For most of her races in 2024, Fort Lewis senior Michaela Thompson has been one of the least experienced riders in the field. But last weekend, Thompson showed off her experience at the 2024 Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Thompson, a senior at FLC, won the female varsity short track collegiate national championship on Saturday. Thompson spent most of her spring, summer and fall racing in the Life Time Grand Prix gravel series against riders with more than a decade of experience. Despite her inexperience in the gravel series, she finished 10th.
It was Thompson’s second consecutive short track national championship after winning it last year in Zirconia, North Carolina. This year’s collegiate national championship was supposed to be in Zirconia this year in October but Hurricane Helene caused the event to be postponed and moved to Bentonville.
Thompson finished the short track race in 19 minutes and 51 seconds, a second ahead of second place Jette Aelken.
On Friday, Thompson finished second in the female varsity cross-country race, finishing in 1:16:36. She was 32 seconds behind winner Kiara Lylyk.
Skyhawks sophomore Dane Grey also had a strong showing in Bentonville. He finished fourth in the male varsity short track race on Saturday and fifth in the male varsity cross-country race on Friday.
FLC’s Maddy Glotfelty finished second in female varsity downhill in 3:32.63. Breanna Winter of Marian University finished first in 3:30.63.
On Sunday, the Skyhawks relay team of Grey, Sabrina Hayes, Landen Stovall and Thompson finished third in 44:28, 1:12 behind Brevard College in first place.
Durango native Ivan Sippy had a strong weekend for Colorado Mesa, highlighted by a third-place finish in the male varsity cross-country race.
The Skyhawks ended up third in the Omnium out of 17 varsity teams with 592 points. Colorado Mesa University came in first with 674 points and Brevard College came in second with 664 points.
“Overall, it was a successful weekend,” FLC Cycling Director Ian Burnett said. “We had pretty good luck; we didn’t have any flats or any of that stuff that can go wrong with the luck side of it all. That was definitely a big side of it because there’s a pretty high flat potential there. Overall, we were excited with the way they performed and the way some of the senior riders stepped up like Michaela.”
Burnett said the Bentonville course was more challenging than a lot of the kids anticipated with how chunky and hard the terrain was.
FLC cycling will continue with cyclocross and that season will conclude in Louisville, Kentucky, on Dec. 12-15.
Women’s basketball comeback falls short at Westminster 61-58
Down 11 points after three quarters of play Saturday at Westminster, the Skyhawks women’s basketball team could’ve easily folded and waved the white flag.
Instead, FLC battled back in the fourth quarter and took a four-point lead with 1:50 to go. But the Skyhawks couldn’t finish and Westminster ended the game on a 7-0 run to win 61-58.
“Every day we're just trying to get better at something,” FLC women’s basketball head coach Lauren Zuniga said. “I liked their response from the game last night. We did the little things better, which is what we talked about. But at the end of the day, our turnovers killed us, which is something that we're still trying to work on and figure out. We were resilient and showed some grit, more so than we have had to so I’m proud of that for sure.”
FLC fell to 1-4 overall after shooting 42% from the field, 17% from 3-point range and 78% from the free-throw line in the loss. The game didn’t count as a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference matchup despite both teams being in the conference.
Westminster improved to 1-3 overall after shooting 40% from the field, 16% from 3-point range and 70% from the free-throw line.
The Griffins caused FLC to commit 24 turnovers compared to only nine assists for FLC. Zuniga said the Skyhawks have four goals they need to hit to win the game. One of the goals is outrebounding their opponent; another is winning 50-50 plays, the third goal is limiting turnovers and the fourth goal is getting seven kills which is three stops in a row. The only goal FLC didn’t hit was the turnovers.
Senior forward Darla Hernandez led the Skyhawks with 18 points on 4-12 shooting from the field, 1-2 from 3-point range and 9-9 from the free-throw line along with a team-high 13 rebounds. Junior guard Deniece Ryan was the only other Skyhawk in double figures. She finished with 15 points off the bench on 7-10 shooting from the field and 1-1 from the free-throw line.
