Team Cartecay set the tone for the state competition at Georgia Cycling Association’s Chase at the Creek with Jubilee Giet singing a beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Cartecay racers took their marks throughout the day, enjoying improvements over their first race leading to a bump up in state conference ranking from sixth place to fifth.
The high school racecourse wound 5.4 miles per lap through handlebar encroaching trees, bone jarring exposed roots, boulder drops and dog-leg corners demanding a high level of athleticism from racers.
After their 10.8-mile effort, Isabella Cianciolo and Clare Moore finished fourth and fifth in the junior varsity 1 girls category, a second podium finish in as many weeks. Evangelina Giet, riding through a knee injury, placed eighth
Freshman Calvin Bash finished upper mid-pack with a 21st place finish.
Both JV-2 category riders, Micah Slemons and Lazarus Alonso, improved 10 and five places, respectively, to finish 42nd and 54th in a crowded and competitive field of 87 riders.
The future of Team Cartecay is shining brightly, represented by middle school ranks racing with an assiduous vigor. The eighth-grade boy racers rode to impressive finishes with Nicholas Cianciolo, Miles Slemons, Justice Giet and Beau Tate finishing 6th, 8th, 16th, and 34th out of a field of 55 riders. Nicholas Cianciolo finished 14 seconds outside of a podium finish, turning in a 5.1 mile lap time of 23 minutes and 34 seconds on a very technically demanding course.
Representing the eighth-grade girls, Lucy Nell Alonso finished eighth overall and won for a second time in as many weeks the USA Cycling skills competition.
Blain Farrow, Cartecay’s lone seventh-grade boy finished 26th, continuing to show great determination in his very first year of team mountain biking.
Cartecay’s sixth-grade cohort featured two riders who finished sixth in their respective heats. Leo Alonso raced from the back of the pack to close within eight seconds of a podium finish. Harvest Giet, another remarkable first-year rider, was within 23 seconds of a podium finish.
Next up for the youth cyclists of Team Cartecay is Oct. 6th’s Duel at Dauset in Jackson.