Halfway into the season, the Durango High School mountain bike team has a solid lead in Division 2 of the Colorado Cycling League’s south division.
The Demons have 9,960 points, while Animas High School has 9,300 points to sit in third place only 98 points behind second-place Highlander Composite.
The teams compete in the CCL, a division of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, which has boomed with participation in recent years.
Ruth Holcomb has been a force in the varsity girls field, as the sophomore won both the season-opening race, the Frisco Bay Invitational in Frisco, and the Cloud City Challenge at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville. She has 1,150 points and is 29 points ahead of Taegan Steinfort, a junior from Cheyenne Mountain, and Sage Davis, a junior from Animas. Defending girls state champion Maddie Jo Robbins of Durango has yet to race after she competed at the UCI World Championships in Switzerland during the same weekend as the Leadville race.
Animas’ Riley Amos also leads the varsity boys after he took second at the two races. The junior has 1,130 points, 16 more than Glenwood Springs senior Lucca Trapani. Durango junior Cobe Freeburn is in fourth with 1,087 points.
Animas’ Abbey Shepard is in second place overall in the junior varsity girls division. Her 1,060 points are only 20 behind Chatfield freshman Mia Aseltine. Animas’ Ainsley Haggart is in fourth with 1,024 points.
Durango’s Aleah Austin is in first place of the sophomore girls division with 1,000 points, and she is 46 points ahead of Salida’s Cassidy Gillis. Durango’s Kelsey Nicholson has ridden to fifth place with 906 points.
Lauren Aggeler of Durango leads a strong Demons roster of freshmen. She is tied for first with Glenwood Springs’ Emma Barsness with 981 points. They are only one point clear of Sarah Bivens of Crested Butte. Hannah Garvey of Durango is fourth with 944 points, and Durango’s Bailey Cioppa is in fifth with 920.
Durango also sits in the top three positions in the freshmen boys category. Ian Kutzleb and Colby Simmons are tied in first with 990 points after Kutzleb won in Frisco and Simmons won in Leadville, with the other finishing second each time. Durango’s Ivan Sippy has placed third at both races and is third overall with 962 points.
The next Colorado Cycling League races are Sunday. The Animas and Durango teams will compete in the Chalk Creek Stampede in Nathrop. The conference championships will be held Oct. 6 at the Haymaker Classic in Eagle. Durango will host the state championship races Oct. 20-21.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
