RAYTOWN, Mo. — USA BMX landed in Raytown over the weekend, hosting a national competition that included two nationally ranked riders from the Kansas City metro.
Lola Jonjevic and Eli Staton are among more than 200 riders from Missouri alone.
"We've been friends since I was 3 and she was 5," Staton said.
Now, at 13 and 11, the pair are representing the Kansas City metro and USA BMX well.
"You know Lola and Eli are the future," Chris Luna, USA BMX director of events, said. "That's our future. Those are the ones you're going to see one day probably in the Olympics and they're local here to town. They are top of their game nationally and the sky is the limit for those two."
Lola's father, Nate Jonjevic, told KSHB 41 he's "super proud" of his daughter.
"She's one of the hardest workers I know and deserves every bit of it," Nate Jonjevic said.
She, like so many riders, would love to compete at the Olympics one day.
"Oh, it would be killer," Nate Jonjevic said. "It would be so, so nice. It's a long road though. BMX racers tend to peak in their early to mid-20s. She's 13 today and so we've got another good decade of this before anything really happens."
More than 1,000 people, representing 39 states, participated at this weekend's event, according to Luna.
USA BMX has 300 tracks around the country, and there are two in the KC metro — one in Raytown and the other in Blue Springs.
