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Madison Major (Kathy Thomas Photo)
According to arizonamtb.org, the Arizona High School Cycling League (AHSCL) was organized in 2012 to provide competitive mountain biking programs for student-athletes in grades 9 to 12.
The AHSCL is part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) so the league has a 5-race schedule in late summer and fall:
Finished Races
Race 1: Sept. 13: Fort Tuthill County Park, Flagstaff
Race 2: Sept. 27: Pioneer Park, Prescott
Remaining Race Schedule
Race 3: Oct. 11: McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Fountain Hills
Race 4: Oct. 25: SARA Park Rodeo Grounds, Lake Havasu City
Race 5: Nov. 8: White Tank Regional Park, Waddell
One of the competing teams is the El Grupo Youth Cycling Club. The club is made up of cyclists from several local high schools including Salpointe and The Gregory School. The club team is coached by Ben Elias and Ignacio Rivera de Rosales.
Salpointe standout Madison Major is holding steady at fourth in the freshman class after the first two races. According to her mother, former University of Arizona swimmer and former Flowing Wells swim coach Becki Peduchi-Major, the athletes put in a lot of miles of training.
When I caught up with Peduchi-Major, Madison was already in bed by 8 p.m.
“Those kids ride so many miles each time out there rain, shine or devilish heat! Some of them ride 100 miles a day on the weekends,” Peduchi-Major explained.
“She had a hard one today,” she added. “Plus the race this last weekend. The course was so hard – 12 miles took 1.5 hours.”
Madison Major has been with El Grupo since she was 12 or three years all together.
“Cycling challenges me to be the best I can be and strive for the goals that I have wanted each year,” Madison explained. “I have done both road and Mountain biking races over the past three years, and I will not lie, I love road riding more than mountain biking.
“I am in high school this year and decided to give mountain bike racing a try to see if I would like it or not. I have done two of the five races so far. I made a goal before I did the races and my goal was to get on podium (top five). The first race was in Flagstaff and I was really excited to get fourth place. The second race was in Prescott and much harder and I still got podium with fifth place.”
Like all major club sports, cycling has a “Nationals” attached to it along and that was another rewarding experience for Madison.
“Last summer I had the experience to travel to Lake Tahoe for road bike Nationals. I did not place, but the experience was awesome,” Madison said. “I also was invited to Flagstaff over the summer to the Jr. National Talent ID camp. That experience was amazing as well.”
Southern Arizona Programs
El Grupo
Madison Major, 9
Ana Quintana, 9
Cole Lanning, 10
Patrick Kerwin, 11
Collin Hanes, 11
Avery Cronyn, 11
Juan Jose Melo Navaro, 12
Ben Schroeder, 12
Giancarlo Gomez, 12
Buena
Nash Dory, 12
Evan Boone, 10
Collin Dimattio, 10
Avery Baltunis, 10
Angelina Davis, 12
Jake Lane, 10
Alex Garcia, 12
Ashley Noll, 10
Anny Wilson, 10
Matthew Cuevas, 9
Andrew Lawley, 11
Luke Courtney, 10
Mikaela Jamka, 12
Quentin Francisco, 12
Jacob Linnemeier, 9
Jewelleona Walker, 9
Garrett Jones, 11
Kyle Perry, 10
Toby Clair, 9
Matthew Keith, 11
Atkin Hyatt, 9
Parker Hardcastle, 9
Braden Schade, 11
Shawn Sargent, 9
James Draeger, 10
Cienega
Kyle Rominger, 9
Nathan Schreiner, 9
Landen Morris, 9
Matthew Mcglone, 9
Noah Vigileos, 9
Sebastian Baldwin, 10
Justin Hinton, 9
Empire
Ethan Overson, 9
Alexandria Culp, 11
Tyler Overson, 12
Dillon Long, 9
Collin Kisiel, 10
Kyle Gannon, 11
Hunter Kahn, 9
Aiden Harrington, 10
Hunter Burns, 9
Ironwood Ridge
Kyle Benninghoff, 12
Nicholas Overleas, 11
Emily Taylor, 9
Jadon Hollar, 11
Charles Taylor, 10
Jon Rehrmann, 9
Oro Valley Composite
Caiden Plummer, 11
Nik Johnson, 12
Brian Heritage, 11
George Stypa, 11
Luke Hopkins, 9
Bryan Phielix, 11
Jacob Benzenhoefer, 11
Justin Farrell, 10
Tucson High
Caroline O’Neill, 11
Leo O’Neill, 12
Chloe Welch, 10
Isabel Hausrath, 11
Kyle Helmke, 11
Ripley Russum, 12
Kajeme Murrieta, 9
Colter Thomas, 10
Pearl Dixon, 12
Zaid Murrieta, 11
Walden Grove
Terek Deboer, 9
Devyn Deboer, 11
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Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014 and has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here, on AZPreps365.com and on the pages of the Vail Voice and the Tanque Verde Voice. Contact Andy Morales at AMoralesMyTucson@yahoo.com
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