Jackie Hendrickson Photo

Four riders end season on podium

WINDHAM – On Saturday, June 8, the Galena Growlers – the area’s middle and high school level composite NICA Mountain Bike Team – traveled to Windham, New York and competed in the fifth and final race of the 2019 Season, the NICA New York State Championship Race.

Championship weekend started on Saturday once the team arrived for a special Girls Riding Together (GRiT) ride that was put together by Growlers’ assistant coach Tamara Tarbell – a Level III NICA coach and one of the New York GRiT coordinators.

Tarbell was able to have Georgia Gould, a female Olympic Mountain Biker and five-time National Mountain Bike Champion, to meet the girls in attendance and join for a ride out on the course. was “Georgia was on the same course that the girls were going to be riding on the next day, giving out pointers and working with the girls during the ride,” said Galena Growlers head coach Rob Baker. “It was truly something special for each one of them.”

Later in the day, the course was opened for preview ride and 16 Growlers’ riders went out and tested the hilly, technical course.

“As a state championship race should be, the course was one heck of a test for all 300-plus New York mountain bike kids,” said Baker. “The two-mile course was the same for everyone but the lap count changed at each level.”

Sunday morning, the middle school class rode three laps while the freshman riders and sophomore class took four laps around the course. The riders of the sophomore boys, junior varsity riders and varsity Girls classes looped around the course five times while the varsity boys raced six grueling laps. “The weather was perfect and the course was dry and dusty, proving to be one heck of a finale.” said Baker.

At the end of it all, three Galena Growlers stood on the podium as they placed in the top five of all the riders in the class. Bailey Olds of the sophomore girls finished fourth while Dan Scholl of the freshman boys team also placed fourth.

As the NICA takes the top four scores of the high school level to determine team finishes, Scholl and Olds were joined by Stanton Baker’s 11th place finish in the JV boys race and the seventh-place win by Wyatt Dubois to combine for a total of 2030 points to snag 11th place.

The point total between the four riders was the best score of the season for the high school Growlers team. With their points from the previous four races and their score at the Windham championship race, the high school group finished ninth overall for the 2019 season.

At the final race of the season, the middle school team finished in ninth place as they had only three of four scores in the points. With one crash and two mechanical issues during the sixth-grade boys race, three riders were unable to finish after the first lap.

“Despite our minor setbacks we endured on Sunday, all of our Galena Growler Middle School riders did a great job,” said Baker. “Everyone had a great season and should be proud of their accomplishments.”

Taking their place on the podium at the conclusion of her race was seventh-grader Vida Hendrickson, crossing the finish line of her three-lap race in second place. Teammate Evan Heath just missed the fifth-place podium sport, finishing sixth in the event with a time of 45:09.

For the end of season overall standings, the Galena Growlers middle school squad finished in seventh place out of 22 teams competing throughout the year.

As the NICA New York racing season came to a close in Windham, four Galena Growlers finished in the top five for their season’s points total.

Olds took the top spot of the podium, with one fist in the air and one hoisting her trophy as she secured the New York State Championship at the fourth race of the season in the sophomore girls division.

Battling back and fourth all season long, Scholl ended the season in second place. He and the first place winner passed the leader’s jersey between each other for the five-race season in the freshman boys division. Also bringing home hardware in the freshman boys class was teammate Wyatt Dubois. Dubois earned a final overall standing of fifth place and stood on the podium with Scholl to give the Growlers two top-five finishers in the state.

Hendrickson, a rider that makes the trip from Maine-Endwell to practice with her Growlers’ teammates in the Norwich area, also brought home a trophy from Windham as she finished in fourth in the season standings.

While they may not have ended the season on the podium, the Thompson twins – Dan and Andrew – made waves for the Growlers program throughout the season as they stood up prior to every race to sing the National Anthem. The Thompson duo received a special recognition by the New York NICA League for their strong body, strong mind and strong character as they were presented with their very own leader’s jersey.