Stokesville NICA 2025

Stokesville 2025: Final NICA Race

RSC Overall standings:

Elementary took 5th out of 13 teams

Middle school took 6th out of 21 teams

High school took 6th out of 23 teams

From Coach L: Before I get into it, all of you need to know that these races would not be happening if it weren’t for the parents and coaches. Thank you so much for all of your time, effort, love, and support!!

Welcome to the final recap of the 2025 NICA season! I apologize for taking so long to get this finished – things are crazy at work with Illuminights preparation (come visit us at Explore Park). Excuses, excuses, I know. The final overall score is calculated by dropping the race with the lowest points (this helps riders who missed a race or had a bad race), and riders who finished all four races received a 25-point bonus. Additionally, the week after Stokesville, many of our high school racers competed in the Eastern Regionals NICA race in Maryland against racers from all over the southeastern U.S. I was not there, so all I could do was include what little I knew about their race in their recap.

Stokesville is known as a climbing race, so racers doing more than one lap really have to pace themselves for such a course. It is unique in that there are quite a few places where parents and coaches can cheer on their racer throughout the course. The following is a description of the course in the way I include it in the recap:

The start is a wide grassy incline around a couple of bends before heading into the singletrack, where it quickly heads down a switchback. There is always a huge power-struggle to get onto the singletrack near the front because the switchback becomes a bottleneck and will come to a standstill after about the top twenty racers come through. The next place I watch the racers is at a gravel road climb that gives the true climbers a chance to pass before they disappear into the forested singletrack again. They climb some more on the singletrack and come out onto a paved, short, punchy climb where they have another opportunity to pass if they have the energy before dropping down into the forested singletrack again. From there, they are gone for a while, but there are numerous places to watch them climbing through the forest, though I did not go into the forest this race as I needed to keep my eyes on the rest of the course. They eventually come over a hill and down a long grassy thoroughfare before rounding a bend and heading up through the finish line and onto their next lap if they have more than one lap.

Middle School C (1) 19 Stokesville, 26 total

The first race of the day started with a lesson. The race leader was not paying attention when his name was called for the lineup, and in fact, did not even realize they had moved onto 5th-grade boys until halfway through those call-ups. This meant that this racer had to start all the way at the back – leader or not, there are no exceptions if you aren’t there when your name is called. This was NOT the case for Alex Clark! Alex learned mountain biking skills with my squad several years ago, but eventually he became interested in other sports. When he migrated back to mountain biking and decided at the last minute that he wanted to give racing NICA a try, I was very guarded in my excitement. Without proper race training, I was worried that he wouldn’t enjoy this aspect of mountain biking. I asked his dad, Mike, how Alex was liking the races, and Mike said he was absolutely loving it – crashes, exhaustion, early mornings, and all!

Needless to say, he was ready for the call-ups! He started in the back, which wasn’t too much of a worry since there were fewer than 20 racers, and he took off strong. He was about mid-pack when entering the singletrack and had already moved up to 11th coming through the switchback! Because the 5th-grade boys started shortly after Alex, I wasn’t able to make it to the gravel climb in time to see how he was doing, but I saw him pop out of the singletrack onto the punchy climb in 10th place and eyeballing the competitor in front of him as he dipped back into the forest. When he came down the home stretch, he was by himself and going at a pretty good clip. However, another racer popped over the hill shortly afterwards and was clearly set on passing Alex. We all screamed at him to pick up the pace, which he did, and managed to cross the line in 9th place, just a few seconds ahead of his chaser! In all, there were 26 racers in Middle School C, and Alex finished in 16th overall!!! Huge Congratulations to this young man!

Fifth Grade (1) 21 Stokesville, 27 total

I was coming from the switchback when the 5th grade boys took off, so I didn’t get to see their start, but I ran back to the switchback in time.

This isn’t Henry Thomas's first race at Stokesville, so he knew the drill and what needed to be done. He started in the 14th spot, but unfortunately, he had gotten tangled in a pileup before the switchback that set him back significantly. On this course, catching up is incredibly hard because it means having to sprint uphill for the majority of it. Coming up the long gravel hill, he was still towards the back and looking pretty rough. His dad was next to me and said that Henry had not been feeling very well, so this setback was tough for him. But Henry is not a quitter, and it looked to me like he planned on finishing the race. When he finally came over the hill, he managed to use the last of his energy to power through the finish line in 20th place. All of our veteran racers have had rough days, and Henry proved his grit by pushing through one of the toughest courses even though he wasn’t feeling well (and told me later that he had a horrible stomachache through the whole race). He worked just as hard – maybe even harder – than the first-place finisher! He finished the season in 19th overall, and I’m betting he’s already looking forward to VAHS.

