The Warren Wilson College mountain bike team competed last weekend in Banner Elk, NC, at the Lees McRae College competition.  The women were lead by Becca Parish's third place finish in the DH.  Nina Otter also faired well finishing sixth in the STXC.  The men were lead by Phil Martin's sixth place finish in the DH and twelfth place finish in the DS.

Even with a stacked field in all of the events, the Wilson riders pulled in many strong finishes.  The men's Short Track was led by Linden Blaisus in 6th place, followed by Alec Hamilton in 15th, Josh Cooper in 16th, Aaron "meatlocker" Peet in 21st, and Arlo Blaisus coming in 30th in his first A race.  On the women's side, Nina Otter led the Owls with a 6th place finish, followed by Becca Parish in 10th, Ileana Anderson in 11th, Elisa Otter in 12th and Aubrey Delone in 16th.

The downhill race was decided by a matter of seconds, and Phillip Martin came in 6th, only 8 seconds behind the leader.  He was followed by Josh Cooper in 22nd, Linden Blaisus in 24th, Alec Hamilton in 32nd and Mike Tynan in 33rd.  The women were led by Ileana Anderson in a strong 5th, closely followed by Becca Parish in 6th and Nina Otter in 7th.

Our ladies rocked out the dual slalom with Becca in 3rd, Ileana in 7th, Nina in 8th, Elisa in 12th and Aubrey in 15th.  On the men's side, Phil came in 12th, followed by Alec in 20th, Linden in 21st, Mike in 28th and Josh in 29th.  All these finishes were in a strong field of 40 plus A riders.

The cross country race could easily be included in the chronicles of gnar-gnarnia.  It was epic to say the least.  Our ladies were led by Nina in 7th, Becca in 8th, Ileana in 9th, Elisa in 12th and Aubrey in 13th.  The men were led by Linden's 13th place finish, followed by Phil in 16th, Alec in 21st, Arlo in 26th and Aaron in 32nd.