Griffin Easter made sure the Fort Lewis College Cycling team didn’t leave Richmond, Va. empty-handed Sunday.
He won the 68-mile Division I men’s road race at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships in 2 hours, 42 minutes, 51 seconds, edging Stanford’s Tim Aiken, who finished three seconds after him, for the title.
“It was a dream,” FLC road coach Ian Burnett said. “It was a really cool opportunity that he worked really hard for.”
It was FLC’s second national title of the weekend to go along with Friday’s men’s team time trial.
Aiken and Easter worked together for much of the race’s late stages in a breakaway.
Zack Noonan finished third in 2:43:25 to put another Skyhawk on the podium.
Renan Maia of FLC took 25th at 2:43:46, and Max Thilen (2:44:26) and Dean Haas (2:44:27) finished 50th and 51st, respectively to round out the Skyhawks’ participants.
Marian University’s Coryn Rivera won the Division I women’s road race, finishing the 49-mile course in 2:13:10.
Jenna MacPherson took 18th for FLC at 2:16:34.
Sydney Edmonson was 38th at 2:18:33, Sofia Gomez Villafane took 46th at 2:21:31, Maddie Chaves came in 49th and Ivie Crawford rounded out the finishers for FLC in 53rd.
Saint Louis University’s Brian Dziewa won the Division II men’s road race in 2:48:22, and Brevard College’s Allison Arensman won the women’s Division II road race.
Marian clinched the Division I team omnium, which crowns an overall national champion, with 532 points.
FLC finished third with 356 points behind Lindenwood, which had 364 points.
“We’re ecstatic to be third and close out another season,” Burnett said. “It’s definitely not our strongest season, but we’re getting closer and closer to winning our first team championship on the road.”
Colorado-Boulder took ninth with 148 points, and Colorado State was 11th with 124 points.
Colorado Mesa won the Division II team omnium with 504 points.
Easter took second in the Division I men’s individual omnium, which combines results from the criterium and road race to determine an individual champion, with 227 points.
Lindenwood’s Brandon Feehery was first with 232 points.
Noonan took fifth in the individual omnium with 167 points.
Marian’s Coryn Rivera and Allie Dragoo went 1-2 in the Division I women’s individual omnium with 343 and 271 points, respectively.
MacPherson finished 23rd with 68 points.
Arensman won the Division II women’s individual omnium with 281 points, and Denver’s Brad Neagos was first in the Division II men’s individual omnium with 256 points.
The Skyhawks will return to competition in the fall in the mountain bike and track disciplines.
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