Kahlil Ellis started at the back of the lineups and knew that he had to move up fast in order to get ahead of the bottleneck at the switchback. He must have had a solid start because he was 16th heading through the switchback! He looked good and kept his pace up the gravel climb, but he still had a ways to go, and the hardest part of the course was yet to come. As he popped out of the forest onto the punchy climb, he kicked into high gear and managed to pass another racer to put himself in 15th as he headed into the forest again. When Kahlil emerged again into the home stretch, he looked like he still had energy to burn and crossed the line in 15th place! Kahlil finished the season in 22nd place overall out of 27 competitors. This shredder showed us that he has a lot of heart and is ready to push his boundaries – VAHS racers better watch out!

From the first race, Forest Childers has shown us that he means business. He started in 8th and was sitting in 12th as he came through the switchback. When I next saw him on the gravel hill, he had moved up a spot to 11th and was looking ahead to the next racer he could pick off. On the punchy climb, he looked strong as he began to make his move on the racer in front, as he disappeared back into the singletrack. When Forest emerged over the hill towards the finish line, he had one racer in front of him, and let me tell you, Forest turned on the heat!!! If the finish line had been just a little farther away, he would have blasted past his competitor, but he just didn’t have enough race course to catch the kid and finished less than a second behind in 9th place, which put him in the top 10 for a very hard course!! Forest finished the season in 11th place overall, and now that he’s familiar with these courses, I expect we will see him inching towards a podium spot next year!

Middle School Girls B (1) 12 Stokesville, 14 total

This was the fourth time Brynn Greene has raced this course, so she knew how important it was to get out towards the front at the start. Luckily, she was starting in the front row, and when the horn went off, she wasted no time getting ahead as quickly as she could. She was third heading into the singletrack, but had fallen back to 6th going through the switchback. This race is tricky that way because a racer really needs to go out strong, but with a grassy uphill as the start and the adrenaline pumping, sometimes a racer can start out harder than what they can sustain. One thing I have learned about Brynn is that she is constantly reassessing herself, her environment, and her competitors. She may have gone out too hard, but I was pretty sure that she would regroup and find a better pace that would sustain her for the rest of the race. As she came up the long gravel climb, she was working hard to stay in the 6th spot as she headed back towards the singletrack. When she came onto the short, punchy climb, she was in 8th, and looking very unhappy. This can sometimes be a young rider’s undoing, but

I’ve seen what happens when Brynn is unhappy with how her race is going – she digs even deeper. As she came over the hill and into the home stretch, she had managed to overtake another racer and crossed the finish line in 7th place. She finished her NICA season with an overall of 6th place, but I want to point out that last year, she finished in 14th place at Stokesville and had an overall of 15th place, so this was a HUGE improvement! Brynn, you’ve put in the effort, and it shows – you should be incredibly proud of your achievement!

Middle School Boys A (2) 27 Stokesville, 29 total

Because Cole Bandy had to miss the last race, his starting position was at the very back. His heart may be in Enduro Racing, but when the horn goes off, his racing spirit definitely takes over. He moved up quickly and was in 16th as he headed into the singletrack, and held that spot through the switchback. As he started up the gravel climb, he was sitting in 17th, but one thing to realize about Enduro racing is that these riders spend a lot of time riding uphill on heavy bikes. So it was no surprise to see Cole kick it into high gear on the punchy paved climb and pass the rider in front of him before disappearing back into the forest. As he came through his first lap, he had managed to move up another spot into 15th and was looking strong heading into his second lap. He was still riding well as he headed up the gravel climb, and at the punchy paved climb, he once more kicked it up a notch and passed another racer to move into 14th. As he crested the hill towards the finish, he was working hard to catch the rider that was 5 seconds ahead of him while trying to fend off the racer that was 5 seconds behind him. He crossed the line in 14th place and managed a very respectable 17thplace overall for the season! We may not see Cole in VAHS due to his Downhill Southeast racing schedule, but I’m sure he would appreciate y’all coming to cheer him on at those races! Interested? Read Juli Black’s recap to start planning your DHSE cheering section!

