NAG Title Chase Update: Ladies Cruiser

Filed under General on May 09, 2018 | Comment(s)

USA BMX NAG POINTS BATTLES UPDATE:
LADIES CRUISER

May 2018 - Update No. 1  - by Jacob Smith

The USA BMX National Series has officially hit the 10-race mark following the Dixieland Nationals, which took place from April 20th-22nd. This weekend, both the Super Nationals (Desoto, Texas) and the Fraser Valley Nationals (Chilliwack, BC, Canada, the first Canadian National of the year) took place. Will all of this going on, right now seems like a good time to take a look at the USA BMX National Age Group Standings. The NAG Standings take each points-paying class (girls cruiser, cruiser, girls, Boys), divides the riders up into their age group, and ranks them based on the amount of National points they have earned over the season. USA BMX counts a rider’s best eight National scores, and any rider who has at least four National scores can be eligible for a NAG Plate. A NAG Plate is one of the most prestigious accomplishments a BMX racer can achieve in their career, and that is why keeping an eye on the current NAG points can be very exciting (and, of course, why racing at a National can be so awesome).

With all of this said, it is time to break down some of the biggest storylines going on the NAG standings right now. In what age groups are their close battles for the top spot? Who is on the verge of being in place to earn a NAG plate? Who should people keep an eye out for at upcoming Nationals? Hopefully, all of those questions will be answered here, and others as well. The girls cruiser groups will kick things off.

GIRLS/WOMEN CRUISER (Top Ten earn a NAG plate)

10 & Under - Breeanne Vaughan just recently moved atop the 10&under girls cruiser ranks, and she now leads Taylor Rungaitis by a slim 132 points. Tristin Pringitore also recently made a big push, and she has jumped from the No. 7 spot to the No. 3 spot, and is nearing the 1,000 point mark. Avery Jones just moved up from outside the Top Ten into ninth, and Annalyse Solano holds down the last Top Ten spot by 39 points over Emma Cavner.

11 to 12 - Savanna Stokes currently sits at No. 1 for the 11-12girls cruiser ranks, but Hannah Leakey is not far behind, as she trails Stokes by 48 points. There are a lot of talented ladies in this group, including Kylee Niederberger (who is third), and Danica Anderson (who is eighth). Isabella Nelson has now moved into the Top Five, and she only trails Christina Cunningham by 22 points for fourth. Also of note is Gabriella Pavone, who just jumped from No. 12 to No. 9 following the Dixieland Nationals.

13 to 14 - One of the top girl cruisers in the nation, Jordyn Miranda, is found here in the 13-14 class atop the NAG standings. Miranda has 1,922 points, which puts her a comfortable 359 points ahead of Deserae Romero, who is also a top girl cruiser nationally. Amanda Taylor just moved into the Top Five and crossed the 1,000 point mark, and Lola Petillo also made a big jump after moving from thirteenth to ninth.

15 to 16 - The 15-16girls cruiser class is definitely one to keep an eye on as the USA BMX season continues through its National Series. Three of the top national girl cruiser riders sit 1-2-3 atop the NAG standings here, and another just moved into No.4. Defending No.1 Champion Madelynn Desantis (doing it for the USA Cycling Jr.Devo squad) has now crossed the impressive 2,000 point mark, and passed Tiffany Huber for the No. 1 spot as a result. Huber trails Desantis by 126 points, and leads Caitlyn Farmer, who is seated third, with 222.
Throdwn's McKenzie Gayheart is making waves after the Dixieland Nationals by jumping from the eighth spot to the fourth spot, and Grace Padilla just moved into a NAG plate spot by going from eleventh to tenth.

17 to 20 - This is perhaps the most loaded girls/women cruiser class out of them all, and any evidence needed can be found when looking at the battle for the No. 1 spot. Carly Jacobs currently holds it with 1,781 points, but now Korie Gilbert has exploded into the No. 2 spot with 1,774 points, and Sumiko Yuki sits 3rd with 1,729 points. That’s just 52 points separating the three of them, but attention should also be on the class as a whole, as nine ladies have over 1,000 points, and sixteen currently sit in the Top 100 nationally for girls cruiser. Props in particular to Skylar Schaetz and Anna Beynon for recently moving into the Top Ten.

