A life in motion: Taylor Wagner’s lessons from the trail

Photo: Owen Crandall // Neighbors of Park City.

Unlike with most traditional sports, where you can sit in the stands, get some food, then go home to a warm bed, mountain bike racing is a full-day event, requiring athletes and supporters alike to endure the sun for hours. At the high school level, the sport is governed by NICA, or National Interscholastic Cycling Association, which hosts 30 states across the US. Utah has the largest league, boasting 7,000 student-athletes across 94 teams in six different regions, where they compete in four races. All qualifiers come together in Cedar City for the State Championship. 

Regional races are held all over Utah, from St. George to Bear Lake, generally requiring two-plus hours of driving on the Friday before a Saturday event. Once you’re there, it’s a whole-day affair, with races starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m. Supporters run around the course, up and down dusty roads under variable weather conditions, cheering on their team. Then, before the podium ceremony, everyone works together to take down the course, finish line, and tents. Teams joke that their cheer squads are more exhausted by the end of the day than the racers themselves. 

Supporting another region’s race—especially while being a high school student who is at the top of her class and is a competitive racer—is no small feat. Taylor Wagner, a senior at Wasatch High School, doesn’t have to be there, but she always is, and her lively, positive presence never goes unnoticed. While Taylor races in Region 5, she’s made the effort to be at three Region 1 races to support her teammates. 

Taylor was born in Palm Springs, California. When she was four, her family moved to Midway, where her dad helped build the course at Canyons Golf. Through her elementary school years, she tried different sports and eventually settled on soccer, tennis, and mountain biking, all of which are competitive during the fall, and which kept her busy throughout middle school. At Wasatch High, she found out she could compete in only one high school–sanctioned sport per season. Mountain biking is unassociated with Wasatch, so she was able to continue with it—but had to give up tennis or soccer. She decided to focus her time on tennis, biking, and academics. 

With an impressive 4.0 GPA, Taylor has succeeded academically and was chosen to be one of Wasatch High’s 2026 valedictorians. Her coursework hasn’t been easy—she’s enrolled in multiple concurrent AP classes—but she manages this busy schedule, all whilst competing in two sports, being a member in both National Honor Society and HOSA (Future Health Professionals), and serving as head captain for the mountain biking team. Taylor was competitive in tennis up until her junior year, having played since her childhood in California. She was one of four girls selected to compete in singles as a freshman, then continued her success into her sophomore year, winning regionals with her doubles partner. 

At the same time, Taylor has competed in mountain biking. During her Junior Devo years (7th to 8th grade), she admits that biking was “a forced event.” Her brother was already on the team, so it was a convenient option for her to get outside and stay fit. Then, something clicked going into her freshman year—it became her choice to ride. She wanted recognition as a hard worker, to become the best by sheer force of will. Her efforts paid off: She landed at the top in three of the four regional races, earning her the coveted leader jersey and front-row start for the State Championship, where she placed 14th. 

Taylor’s momentum headed upward into her sophomore year, where she raced in JVA (Junior Varsity A) and made it to the podium multiple times. Her junior year was spent on varsity; she placed 4th and in the top 10 for the remaining races. During these three successful years, Taylor was managing a lot—from tennis tournaments and practices, to bike races and the start of her senior year. Taylor decided to devote her time to mountain biking, and she let go of her spot on the tennis team, recognizing that she needed more balance. She describes her freshman and sophomore years as being “thrilling” for her; however, the pressure to perform had become overwhelming, and riding began to feel like more of a stressor than the stress reliever it once was. 

Since then, Taylor has taken a moment to step back and reevaluate. She’s starting to realize that other people’s opinions about her results don’t matter, as long as she can keep her genuine love of sports alive. She inspires others with her hard work in varsity and her role as head captain for the Wasatch team. And her cheers go beyond the team: She supports the Park City riders of Region 1 by constantly showing up.

Taylor graduates from the bike team this month and hasn’t stopped wanting to achieve more goals. She continues to move her body in a healthy, productive way, and to explore the outdoors for as long as she physically can. Beyond biking, she has set broad “end goals” for life: academic vigor, having already applied to top colleges around the country; and plans for majoring in the health science field through a nursing or pre-med program. She hopes to find a fulfilling career and help others reach their own end goals. 

From her support across teams to her dedication academically and within sports, Taylor Wagner has shown what a true love of life is.