Middle School Boys B (2) 40 Stokesville, 49 total

Mitchell Hendricks has the athleticism to race hard and do well in races, but I have learned that Mitchell will race how Mitchell feels like racing. Sometimes, he’s all in, and sometimes he would rather be enjoying life as a middle school boy and just having fun. I think we can all support that mindset! So I really didn’t know what to expect from Mitchell at Stokesville. He was starting on the third row in 12th place, right next to his teammate, Jack, so he was in a pretty decent spot to avoid the bottleneck at the switchback, provided he didn’t fall back. He had a strong start and was in the thick of a group of boys heading into the singletrack somewhere just outside of the top ten. He was in 11th as he came through the switchback with his teammate right behind him. At the gravel climb, he had moved into the tenth spot and was going at a good clip, trying to catch another teammate, Reade, who was only a couple of racers ahead. At the punchy climb, he was still holding onto 8th, but was caught at the top by the racer behind him as they disappeared back into the forest. Coming into the straightaway heading into his second lap, he was still in tenth and looking super strong as he had his focus set on catching Jack, who had passed him somewhere in the forest. Mitchell, Reade and Jack all played cat and mouse through their second lap, but instead of seeing Mitchell coming through the finish line around the same time as his teammates, we watched as racer after racer came through the finish line, but not Mitchell. I assumed that he had decided that he had raced for long enough and was just going to ride for fun (again, I can totally relate to that train of thought!) It turns out that there had been a big pileup in the forest that Mitchell was caught behind.

What everyone was talking about afterwards wasn’t the pileup itself, but how Mitchell managed to stay upright and weave his way through all of the falling riders and their bikes. Unfortunately, this affected his place and he crossed the line in 24th, but still managed to hold onto 13th overall!! To put it in perspective, last year, Mitchell finished in 41st at Stokesville with an overall of 34th. Even with a pileup setback and a previous race that he just rode for fun, he still managed to improve tremendously!

Just like all of the Childers clan, Jack Childers is a strong athlete and has been a quick study of his new sport. He started in the third row in tenth place, and was holding that spot as he headed into the singletrack. When he came through the switchback, he was sitting right behind his teammate, Mitchell, in the 13th spot. As he raced up the gravel climb with his teammate, he was looking strong and had moved up a couple of spots to 11th place before disappearing into the forest. Jack had been watching the other racers and knew that when he hit the short, punchy climb, he should jump and try to pass competitors if he had enough energy to do it. So, that’s exactly what he did, and moved himself into tenth as he flew into the singletrack. As he came through to start his second lap, Jack was flying fast and had moved up to ninth place with his teammate now chasing him! As he came up the gravel climb, Jack was now in 8th and looking ahead to catch his next teammate, Reade, who wasn’t far in front. He was riding fast up the punchy climb and may have, indeed, caught his teammate in the forest, and he may have even moved into a podium spot, but I do not know what happened once he was out of sight because…as he came down the long stretch to the finish line…he wasn’t pedaling. In fact, I thought it was odd that he just seemed to be cruising rather than trying to catch the racers in front of him until I saw him hop off his bike and run the slight uphill at the finish. Jack had snapped his chain somewhere along the race course and still managed to finish in 9th place!!! Great effort, Jack! He managed to finish in 10thplace overall in a huge field with his first year of racing!!

To look at Reade Lynch, you would think that he prefers endurance sports where it’s not a lot of adrenaline packed craziness. He just exudes…quiet focus (at least, this is how I perceive him). And while I have already watched him race for almost two whole seasons, his competitiveness always takes me by surprise. He started on the second row in 8th place and quickly moved into sixth heading into the singletrack and held that spot throught the switchback. On the gravel climb, he was still in sixth, but that elusive podium spot wasn’t too far ahead, so he pushed hard up the climb to pass that racer, but that racer responded by picking up the pace as well. Reade still had another lap, so he kept his energy in check and kept at a steady pace heading back into the forest. Somewhere along the course, he fell back a couple of spots, but man, he was moving fast as he came into the second lap! The racer in front of him was only 8 seconds ahead, and it was clear that Reade wanted to pick him off. He did, in fact, pass that rider and was sitting in seventh as he came up the gravel hill for the second time, but that effort must have taken its toll because he was not looking as spritely as he did on the first lap. He didn’t punch it up the punchy climb, and the racer behind him was inching closer as they disappeared again into the forested singletrack. When he came over the hill, Reade was not chasing anyone, and no one was chasing him, but he finished with a strong kick and crossed the line in 8th place, giving him a top ten overall of 9th!! There is no doubt in my mind that he has a great shot at the podium if he decides to race VAHS in the Spring!