21 to 30 - New leader alert! Jamie Reed has moved from fourth to first in the 21-30women cruiser class, and she leads Meghan Matthews by 51 points. Devan Wilson sits third and is just 101 points behind Reed, and then Erin Moore and Amber Sterriker round out the Top Five. Cheyenne Noud (twelfth) and Sarah Smith-Bradford (fourteenth) have moved into the NAG plate conversation following the Dixieland Nationals.

31 to 35 - Carley Young is in firm control of the 31-35lady cruiser group, as she leads 2nd-place Nicole Martinez by 490 points. Heather Allred has made some moves after the Dixieland Nats, as she is now in sixth place in her first 2018 appearance in the standings.

36 to 40 - Roshelle Pearson is the woman holding down the 36-40women cruiser ranks, as she leads Trish Hartman by 288 points. Hartman is coming off of a big jump in the points, as she went from fourth to second, and went from under 1,000 points to nearly 1,500. Also making some big jumps recently were Sarah Anderson and Sarah Nees. Anderson went from twelfth to seventh and directly inserted herself into a battle for a NAG plate, while Nees went from outside of the Top 15 to thirteenth, and she trails tenth place Katarzyna Olone by 144 points.

41 to 45 - Rebekah Abbe is the new leader of the 41-45women cruiser Standings. Abbe went from second place and 69 points behind Neven Steinmetz to the top of the leaderboard and 423 points ahead of Steinmetz! Erin Ramsey has made a big surge after the Dixieland Nationals elsewhere in the standings. Ramsey was previously fifteenth with 290 points, but now she is in eighth with 702 points.

46 to 50 - Holly Barsocchini is currently the queen bee of the 46-50women cruiser class. She sits atop of the standings and is in control of the No. 1 plate for the time being, but Melissa Woodruff did just make a jump from fourth to second, and neared the 1,500-point plateau as well. Old school BMXers might recognize Woodruff's name from her early Pro days - twenty years ago, and the former Holly Dunn was quite unbeatable in her younger days of the late 80's/early 90's.

Elsewhere in the group, Mia Rittenhouse just moved from seventh to fifth, Bonnie Marsden just lept from twelveth to sixth, and Paige Gordon went from outside the Top Fifteen to thirteenth.

51 to 55 - Marcia Caron is still the leader of the 51-55women cruiser standings after the Dixieland Nationals, but she has company near the top of the leaderboard. Marjorie Kaminski and Cynthia Pappas both made leaps after Dixieland, as Kaminski went from fourth to second, and Pappas went from sixth to fourth. Marcy Davis holds down third, and Robin Vold sits fifth.

56 & Over - There has been no recent movement in the 56 & Over group. Jenna Staples still leads Laurie Wolf by 289 points for the top spot, and Suzanne Borland, Adrianne Chang-Fields, and Maggie Eden are still in a tight battle for third (all three are separated by just 11 points).

*National girls/Women cruiser Update (Top 99)* - While on the subject of the NAG standings, a look at the National standings would be a good idea as well. This is where every rider with National points gets ranked no matter what their age is to determine who earned the most points overall for that subject of bike (girls/women cruiser, cruiser, girls/women am, boys/men am), and in a way, it can determine who was the top rider for that subject for the year.

Looking towards the top of the lady cruiser National standings, one can see that Madelynn Desantis just moved up from fifth to 1st, and is the first women cruiser rider to cross the 2,000-point mark on the season. Jordyn Miranda now trails Desantis for the top spot by just 92 points, and Tiffany Huber still sits in third, and now trails Desantis by 126 points. Holly Barsocchini and Carly Jacobs round out the Top Five overall. Korie Gilbert and Rebekah Abbe were two of the most notable leapers in the group, as Gilbert moved from twenty-first to sixth, and Abbe went from twenty-fourth to ninth.