Titans cycle season for 2017 comes to an end

Senior varsity boys riders Vincent Huggins and Wesley Toups.

The 2017 NICA SoCal League high school mountain bike season came to an end in Tehachapi at the end of April. The race course consisted of a 6.5 mile loop that was primarily made up of single track with 650 feet of climbing per lap.

Titan Cycling had another strong day on course. Freshman Austin Moreno finished out his season with his fifth top-20 finish of the season.

Sophomores Kenny Thomas and Steven Iosbaker remained consistent with a 6th place and 21st place finish respectively. Despite a spill within half a mile of the finish line, their fellow sophomore Ethan Clark had his top placing of the season as well.

Kenny Thomas, one of the team’s top scoring riders this season, finished the season in 4th place overall. He was the highest season finish for any male rider.

Junior varsity Casey MacDonald finished the season with his highest placing of the year and  qualified for the state championships in Petaluma on May 14. Fellow junior, Ian Sirrs, completed his second season on the team, putting together a string of consistent finishes for the last two years.

Senior varsity captain Jenessa Sanchez remained consistent, finishing off her season with another top-15 finish in girls varsity. Jade West finishing in 17th place, had her best race of season.

When the boy’s varsity division finally took the course, they were greeted with high winds and dust.

“We could not be more proud of our two senior varsity boys,” said coach Robert Parks.  “Wes Toups, our top scoring rider of the season, had a difficult race but finished off the year in 12th place overall. In this elite field, that is a truly an impressive accomplishment.”

Fellow senior, Vincent “Vinny” Huggins, finished his final race of his high school career.  Over his four years of racing for the Titans, Vinny has competed in and finished every single NICA SoCal race – 23 races in a row.

On the team side, the Titans finished the day in 4th place overall but were able to secure 2nd place overall in the series – trailing perennial powerhouse Woodcrest Christian by only 11 points.  In four years of racing, this is the team’s best result for the series.

Throughout the year, it was a season of firsts for Titan Cycling: first male rider on the podium was Kenny Thomas with four podium finishes, first ever team podium at a race (Lake Perris – 2nd place team), first ever team overall victory, first four-year racers Vincent and Jenessa, first top-10 varsity finish (Wes at Vail 1, Keyesville and Vail 2) and the highest placing overall in the series as a team with a second place.

Coaches Robert and Kathy Parks said they could not be happier, prouder and more excited about these accomplishments. “We’d like to thank all of our supporters for helping us with this wonderful year,” said Robert.