James Thomas has been training for a climbing race. As I’ve said before, he’s been “racing” his brother along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I suspect he’s been putting miles on Mill Mountain as well. In this race, he wasn’t competing for top five – he wanted first, and the only person he needed to focus on was the young man currently holding that spot. James took off fast and moved right into the first-place position as they headed into the singletrack, but the rest of the pack was hot on his heels, and he was in second as he came through the switchback. And this was essentially the race. The leader doing his best to drop James, and James responding by picking up the pace just a hair. Heading into the second lap, the leader had a ten-second gap on James, so James turned it up a notch to do everything he could to pass the leader. Each time I saw him, he was a little bit closer, and we were all cheering him on to keep racing hard! The leader crested the hill into the finish line home stretch with James not too far behind. He had slowly inched up, and once more, if he had just a little bit longer of a course, he would have definitely moved into first. He crossed the finish line in 2nd, with an overall of 2nd place for the season! But that’s not all. His first lap was 10 seconds slower than the leader, but his second lap was only 4 seconds slower. But that’s still not all. At Monticello, he finished one minute behind this leader; at Woodberry, he finished 45 seconds behind this leader; at Stokesville, he reduced it to 30 seconds behind the leader! There’s more: the third place racer crossed the line 3 whole minutes behind James! But wait! I haven’t gotten to the best part: he improved his Stokesville race time by 7 minutes since VAHS this past Spring!!!!!! Even if the course might have changed a little, very few racers improved their times by more than a couple of minutes since VAHS!!! Just…WOW!!!!

Sophomore Boys (2) 47 Stokesville, 64 total

The Freshman Boys started shortly after the Sophomore Boys, so I wasn’t able to get to the other side of the course in time to see Sophomores come up the climbs.

Look, we are all excited when our riders put in a big effort in racing hard and placing as well as they possibly can, but I can honestly say that I really just enjoy cheering Ryan Arthur, regardless of how he does in his races. He’s such an entertaining racer, and it’s so refreshing to see a racer genuinely enjoying the experience and getting the crowd riled up. I’m not saying he doesn’t race hard – he most definitely puts everything into it, but he’s not in it to win it. He’s in it to live his best life! Alright, back to this race. He was starting in 19th place, but by the time they got to the singletrack, he had moved up to tenth, though I noticed he was getting passed just as he entered the forest. When he came through the switchback, he was sitting in 12th.

Because I was trying to watch the Freshman Boys as well, the next time I saw him, he was racing fast into his second lap with about four racers trying to catch him. And in true Ryan fashion, he was making sure the crowd was yelling and cheering for him before heading out again. He had dropped quite a ways back, and I only found out afterwards that he had crashed pretty hard, but as I said earlier, he will continue to race hard regardless of where he is in the pack as long as he can have fun with the crowd! By the time he came around again to fly through the finish in 30thplace, I think he was done having fun and was just happy to be finished. He ended the season in 28th place overall, but I am not exaggerating when I say that he was smiling and laughing in less than five minutes after crossing the line! Some of our older racers are great role models for how to train diligently. Some are role models for how to accept a rough race day in a graceful fashion. Some are awesome role models for true sportsmanship. Ryan is the role model for how not to take these races too seriously because life is short and you’ve got to enjoy every moment! **Ryan raced in Eastern Regionals and placed 116th out of 119th. But not really. He would have placed 94th, but his chain busted, so Matt Childers gave him his bike, which cost him a ten minute penalty. But Ryan continued to smile and have fun!**

I was telling Jackson Hendricks' mom that I have truly enjoyed watching Jackson find his racing legs, and I look forward to cheering him on at each race. As a reminder, he bowed out of the last race due to a head injury (smart decision), which set him back significantly in the overall points, but he was ready to race at Stokesville. He started towards the back in 32nd, but by the time they reached the singletrack, he had moved up to 21st and maintained that through the switchback. I missed how he did going up the gravel climb and the punchy climb, but he must have been flying because when he came down the straightaway before entering his second lap, he had moved into 10th place!! But Jackson had another racer breathing down his neck 3 seconds behind him, and he still had an entire lap to try and hold that racer off. Did he accomplish that? Not only did he hold off that racer, but his second lap was faster than his first, and as he crossed the line in 7th place, he caught the attention of the NICA director, Peter Huffnagel, who announced that Jackson had managed to move up three more spots in his last lap! Last year, he finished the year in 30th place overall. This year…8th place!!! I am so STOKED (see what I did there??) to cheer him on in the VAHS season!! **Jackson raced in Eastern Regionals and placed 9th out of 119 participants!!**