Westminster was led by Teuila Nawahine’s 20 points.
The Skyhawks got off to a 14-13 lead after the first quarter but got outscored 20-11 in the second quarter to trail Westminster 33-25 at halftime. Westminster then outscored FLC 19-16 in the third quarter to take a 52-41 lead into the fourth.
FLC started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run. A Hernandez 3-pointer made it 52-51 with 7:36 to go. The Skyhawks took their first lead of the fourth with a Hernandez free throw to put FLC up 54-53 with 4:16 left.
The comeback fell short when Nawahine scored five of the Griffins’ last seven points in the last 1:21 to secure the Westminster victory.
“It’s a variety of things,” Zuniga said about the end of the game. “We missed a layup, we turned it over, we missed the box out on a free throw they got an offensive rebound for, we missed an opportunity to foul at the end. So it’s just the little things that are time and situation and that we've got to get better at.”
The Skyhawks play Northern New Mexico at home on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Footballs gets dominated by Colorado School of Mines in season finale
In recent memory, the FLC football team and Colorado School of Mines have been on opposite sides of the RMAC standings with the Orediggers being toward the top and FLC toward the bottom. The Skyhawks have made some progress this season but Colorado School of Mines showed they still have a long way to go as the Orediggers beat FLC 67-9 on Saturday.
FLC finished the 2024 season 3-8 overall and 2-7 in the RMAC after the loss. Colorado School of Mines finished its season 8-3 overall and 6-3 in the RMAC after the win.
“We just didn’t have our best day,” FLC football head coach Johnny Cox said. “But we watched it and we're actually really close on a few plays, inches on plays that could have changed the momentum. So we were more encouraged than discouraged. We're watching everything. So the spirit of the guys is good … we had few opportunities earlier on for big juice plays, but we missed them … I don't know if we would have won that game, but we definitely would have played our best.”
Skyhawks redshirt freshman quarterback Stone Walker finished the game 16/25 passing for 97 yards and two interceptions. Junior running back Cameron Mack led FLC with seven carries for 37 yards. Skyhawks senior wide receiver Jacob Burr led the way with three receptions for 26 yards.
Colorado School of Mines quarterback Joseph Capra finished 16/17 passing for 279 yards and three touchdowns. The Orediggers also had 250 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.
The Orediggers took a 21-0 lead after the first quarter. FLC scored its lone touchdown thanks to a 1-yard score by freshman running back Orlando Guevara. FLC trailed 34-7 at halftime.
FLC scored two more points in the third quarter thanks to a failed PAT by Colorado School of Mines. Kameron Lewis had the return for FLC.
The Orediggers led 47-9 after three quarters and scored 20 unanswered in the fourth.
Skyhawks fans should be optimistic heading into next season. FLC should return its starting quarterback, top three running backs, top five wide receivers and top six tacklers on defense.
“I’ve learned over the years there's a long time before we report in September,” Cox said. “Internally I'm super fired up, but I know I need to grind it out day by day to make sure that these guys are doing right things with their grades and decisions.”
Volleyball loses to MSU Denver in season finale
The Skyhawks volleyball squad knew if they wanted to play in the RMAC tournament, they’d need to beat No. 5 MSU Denver. FLC fell short and lost 3-0 on Saturday to the Roadrunners.
FLC finished its season 10-16 overall and 6-8 in the RMAC after the 8-25, 15-25, 11-25 loss. MSU Denver moved to 24-2 overall and 14-0 in the RMAC after the win.
Fifth-year right side Lauren Shea led the Skyhawks in her final collegiate game with 10 kills. Senior outside hitter Alexis Hobie had seven kills in her final game as a Skyhawk. Senior setter Natalia Lambos had 24 assists for FLC.
MSU Denver was led by Riley Anderson and Annika Helf with 10 kills each.
FLC will lose its two top point scorers, Hobie and Shea, but it should return the third, fourth and fifth point scorers in sophomore Alina Nunez, junior Ella Butler and sophomore Jordan DeJesus.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
