The NCK Raptors hosted the final race of season four of Kansas NICA’s mountain bike race series, due to rain cancelling the Fort Scott race location the end of April. This new NICA race course was located at Lone Hill, only 1/2 mile southeast of Palen Family Farms featuring flowy downhill sections cutting through the beautiful Mitchell County landscape. Ten teams total visited North Central Kansas for the ‘Legends of Lone Hill’ NICA race held Sunday, May 26th. The teams joining the Raptors came from Topeka, Emporia, Hutchinson, Lawrence, Manhattan, Wichita, Louisburg, Olathe and Smokey Valley with 108 student athletes racing bikes for the last race of the season.
The junior high boys began the day at 9:30 a.m. completing two laps for 8th grade was Parker Williams coming in at 7th place, Zane Betzold in 14th, Brodey Schreiber in 15th and Luke Hartsock in 17th. The 7th grade boys competing with 2 laps were Clayton Underwood in 4th, Marcus Hollerich in 7th, Kylian Alvis coming in 8th and Devon Ackerman in 9th completing 1 lap. Racing in the 6th grade category with one lap was Ayden Voeltz placing 15th. The race laps were around 3.5 miles leaving the PitZone area to charge uphill and then ride along the ridgeline taking in views as far as the eyes can see.
The lady Raptors were the next wave with Norah Ellenz placing 1st in the JV category with four laps. The Freshmen ladies completing three laps were, Olivia Dail in 1st and Abby Rigney in 4th. Vanessa Underwood placed 6th and Anastasya Schreiber in 8th, both finishing two laps. The 8th grade ladies followed with Tennyson Donley in 1st, Izabell Dail in 3rd and Addisen Schreiber in 5th all with two laps. Elizabeth Palen, 7th grader, completed two laps for a 3rd place finish and Emmalee Dail also finished in 3rd place in the 6th grade category with one lap to complete the lady Raptors.
The HS boy’s race was delayed for a bit due to rain passing through, but they were back in action thirty minutes later. The Raptor’s JV boys competing were, Isaac Palen placing 2nd and Harlan Pancost in 4th, both with five laps. Colton Jeardoe finished in 5th for the Sophomore boys with four laps and Luke Hollerich came in 9th with 3 laps. Jeremiah Roderick placed 5th in the Freshmen category with four laps.
“The NCK Raptor athletes and coaches were excited to host the final race of the season at the new location of Lone Hill. All of us coaches are extremely proud of our athletes and look forward to season five in the spring of 2025,” commented Coach John McClure.
For more information about joining the team or to join as a coach, visit www.facebook.com/NCKRAPTORS. For more information about the Kansas League, visit www.kansasmtb.org.
