By Shannon Lukens. (Team photo courtesy Matthew Rochon)
Twenty athletes from Steamboat Springs competed in the Colorado High School Cycling League Championships at CMC in Glenwood Springs. The Steamboat High School team won the Division 2 overall category after winning all of the team competitions this season.
The Steamboat Mountain Bike team had top team results in three of the four categories for women. Whitney Warnke was 4th overall among 83 freshman girls. Anna Rhodes was 8th overall among 102 girls in the junior varsity category. For Varsity girls, Mary McLarnon was 5th overall and Eva Minotto was 10th.
There was one top ten result in varsity men with Aiden Haack in 6th.
Liz Lipscomb does disco, courtesy Pete Alfino
Team Director Paul Majors courtesy Matthew Rochon
The Steamboat team also won the highly coveted Team Spirit award, which showed the strongest team spirit out of 87 teams. Their theme was DISCO.
The Colorado league has more than 160 high schools, including teams from South Dakota, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Here are more details in a press release from Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club; Oct. 24, 2023.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – The Colorado High School Cycling League State Championship Spring Valley Scramble took place last weekend on the grounds of Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, October 21 – 22, 2023. Twenty athletes from Steamboat Springs competed in the event—twenty-three originally qualified. The Steamboat High School Mountain Bike Team won the Division 2 overall category, winning five of five team competitions for the season, the top ten finishers score points and are combined for a team score. The team also won the highly coveted Team Spirit award, showing the strongest team spirit out of 87 teams—this year’s theme at state championships was DISCO.
More than 850 riders competed in the races on Saturday and Sunday. Varsity men and women raced a 16.5-mile course and all other categories raced an 11-mile course. Steamboat Mountain Bike Team posted top ten results in three of the four categories for women and one top ten in the varsity men’s race. For the freshman girls, Whitney Warnke was 4th overall (83 freshman female competitors) after winning every race in the regional races. For the JV girls, Anna Rhodes was 8th overall (102 junior varsity female competitors), and for the varsity girls, Mary McLarnon was 5th overall (56 female competitors) after winning every race in the regional series, and Eva Minotto was 10th after placing 2nd in every race in the regional series. Aidan Haack also posted a strong result for the varsity boys with a 6th-place finish (95 male competitors).
Full Results for Steamboat athletes are listed in the chart below. Races with a Legacy after their name have raced all four years of high school. Six Steamboat athletes have achieved this distinction: Liz Lipscomb, Aidan Haack, Kyan Strong, Primo Famiglietti, Jace Rabesa, and Curtis Zanni.
The Colorado League has more than 160 high schools from Spearfish, South Dakota, to Taos, New Mexico. Team sizes range from five to 100+ riders. The 2023 race series has four regions: Yampa, Crystal, Piedra, and Platte. Steamboat Springs High School students and Steamboat Mountain School students race in the Yampa division. Each region has four races and the State Championships with top qualifiers from each region in each category. The Colorado High School Cycling League (Colorado League) is an independent 501(c)3 registered non-profit established in 2009. The Colorado League facilitates the development of interscholastic mountain bike cycling teams for grades 9 – 12. The program promotes positive youth development through interscholastic mountain biking for high school students in Colorado, southern Wyoming, northern New Mexico, and recently Spearfish, South Dakota.
The Colorado High School Mountain Bike League State Championship Results
| Results | Name | Category | Grade | |
| 5 | MARY MCLARNON | Varsity Girls | F | 10 |
| 10 | EVA MINOTTO | Varsity Girls | F | 10 |
| 41 | JESSE WEAVER | Varsity Girls | F | 11 |
| 50 | LIZ LIPSCOMB (LEGACY) | Varsity Girls | F | 12 |
| 6 | AIDAN HAACK (LEGACY) | Varsity Boys | M | 12 |
| 67 | KYAN STRONG (LEGACY) | Varsity Boys | M | 12 |
| 76 | PRIMO FAMIGLIETTI (LEGACY) | Varsity Boys | M | 12 |
| 82 | JACE RABESA (LEGACY) | Varsity Boys | M | 12 |
| 15 | THOMAS AGOSTA | Sophomore Boys | M | 10 |
| 16 | LUKE BEDELL | Sophomore Boys | M | 10 |
| 100 | MASON KEMP | Sophomore Boys | M | 10 |
| 8 | ANNA RHODES | JV Girls | F | 10 |
| 23 | RYAN MONTGOMERY | JV Boys | M | 10 |
| 124 | IAN MCLARNEY | JV Boys | M | 11 |
| 4 | WHITNEY WARNKE | Freshman Girls | F | 9 |
| 42 | LINDSAY BERKE | Freshman Girls | F | 9 |
| 69 | ALLISON REZNICEK | Freshman Girls | F | 9 |
| 72 | ALEIDA RICHTER | Freshman Girls | F | 9 |
| 52 | OSCAR LIBIN | Freshman Boys | M | 9 |
| 74 | JACKSON ROSENCRANTZ | Freshman Boys | M | 9 |