With adrenaline rushing through her body, Mercer Island cyclist Charlotte Westover ripped around the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome in Redmond with her teammates toward immense success on July 27.
When the results of the 10-lap Junior Women’s 15-18 Team Pursuit were revealed at the USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships, Westover and her three JBJ Minus Kelly teammates from the Jerry Baker Juniors squad notched the title with a time of 5:24.146.
Westover’s national champion cycling comrades were Wrenna Fuller and Rue Tomko of Bellevue and Sarah Lynch of Sammamish at the prestigious event, which featured an abundance of races from July 24-28.
The 14-year-old rising Mercer Island High School freshman, who graduated from Islander Middle School in the spring, also placed third in the 7.5-lap Junior Women’s 15-16 Individual Pursuit (4:21.8) and third in the Junior Women’s 11-16 Omnium, which is a series of group races.
In the team pursuit realm, one four-member squad at a time gets timed during their turn on the track.
“It was really exciting. I’m proud of all the work that myself and my teammates did,” she said. “It’s always really fun to think about the amount of strategy that happens in some of those races. Because, like with most sports, it’s just constantly pushing yourself as hard as you can. With biking, you have to think about what you’re going to do and what everyone else is going to do.”
For Westover, who got hooked on cycling at a summer camp at age 10, it’s her first national championship victory after competing at several previous competitions. In those events, she took second in one of the omnium races and third overall in the omnium.
After initially getting into cycling, Westover took a chance by joining a team and competing in races. It was so much fun that she kept coming back, she said.
“It’s both an individual competition and a team competition. You’re working both with your teammates and against them, depending on the race. And you can always hang out with your teammates in between races, too, which is always fun. You can talk about the races with them,” added Westover, who races on a weekly basis and thinks she’ll continue competing throughout her high school years.
Mike Westover noted about his daughter: “Charlotte has always been driven to test her limits, and doesn’t get intimidated by a challenge, even when her coach had her racing with adults as an 11 year old. She puts so much work into training, and it has been fun to see that pay off in her races.”
Before races, Mike offers this piece of advice to Charlotte: “I just tell her to go have fun. She is so thoughtful, and always has a plan for how she wants to approach the race.”
The Reporter asked Charlotte a series of questions to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her life:
What’s your favorite movie of all time?
“Harry Potter” because I always like reading those books a lot.
What superpower would you like to have?
I would like the ability to shape shift into anything I wanted.
What’s your favorite restaurant there on Mercer Island?
Probably the sushi place that we normally go to (Sushi Joa).
If you could go to dinner with one person, who would that be?
Charlotte Westover stands at the top right on the victory podium at the USA Cycling Junior Track National Championships on July 27 at the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome in Redmond. Photo courtesy of Tory Hernandez (@evrgrnphoto)
The Jerry Baker Juniors celebrate their national championship in the Junior Women’s 15-18 Team Pursuit on July 27 at the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome in Redmond. Photo courtesy of Tory Hernandez (@evrgrnphoto)
