Cycling Bids Goodbye to Graduating Seniors
Exeter’s cycling team had a successful 2016 season, placing second overall in the league. The small, co-ed team grew close throughout the season as they took on the challenges of several tougher races and enjoyed hard-earned victories.
The team opened up with a circuit race at Proctor Academy, where co-captain and senior Killian Dickson and upper Erik Carlson led the Exeter Boys A riders with fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively. On the girls’ side, senior Tessa Vaccaro had a strong showing at the season opener with a fourth place finish.
The next week, the team traveled to Killington Mountain School to compete on the school’s notorious 4-mile uphill time trial course. Once again, Dickson led the Exeter boys with an 8th place finish, while lower Sarah Shepley placed highest on the girls’ side with seventh place.
Lower Jamie Demopoulos commented on the difficulty of the race. “I'd say that the biggest challenge of the season was definitely the KMS time trial, since the race was pretty much uphill and it was a time trial so you didn't really have a great idea of how well you were doing until the end,” he said.
“The highlight of the season was probably the Exeter team time trial, since it was a home race and everyone really enjoyed the course.”
Despite the daunting elevation gain, Big Red Cycling powered through the mountain time trial, with many of the cyclists gaining confidence after conquering the tough course. Upper Audrey Hahn referred to the race as “one of the most painful experiences of my life,” but she also said that the experience ensured that she would never be afraid of the prospect of biking up another mountain.
A mere three days after the grueling KMS challenge, Exeter hosted its Exeter Team Time Trial on its home course. For the boys’ A race, the team of Carlson and Dickson was Exeter’s highest-placing team with a second place finish. Vaccaro and Shepley placed sixth to lead the Big Red cyclists on the girls’ A side.
Demopoulos commented on the excitement felt at one of the team’s rare home meets. “The highlight of the season was probably the Exeter team time trial, since it was a home race and everyone really enjoyed the course,” he said.
Following the short and fast-paced race at the Exeter team time trial, the team competed at the Holderness School Road Race the following Wednesday. This longer road race was a change of pace from the previous competitions. Both Dickson and Shepley led the boys’ A and girls’ A results with sixth place finishes.
As usual with many cycling races, the Holderness race saw a few accidents. “At Holderness, I was cut off by another racer and crashed about halfway through,” upper Josh Hemintakoon said. Luckily, Hemintakoon got back on his bike and finished his race for boys’ A.
Following the Holderness race, the team competed at an individual time trial at Proctor Academy. Dickson placed fifth as Exeter’s first boys’ A finisher, while Vaccaro finished an impressive third.
Following this individual time trial, the team had another road race, this time hosted by Gould Academy. The 22-mile course provided ample time for Big Red cyclists to display their prowess. Dickson placed third to to lead the Exeter boys, and Tessa Vaccaro won the girls’ A race in one of the most exciting races of the season.
The Gould road race was undoubtedly the team’s most successful competition, with Exeter turning out three divisional winners: Vaccaro won Girls A, prep Garrett Kimball finished first in the Boys B race, and lower Nikita Ivanov won the Boys C race.
Coming off such a successful road race, Exeter went into the New England Championships as the first-seeded team and confident in their ability to succeed. Hosted by Profile Academy, the championship saw many Exeter cyclists plagued by bad luck and unfortunate timing. Notably, Dickson flatted twice during the race and had to drop out, meaning that Exeter would lose valuable points in their pursuit for the New England title.
The girls’ side had a strong race at the championship, with Vaccaro, prep Ashley Lin and Shepley finishing 8th, 9th and 10th respectively. However, these finishes were not enough for Big Red to grasp the championship title.
Only two days after the somewhat disappointing New England championships, Exeter defeated Andover 200-91 at Exeter’s home course. While this landslide victory helped end the season on a high note, the team is not completely satisfied with this year’s results. With this season marking PEA cycling’s second consecutive second-place finish at New Englands, Big Red is hungry as ever to clinch the title next year.