Special to the Reporter

The Mercer Island Mountain Bike Team, consisting of middle school and high school riders, competed in the Methow Sidewinder race in Winthrop on May 15. The race featured 360 riders from across the state.

In the third race of the spring season, 14 Mercer Island middle school athletes raced to field a complete team. The middle school team finished ninth out of 24 teams in the final standings, and several team members set season-best placements in their division.

The conditions were unusually wet and cloudy for a race in the Methow, but produced some fast race results on the 4.5-mile course.

The scoring team members included the following:

Zane Shiers, sixth-grade boys, placed fourth with 91 team points.

Quinn Shiers, eighth-grade boys, placed sixth with 85 team points.

Scout Bates, seventh-grade girls, placed 10th with 77 team points.

Finley Bunker, seventh-grade boys, placed 10th with 77 team points.

Matthew Lawrence, eighth-grade boys, placed 10th with 77 team points.

The team had three high school athletes compete in the intermediate high school category of 66 riders. The Mercer Island athletes are Connor Auld (39th place), Taylor Yetman (40th place) and Benjamin Williams (41st place), who worked together through the race during the two laps of the 4.5-mile course.

The team qualified for the Washington Student Cycling League state final on May 21 in Spokane. For more information about the team, visit https://MercerIslandMTB.org.