Local riders get airborne

For 16-year-old Anthony DelVento of Sandy Hook, mining gold in the BMX competition....

For 16-year-old Anthony DelVento of Sandy Hook, mining gold in the BMX competition at the Nutmeg State Games is becoming a tradition. DelVento earned a gold medal for the third consecutive summer, winning the 15-to-18-year-old expert division at the Bethel Supercross BMX track Friday night.A rising senior at Newtown High, he dominated his class, finishing first in all three races."It's a fun race. It's fun to do something different," said DelVento, who also prevailed the past two years when Trumbull hosted BMX for the Nutmeg State Games.He's a regular at Bethel Supercross, one of four sanctioned BMX venues in the state."I race these kids every race basically so it's kind of the same," DeVento said.Approximately 50 riders, from 5-year-olds to teenagers to a half-dozen adults, participated in the event.Among the most notable was Tucker Schaefer, 17, a rising senior at Danbury High who is a standout cross country runner and wrestler for the Hatters. He's been doing BMX for some 12 years."I love riding my bike and jumping over everything and the competition," he said.Schaefer had no clue Bethel Supercross was hosting the Nutmeg State Games."I just showed up at the track and they were having it and I signed up," said Schafer, who plans to take part in the Nutmeg Games' track and field meet, which was rescheduled for Sunday because of last weekend's rain.