Ephraim cross-country bikers win medals
MIDWAY, Wasatch County—Two local teens won medals in the Utah High School Mountain Bike League South Region finals for middle school-age competitors held on the Olympic cross country course at Soldier Hollow in Midway.
The winners were Riley Oberg, son of Ky and Jamey Oberg of Ephraim, and Tyson Meade, son of Brian and Valerie Meade of Ephraim.
Riley and Tyson are among 25 middle school and high school students who participated during the summer and fall in the Sanpete County-Manti mountain bike team. The community-based program is organized and coached entirely by parent volunteers.
The mountain biking program is broken into two divisions, middle school and high school. During the 2016 season, middle school bikers raced at Powder Mountain, Eagle Mountain and Soldier Hollow. High school students competed at Powder Mountain, twice at Eagle Mountain and in St. George. Riley and Tyson were the only Sanpete County racers to win medals in any of the events.
The middle school finals held at Soldier Hollow drew 828 racers from Draper to Vernal to the Arizona border. The day was filled with 18 races with 30-90 participants per race. According to John Meade, Tyson’s grandfather, the challenging course has many inclines, twists and turns.
Meade said the finals exceeded any secondary school sporting even he had ever witnessed. There were literally thousands of spectators, many of them ringing cowbells to cheer on participants. “The cowbells rang over the whole valley,” Meade said. “It was louder than a BYU football game.”
Besides Riley and Tyson, members of the Sanpete County-Manti team included Aiden Gowans, Ammaron McQuivey, Andrew Lund, Brandon Christensen, Carter Mack, Cole Nielson, Cydni Anderson, Dane Seely, Indiana Cox, Isaac Olsen, Jacob Norris, Janna Thompson, Kai Adamson, Kollynn Olson, Korben Cox, Kyle Olsen, Kyler Kerksiek, Marcus Adams, Mark Olsen, Max Mickelson, Oakley Anderson, Riley Oberg,
Robert Kent Larsen, Samuel Cox, Thomas Adams and Tyson Meade.
Coaches and volunteers included Dallas Cox, Steve Gerber, Tyler Newton, Monica Nielson, Jamey Oberg, Scott Seely and Chet Thompson.
