news NorCal Youth MTB: Tam Ends Drake’s Win Streak
As the NorCal High School mountain bike season wrapped up, the Tamalpais High School Red-Tailed Hawks edged out Drake by 13 points – ending their eight-year dominance. Amassing 20,713 points over the 10 week, five-race season, the Tam High mountain-biking club team riders held on against strong challenges in the final meet.
For the first time in history, Tam won the NorCal High School Cycling League season championship, with Drake second, while Redwood High School finished third – creating a podiumsweep for Marin schools.
“It was an awesome moment,” Tam coach Patrick LePelch said. “We had a 122-point lead coming in, but we knew we didn’t win the day so we had to wait. The team knew it was close, but it wasn’t until we heard the announcement at the awards ceremony that we could celebrate.”
Overall, Redwood freshman Haley Randel won the NorCal series varsity girl’s title, while Drake’s Dylan Fryer nabbed the varsity boy’s NorCal honors.
It was a day of high stakes racing during the final meet – with Marin schools dominating the podium. Drake took the team event, with Tam placing second and Redwood third. Mina Ricci, an independent rider from Woodacre, won the girls varsity race, while Fryer snagged first in a photo finish against LukeLamperti from Santa Rosa’s Cardinal Newman. San Marin’s Sebastian Dow placed third.
Other race winners from Marin riders took many spots at the podium: Audrey Fehlhaber of Drake (JV girls), Isabella Heineman from Redwood (freshman girls), Tam’s Jacob Pashman (Divison I sophomore boys), and two Redwood boys – Sean Middleton (D-I freshman boys) and Nico Tuton-Filson (D-I JV boys).
“We are incredibly proud of these athletes,” LePelch said. “They train for five and a half months to get to this point. The Tam team — especially the seniors — have been through some bad luck with injuries and illnesses, but they pulled it out.”
The state championship will take place May 20 at Five Springs Farms in Petaluma.
More info about Norcal High School League racing can be found at NorcalMTB.org
