The Fort Lewis College cycling team rides into Austin, Texas, seeking one more trophy for the mantle.
FLC’s cyclo-cross team is set for the 2015 USA Cycling Collegiate Cycling National Championships of Cyclo-Cross at Zilker Park, with competition to begin at 3:50 p.m. Friday with the Collegiate Team Relay.
Dave Hagen, the FLC cycling director, said the team is in pursuit of the team omnium title, where each collegiate race is totaled up to determine the overall team points leader.
“With that said, FLC has a few riders that can compete for the win, and that goes a long way for the Team Omnium points,” Hagen said in an email to The Durango Herald.
FLC twice has won cyclo-cross national championships, while winning 18 mountain bike titles, one Division II road championship and many more individual championships across all disciplines.
FLC finished second in the team omnium a year ago, finishing behind Marian University.
Junior Sofia Gomez Villafane is the top FLC cyclo-cross rider, Hagen said.
“She finished (second) in the 2014 Collegiate (Division I) race and is looking to move up one step on the podium,” Hagen said.
She is joined on the women’s team by sophomore Maddie Chaves and freshmen McCauley Smith and Cara Woods.
The men’s team is deeper, with juniors Cody Cupp, Payson McElveen, Kolben Preble, Ryan Standish and Skyler Trujillo racing along with freshmen Jon Anderson, Spencer Downing and Ian McPhearson.
“Local Austinite and Skyhawk mountain bike stud Payson McElveen has picked up (cyclo-cross) this year, then won the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling conference championship, so he gets a front-row call-up,” Hagen said. “(McElveen) had top results in Dallas last weekend and has something to prove to his hometown crowd.”
Hagen also said McPhearson, from Boulder, is a very experienced cyclo-cross race and has a good chance to get on the podium.
Collegiate racing will conclude with the men’s Division 2 race at 3:20 p.m. Saturday.
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