Cali Cyclists Nab NICA Awards Honors

The NICA Community: Leadership, Partnership and Impact

Clif Bar and Company Volunteer Service Award

The Volunteer Service Award honors exceptional volunteers whose dedication of time, expertise and enthusiasm goes above and beyond to make a difference in the organization. The 2016 recipients are:

* Jon Francis, San Rafael Bike Dawgs, NorCal League

* Rich Vincent, 7220 Laramie, Colorado League

CamelBak Distinguished Alumni Award

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes student-athletes who carry on the spirit of interscholastic cycling beyond their high school years. The 2016 recipients are:

* Jason Christiansen, Pleasant Grove High School, Utah League

* Tristen Musselman, Northland Prep Academy, Arizona League

Shimano Race Production Partner Award

The Race Production Partner Award acknowledges individuals whose outstanding partnership role in race productions is key to the success of a league’s race event production. The 2016 recipients are:

* Matt Medore, SoCal League, Casino Bicycles

* Christian Falcon, Arkansas League

Quality Bike Products Community Impact Award

The Community Impact Award honors individuals whose dedication to interscholastic mountain biking has resulted in positive impacts on youth, the community and the organization. These individuals are outstanding representatives of the organization internally and externally. The 2016 recipients are:

* Calvin Jones, Stillwater Mountain Bike Team, Minnesota League

* Jesse Atwood, Unitah High School Mountain Bike Team, Utah League

Specialized Student-Athlete Leadership Award

The Student-Athlete Leadership Award honors student-athletes who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, sportsmanship, academic performance and volunteerism in their team, school and community. The 2016 recipients are:

* Marin Kammer, Lone Peak Knight Riders, Utah League

* Nichole Rusden, Twin Valley Mountain Biking Team, Pennsylvania League

* Edward Anderson and Josh Craig, St. Christopher’s School, Virginia League

* Grant Wilson, Marshall County High School, Tennessee League

REI / International Mountain Bike Association Teen Trail Corps Award

The Teen Trail Corps Award recognizes a student-athlete who has demonstrated respect, empathy and compassion towards other trail users by working both on and off the bike to build awareness and care for trails in the community. The 2016 recipient is:

*Spencer Ciammitti, Cactus Shadows High School, Arizona League

The NICA Way: Leagues, Coaches and Student-Athletes

Easton Foundations League Founders Award

The League Founders Award recognizes commitment, enthusiasm and perseverance and outstanding contributions in establishing and running a NICA interscholastic cycling league.The 2016 recipients are:

* Peter Hufnagel and Andrea Dvorak, Virginia League

* Kathy Mock and Don Edberg, Wisconsin League

SRAM Coach of The Year Award

The Coach of the Year Award acknowledges head coaches whose qualities as a leader and motivator embody NICA’s mission to provide student-athletes with the coaching and camaraderie to help them achieve both competitive and non-competitive goals in a safe and enjoyable manner. The 2016 recipients are:

* Mike Bagg, Yucaipa High School, SoCal League

* Heather Goodwin-Nelson, Provo Composite Team, Utah League

* Tim Leary, Great Valley Mountain Bike Team, Pennsylvania League

* Cathy McDonald, St. Croix Valley Composite, Minnesota League

Trek All-Star Student-Athlete Award

The All-Star Student-Athlete Award recognizes student-athletes for their outstanding achievements on the bike and potential for future success in competitive cycling. The 2016 recipients are:

* Gwendalyn Gibson, Ramona High School MTB Team, SoCal League

Gwendalyn is an extraordinary athlete. She began mountain bike racing in her freshman year at Ramona High School and slowly rose to greatness. As a freshman she placed in the top five finishers qualifying her to ride JV her Sophomore year. Gwendalyn came and swept every JV race. She has now won back to back JV and Varsity State Championships. She will be representing USA Cycling as she races across the world as well as planning to start college this fall. Gwendalyn is a hardworking and modest athlete while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. Gwendalyn awes her teammates with her spirit and dedication. She has been a rising star and truly found her passion for mountain biking through NICA.

“Being a part of the Socal league allowed me to grow as an athlete and now I get to travel the world to race my bike and meet so many amazing people along the way. No other event compares to the camaraderie and positivity that I’ve experienced at the NICA races and I feel really lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to be apart of that.” Gwendalyn Gibson

* Lia Westermann, Salt Lake Composite, Utah League

* Paul Fabian, Prescott High School, Arizona League

* Daniel Johnson, Independent Athlete, SoCal League

Daniel was arguably the most dominant male rider to come through SoCal to this point. He raced in an outstanding field and nearly won the SoCal JV series as a freshman. He then went on to win JV State Championships at Stafford Lake in Marin against both SoCal and NorCal riders. He won the SoCal Varsity series as a sophomore and was at the lead at States at Laguna Seca before an unfortunate incident cost him the race. He was recovering from a broken femur in the off-season of his junior year but still won three SoCal League Varsity series races. He then won Varsity State Championships at Los Olivos against both NorCal and SoCal riders. He dominated the Varsity series in SoCal as a senior then won State Championships for the second time in a row. Basically, for three years, if he was “on” in Varsity he was hard to beat. An incredibly gritty athlete and racer who is also now doing well at the Pro level.

NICA Courage and Legacy

NICA Legacy Award

The NICA Legacy Award honors an individual or organization for their tremendous philanthropic support of NICA and NICA Leagues. The 2016 recipient is:

* Brian Vaughan, CEO, GU Energy Labs

GU Energy Extraordinary Courage Award

The Extraordinary Courage Award recognizes student-athletes and coaches who have persevered through challenging circumstances and overcome adversity to develop and excel as model participants. The 2016 recipients are:

* Efose Oriaifo and Coach Nolan LaVoie, Woodberry Forest Mountain Bike Team, Virginia League

* Madeleine Hales, Alta High School, Utah League

About The National Interscholastic Cycling Association

Founded in 2009 as a 501(c)3 non-profit, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) develops interscholastic mountain biking programs for student-athletes and coaches across the United States. NICA provides leadership, services and governance for local leagues to produce quality mountain bike events, and supports every student-athlete in the development of strong body, strong mind and strong character through their efforts on the bike. As of 2017, NICA has 19 state and regional leagues, and 4,000 coaches who are working with over 12,000 student­-athletes from over 700 high schools in the USA.

NICA exists by virtue of generous sponsors, donors and partners, including our Lead sponsor Trek Bicycles; Platinum level sponsors SRAM and Shimano; Gold level sponsors Bicycling, Clif Bar & Company, Giro, Podiumwear, Specialized Bicycles and Quality Bicycle Products; and major sponsors CamelBak, Yakima, Maxxis, REI Co-Op, GU Energy Labs, Athletic Event Supply, Feedback Sports, and People for Bikes.

For more information on NICA visit www.nationalmtb.org or call (510) 524-5464.