2013 California State Championships

The St. Francis GOLDEN KNIGHTS Mountain Bike Team

“California State Championships”, Novato CA – May 19, 2013

The 2013 season for the Golden Knight’s mountain bike team concluded on Sunday with 13 members of the team traveling to Northern California to participate in the NICA California State Championships. Over 650 students would test their mountain bike racing fitness and skills against each other in this one-day event featuring the largest race fields ever for high school mountain bike racing. The race site was at Stafford Lake Park in Novato and featured a purpose-built technical course with over 5 ½ miles of distance and 700’ of elevation gain per lap. All classes would compete on the longest circuit of the year.

The Golden Knight freshman team started the day off with high-hopes. Unfortunately, Andrew Schiller and George Orloff both crashed in the first turn and were soon chasing from last place behind the field of 84 riders in their 11 mile race. Teammates Michael Vega and Andrew Palaski, who have both improved tremendously this year, would be the first Golden Knight’s in to the finish at 23^rd and 30^th place. Andrew Schiller would earn the “hard-charger” award, passing 49 riders to finish in 35^th position, with George Orloff also working extremely hard to fight back for a very respectable 43^rd place.

Four members of the St. Francis Sophomore Division 1 team traveled to Novato, but only 3 were able to race. Remi Roth would be unable to compete because of the flu, a disappointment for Remi who had worked very hard all season. In his place and ready to work hard were Skyler Payne, Owen Shain, and Nathaniel Blakely. Out of the 62 Sophomores who lined up, Skyler Payne would finish a season-best result of 12^th place, covering over 16 miles! Also having a season-best was Owen Shain in 28^th, with Nathaniel Blakely coming in at 37^th.

Next up was the JV team. Not only would the lap distance be longer than normal for this race, but the JV and Varsity teams would race for 4 and 5 laps respectively, instead of the traditional 3 and 4 laps. The extra distance and time on the course would prove to be challenging for most of the riders. Like the freshman race, the JV race would see a huge field of 82 riders lining up. Hanging in there for over 22 miles of racing was Austin Hamilton, finishing in a very fast race in 23^rd. Teammates Keenan Koch and Kenny Larsen battled and worked through tough conditions to finish in 65^th and 72^nd. Kenny Larsen said after the race that “it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done”.

The Golden Knight Varsity team was once again represented by junior Sean Bird and senior Scott Marshall. The deep Varsity field of 51 riders would be on course for over 2 hours, covering more than 27 miles! Sean Bird dropped back on the first lap because of mechanical problems, but clawed his way back to finish in 18^th place. Scott Marshall wrapped up his high-school mountain bike racing career (over 20 races) with a hard-fought 41^st place.

For the 5^th season in a row, the Golden Knight mountain bike team completed every race without a single DNF! This is unheard of in a difficult sport where physical and mental challenges are commonplace, but testament to the hard work and dedication of the students. The Golden Knights will begin recruitment for the 2014 team in September, with the first practice on December 1^st.

The Golden Knights mountain bike team is 100% volunteer managed and coached and is very grateful for all of the support they have received from the parents, alumni, and their generous sponsors, including: Design Imports, Hollandays, Merchants Building Maintenance, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, Lucas Horsfall Murphy & Pindroh, Lantern CycleWorks, Montrose Bike Shop, Crescenta Valley Insurance, and Church and Larsen.  GO KNIGHTS!

Andrew Palaski

Owen Shain

Michael Vega

Andrew Palaski

Sean Bird passing 5 Varsity riders

Kenny Larsen

Keenan Koch - Smiling

Skyler Payne - That face says it all - Tough Sport!

Scott Marshall celebrating the finish of his final high school race!

A very special morning...

On Sunday, May 5th before the start of our race at Los Olivos, Brother Christoper arranged for Father Bobby to say Mass for us at the team's pit-zone. What an incredible treat and privilege.

Familes, friends, and students all enjoyed the opportunity to worship together as a community of St. Francis.

Thanks to Ken Marshall for the pictures below.

Cow-Pie Classic - Los Olivos - Race #5

The St. Francis GOLDEN KNIGHTS Mountain Bike Team

“Cow-Pie Classic Race”, Los Olivos CA – May 5, 2013

It was the final race of the 5-race SoCal High School Mountain Bike league series, held at the Dirt Club mountain bike venue in scenic Los Olivos. Seventeen members of the Golden Knight Mountain Bike Team battled epic weather conditions (50 mph wind gusts), new single-track trails, and the longest course of the season for a difficult season-ending mountain bike race.

