First High School Race of the Season!
Last weekend, the Taos Composite High School Mountain Bike Team traveled to Frisco, Colorado for race #1 of the 2025 Colorado League season. Thanks to our race sponsor, Rodger Thornton, 15 athletes plus an enthusiastic entourage of about 30 coaches, parents, family members, and friends all were able to make the trip, a strong statement of support and encouragement for these teens. On Saturday, the team converged to pre-ride the course. Taos Composite had not raced at this location since 2017. The 6-mile course is a fantastic mix of singletrack with short, punchy climbs and ripping corners and descents. There are plenty of passing opportunities for the skilled rider and the views are spectacular. Riders and coaches agreed that the course was a blast.
The team and most of the families camped together on Saturday night in perfect weather. The Thornton and Conn-Schlenker-Goodrich families were the food team for the weekend, planning, shopping, prepping, and preparing 3 excellent meals for everyone. Thank you!
Race day (Sunday) began bright and early with perfect temperatures and weather for racing. The team is trying something new for warm ups this year, thanks to sponsor donations to purchase stationary trainers. With race venues not always having the best and safest spaces available for warm up, the trainers give coaches and athletes the opportunity to get warmed up properly.
The first race of the day was the JV Boys, including Senior Ryan Edmonds, Sophomore Silas Conn, and Senior Rowan Higdon. They raced 2 laps of the course in a field with 115 riders. Ryan showed his experience and speed, finishing 16th. Silas completed his first JV race (after earning an upgrade and skipping the Sophomore division) finishing a very strong 27th. Rowan continues to show determination and grit as he battles with ongoing race day stomach issues, finishing mid-pack in 66th.
Taos Composite has 3 Varsity racers this year. Unlike other high school sports, only the top athletes earn the coveted upgrade to Varsity. We are ecstatic to have Senior Isla Chavez as our first Varsity Girl athlete in the 11-year history of this team. It is quite different as the pace is faster and Varsity athletes race 3 laps of the course. Isla had a great first race in this division with a 15th place finish, still feeling strong on her 3rd lap. Senior Luke Rand also competed in his first Varsity race after earning the upgrade with his great results during the 2024 season. Luke navigated the new division well and finished 21st. Senior Keaton Verswijver earned a 4th place Varsity finish and a podium spot, increasing his determination to move up even higher in the upcoming races.
Taos Composite had one athlete in the Sophomore Boys race, Jonah Gilroy. This was Jonah’s first race in the Colorado League, after starting mountain biking last year and racing in the New Mexico league to gain some experience. He started in the back and raced well with consistent lap times and finished 37th. Jonah’s skills are rapidly improving this fall so watch for him to move up in the next race.
Due to weather that rolled in during the afternoon, the Sophomore and JV Girls and the Freshman Boys races were reduced from two laps to just one lap. The shorter distance definitely changed the dynamic and increased the intensity. Our two Sophomore Girls, Bernice O’Reilly and Abby Thornton, had stellar races. They didn’t learn of the shortened course until they were on their first lap and adapted smoothly. Abby is coming back from a nagging knee injury. Her hard work with rehabbing the knee has paid off as we saw Abby bring her race intensity to the line. Abby led off the start and finished in 6th place, her best Colorado League result yet. Bernice O’Reilly’s fitness is high this season and her skills are catching up as is evident in her 3rd place podium finish. She had a small crash and is working on figuring out how to make efficient passes and vowed, “I’m going to beat those girls next race.”
Senior Flora Mack and Junior Eleanor Breier competed in the 2-lap JV Girls race. Both of these riders are getting stronger each week as they spend more time on the bike after a break this summer. Eleanor finished 25th and Flora 31st. We are confident both of these athletes will continue to improve throughout the season.
The Freshmen compete in a time trial format at the first race of the season. This allows for a safer start and the ability for the League to call up riders at the next race based on results from this first race. Taos Composite, once again, has a very strong contingent of Freshman Boys including Rio Johnson, Jaden Rand, Gray Shepherd, and Olin O’Reilly. With only a one lap race and 75 boys in the field, the energy and focus was intense. When all riders had finished their time trial lap on the course, Rio Johnson hung on for the overall win with Jaden Rand close behind in 6th. Gray Shepherd showed that he can race with the fastest Freshman in Colorado finishing 18th Olin O’Reilly had an unfortunate crash, costing him significant time and resulting in a 51st place finish. He will be looking for a clean, smooth, and fast race at the next event. Rio will race in the Leader’s jersey at the next race and is sure to work hard to hang onto it.
Overall, Taos Composite had an incredible first race of the season. Because of the size of our team, we compete in Division 2 alongside powerhouse teams like Durango. Taos Composite finished a very respectable 4th place in the division, behind Durango, Grand Junction, and Lake County. Due to the weather situation, podium awards were postponed and riders will be recognized at the next race in Eagle, CO on September 6th. We look forward to seeing Rio on the top step for Freshman Boys along with Bernice (3rd Sophomore Girls) and Keaton (4th Varsity).
A special thanks to Coaches Loren Bell, Angie Higdon, and Jeremy Edmonds and all the suppportive parents and siblings for making race day run super smoothly!
Stay tuned as our middle school team races this weekend in Silver City.
