Casa mountain bikers compete in first high school state championships

The Casa Grande High mountain bike team competed well in the first statewide high school championships,

The competition was held at Boggs Mountain in Cobb.

The Casa Grande team ended the season in 11th place out of 28 teams in the Division II standings.

Vanessa Hauswald — the coach, current president of the league’s board of directors and English teacher at Casa Grande — has been building a strong team this year.

Hauswald said the riders are all “incredibly motivated to train, race well and have a blast doing so. I am so proud of every one of them.”

The assistant coach is Scott Wigert. Casa is sponsored by Bici, Sonoma Bicycle Company, White Industries, GU and Marin Bikes.

Riders score points for each race of the season, and are ranked overall at the end of the season.

The Casa team had several top 20 riders.

Preliminary season standings of riders in five of five races found Devin Masterson in 10th place, Riley Howard in 14th and Colby Pastore in 16th in the varsity boys category.

In the junior varsity boys category, out of 60 riders, Watson Lu ranked 11th, Andrew Morgenlaender 21stand Trevor Wieland 24th.

Among the freshmen girl riders, Paige Steiding placed 25th overall.

In the freshmen boys 900 category, with a total of 49 riders, Justin Herrell placed eighth. Cameron Elliott 10th, John Morehouse 11th and Michael Wutsch 22nd.

The state championships have traditionally been the finale of the NorCal League series. This year, they served the dual function of culminating that series, as well as crowning state champions from a field that spans the entire state.

Race distances range between 12 and 24 miles on a six-mile course through pinewood forest, which, with much single-track and many technical sections, is the most challenging on the high-school racing circuit.

The NorCal High School Mountain Bike Racing League, founded in 2000, is a non-profit organization open to students from both public and private schools.

The league exists by virtue of a range of fundraising activities as well as generous donors and sponsors.

The league provides coaching and camaraderie to help students achieve both competitive and non-competitive cross-country mountain biking goals in a safe and enjoyable manner. Each season includes a coaches training conference, winter riding camps, the six-race series and a variety of summer camps.