SEWANEE, Tenn. – In their fourth season as a team, competing in the fourth season of the Tennessee Interscholastic Cycling League, the Marshall County mountain bike team came away with a fourth consecutive State Championship Sunday at St. Andrews Sewanee School in Sewanee, TN.
“This year’s team was at an all-time high of 36 members with an average of 30 racers for the four races”, Coach Steve Beckett said. “Out of those 30 that completed all four races, everyone finished 11th or higher in the individual State Championship finals.”
“The team has worked hard since July during practices and put a lot of effort into their races with several riders training through the winter and summer in preparation for the fall season”, said Beckett. “We also had a lot of new Middle School riders and all of them progressed very well since joining the team in July, their bike handling skills have improved tremendously.”
In Sunday’s State Championship race, the Marshall County team took first in four of the eight high school races and a first in the boy’s 6th grade race. Winning at the State Championship race – Audrey Grizzard won the girl’s varsity race, Grant Wilson took first in boy’s JV and Presleigh Jennings and Clay Austin in the girl’s and boy’s freshman races. Landon Utley won the boy’s 6th grade race in the middle school division.
The Marshals had eight top three podium results in Sunday’s State Championship and three in middle school races.
Overall season league champions were given out following the state championship podiums, based on points accumulated from all four races. Once again, four Marshals earned overall champions; Audrey Grizzard – Varsity girls, Grant Wilson – JV boys, Alyssa McClain – Freshman girls and Clay Austin – Freshman boys.
Marshall County won the state title with 9,046 points, followed by Williamson County Composite in second with 8,614 points and Harpeth Youth Cycling third with 8,569 points in a field of 11 teams. In their inaugural season, the Paducah-McCracken County team placed sixth.
“All of our podium winners and state champions should be extra proud of their efforts as the League’s competition is getting tighter across the board”, said Beckett. “We are looking forward to next year when all of them, except for our four graduating seniors, return with a year or more of riding under their belt. We have a strong group returning for the 2017 season.”
The Marshals will lose four seniors to graduation who have competed all four seasons – Travis Tack, Bailey Mohler, Colton Adrian and Isaac Bayer.
Results below photo gallery of the top five finishers at the State Championship and Marshall finishes plus overall season champions and Marshall season results. Click on photos to scroll or view larger image.
| STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Varsity Girls Varsity Boys Middle School Girls |
OVERALL SEASON RESULTS
Varsity Girls Varsity Boys
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