Methow Valley cycle team members Wyatt Odion and Quin Smith, in the blue jerseys, finished among the top 10 in their division at the recent Pedaling the Peninsula meet in Gig Harbor.
Varsity girls’ division winner Stella Scholz led a group of Methow Valley mountain bike enthusiasts at the 2022 Pedaling the Peninsula meet near the Key Peninsula city of Gig Harbor on April 24.
Scholz’ time of 1:23:44.2 was the best by about 4 1/2 minutes over the approximately 15-mile course, consisting of three 5-mile laps on a mostly single-track course. Jori Grialou placed 4th in the girls’ varsity division and Jasmine DeVlieg also had a top-10 finish in 8th place.
In the varsity boys’ division, Methow Valley’s Graham Sheley rode his way to a 4th-place finish, completing the course in 1:13:28, just over 3 minutes behind race winner Finn Westover of Seattle. Ben Kaufman placed 10th, clocking a time of 1:20:59.
Other top placers from the Methow Valley included seventh-grade boys Jackson Van Bueren in 4th, Quin Smith in 5th and Wyatt Odion in 6th, and sixth-grade girls Wylie Smith (1st) and Ava Burrington (3rd).
Assistant coach Kelly Bolinger reported, “Eight out of the 13 came home with medals, two of those obtained their division race leader jerseys. All came home with smiles and a feeling of accomplishment.”
The program is led by Hanz Scholz and Jeremy Newman with help from Bolinger, Harold Sheley and Eric Purpus.
The Methow Valley club will host a mountain bike race on the Sean McCabe Trail at the Methow Valley School District campus on May 15. The Washington Student Cycling League Championships are scheduled for Sunday, May 22, in the Spokane area.
