Ten men and six women will put on their Fort Lewis College cycling jerseys one final weekend this season when the Skyhawks contend for a national championship in Grand Junction.
The USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships are set for Friday through Sunday.
FLC, which won the mountain bike national title in the fall, will be in pursuit of its 24th overall cycling championship.
“Picking a nationals team out of so many deserving riders is one of the toughest parts of the job, but I think we did a great job of picking riders best suited to the courses and conditions while also working well as a team,” FLC road coach Ian Burnett said in an email to The Durango Herald. “We have many riders returning from last year’s squad.”
Last year in Grand Junction, FLC finished fourth in the Division 1 varsity team omnium standings. Marian University of Indianapolis won the national title ahead of Colorado Mesa University of Grand Junction. Marian has won eight consecutive road national titles.
FLC is coming off a third-place finish in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference road season that concluded with the Squawker Road Classic in Durango. FLC was the top Division 1 team in the conference, while club schools University of Colorado and Colorado State University finished first and second, respectively.
“Our season was a bit different this year by attending a couple (Southwest Collegiate Cycling Conference races) early in the season, some off weekends and a canceled race because of weather,” FLC cycling director Dave Hagen said. “We adapted by doing some inter-squad racing and practiced our team time trial quite a bit.”
The road race will be held Friday, followed by the team time trial Saturday and the downtown criterium Sunday. Athletes and teams can accumulate points throughout the weekend to chase omnium titles along with individual championships in each event. FLC is excited about its time trial teams, as well as the ability of James Hilyer in the men’s road race and criterium and Charlotte Backus in the women’s road race and criterium. Backus won the Squawker road race.
Absent from the men’s roster is Cormac McGeough, who is signed to the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling team and had a strong showing at the Tour of the Gila two weekends ago. He is at this week’s Redlands Bicycle Classic stage race in California.
“Things have been coming together for the team this spring, and if the breaks go our way we have a good shot at the team title,” Burnett said.
“James Hilyer has been riding very well this spring and has a great chance to get on the podium in the road race and criterium. We also have a strong supporting cast that will keep our strongest racers near the front and some criterium specialists that will perform well.
“Our ladies team is very deep and have been riding and working well together all year. Charlotte won our home race, but any of the other women have a chance for a strong finish and hopefully they can keep the momentum from their dominating Squawker team time trial performance.”
Andre Bos and Nik Johnson will join Hilyer as the FLC men to compete in all three events this weekend. Emily Abraham, Tristen Musselman and Kira Payer will join Backus in all three women’s events.
Peter Behm will be strong for FLC in the men’s road race and team time trial. Emmanuel Gagne, a talented senior, will do the road race and criterium. Thomas Gauthier, Dillon Janda and Matthew Turner are scheduled only for the road race, while Skyler Mackey and Noah Schlosser will only race the criterium.
Savannah Adams and Sophie Russenberger will compete in the women’s road race and criterium.
“We worked well together as a team during the season and are quite confident that we’ll see some stellar performances in Grand Junction,” Hagen said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