Freshman Boys (2), 58 Stokesville, 65 total

Unfortunately, Arthur Lugar was ill during the week leading up to the Stokesville race and was in no condition to race. In the two races he was able to make this season, he did phenomenally well and I hope he decides to race for us in VAHS in the Spring! He finished the season in 58th overall.

I love cheering on all of our racers, but I’ve been sort of partial to Grant Clayman this season. I had no idea who he was in the first race, but I immediately liked his attitude. He is affable and tries to stay calm and relaxed before each race. He took many of us by surprise with how well he did in his first race, and he put his teammate, Jack Thomas, on notice that he might need to watch out (or conversely, pick up a training partner). Grant was very excited about this race because he enjoys climbing, and this was where he could excel. He was starting in 7th place, so he was well-positioned to stay at the front of the pack. He was in the thick of the top ten boys as they headed into the singletrack and was sitting right on Jack’s wheel in 6th on the switchback until… his back tire hit soft dirt at the edge of the track and he went down off the course. By the time he could get back on course, he was sitting in last place. This was devastating, to say the least, but one thing I have come to realize is that when a racer has a setback like that, they tend to have their strongest and fastest races. Grant was quite upset, obviously, and I could see that the nerves were gone and pure determination had taken over. When I saw him on the gravel hill, he was still towards the back, but absolutely flying up the hill and passed four racers as he took off into the forest again. He repeated that on the punchy climb by passing several more racers and not slowing down for even a second before disappearing again into the singletrack. When he came over the hill to head into his second lap, get this: He. Was. In. 10th PLACE!!!! Y’all, he passed 48 racers on his first lap!!!!! (side story: a couple of seasons ago, my son had missed two races and started at the back of 100+ racers. He managed to move up past 80 of them on the first lap, but heading into the second lap, he flatted and ran the 4-mile course to come back through in last place.

To say I was rooting for Grant to have better luck was an understatement!) Grant came up the gravel climb in 12th, and I wondered if his efforts were taking their toll on him, but I found out later that he had crashed and lost a couple of spots. He still had quite a bit of gas in the tank as he raced past two more riders before heading back into the singletrack and back out again up the punchy climb and down into the forest. Cresting the hill leading to the finish, he was closing in on the racer in front of him as he came blazing through the finish line in 11th place!!! What a spectacular comeback!!! Grant was so disappointed with his finishing place after the race because he knew what he was capable of, but once he recovered, I think he realized that he pushed himself harder than he thought he could. In fact, his second lap was actually the 7th fastest lap – that includes a crash! He finished his season in 9th place overall, and if he races in VAHS, he is going to scorch the field! **Grant followed up this incredible effort by racing in Eastern Regionals where he placed 5th out of a field of 87 participants!!**

This has been an exciting season for Jason Bruce. After riding with the RSC Rec team for a while, he decided to give racing a try, and it seems to suit him quite well! He strategizes and works hard, and he quickly learned when to pass and when to keep his pace. However, Stokesville can humble even the hardiest racer, and Jason had heard that this was a climber’s race, so he was a bit nervous going into this one. His starting spot was 15th, which had him sitting in the third row, which was good enough to keep him out of the bottleneck as long as he had a good start. He did. He entered the singletrack with a bunch of boys somewhere in the top twenty, and came through the switchback in 15th. At the gravel hill, Jason had moved up a spot to 14th and was clipping along at a solid pace. He was back in 15th at the punchy climb, but the hardest portion of the course lay in front of him. When I saw him again, he was coming down the straightaway fast, and he took the corner into the second lap like he had been practicing it for weeks! He had lost one spot and, no doubt, was trying to catch the racer just in front of him to reclaim his spot. By the time he reached the gravel climb, the Stokesville course had started to take its toll. He was tired and had lost a couple more spots, but it was obvious he wasn’t giving up. He came through the punchy climb in 18th and was definitely struggling a bit, but I’ve noticed that Jason seems to recover fairly quickly. So as long as he had a couple of minutes to recover, I was sure he could hold his place. As he came into the homestretch, he obviously had a bit of energy left because he was speeding towards the finish line and, once more, took that corner like a pro before crossing the line in 18th place. Jason’s first season of racing has him finishing in a solid 18th place overall!! Super proud of this young man!

