Picking up right where it left off last season, Sedona Schools Mountain Biking Club kicked off its season on Saturday, Sept. 11 with its opening race at Fort Tuthill County Park.
The Scorpions took on the six-mile loop track that contains “about 365 feet of climbing per lap” according to the Arizona Cycling Association. The Sedona coaches were pleased with the season opener.
“[I’m] very happy with the results,” head coach Eric Mace said. “It was a great turnout. Lots of team members decided to race. We had multiple riders place on the podium and other riders that were happy with how they finished in the race.”
Sedona finished 6th of 21 teams in the Division 2 North Conference, earning 1904 points. Chino Valley High School took home the win in the division with 2,164 points.
Sedona had some high-placing finishers in the middle school level, which races a single lap around the 6-mile track. Greyson Stevens took a podium spot in the boys sixth grade race. He completed the track in 28 minutes and 29 seconds for a third-place finish out of 38 racers.
In the seventh grade race, Quincey Mabery took 25th place as the lone Sedona competitor with a time of 29:57.
Benjamin Metzger finished just shy of the podium in the boys eighth grade race, taking seventh at 25 minutes and 26 seconds.
On the high school side, the brother and sister duo of River and Nyah Valdez kept in line with the trajectory they’ve been heading on for years as racers with the Sedona Schools Mountain Biking Club.
River earned a first-place victory in the boys freshman division. He completed the 11.8-mile race in 46:34, defeating the closest challenger by over three minutes. Sedona’s Luke Shook also earned a podium spot in the race, finishing fourth with a time of 51:42.
Nyah Valdez stood on the podium following the girls JV1 race, taking fourth with a time of 1:20.54 in a 17.7-mile ride.
Sedona’s attempt to build on this performance will come this weekend. They’ll travel up to Flagstaff again, this time to Arizona Nordic Village for races on Saturday, Sept. 25.
