Mountain biker battle has one race left

The battle between eighth-grade mountain bikers Emma Kasza-James of Ozaukee County Composite and Kendra Schmitt of Washington County Composite stayed hot last weekend in Wausau.

With a bike-length lead with more than a quarter of a mile up a hill to the finish line, both pushed as hard as they could go.

Kasza-James ended up edging Schmitt by 1.3 seconds at the finish line, for a time of 25 minutes, 12.3 seconds.

Kasza-James struggled to stand after getting off of her bike and said it was the hardest race she has ever done.

She held a lead on Schmitt for the entire race, creating a gap and then watching it close after getting held up in traffic.

The pair are tied at two wins apiece with the state title to be determined in Waterloo on Sunday, Oct. 21.

In the seventh-grade girls’ race, Reese Kasza-James, who often starts slow, began the race quickly, vaulting into third place. But the course didn’t suit her strengths, designed more for power riders than for technical single track bikers.

“But Reese kept it positive and gave everything she had for this type of course,”  coach Anthony James said.

She managed to finish in 29:00.9, good for eighth place of 33 riders.

In the freshman girls’ race, Ozaukee Composite’s Erin Hong began in back of her wave but came back to finish in 1:03.18.7, 10th of 19 riders.

In the seventh-grade boys’ race, Kaden Kopp started in the last row of the second wave but a solid effor led to a time of 27:30.6, good for 13th of 67 bikers.

In the freshman boys’ race, Ronan Monahan fought illness and starting in the last row of the second wave to finish in 1:01:21.8 — 33rd of 40 division 1 competitors.