It was business as usual for Durango’s high school mountain bike team in Glenwood Springs as the Demons captured another state championship on Sunday.
Durango’s Division II title was the program’s second consecutive state title and the team third since 2022.
“It was an awesome season,” Durango head coach Martin McCreight said. “We had a lot of building over the offseason and a lot of riders who were in maybe the sophomore division that went up to JV and did really well there … it was a full team effort. We brought almost 10 more athletes to state than we did the year before. We had a large number of athletes qualify and that really helps in the points category.”
Durango won the Division II state title with 4,870 points. Grand Junction was second with 4,272 points and Taos, New Mexico, was third with 4,107 points. McCreight said the points system is a combination of finishing positions and how many riders participate from the freshman level up to varsity.
The Glenwood Springs venue was a familiar venue for McCreight and the Demons since they had raced there for state for the past four years. McCreight said it was a somewhat poor course to begin, but it has gotten better and this year the riders had the best dirt yet. The course is usually dry and dusty, according to McCreight, but not this year.
McCreight said the course is the most technical of the Colorado Mountain Bike League series.
Senior Tilia Clausen was the top female Durango finisher in third, finishing the three laps around the Glenwood Springs course in one hour, 23 minutes and 25.19 seconds. Siri Krum from Lakewood won the race in 1:21:05.52 and Whitney Warnke from Steamboat finished second in 1:21:32.42. Fellow Durango seniors Betty Holcomb and Ellie Shaw also finished inside the top 10. Holcomb finished sixth in 1:25:34.36 and Shaw was seventh in 1:25:34.38.
“Tilia had a really had awesome results in her club riding throughout the spring and summer racing in some UCI events and some bigger races,” McCreight said. “She had a lot of wins there. She came into the high school season, really competitive, staying on the podium each race and kept that consistency all the way through state, which is tough to do.”
McCreight loved her Holcomb and Shaw rode and worked together the whole season. He was also proud of how Clausen, Holcomb and Shaw were role models for the younger kids and helped those younger kids get faster.
On the boys side, Animas High School senior Jake Sandau finished third in 1:10:04.69. Junior Johan Sounders was the top Durango male in 12th in 1:12:29.15. Luke Ozment from Golden won the race in 1:07:47.55 and Jack Higley from Thunder Ridge was second in 1:08:13.15.
Sophomore June Bremner from Durango won the JV girls title after two laps around the course in 55:27.36. Sophomore Annwyn Austin finished fifth in 56:38.32. Sophomore Raleigh Shaw finished third in the JV boys race in 49:23.77. Tucker Platte from Chatfield won the race in 47:44.21.
McCreight is confident his JV stars can make the step up the the varsity level next season and be very competitive. It should be a special state championship next year because McCreight thinks Durango will host the state championships in 2026.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
