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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield High School club mountain biking team began three years ago and has blossomed into a multi-team enterprise.
After having just six participants in 2015, Marshfield’s team has grown to 25 this season with boys and girls from sixth through 12th grades competing on middle school, freshman, sophomore, and varsity teams for coaches Brent Benson and Rachel Krentz, both of whom are teachers at Marshfield Middle School.
The idea for a team came in an email to Benson, a biking enthusiast, from a parent in the spring of 2015. He said he got the ball rolling, met with school administration, and started the club squad in July of that year. Six students signed up the first year, with the team expanding to 16 participants last season and now 25 this fall.
“The sport is growing throughout the state,” Benson said. “There were 500 kids and 35 teams last year, and the number is at 670 kids and 49 teams this year. The word is starting to spread and we’re getting more and more exposure.”
As part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association that began in 2009, the Wisconsin state mountain bike league is in its fourth year and thriving.
Marshfield is competing in five meets this season. The team has already ran in meets at Minooka Park in Waukesha, at Nordic Mountain near Wild Rose, and at the Trek headquarters in Waterloo. On Sunday, Marshfield finished second among the six Division 1 teams at Hayward. The Tigers wrap up their season Oct. 22 at Iola. Marshfield has also placed third at two other meets.
Sophomores Hoyt Hall, Ben Lawyer and Mihn Tyler, and eighth-grader Lauren Maki have all earned medals for finishing in the top five at different competitions.
“It’s pretty unbelievable to see the kids progress from year-to-year,” Benson said.
The team begins practice in July, riding two days a week for a few hours each day at Washington Elementary School. Benson said they start with the basics – going up and down hills and jumping off curbs to learn proper technique.
Once school begins in late August the team moves practice out the Marshfield School Forest and trains for the single- and double-track formats that are seen in the competitions. Single track is where only one bike can go down the trail at a time, while double track is when cyclists are side-by-side and they can pass.
The tracks are set up with obstacles such as rocks of varying sizes, going up and down hills, and even trees and branches that need to be navigated.
Courses vary from 4 to 6 miles and are set up for middle school riders to take about 40 minutes to an hour to complete.
“There are a lot of obstacles to go around or over,” Benson said. “There are rock gardens that they ride, rocks the size of coconuts or pineapples. You have to be able to run fast over them and use good technique so they don’t stop you. Rocks that are 4-6 inches high, trees, S curves, hills both climbing and descending…it’s a challenge.”
Other team members for Marshfield this season are senior Michaela Lawyer; juniors Adam Maki, Ben Baur, Molly Meyers and Nathan Wirthlin; sophomores Lucas Hoheisel and Alex Montalvo; freshmen Clinton Tompkins, Jacob Justice, and Mason Gustafson; eighth-graders Corbin Krueger, Kason Neinast, and Matt Begotka; seventh-graders Duke Green, Julian Clopton, Nolan Quarne, and Ohm-Alex Trivedi-Ziemba; and sixth-graders Jamie Boero III, Liberty Lewer, Luke Tompkins, and Peter Tompkins.