Kasza-James takes third on two wheels

Port Washington High School junior Emma Kasza-James is fast on two feet and on two wheels.

James is one of the Pirates’ top cross country runners and finished third overall in the state high school mountain biking league this season.

For the junior varsity 2 boys, Kaden Kopp was 10th and Sam Strohl was 35th on the season.

For freshmen, Gabe Chandler was 43rd, Joah Kopp was 73rd and Drew Carlson was 75th.

Port finished 11th of 52 Division 2 teams for the season.

The Ozaukee County Composite team had three participants who earned season rankings.

Erin Hong was 11th in the varsity girls division. Hunter Thibert was 19th in the junior varsity boys, and Joseph Thibert was 63rd in freshman boys.

In the season’s final race at Trek Trails at Waterloo last month, Kasza-James was fourth, finishing the three-lap course in one hour, 10 minutes, 58.44 seconds.

In junior varsity 2 boys, Kopp was 13th on the two-lap course in 45:44.63 and Strohl was 35th in 49:52.53.

Chandler was 40th among freshmen in 55:25.6.

Port Washington’s team finished 15th in the event.

In the one-lap middle school competition, seventh-grader Vera Harris was 20th in 32:05.69 and Leena Suddendorf was 23rd in 33:02.71.

In the eighth-grade boys’ race, Griffin Sheriff was 62nd in 27:55.94, Brennan Shuster was 84th in 29:40.86, Charlie Nowak was 130th in 34:28 and Finnegan Pashak was 138th in 36:14.85.

Grafton had two competitors. Jacob Butler was seventh in the seventh-grade boys’ race in 23:24.94. Caleb Butler was 38th in the 30:38.92 in the sixth-grade boys’ race.

Erin Hong led the Ozaukee County Composite team by taking ninth in the three-lap varsity girls’ race in 1:18:41.19.

Hunter Thibert was 16th in the junior varsity 3 boys race in 1:11:36.92, and Joseph Thibert was 53rd in the two-lap freshman boys’ race in 59:59.54.

In the sixth-grade girls’ race, Samantha Madden was 26th in 35:52.24. Logan McClarty was 50th among seventh-grade boys in 28:43.55.

The event was the league’s largest in eight seasons with 1,098 riders.