Midwestern State University Cycling didn’t find perfection in their Mountain Bike season finale last weekend in Abilene at the Cowboy Classic Mountain Bike race, but they did persevere to win the South Central Conference championship! 

Blake Keeling, Cole Barrera, and Mauri Maldonado of MSU Cycling finished 1-2-3 in the men’s race in the overall standings. Emma Kasza-James of MSU Texas won first place in the women’s A category, and teammate Gabby Wrightsman placed third. 

MSU Cycling Director Mario Arroyave said the event at Buck Creek trails was a fitting venue for the conference championship, as it was very technical and treacherous in parts of the trail. Kasza-James and Barrera led the charge for MSU with second-place finishes behind Sara Shannon and Trent MacDonald of host Hardin-Simmons, respectively.

“We had lots of things not go our way out on the trails, but our student-athletes found a way to deal with the adversity in a way that allowed us to widen our gap on the second-place team in the conference,” Arroyave said. “I didn’t mind that things did not go our way, and that our athletes had to find a way to still be successful. And successful we were.” 

MSU Cycling turns its eyes to the road season, which begins in January. Arroyave believes both teams have some unfinished business at nationals, and that will be a motivating factor.