Mountain Bike team pedals into a double podium, standout performances at Panther Creek
A beautiful fall weekend at Panther Creek State Park was the site of the mountain bike team’s third race of the 2021 season. Once our dozen mountain bikers surmounted the giant grass climb at the beginning of each lap, the HS team collectively retained its fourth place position in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association race series, MS moved into fifth place, and the team achieved its first-ever double podium by Els Shepard '23 and Jaimie List '23, and many riders showed some standout performances on the challenging course.
By Steve Smail, MS & HS Head Mountain Biking Coach
Our MS and HS girls started the day, with juniors Els Shepard and Jaimie List the first to test out the course, made somewhat slick by the morning foothills fog. Els ran into their limits during the first lap but held on as best they could for a tough second lap, while Jaimie had an unfortunate encounter with a tricky root section about 10 minutes into her first lap that led to a crash, which broke one of her brake levers, leaving her bruised and with just one working brake for a lap and a half of riding. However, the pair were able to keep pushing to the finish and achieved the team’s first double podium, with Els taking second place and Jaimie taking her first-ever podium spot in third place.
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Our MS and HS girls started the day, with juniors Els Shepard and Jaimie List the first to test out the course, made somewhat slick by the morning foothills fog. Els ran into their limits during the first lap but held on as best they could for a tough second lap, while Jaimie had an unfortunate encounter with a tricky root section about 10 minutes into her first lap that led to a crash, which broke one of her brake levers, leaving her bruised and with just one working brake for a lap and a half of riding. However, the pair were able to keep pushing to the finish and achieved the team’s first double podium, with Els taking second place and Jaimie taking her first-ever podium spot in third place.
Our sixth and seventh grade girls all trained well for this race, and new riders Adeline Miller '28 and Maggie Weiss '28 both had super strong laps to finish just half a minute apart in seventh and eighth places, respectively -- a great step up for both girls to ride this tough course in just 41 minutes. Asha Guha '28 had a strong lap and was not far behind, finishing 10th, and Coco Shepard '27 finished in sixth place with a 44 minute lap in the seventh grade girls category. Charlie Blau '27 was our only MS racer in the boys category, and finished 21st with a clean and solid 35 minute lap time.
Our seniors Isaac Gorden and Luca Smith finished 18th and 22nd, just two minutes apart from each other, and each senior posted a 25 minute lap time, a great mid-season result in a large and competitive JV boys category. Sophomore Christopher Haynes once again blazed through his first lap in under 22 minutes and was able to sustain a 24 minute second lap to break into the top 10, finishing eighth of 35 riders and continuing his climb towards podium territory. Freshman Leo Frein also had a standout performance, riding consistent 24 and 25 minute laps, finishing 13th of 44 riders. Fellow freshman Tate Green would have not been far behind Leo, but Tate suffered a flat tire in the opening seconds of the race, and the 10 minute time penalty to fix the issue pushed him down to 35th. Even so, he made up ground quickly and still finished ahead of 10 riders for the day.
The HS squad finished sixth of 18 teams and MS placed 10th out of 15 for Race 3. Overall in the NICA series, the HS team retained its fourth place position and MS moved up into fifth place. In the individual points race, some highlights include: sixth grade girls Adeline and Maggie in a solid fifth and sixth place, Charlie in 16th out of 45 riders, Tate and Leo sitting at 17th an 27th out of 66 freshman riders, and Luca in 14th out of 51 JV boys. Chris Haynes '24 moves into seventh out of 49 sophomores, and Els still narrowly holds on to their first spot in the JV category (and the leaders jersey), with Jaimie moving up into third place overall in JV girls.
As we move into our last month and final two races of the season, the points race will be competitive for both individual riders and our teams, and all our cyclists would love your support on Sunday, Oct. 10 in Gallatin and at the Sunday, Oct. 24 State Championship race just north of town at Cedar Hill Park. View the full results from the team's latest race here.
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2000 Edgehill Ave.
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615-321-8000
Fax: 615-321-0889
Email: info@usn.org
River Campus
1200 County Hospital Road
Nashville, TN 37218
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.
University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.