GLENWOOD SPRINGS – Southwest Colorado has earned a reputation for producing top-tier cyclists. Whether competing on roads, mountain biking trails or the BMX circuit, the Four Corners region remains a hotbed for the sport’s next generation.
The Montezuma Composite cycling team — composed of high school mountain biking athletes from across the county — aims to build on that tradition this weekend. Six county athletes will compete in the Colorado High School Cycling League state championships in Glenwood Springs on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18-19.
M-CHS senior Jaris McDonald will lead the team in the varsity boys race.
He’ll be joined by Costner Hernandez in the sophomore boys race, Lavender Blacow in the sophomore girls event, Macie McDonald in the freshman girls race, and Orrin Kelley and Jackson Mendoza in the freshman boys race.
In their final regular-season event — the Chalk Creek Stampede in Nathrop on Oct. 4-5 — the Montezuma Composite team posted a strong showing, finishing fifth in the Division 3 field.
Kelley earned the team’s highest point total with 408, while Blacow added 402. Jaris and Macie McDonald scored 386 and 344 points, respectively. Hernandez tallied 336, and Mendoza and JV rider William White added 311 and 302 points.
Connected with the longtime youth cycling program High Desert DEVO, the Montezuma Composite MTB team has become a fixture in a community that passionately supports rider development across the region.
The CHSCL divides competitions into four categories for boys and girls: varsity, junior varsity, sophomore and freshman. Athletes qualify by accumulating points throughout the fall season at races across Colorado. The top 40 riders in each of the state’s four regions advance to the 160-rider field in each category.
Race distances vary. At Chalk Creek, freshman, sophomore and JV athletes raced a 13.4-mile circuit, while varsity riders completed a 20.1-mile course. The state championships will feature shorter distances: two laps totaling 11.2 miles for nonvarsity categories and three laps totaling 16.8 miles for varsity riders. The course winds near the Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley campus, just south of downtown Glenwood Springs.
Freshman and JV races are Saturday; sophomore and varsity athletes compete Sunday.
