Courtesy Summit High School Mountain Bike
The Summit Tigers high school-aged mountain bike team finished in third place in division 1 at Sunday’s annual Granby Ranch Roundup Colorado High School Cycling event in Granby.
Entering the day in the series lead for Division 1 varsity boys, Summit sophomore Lasse Konecny finished runner-up in the 56-cyclist varsity boys race, with a four-lap time of 1 hour, 33 minutes and 53.86 seconds. The race was won by junior Peyton Wilkerson of Estes Park (1:32:24.37).
The race began at the Granby Ranch Lodge at a starting elevation of 8,081 feet, the first lap consisting of 6.8 miles of riding over 900 feet of elevation gain. Subsequent laps were 4.8 miles with 700 feet of elevation gain.
With his runner-up finish in the four-lap varsity race, Konecny earned the Tigers 565 of their 6,522 points in the team competition. In the Colorado High School Cycling League, 15 mountain bikers per team count toward the team’s overall score. Higher finishes in higher division races — such as first place in a varsity race versus first in a junior varsity race — are rewarded with more points.
Sunday’s division 1 meet was won by Boulder (7,716 points) with Fairview (7,067) racing to runner-up ahead of Summit. The Tigers finished ahead of fourth-place Golden (6,246 points) as well as four more schools.
Summit’s second-highest scoring cyclist on the day was sophomore Victoria Uglyar (01:04:34.95), who earned the team 530 points with a runner-up finish in the two-lap, 54-cyclist JV girls race.
The top Tigers riders showcased the team’s depth, Finn Remias finished No. 9 in the boys varsity race (1:40:25.11) and junior Tai-Lee Smith (1:29:40.68) finished No. 8 in the three-lap, 25-cyclist varsity girls race. Uglyar was the third-highest scoring Tiger on Sunday at 516 points while Remias earned the team 509 points.
In the varsity boys race, the Tigers also received points from senior Max Bonenberger (11th place, 1:40:43.45, 495 points) and senior Timothy Lunney (38th place, 1:54:41.97, 381 points). In the varsity girls race, Summit received additional points from Opal Koning (17th-place, 1:36:11.85, 460 points).
Summit sophomore Samantha Hessel joined Uglyar in the top-10 of the JV girls race, her sixth-place finish earned the Tigers 496 points in a time of 01:07:41.09 over two laps.
Sophomore Marin Ward was another top scorer for the Tigers, earning the team 448 points in the 47-cyclist, two-lap sophomore girls race with her seventh-place finish in a time of 1:12:10.13.
For the season’s full three-race series thus far, Konecny trails Wilkerson for the series lead by just two points, 1,697 to 1,695. Uglyar lead the JV girls series standings at 1,060 points, 18 points ahead of second place. In the sophomore girls series, Marin Ward ranks in fourth place, her 938 points 52 points behind Sofie Hill of Heritage (990).
The Tigers will race next Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Haymaker Classic Conference Championship in Eagle.