Charlsie Donnelly.

The name is unusual, and the girl herself is one of a kind -- for more reasons than meet the eye.

Just ask the woman she calls her bicycling "coach," Shelley Reynolds.

Even though Donnelly, of Van Etten, is state champion in her age group, she's not apt to tell anyone, Reynolds says. "She's very focused, very motivated, very humble -- and a lot of her friends don't have a clue what she does. Nobody at her school knows how phenomenal she is."

Donnelly, 16 and a junior at Spencer-Van Etten High School, is the youngest member of Reynolds' Mission in Motion Cycling Team, the first all-woman team in central New York.

"Last year I had the honor of taking her to many races and supporting her as she proudly raced for Mission in Motion and Tioga Velo Club (TVC)," Reynolds says.

Now Donnelly bears several titles: the New York State Junior Women's Road Race Champion, NYS Junior Women's Criterium Champion, and NYS Junior Women's Time Trial Champion.

Thanks to the support and donations of the Tioga Velo Club, Mission in Motion Cycling Team and many TVC cyclists who just wanted to contribute to Charlsie's racing, she also participated in the United States Cyling Federation (USCF) Junior National Championship races, Reynolds says. At USCF Nationals, she placed sixth in her time trial and eighth in her road race among the best young riders in the country.

But not only is this blue-eyed girl a champion in the world of biking. She has also taken on serious medical challenges in her young life.

Surgery removed part, but not all, of a brain tumor that was discovered when she was 10 years old.

"It was very bad," Donnelly says. In the days that followed, she couldn't move her right side. Weeks of intensive therapy helped her regain her lost functions.

To strengthen her immune system, she embarked on a strict regimen that involved plenty of alternative methods.

She started biking seriously when she was 12 or 13. She was on a 60-mile course in Owego when she noticed that she completed it before some other cyclists completed a 30-mile course.

Reynolds, she says, got her started and has encouraged and supported her along her meteoric rise in the world of cycling.

Just prior to nationals, tests revealed the presence of another brain tumor.

That was news Donnelly kept mostly to herself.

Almost two months ago, she endured another surgery. Two days later, she and Reynolds were walking laps in the pediatric I.C.U.

She'll be able to return to competitive cycling within weeks -- and in the meantime, she's practicing in her basement by watching training DVDs.

She can't wait to get back to the pastime she loves.

"When I'm racing I get all nervous and pumped," she says. She's planning to go to a college -- one with a racing team -- as she pursues a career in either nutrition or coaching.

Reynolds calls Charlsie Donnelly "her hero."

"She truly has the heart of a lion," Reynolds says, "and the face of a lamb."