Defending champ Tobin Ortenblad takes second in state high school mountain bike championships

Marin Catholic’s Taylor Smith held off defending champion Tobin Ortenblad, a Santa Cruz resident and Pacific Collegiate School student, by one second in the boys varsity race at the state high school mountain bike championships in Los Olivos on Sunday.

Smith, who placed third in the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League this season, crossed the finish line of the 24-mile race in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 54 seconds, according to preliminary results posted on the NCHSMBL website. Ortenblad, who was fourth in NorCal, followed in second [1:06:55] and the Drake Pirates’ Lucas Newcomb was third [1:06:56].

Also from Santa Cruz County, Jacob Albrecht [Santa Cruz Composite] — the NorCal season champ — was fourth in 1:07:29.

I’d say #norcal brought the pain to the state champs this weekend! #sufferfest

— Tobin Ortenblad (@McTubbin) May 21, 2012

Redwood High School’s Josie Nordrum won the girls varsity race with close to a three-minute lead over the next closest finisher.

In the team standings, Sir Francis Drake High School won Division 1 and Spartans High School Mountain Bike Composite won Division 2.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Santa Cruz’s Jacob Albrecht finishes runner-up in Boggs Mountain Classic

Marin Catholic’s Taylor Smith captures the win

Santa Cruz High student and Santa Cruz Composite rider Jacob Albrecht followed up his first NorCal High School Mountain Bike League win of the season with a second-place finish in the Boggs Mountain Classic on Sunday.

Marin Catholic’s Taylor Smith won the 24.8-mile boys varsity race in 1 hour, 46 minutes, 14 seconds, according to results on the NorCal website. Albrecht followed a mere three seconds later. Salinas’ Bryan Duke, the overall standings leader, placed third in 1:46:41.

Duke now has 2,162 points in the standings, Albrecht has 2,144, and independent rider Brandon Dillard is in third with 1,938.

The sole other Santa Cruz County rider at the varsity level, Tobin Ortenblad — the defending state champ — placed eighth after getting held up by a crash near the start and suffering a penalty. He finished in 1:56:58.

In the standings, Ortenblad is ranked 18th with 1,553 points.

The 18.6-mile girls varsity race was won by the Branson Bulls’ Kate Courtney, who crossed the finish line in 1:34:50.

Santa Cruz County did have two winners Sunday, though. They were Aptos High’s Steffen Andersen, who dominated the boys frosh race in 1:04:06, and the SCC’s Tom Foxx, who won the soph boys race in 1:33:02 with almost a full-minute lead over the next closest competitor. The distance in the frosh race was 12.4 miles and the distance in the soph race was 18.6 miles.

The next NorCal High School Mountain Bike League event is the NorCal Championships, which are scheduled for May 6.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Santa Cruz’s Jacob Albrecht conquers ‘Hurl Hill,’ wins Laguna Seca Grand Prix

Santa Cruz High student and Santa Cruz Composite rider Jacob Albrecht pulled away from the boys varsity pack on the final climb of the Laguna Seca Grand Prix, dubbed “Hurl Hill,” and held on for the win on Sunday.

The race, at the Laguna Seca Recreational Area in Monterey, was the third NorCal High School Mountain Biking League event and the one with the toughest hills this season.

Albrecht finished the approximately 25-mile trek in 1 hour, 32 minutes, 57 seconds. He was followed by Marin Catholic’s Tyler Smith [1:33:04, second] and Salinas’ Bryan Duke [1:33:14, third].

Independent rider and Pacific Collegiate School student Tobin Ortenblad, the defending state high school mountain biking champion, placed fourth [1:33:23], and the Branson Bulls’ Eliel Anttila rounded out the top five [1:36:02].

Albrecht’s victory boosted his points in the standings; although, he’s still in second behind Duke, who won the first two races of the season. The margin between them narrowed, with Albrecht having 1,604 points to Duke’s 1,631.

Albrecht wasn’t the only mountain biker from Santa Cruz County to bring home a win. Tom Fox [SCC] won the sophomore boys’ 15-mile Division 2 race and Aptos High’s Steffen Andersen won the frosh boys’ 10-mile Division 2 race.

Fox’s win came with a decent lead over runner-up and teammate Chance Tiner. He crossed the finish line in 1:02:15 to Tiner’s 1:03:10. Andersen, though, eked his out, edging Santa Cruz Mountains Composite rider Joe Van Pykeren by two seconds, 41:04-41:06.

The girls varsity race was won by Josie Nordrum of Redwood High [1:24:15]. She leads the girls standings with 1,621 points.

In the team standings, Redwood High is leading in Division 1 with 11,533 points. The Georgiana Bruce Kirby team is the sole Santa Cruz County squad in Division 1 and is currently in 12th place out of 14 teams with 8,744 points. In Division 2, the Spartans High School Mountain Bike Composite leads with 6,071 points and the top Santa Cruz County squad is the SCC, in eighth of 32 teams with 4,532 points.

The next NCHSMBL event is scheduled for April 15 at the Boggs Mountain Demonstration Forest in Cobb.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter at CGullTweets

Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad, Jacob Albrecht finish in top 5 of NorCal mountain bike race

Handful of SC County riders capture wins in non-varsity races

Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad, the defending state high school mountain biking champion, placed second in his return to the NorCal High School Mountain Biking League after sitting out the first race to rest up from the cyclocross season, in which he represented the United States at worlds in Belgium.

The independent rider who attends Pacific Collegiate School finished the Central Coast Classic boys varsity race in 1 hour, 35 minutes, 5 seconds in what was a race to the finish line in Monterey on Sunday.

Bryan Duke, who won the NorCal opener last month, crossed the finish line in 1:35:02 to secure another victory for Salinas.

Third-place finisher Taylor Smith of Marin Catholic finished in 1:35:06, Tamalpais High’s Skyler Taylor was fourth in 1:35:32, and Santa Cruz Cycling Composite’s Jacob Albrecht rounded out the top five in 1:36:57.

In non-varsity races, a handful of Santa Cruz County riders, including Maddie Ortenblad — Tobin Ortenblad’s younger sister — Chance Tiner and Steffen Andersen also found success.

Tiner [Santa Cruz Cycling Composite] won the Division 2 sophomore boys race in 1:03:33 with a two-second lead over teammate Tom Foxx.

Andersen, of Aptos High, won the Division 2 frosh boys race in 43:59 for a seven-second lead over the next closest competitor.

Maddie Ortenblad, who rides as an independent, won the girls frosh race in 50:28 with a 25-second lead over the next closest competitor.

The next NorCal HSMBL race is the Laguna Seca Grand Prix in Monterey, scheduled for April 1 (no joke).

Results included in this report came from the NorCal HSMBL website. Early results are always preliminary. If you see what you think is a mistake, the league encourages you to contact pgoes-at-speakeasy-dot-net.

Neither team results nor standings were available as of the morning of March 21 but will likely be posted in the NorCal HSMBL results area in the coming days.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter at CGullTweets