Jack Thomas has always been focused when it comes to biking, but I think moving into the Freshman category was a big transition for him, and he knew he needed to step up his training if he wanted to be standing on the podium. This season has been a roller coaster for him, placing 5th, then 2nd, then 7th in these NICA races. He’s been racing Stokesville since he was in elementary school, so he’s well aware of the course and what his strategy needed to be. He was in the front row for the very fast start, and was in the thick of the top ten boys as he headed into the singletrack. On the switchback, he was in the 5th spot, which was probably right where he wanted to be so that he could keep an eye on his competitors and then pick them off when they were getting tired. Jack is a climber, after all. By the time I got to the gravel climb, the first-place racer had already come through (no surprise there – he was consistently a minute ahead of everyone in each of the races). The racer in second place was moving quickly up the hill, with Jack hot on his wheel! He likely could have passed at that time, but he still had more than a lap and a half left, so there was no need to expend extra energy until needed. He continued to stay on that racer’s wheel through the punchy climb and back into the forest. Jack kept the second-place racer right in front of him all the way through to the gravel hill, but coming in hot behind him were the fourth and fifth place racers, and they were keen on passing him before heading back into the singletrack. When Jack emerged from the forest and onto the short, punchy climb, he was sitting in fourth and now had to fight to keep the fifth-place rider from passing him before jumping back into the singletrack again. At the finish line, it was a nail-biter with Jack chasing third and the fifth-place racer chasing Jack down! He crossed the line in 4th place, giving him the 3rd place spot overall for this season! **Jack raced in Eastern Regionals and placed 2nd out of 87 participants!!!**

Varsity Girls (3) 11 Stokesville, 16 total

All of the high school girl categories started within just a couple of minutes of each other, which made it very difficult for me to follow all of our racers at all times. I apologize if I missed any exciting or important race tidbits.

It’s been a challenging NICA season for Sophie Childers. Last year, she had the camaraderie of two of her teammates (Sophie Nicely has since graduated, and Georgia Miller was out with an injury), she intentionally moved herself up a category, and she was competing with several racers who are some of the best in the nation. And as always, she handles herself with grace and a good attitude through all of it. She was sitting in 6th at the start, and secured the eighth spot heading into the singletrack and through the switchback. I missed her at the gravel climb, but she was still sitting in eighth on the punchy climb and looking like she still had a lot of energy left. That was a good thing because she was going to be racing three laps! She came through the first lap looking strong, but as she headed out for her second lap, another racer was moving up fast and only seven seconds behind her. It seems that she took note of this racer, because when I saw her again on the climb, she had put a bit more distance between herself and that racer.

By now, all of the racers were spread out with at least a minute between each of them. This can make it hard to have a solid race because, without a competitor in front, there’s no one to work harder to beat, and without a competitor behind, there’s no one forcing you to pick up the pace. Making sure that you’re pushing yourself to the best of your ability becomes a guessing game. When Sophie came through to start her third lap, she was definitely putting as much effort in as she could because she looked tired. However, she was still sitting in eighth place with no one on either side of her for over a minute, so all she needed to do was ride her own race and finish, which she did! She crossed the line in 8th place, securing the overall spot of 6th place. This was Sophie’s final NICA race, and likely the last time that she will race for our team in a high school event, as Spring will be a very busy time for this young lady. We will miss her leadership, her smiles, and her exceptional attitude! It’s been an absolute joy having Sophie on our team! **Sophie competed in the Eastern Regionals and finished 39th out of 55 participants. She raced for an hour and a half!!**

