Mountain bikers from Durango have scored four national championship already this week in Winter Park.
On Thursday morning, sisters Anna and Leah Morozowich were each others biggest competition in the girls 11-12 championships. The two Durango DEVO cyclists left their competition behind and sprinted to the finish together. Anna, however, was able to cross just ahead of Leah to win the Stars and Stripes jersey in 50 minutes, 8 seconds. Leah finished one second later while the third-place rider was 4:07 back.
In the short track championship Friday, Leah finished 10th while Anna finished 12th.
Trish Thomas of 2nd Ave Sports/Stans Cycling Team also scored a national title on Thursday, winning the women’s Cat 1/2 title in the 45-49 division by 1:13 in 1:25:42.
DEVO also defended its national title from last year in the team relay. Orrin Bleth, Guy Leshem, Maddy Glotfelty and Jesus Vargas combined forces and won the championship race by almost a minute in 35:50.
On Friday, Lauren Aggeler of Team Segment 28 scored the women’s junior 17-18 Cat 1/2 national title in 1:22:58, besting her closest competitor by almost four minutes. Bailey Cioppa finished sixth in the race for Bear National Team (+5:58).
Other Durango cyclists have also had strong performances. Kye Cordes finished fifth in the 19-29 cross-country men’s championships, and Danica Brabec crossed second in the women’s race.
Owen Morozowich took fourth in the boys 6-8 cross-country championship.
In the girls non-championship 11-12 race, Quinn Connors placed second.
In the men’s junior 15-16 Cat 1/2 championship, Emmett McManus finished 15th out of 119 riders. Kai Lokey and Liam Bezek also competed, but did not finish because of mechanical issues.
In the girls 15-16 championship, Riley Huston placed 10th out of 70 riders.
In the men’s 17-18 cross-country race, Orrin Bleth led the Durango riders with an 81st-place finish. Jack Lootens finished 97th, and Jack Huber placed 109th.
“We are having a blast,” said DEVO coach Chad Cheeney. “We made some sweet tie-dye shirts the other day and have been watching Sepp (Kuss) and Quinn (Simmons) crush the (Tour de France) every morning … MTV videos in the evening as none of us have seen how crazy music videos are these days. We all really can’t wait to watch our many local (mountain bike) heroes race in the pro races tomorrow.”
Saturday’s races will include the U23 and pro men’s and women’s cross-country national championship races.
