Area racers in USCF Junior National Championships

A KCStar article today features junior racer Chris Hall and his teammates, who are racing in the USCF Junior National Championships in Park City, Utah this week:

Hall is just in his second season of cycling and has climbed to Category 3 – one step away from professional classification. Lawrence natives Joseph Schmalz, Garrick Valverde and Clay Weinaug and Parkville's Alex Edwards are competing in the 13-14 age division this week, and are all ranked among the top junior racers in the country. Ben Robertson of Austin, Texas (formerly of Lawrence), Austin Fick of Topeka and Dalton Luper of Sedalia, Mo., are also competing this week.

“There are 300 cyclists in Kansas, and we have six kids ranked in the top 25,” Whittaker said. “In California, there are about 8,000 cyclists, and they have eight ranked. It shows a really strong pattern of growth in cycling in this area.”