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DHS wins a mountain bike championship

Durango walked away with a Colorado High School Mountain Bike Series championship and an inaugural home race in next year’s competition.

Durango High School, behind victories from Christopher Blevins and Katja Freeburn, won the Division II series championship after four races, against 53 high schools and more than 600 cyclists, culminating at the Haymaker Classic on the Haymaker Trail last weekend in Eagle.

Blevins, who started from the back row of the varsity field because he only raced in two of the four series events this fall, gained the lead pack within 100 yards “and maybe five seconds” of the start, his coach said.

“It was one of the most impressive starts I have ever seen,” Animas High School and DHS team director Sarah Tescher said in an email to The Durango Herald.

Blevins took the lead and finished four minutes in front of the rest of the field.

Blevins’ DHS teammates Bryce Gordon finished 18th, Charlie Greenberg 19th and Gergo Hajba 33rd.

Freeburn, who wore the leader’s jersey at the Eagle finale, “stomped the pedals, blowing away the rest of the field, winning by a minute,” Tescher said.

“Katja was very calm at the start,” Tescher said of the 125-rider starting line. “She knew she had to win to keep that leader jersey, and I think something deep inside her knew she had what it took.”

DHS teammate Cameron Sippy finished fourth to finish fifth in the overall varsity series standings.

Lacey Anderson, Ellen Campbell and Ava Hachmann all finished top-15 in the junior varsity race to finish top-10 in the JV series standings.

Maya Zarlingo of AHS finished second in the freshmen race, while Mikayla Wright of AHS finished 17th in the sophomore race.

With more than 200 cyclists in the boys sophomore race, Dylan Williamson of AHS was in critical position.

“Dylan Williamson knew he had to pull off a top five to keep his fifth overall but also to gain the much-needed points to bump Animas from sixth to fifth,” Tescher said. “He went by in the first lap in a cloud of dust.”

Williamson finished fifth, and AHS teammates George McQuinn finished eighth, Andrew Middleton 11th, Coleman Bader 13th, Austin Monroe 18th and Geoffrey Steiner 47th, as AHS jumped from sixth to fifth in the final team standings.

Jimmy Pope, who finished fifth in the sophomore series standings, and Tye Sandoval finished 10th and 11th for DHS in Eagle, respectively.

Will Berger of DHS finished 18th in the JV boys race.

AHS cyclists Keiran Eagen finished 13th, Quinn Haughey 18th, Domi Frideger 33rd, Perin Kileen 43rd and Shane Ellis 50th in the JV boys race.

“What I love more is that each of our racers finish totally out of breath, completely giving it their all and with a grin on their face, yet always turned around to congratulate their opponents,” Tescher said.

Next year, the Colorado High School Mountain Bike Series will come to Durango for the first time.

“I think that the league saw that Durango has very gifted yet good kids with astonishing sportsmanship, and they want to bring a race down here for other teams to get a taste of this culture,” Tescher said.

heraldsports@ durangoherald.com

Oct 22, 2014
A booty-ful goal for the win


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