The strong 4-man Golden Knight freshmen team had another great showing at Los Olivos. Andrew Schiller gave it his all and was overwhelmed at the end of the race with his season-best 7^th place finish, which also earned him a podium award for being 8^th overall for the SoCal league series. Close behind was Michael Vega who also had his best result of the year, an impressive 11^th place. Battling the tough conditions was George Orloff in 13^th. Andrew Palaski had two mechanical problems that required lengthy repairs, but soldiered on to finish in 38^th. This impressive freshman group finished every lap of every race, and is certainly a bright spot for the future of St. Francis mountain bike racing!

All five riders from St. Francis for the Sophomore Division 1 class were in Los Olivos. Earning his 4^th top-10 result in what became a remarkable break-out season was Nathaniel Blakely in 9^th. Close behind in an equally impressive break-out season was Remi Roth in 10^th place. Skyler Payne finished in 16^th, with Owen Shain close behind in 18^th, his season-best result. Rounding out the sophomore group was Alex Marshall in 22^nd.

The St. Francis JV team was again well represented with 6 riders showing up to battle Los Olivos. Austin Hamilton had a fantastic race, narrowly missing his first podium of the season coming in 6^th place, only 3 seconds behind 5^th. However, Austin was awarded a well-deserved 6^th place overall for the season in the JV division with solid results all season long. Senior Matt Kubly has competed in every mountain bike race for the Golden Knights since his freshman year, and has been an inspirational leader for the team this season. Matt wanted to go out feeling good about his hard work, and did just that with a season-best 19^th place! Also earning a season-best result was Hunter Nalley in 24^th, followed closely by Kenny Larsen in 27^th. Will Towne battled illness to finish in 33^rd, with Chris Perez close behind in 35^th.

The Golden Knight Varsity team was once again represented by junior Sean Bird and senior Scott Marshall. Like Matt Kubly, Scott Marshall was racing in his final SoCal league race and had something to prove. Scott has worked hard all season, improving his results each race. This week was no different with Scott Marshall finishing with his season-best 13^th place. Sean Bird has also raced extremely well this season, his first in the Varsity class. Sean narrowly missed the podium with another great 6^th place result, and also earned a 4^th place overall for the Varsity class for the season. Like all of the St. Francis Golden Knights, Sean completed every lap this season and earned bonus points that helped lock up his 4^th place overall result.

In two weeks, 14 members of the Golden Knight mountain bike team will travel to Marin County in Northern California to compete in the NICA California State Championships. If the results in Los Olivos are any indication, it looks like the Golden Knights are peaking at the right time and can hopefully achieve great results.

The Golden Knights mountain bike team is 100% volunteer managed and coached and is very grateful for all of the support they have received from the parents, alumni, and their generous sponsors, including: Design Imports, Hollandays, Merchants Building Maintenance, Mountain Pine Shutters, Strategic Law Partners, Nu-Hope, Kevin Martin/UBS, Stratz & Company, Financial Guaranty Insurance Brokers, Lucas Horsfall Murphy & Pindroh, Lantern CycleWorks, Montrose Bike Shop, Crescenta Valley Insurance, and Church and Larsen.  GO KNIGHTS!

Even though it's a race weekend, they still have to do homework. Dissecting a pig. 

What are they looking at?

The Los Olivos venue is the most beautiful location that we race at. 

Owen Shain has worked hard all season. 

Coach Nick doing what he does - VIDEO!

Andrew Palaski rippin' it!

Remi Roth had another great race - 10th place!

Sean Bird on his way to a great 6th place in Varsity. 

Matt Kubly in his final race being cheered on by alumni Christian Breitschwerdt

Can yoou tell that Coach Bird is happy with the overall results? Andrew Schiller in 8th place Freshman, Sean Bird 4th Place Varsity, and Austin Hamilton 6th place JV. 

Michael Vega and Andrew Schiller were "cooked" after the GREAT race! 11th and 7th in Freshman D1. 

Time to celebrate those results! (L to R) Austin Hamilton, Hunter Nalley, Sean Bird, Andrew Schiller, Andrew Palaski, and alumni Matt Misetich.