By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


The Brighton Cycling Club team has come to dominate the world of youth mountain biking and cycling in Michigan and now has won its 8th straight state championship. The club, consisting of 102 members in 1st through 12th grade, competed for and won, the Michigan Scholastic Cycling Association championships, held Sunday at the Cannonsburg Ski Area near Grand Rapids. Brighton finished first in the competition, followed by Huron Valley United of the Milford area and, in third place, the Lake Orion Schools.

In 2020, the team won the state title at Rochester Hills in a season that was abbreviated because of COVID. The head coach of the Brighton Cycling Dogs this year is Greg Giles, who replaces TJ Tyrrell, who remains as a volunteer and assistant coach. Giles says he is “super proud of all the kids and their tremendous effort this season and appreciative of all the parental help in keeping the program going.”

In individual results, the victor for Brighton in High School Scholastic Division 1 was Brighton High School junior Hunter Post with 117 points. Another Hunter - Hunter Bell - tied for second with Katherine Droese with 114 points. In the middle school division, 7th grader Ashley Cranston of Brighton finished first with 79 points and Anna Giles was second with 76 points. Howard Brock, competing on the Brighton Composite team, finished first in varsity male with 93 points.

Giles says Brighton actually fielded two teams: the Brighton Area Schools and Brighton Composite. The difference between the two is the Brighton members are students in the Brighton Area Schools while the composite members are from several different schools in the Brighton area such as Hartland and Pinckney. Giles says even though they compete separately in meets, they practice together as one unit. He credits their success to the dedication of the team members and adds that a major component is the 50 or so adults who act as volunteer assistant coaches.

The Brighton Cycling Club’s annual awards banquet will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd at the Crystal Gardens Banquet Center in Genoa Township. Although the MISCA season is now over, some members will continue to compete in individual events this fall, with the biggest competition being the Ice Man race in Traverse City on Nov. 6th.

The Michigan Scholastic Cycling Association (MiSCA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that enables communities to develop K-12 youth mountain biking programs across the state. It now has over 900 youths and 300 coaches in programs around Michigan.

Individually, the highest achievers for the Brighton Cycling Club finishing their series in the top 10:
Katie Droese (Junior) - 1st Place Female Varsity
Hunter Post (Junior) - 2nd Place Male Varsity
Hunger Bell (Junior) - 4th Place Male Varsity
Eli Cranston (Senior) - 6th Place Male Varsity
Liberty Abington (Sophomore) - 7th Place Female Varsity
Andrew Lutz (Junior) - 4th Place 11-12th Grade JV
Zack Witte (Junior) - 7th Place 11-12th Grade JV
Sophia Bell (7th Grade) - 4th Place Advanced Middle School Female
Anna Giles (7th Grade) - 5th Place Advanced Middle School Female
Ashley Cranston (7th Grade) - 4th Place Advanced Middle School Female
Austin Claar (Sophomore) - 7th Place 10th - 12th Grade Novice Male
Sawyer Voss (Freshman) - 2nd Place 9th Grade Novice Male
Jude Osterman (Freshman) - 9th Place 9th Grade Novice Male
Olivia Fribley ( Sophomore) - 5th Place 9-12 Novice Female
Carmen Vogt (8th Grade) - 1st Place Novice 8th Grade Male
Olivia Babas (6th Grade) - 9th Place Novice 6th-8th Grade Female
Olivia Pobocik (5th Grade) - 1st Place Advanced Elementary Female
Ainsley Lutz (5th Grade) - 8th Place Upper Elementary Female