The Essex Offroad Mountain Bike Team took second place in the Gloucester Gasser Race at Rowan College on Sunday. The team is comprised of 25 students from Bloomfield, Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Maplewood, Montclair, South Orange, West Caldwell and Verona, and Verona riders were, once again, key to the results.
Cole Smith, a Verona High School junior, earned second place in the varsity division, coming in just seven seconds after the first place finisher. Nina Machnowski earned first place in JV girls, and both maintained their green overall points leader jerseys for their respective classes. Jack O’Neill, a student at H.B. Whitehorne, earned a fourth place finish in the eighth grade division.
The team’s next race is Chester Championship Challenge on Sunday, June 4. The New Jersey Interscholastic Cycling League is a chapter of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA).
