Season Finale! Race 6 @ Novi Tree Farm

The final race of the season dished up several individual state championship awards, as well as a team victory for the Elementary Team and the High School Team. In all, the Coyotes came home with heads held high and a successful season under their belts.

Our Elementary Team defended their state title meaning they are still the only team to have ever won a state title in Mountain Biking (the award was established last year when they also won in convincing fashion). Our High School Team won it’s fourth-straight state title (by nearly 200 points), continuing the run that started in 2019.

Several Coyotes went home as State Champs this year, with several more on the Overall Series Podium. We’ll honor them here, first before we get to the rest of the results. MiSCA awards series podiums to the top three riders in the state for each classification. Your best five races count, so anyone who missed a race, DNF’ed, or just had a bad day is still in the running. This year, there were four Coyotes atop the series podium!

State Champions:

Reese Drajka, Girls Advanced Elementary
Tristan Hubbard, Novice Boys 6th Grade
Laila Hubbard, Upper Elementary Girls
Henry Wert, Novice Boys 7th Grade

Series Podiums

Haydon Frehr, 2nd, Boys JV 11-12
Sammy Weaver, 2nd, Girls Advanced Elementary
James Broughton, 3rd, Boys Lower Elementary
Drake Marine, 3rd, Boys JV 9-10
Anabel Miller, 3rd, Varsity Girls

Annual MiSCA Coaches Race

“The longest running mountain bike race in Michigan”

“An epic tour of Michigan’s fall forests”

“The hardest single-day event I’ve ever raced”

“The largest mountain bike race in North America”

“Too confusing. Too extreme.”

These are but a few of the statements uttered by racers at other events… but certainly not the costumed 3.6 mile MiSCA coaches race. In the annual display of old folks trying to avoid injury and cardiac arrest, NINE Coyotes coaches lined up atop a hill, sprinted down it on bum knees and weak ankles, and raced their way to glory. Calling it “the best crowd ever assembled to cheer on a bike race” wouldn’t even begin to be accurate in any way. But “somewhat hilarious, and a little scary” would be a perfect description.

This annual MiSCA Coaches Race, in which coaches dress in costume and pretend they’re still faster than their children, is a time-honored and somber affair in the MiSCA calendar. While Rob “American Thor” Martin won the title last year, the Coyotes were unable to crack the podium this year. The shame is real. Ambulances were on site and ready to rescue the aged weekend warriors as they attempted to relive their youth during the 20 minute, 3.5 mile race. Results below.

Coaches Race Results

Name	Costume	Costume Commentary & Rating	Place
Courtney Roberts	The 1980s (all of them)	Coach Courtney’s costume brought us all back to the neon-filled 1980s, a simpler time when bike races didn’t start with a terrifying hill-run and dangerous bike handoff in a chute filled with small children. It was touching. She was flying.	4th
Brett Pankey	Nino Schurter	Coach Brett channeled the speed and excellence of the Swiss champion to ensure the Coyotes had a top 10 finish in this critical race. Well done, Brett. Your team salutes you!	10th
Chris Boer	Joe Exotic	In a sequined tribute to Netflix’s biggest star (and the best theme song of our coaches this year), Coach Chris successfully escaped from Carole Baskin… this time. What’s happenin’	15th
Jeff Drajka	Big Red Riding Hood	Coach Jeff’s costume made me slightly uncomfortable. I had to look away. It was a mix of Little Red Riding hood and Oktoberfest Beer Waitress. The cape would have made a great mid-race weapon a’la Mario Cart.	21st
Adam Darnell	Left Shark	Coach Adam went old school, with a tribute to the best Super Bowl meme of 2015: Left Shark.	23rd
Brian Miller	A hot dog	Coach Brian’s touching and heartfelt tribute to the official food of most Coyotes race-day BBQs left the crowd speechless. Not really.	37th
Andy Richardson	Penguin	It was easily the warmest costume on the course. Had the weather been 15-20 degrees cooler, Coach Andy might have won the entire race.	41st
Paul Weaver	The Big Bad Wolf	Big Red Riding Hood escaped early and The Wolf never quite recovered. Coach Paul wore the wolf hat with pride.	49th
Steve Lilly	NINJA	Coach Steve claims he forgot his costume, but the all-black Ninja outfit was stellar.	80th

Actual kids’ race review and results

Amidst the end-of-season excitement, the crowning of state champions, and the hubub of the coaches’ race, MiSCA held a stellar race on a fun (and incredibly flat) course. Hill climbers may not have rejoiced, but the twisty singletrack of the Novi Tree Farm had Bass River aficionados drooling with excitement. As has become the norm this season, the Elementary Team and the High School Team took home victories. Our small Middle School Team fights valiantly for their fifth-place finish on the week, but without more riders, they were just too outnumbered to post a team win at this time (here’s hoping for more MS’ers in 2023!).