USA BMX Forms First TPS High School Team

USA BMX has formed the first high school racing team in Tulsa Public Schools and offered the team the chance to practice at the Hardesty National BMX facility in Tulsa, where professional and Olympic athletes train.

Edison High School has the first team, composed of 13 students, with most in high school, and several from elementary schools that feed into Edison.

Until other schools create teams, students can sign up and ride as part of Edison, regardless of the school they attend.

TPS Parent Carmon Drummond helped create the team with the help of USA BMX, and Jacob Nelson, the Track Operator at Hardesty.

“It's going to be amazing as it grows and builds and all the other schools get involved,” said Hardesty.

Drummond said her son wanted to do BMX, but with a school team, leading to her effort to start one.

“The goal is to get all of the TPS schools to have teams, so all the schools can come out and race each other at the track, and we can start having a school league,” said Drummond. 

The Edison Racing Team website has details on registration, which continues into September and is open to all TPS students. Nelson, the track operator, said USA BMX will help students from any school get started. Edison has scheduled an open house for Sept. 9, according to Drummond.

The track Edison uses is where several national champions have trained, including 2028 Olympic hopeful Payton Ridenour.

“There's no better way to train than train together, and it's really awesome we have a facility like the Hardesty National BMX Stadium to really jump start that,” said Ridenour.

USA BMX holds the annual championship races, the Grand Nationals, in Tulsa each November.