JV Girls (2) 16 Stokesville, 20 total

Ah, well, once again, it’s the Chloe Childers and Lila Nicely show. As an aside, Lila should have been racing a category below, but she moved herself up this year to race with Chloe. They started together on the front line, and by the time they reached the singletrack, Chloe was sitting in third, and Lila was battling it out between fourth and fifth. On the switchback, Chloe was still in third, and Lila was in fifth, but the top seven girls were all wheel-to-wheel. Both girls were still sitting in the same spots and looking good coming up the gravel hill as well as the punchy climb. However, Ava Leslie was closing in on Lila before they dropped back into the singletrack and out of sight. Chloe had created a bit of distance and was chipping away at the second-place racer as she came through to start her second lap. Lila was still in fifth but didn’t look at all tired as she worked hard to catch up to her teammate. Coming up the gravel hill, Chloe was still moving fast and was not too far behind the racer in front of her. She pushed a little faster up the punchy climb to gain momentum before heading into the singletrack. Lila had fallen back a bit, but was still in fifth, and while she wasn’t racing up the gravel hill, nor the punchy climb, she also wasn’t slowing down. She did a great job of keeping up a solid pace, and the next racer was far enough behind that as long as Lila could maintain her speed, she would podium.

Chloe managed to close the distance of the second-place girl, but just couldn’t quite make it before the finish line and finished in 3rd. Her second lap was actually faster than the girl in second place! Lila came through the finish line in 5th with a ton of speed and didn’t look the least bit tired. Overall, Chloe finished 4th and Lila finished 6th. These two girls also competed together in Eastern Regionals the week after Stokesville. One last plug for Lila…She also tried her hand last year at downhill racing. She only made the last two races of the season, where she raced as a Cat 2/3 and placed 3rd in her first-ever downhill race and then 4th at the second one! If you want to watch her race DH in 2026, I suggest you read the next paragraph about Juli Black. **Both girls raced in the Eastern Nationals, and no surprise, they finished 3rd and 4th out of 44 participants. Lila finished only 30 seconds ahead of Chloe!**

Did you miss cheering on Juli Black? So did I, but she had a previous engagement that couldn’t be rescheduled, and the rain date just didn’t line up with her calendar. If you want to cheer her on some more, she’ll be racing with the Pro Women in the Downhill Southeast (DHSE) series starting in the early spring. In fact, there is one weekend where you can cheer on our VAHS racers at Stokesville on Saturday, camp out there that night, and then head over to Massanutten on Sunday to cheer on our DHSE racers! Just sayin…

Freshman Girls (2), 5 Stokesville, 8 total

Well, this was Rachel Reynolds final race of the NICA season. The reality is that she is an excellent athlete, but her biggest competitor throughout this year has been Emilia. I wish I could say that this race was different, but Rachel was under no illusions and was very quick to give credit to Emilia. She said that she just wanted to have a good race and know that she did her best. Rachel accomplished her goal and I will say that she looked strong throughout the race and managed to improve her time from last year by two minutes! It will be no surprise to hear that she crossed the line in 2nd place, almost a minute ahead of her third place competitor, and secured 2nd place overall. Although there were only five young ladies racing in this category at Stokesville, the top three were putting in times that would have placed them in the top ten of JV and Varsity. Still want to have a chance at cheering on this impressive young lady? She will likely be racing DHSE as well. She raced a few races as a Cat 2/3 in 2024 and managed to come in 4th overall in her first season. She moved up to Cat 1 last year and placed 2nd overall. Read Juli Black’s recap to find out how you can watch her race in DHSE. Stokesville and Massanutten 2026 y’all!! **Rachel competed in the Eastern Regionals and, again placed 2nd out of 26 participants! We don’t need to discuss who placed first.**

JV Boys (3) 74 Stokesville, 91 total

Sadly, Elliot Owens was not able to make the final NICA race, and we were cheated on the chance to cheer one last time for this senior powerhouse. We may get another chance if he decides to race in the VAHS series this spring, but seniors do tend to be incredibly busy in the spring. Regardless, we wish him all the best in his future endeavors and hope that he will consider coming back to help coach or at least cheer on the racers at future races!

Our other senior, Darren Delby, has always just been a background racer for me. He’s nice and races hard, but aside from being called Double D, there is very little I know about this young man. This year, however, he has branched out from just socializing with his teammates to hanging with the adults and having fantastic conversations with us! I found out so much about him and his interests as well as his goals for the future. Darren had to miss the first race and has been fighting tooth and nail to make his way back to the front. With each race, he is forced to start at the back due to the point system. And at each one, he passes 30-40 racers just to get put in the back again. It’s frustrating, but this young man just takes it in stride and knows that he will work just as hard and have the best race he possibly can. Although he managed to place 47th in the last race, he had to start on the very back row for this one. Still, he had a smile on his face while waiting for the horn to go off, and was ready for the challenge – pick them off one at a time for three laps. There was no way that Darren was going to make it ahead of the bottleneck at the switchback, but by the time he got to the gravel climb, he had moved past quite a few racers and was chasing down a few more as he disappeared into the forest. When he emerged to go up the punchy climb, he had passed those racers and was eyeballing the next ones. This was not going to be a three-lap sprint, but one that would require Darren to pace himself and pass at every opportunity.

