Mountain Bike Team Race #1 Report - Chickasaw Trace Trails
The Mountain bike team began its 13th season as it almost always does, with anticipation high and mindful of the high heat on the trails on the banks of the Duck River at Chickasaw Trace park outside of Columbia, TN. Over 650 mountain bikers in grades 5-12 from across the state competed at this first race of the NICA-TICL season.
Sixteen of our USN mountain bikers were able to compete in this first contest of our 5-race fall series, with Sarah Absi beginning the day in the 7th grade girls race of 1 lap, and a veteran group of HS boys finishing the race day, suffering through 2 laps in mid-afternoon heat. In between, we had large and experienced group of HS girls and MS boys also race 2 laps, with sophomore Allen Chen taking on an ambitious 3-lap race with a JV1 category placement based on his fast times from 2025. Missing on the day were senior captains Charlie Blau and Caden Carrabba, and also freshman Barry Chen, due to outside commitments.
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Some high school standout performances for the day include:
-HS JV3 girls Asha Guha, Suzie Zhao and Clio Cherry-Pulay, improving on times from previous years, with Asha and Clio working together on their tough 2nd lap while avoiding a large snake that surprised them on the trail a few minutes from their finish. Sophomore Brianna Castro was our fastest JV3 girl for the day, completing 2 strong laps in just under an hour at 59:21 and improving on last year’s time by over a minute.
-the talented duo of Claire Dehner and Adeline Miller racing together nearly their entire 2-lap race in the JV2 Girls category, finishing a few seconds apart in about 53 minutes. Claire improved on her 2025 time by 4 minutes. They placed 6th and 7th for our only top-10 finishes for the day.
-2025 JV3 Podium finisher Elsa Absi faced a new and challenging group of JV1 girls this year due to her double category upgrade for 2026. Last year most of the girls in Elsa’s category were chasing her, but this year she chased a very fast group of cyclists while still pulling out a great 50:57 time for 2 laps, improving on her time from last year by 3 minutes and posting our fastest girls lap of 24:27.
-Allen Chen also double-upgraded into JV1 boys, meaning an extra lap for 3 laps total, our longest race of the day. Even with the additional miles and leg cramps hitting him on lap 3, he finished over 12 miles in 67 minutes and improved by 1 minute per lap from last year, a testament to his pacing and endurance. Allen posted our fastest boys lap at 20:43.
-JV2 boys Aidan Harris and Charlie McNulty had smooth and fast laps, and improved by 4 and 5 minutes respectively compared to last year, especially notable since they raced in the hottest part of the day. They both finished in the top half of their competitive categories with 43 and 44 minute race times, each pulling out very quick 21 minute first laps. JV2 boys Vincent Van Zandt and Basil Broemel finished single laps in the JV3 Boys category.
Our Middle Schoolers Julian Schultz-Sevin, Emmett Cheney, Sarah Absi and new teammate Mateus Byndloss combined their scores to help the MS team finish 9th out of 19 Div. 2 (small) middle school teams (or effectively placing 14th out of 28 total MS teams). Highlights included Mateus doing his first ever mountain bike race with a 28 minute lap, with Julian passing about 20 riders in the last minute of his climb to the finish. Cheney was able to post our fastest MS lap of the day in just under 25 minutes.
The HS team combined their individual points to finish 8th out 10 Div 1 (large) teams, with an effective 15th out of 27 total HS teams.
The second race of the season is September 13th at the fast and roller-coaster-like Rockabilly Ridge Trails outside of Jackson, TN. Stay tuned for more mountain bike race highlights as the team begins to hit its fitness, skill and speed goals.
Find full race results here:
https://my.raceresult.com/419342/results
Find full race results here:
https://my.raceresult.com/419342/results
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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.