finished 8th, 29th and 35th, respectively, and Jonathan Contes (16th), Eric Bassett (22nd), Harlan Hulett (25th), and Adam Rohs (27th) competed in the sixth-grade race.
“This weekend concluded a block of three races in four weeks. Our riders have been racing into form, we planned to peak for the finals in May,” coach Bill Barker said, who added that he was pleased with his team’s performance. “It’s been quite satisfying to see the stellar results they’ve been putting up while still in the ascendency physically. It bodes well for the upcoming championship races.”