By the time he came through the first lap, he had passed roughly a third of the racers and was still going strong into the second lap. When he reached the gravel hill, he was sitting in 40th, and not slowing down. At the punchy climb, he had overtaken another rider and dropped into the singletrack again. As he came through to start his third lap, he was beginning to show signs of fatigue, but had still managed to move up to 35th. On his last climb up the gravel road and the punchy pavement, he was definitely running out of energy and was trying to hold onto his 37th spot. As he crested the hill to enter the home stretch, he had another racer coming up hard and fast, but he was tanked (or if I want to use the current lingo, he was cooked). The cheer of the crowd seemed to give him the boost he needed, and he put the hammer down and flew through the finish line, holding onto 37th place – that’s almost 40 racers he passed on a mostly climbing race!! He finished the season in 49th overall. As an aside, last year, he finished NICA in 68th overall, and get this, he improved his time by almost 8 minutes!!! And VAHS? His time has improved by 2 minutes since the VAHS race this past spring! Will he race just one more series with our team before he graduates? We can always hope! **Darren competed in the Eastern Regionals and placed 98th out of 136 participants. I wasn’t there, so I am going to assume that he started at the back and passed almost 40 racers**

And now our final big showdown. We had Forest and Henry, Jack and Grant (oh, yes, you can bet they battled it out at Eastern Regionals, and just wait until VAHS this Spring), Lila and Chloe, and now it's Noah Johnstone and Rowan Poelzing. They were next to each other in 10th and 11th in the lineup, and both of these boys know the drill – get ahead of the bottleneck as quickly as possible. This category is incredibly fast, so the start was chaos as all of the front racers were jostling for their spots. Rowan secured eighth and Noah was thirteenth going into the singletrack, and coming through the switchback. Both boys were still pushing hard up the gravel climb, with Rowan falling back a bit to tenth and Noah now in fourteenth. They still had more than two laps to go, so it was important that they not expend all of their energy in the first lap. At the punchy climb, they were both sitting in the same position, but Rowan had a bit harder to work if he wanted to catch the racer in front of him, while Noah had two racers within reach that he was eyeballing. Heading into their second lap, both boys were still looking fresh and full of energy, with Rowan holding tenth, but Noah had moved up three spots and was sitting in eleventh! Coming up the gravel climb, Rowan had made up some time and was inching his way closer to the next three racers. Noah was still in eleventh, and while he still looked good, he wasn’t able to respond to Rowan’s speed, which was creating more of a distance between them. As they came up the punchy climb, Rowan was sitting right behind 7th-9th place, and with more than a lap to go, was perfectly poised to overtake all three. Noah flew up the climb, still chasing Rowan and looking very strong before dropping back into the forest. As they came into their third lap, Rowan was in ninth and then pushed ahead to move into eighth as they headed back into the singletrack. Noah wasn’t too far behind in eleventh with the tenth-place racer just a few seconds ahead. When coming through the finish and back out onto another lap, the racers have to go up a long grassy incline.

It’s not bad as far as hills go, but it can really zap energy when a racer has already done two laps. Noah knows this, and because he still clearly had a lot left in the tank, he took the inside line on the curve and quickly left that racer behind before heading into the singletrack. Once more, Rowan was chipping away at the racer in front of him and was poised to pass him at the top of the punchy climb. By this time, he had created too much distance for his teammate to catch him, so Noah was holding his own in tenth place as he continued to look super strong on both of the hills. Rowan came through the finish line alone, but with a huge grin on his face. Rowan snagged 7th place and secured a top ten overall of 9th place. Noah came blazing down the homestretch, giving everything he had to hold onto that tenth place because 11th was coming in hot after him. He crossed the line in 10th and also managed to round out the top ten overall in 10th place! **Both young men competed in the Eastern Regionals, and wouldn’t you know it, they placed 10th and 11th out of 136 racers. Rowan finished only FIVE SECONDS ahead of Noah!!**

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